Hey guys,
Long story short, my current MacBook Pro is borked and Apple wants $1200 to repair it. Not happening.
Can some of you tech-y guys take a look at this, and see if it'll run STO decently?
http://bit.ly/odlmZV
Or, if you have any other suggestions, my price range is $300-400 (I'm only using this in the short term).
If possible, can you tell me how it'd run in comparison to my current machine? I currently have: 2.4 Ghz Core 2 Duo, 5GB DDR 3 RAM, nVidia 9600M.
Also, how are Intel HD 3000 graphics? I know integrated graphics suckkkk, but I've seen some decent machines (even with i7s) using these.
EDIT: How about this one?
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/ASUS+-+Laptop+/+AMD+A-Series+Processor+/+15.6%22+Display+/+4GB+Memory+/+500GB+Hard+Drive+-+Brown+Suit/2881042.p?slloc=01&skuId=2881042&slref=10&id=1218360613837
Comments
the main problem with intigraded motherboard graphics chipset is they oftem share motherboard memory with the OS (meaing if you have 2 GB on your MB 896 MB or more is used by the integrated chipset, while PCIE sloted cards come with their own built in VRAM memory.)
Intel HD 3,000 is a good integrated chip (2,000 sucked unbelievably but believe it or not, not all integrated graphics suck), though more useful for media than gaming (they are beast at media), it will outperform the 9600 in gaming slightly. Most of the Intel HD chips you see in computers with i7s and such is for people to add their own graphics card once they get them purchased.
In all honesty, for $300-$400, all you're going to get is junk, thought to answer your questions, that should run STO on low settings fullscreen at about 25 FPS.
What are your thoughts on this bad boy?
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/ASUS+-+Laptop+/+AMD+A-Series+Processor+/+15.6%22+Display+/+4GB+Memory+/+500GB+Hard+Drive+-+Brown+Suit/2881042.p?slloc=01&skuId=2881042&slref=10&id=1218360613837
The graphics are a Radeon HD 6650, and that appears to be decent. My only concern is the processor; does it compare to an i3/i5?
From what i can see in your first post (the laptop), the specified Radeon chip only uses shared Video memory as from what i can ready, it performs about the same as an Intel Integrated Graphics proccessor (Which isnt that great)
So i think you'd better find a laptop which has a bit better GPU i think. (That is the most important thing)
The last one you post would definately be my choice in terms of GPU power. Even if STO isnt that GPU demanding, with neat shadows, AA, and some nice lightning it can be rather hungry
My Macbook would still be chugging alone fine, but I sent it into Apple for a relatively small issue, and they sent it back citing water damage (um, no, I meticulously care for my computer) and in a non-functional state. And they refuse to fix it, go figure right?
But hopefully that second one I've linked is better?