Cheapish "gaming" laptop

Noto · 19 Jul 2007 at 12:28

How does the following laptop look for "gaming" Its not for me but a friend wants to game like Civ 4 etc. its £660 inc vat I would be getting another tsick of 1gb ram and maybe some flash memory for that santa rosa thing that it supports out the box? anyways the laptop:

The Samsung R70 is one of the first new "Santa Rosa" laptops, which is Intel's latest version of the Centrino platform. This machine features a HDMI port, 1.3 MegaPixel webcam, and a DirectX 10 compatible graphics card.

* Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo T7100 - 1.8GHz (x2), 800MHz FSB, 2MB L2 Cache
* RAM: 1024MB DDR2
* Hard Drive: 120GB 5400rpm
* Screen: 15.4" Super Bright Widescreen TFT (1280x800 - 16:10)
* Optical Drive: DVD±RW Super Multi Double Layer
* Graphics: NVidia GeForce 8400M 256MB TurboCache (128MB Dedicated)
* Wireless LAN: 802.11a/b/g
* Battery Life (Depending on Use): 3 hours
* Weight: 2.7kg
* Warranty: 1 Year
* Operating System: Windows Vista Home Premium
o Fast Ethernet 10/100
o 6-in-1 Card Reader
o HDMI Port
o Built-In 1.3 MegaPixel Camera

thx in adv

ninjapilot · 19 Jul 2007 at 14:08

Hi Mate well i got one of these a couple of weeks ago, the only difference was 160 HD, but had no built in camera.
its a cracking laptop for the money, its worth getting the extra gig of memory though, and "flash memory for that santa rosa thing" thats called turbo memory but it wasn't fitted to mine, not sure if they are fitted at all to this laptop.
The 8400mGS is a great little card but is only 64bit so it is a little crippled, but as long as your not expecting to play brand new games its fine and AA/AF @ high res it does pretty well.
i play 2142 at medium settings. so for surfing / word / and light gaming and for the money i'd say go for it

Ninja

knowlesy · 19 Jul 2007 at 14:16

GET RID OF VISTA !!!!!! that will lower your fps

Noto · 19 Jul 2007 at 14:37

well if i was buying a laptop i twouldnt be for gaming. the person im buying for is a general user. i dont think Civ 4 taxes gfx cards too hard. he has C+C but only tiberian sun i think ( im 100% sure thats not the latest one think thats supreme commander, so he's definately not hardcore gamer)

p.s. any tips on which flash memory to use for the turbo memory and i guess any brand of laptop memory is good as long as its the same rated speed?

ninjapilot · 19 Jul 2007 at 15:13

well i find its great for general use and light gaming, have a look around there are plenty of reviews of the R70.
for vista readyboost i use a sandisk 2gig cruzer micro memory stick, works ok but dosn't make a massive difference (i had this just laying about and thought id use it).
turbomemory is actually fitted to the motherboard not sure if that can be added.
The extra gig of system memory is Transcend DDR2 667MHz (PC2-5300) that made quite a difference

let me know if you want to know anything else.

Cheers

Ninja