I wanna get rid of my laptop cause its really slow and shit. I have a Compaq laptop haha my parents got it for me as a high school grad present a year ago, and i didnt even know Compaq still existed. My computer doesnt have much memory or RAM. only like 2gb of RAM i think. But i wanna get a Dell or HP cause Starcraft 2 lags like crazy even when i have it on the lowest settings possible on this computer. And this laptop is just slow in general. Could I sell my laptop, or like trade it into best buy or w/e to get money or, say, "credits" toward a Dell or HP? Cause i dont have much money at all since i dont live with mommy or daddy anymore haha i gotta pay all my bills while i go to college. Or a question for people who know a lot of shit about computers: What would be a great laptop to get thats not slow but still priced decently? Thanks in advance to anyone who helps!
HP, Dell, and some companies like Best Buy do allow you to trade in your laptop towards the purchase of a new one. Dell/Best Buy tend to offer rather sucky quotes on the trade-ins though (they use the same third-party I think). You might get the best results using cash4laptops.
2gbs of ram is not a msall amount by any means, thats what I use and I can max any game. Best buy and the like just capitalize on people not knowing much about them and say that thats what you want to make games run fast. The true problem would be your video card, and not the ram associated with that either. Check what it is and ill tell you for sue if thats the problem. You need to find a laptop with at least a ati4400m or a nvidia 330m as a minimum since its the model thats important, unless there is less than 256mb of ram which i doubt. video ram is for textures and overall resolution. Notebookcheck: Mobile Graphics Cards - Benchmark List Use this site as a guide to picking one that fits your budget. Find a mid ranged one and print out the site and bring it with you to the store and see if they have an equivalent one in stock and ou can check if it acutally is. Search benchmarks for the card you want before you buy
Just my $.02: 2GB of RAM may sound like a lot, but if you're running windows vista or 7 on that compaq then about ~1.5GB is used by the OS/Background programs when the system is idle. The 512mb you have left to play around with is not nearly enough for serious gaming, especially if you don't have a dedicated graphics card in there (which I'd be willing to bet is the case. Compaq's are now low-price HP's with the different name stamped on them) So, to help point you in the right direction: 1. For the time being, disable the aero interface in windows if you haven't already. Things won't look as sleek anymore, but it will help free up a bunch of RAM. A quick google will yield plenty of guides. 2. I do know that bestbuy has an online quote form for laptop trade-ins, but as it was mentioned before, the quotes are often crap, if they offer anything at all. Still, if you want to give it a shot, check it out here: http://www.bestbuytradein.com/bb/calculators.cfm 3. For a new system, especially one you want to run Starcraft II on, make sure you grab something with at least an intel core i3, 4GB RAM, and a dedicated graphics card in it. (The intel's will come with Nvidia cards, anything >330M is ideal like pat said) Just somewhere to start, this ASUS is a good example of something capable, but not too pricey for a gaming laptop. Though it sucks that $800 is "not too pricey" here. Newegg.com - ASUS K52 Series K52JC-X2 NoteBook Intel Core i5 450M(2.40GHz) 15.6" 4GB Memory DDR3 1066 500GB HDD 5400rpm DVD Super Multi NVIDIA GeForce 310M Hope you find something that suits you man
It's not a small amount but it's not a lot either. It's the bare minimum I would recommend for any modern system. If you think you can play any game on max settings you are wrong; you must only play older games and on a low resolution. Starcraft 2 at 1080p uses 1.5 GB of memory easily on my 2 GB system. It lags every once in a while and each map takes a long while to load. You are right that the video adapter is very important as well, just don't go making people think that 2 GB of memory is plenty for everything. The reality is that most laptops are not suitable for high-performance gaming. You get a lot more bang for your buck in a desktop, unless you need the portability.
I'm not trying to steer anyone in the wrong direction and it also would be the minimum I would recommend someone have, It's just normally not the bottle neck. Also I play Crysis, Modern Warfare 2, Bioshock 2, Dragon ages origons, and a few others all at 1920x1080 maxed with around 4xaa to 16xaa. Most people would buy 1gb sticks anyways so if they want to add another 2 gb they can except Im not sure if a laptop has more than 2 slots. Basically look for a good video card and the other specs will follow. they wont have a 340M with anything less than 3gb ddr3. Edit- Forgot to mention I can't completely max crysis and i play with no aa on that game but I just keep shadows at high as well physics on high (amd dual core 5200+ @ 2.9ghz)