Processor and graphics question, for buying laptop?

[Joecoolwashere]

Not sure if this is in the right section of forum :s but here goes,

im looking to buy a new laptop for under £500 for normal things, but also for mediocre gaming with games such as Battlefield 1942, Medieval 2 total war, Counter Strike Source and especially the up and coming Empire Total war.

I was wondering, on the Empire website it says that the minimum requirements are:

Operating System: Windows XP 32(service pack 2), Windows Vista 32 OS.

Processor: 2.4 GHz Single Core Intel or AMD equivalent processor.

System Memory: 1GB RAM (XP) 2GB RAM (Vista).

Graphics Card: 256MB DirectX 9.0c compatible video card (shader 2.0 or higher).

Sound Card: Directx9.0c compatible sound card.
Windows compatible mouse & keyboard.

15 GB free uncompressed hard drive space.

___________

The laptop im looking at has these specs: (also heres the links for both websites of minimum specs and laptop)

NEWS | Empire: Total War
Toshiba L300 1G9 PDC T3400 4GB 250GB 15.4" Laptop - Tesco.Direct

Processor Intel Pentium Dual Core T3400
Processor Bus 667
Processor Cache 1MB
Processor Speed 2.16

Graphics Shared Intel GL40 (Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500)

Now with the minimum specs for empire total war being a 2.4 GHZ single core processor, and the laptop having a 2.16 GHZ dual core processor, do you think ill be okay to run the game?

Also, according to Notebookcheck (Notebookcheck: Comparison of Graphic Cards)
the GMA 4500 (533MHZ) should be able to handle new games, but on a not so great setting.

Sorry about all this but will the laptop be okay for my needs?

 

[Yami]

Intel graphics suck, and any laptop that will be able to play E:TW decently would be rather more expensive than that. Maybe at very low graphics settings...

You might want to look into this laptop, my friend has one and it can play Oblivion at 30fps on medium, for £430 (inc VAT, free delivery) (which is annoying considering he got it for £490 a month ago). The processor probably isn't as good as an Intel equivelant however.

See what others think, though.

Edit: According to that Notebookcheck website, the graphics on the laptop I just mentioned (Mobility Radeon HD3200) rates as 2500 compared to 1500 for the Intel 4500. So, about 60% better.

 

[stb1swat]

***This should be moved to the laptop section***

When buying a laptop with the intent to play games like EmpireTW and CSS you have to raid the internet for models that support higher end graphic chips and Intel core2duo CPUs.

Take a look at the lenovo notebooks. It'll be a little difficult with your budget, but im sure you'll find something. I'll look around some, im interested since its been a good 2 years since i've looked into laptops now.

Here's an ACER.
Newegg.com - Acer Aspire AS6930-6942 NoteBook Intel Core 2 Duo T6400(2.00GHz) 16" Wide XGA 4GB Memory DDR2 667 250GB HDD DVD Super Multi NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GS - Laptops / Notebooks

 

[NightSurge]

Moved

And as for a gaming laptop, if you want to play anything like CSS and Empire Total War, you should look for a minimum of 8600M GT video card and a 2GHz Core 2 Duo with 3GB ram.

 

[Yami]

Here's an ACER.
Newegg.com - Acer Aspire AS6930-6942 NoteBook Intel Core 2 Duo T6400(2.00GHz) 16" Wide XGA 4GB Memory DDR2 667 250GB HDD DVD Super Multi NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GS - Laptops / Notebooks

Two problems there 1) An american site, so it can't be shipped overseas 2) After currency conversion, that's about $3-400 more than his maximum.

 

[stb1swat]

500.00 GBP=$730.00 USD...or something to thank extent, but yeah I kinda found the laptop before I did the math.

Dell has a refurbished system where they sell laptops that have been refurbished or sent back. They all past tests of usability. My friend bought one. You might have luck there.

 

[NightSurge]

To answer the OP about that laptop he originally linked to, the CPU would be plenty for your needs. The GPU I have not looked into much, but it should be capable of Counter Strike at very decent levels, but probably not so much with Empire Total War.

 

[Yami]

500.00 GBP=$730.00 USD...or something to thank extent, but yeah I kinda found the laptop before I did the math.

True, but we have VAT over here so add 15% onto that $799, which comes to $920 I hate VAT, and love it. It brings me medical care, roads yada yada but loses me a new monitor.

 

[Joecoolwashere]

why do intel have notoriously crap graphic cards? as ive heard alot of people say?

by the way thanks alot for all the replies