Got admitted to CSU LB

Now I'm waiting on Fullerton and SJSU. Really want to go to Fullerton though.

Anyhoo, the good news means... Well you know: I'm rewarding myself soon with a new lappy!

But before I look into a GX, could someone with the i5-430m GX test PCSX2 with your game of choice, and report its performance? I know the GX @ stock config will handle all my needs, but unsure about PS2 games.

Thanks ya'll for the support and well-informed tips

 

Mods, please delete this thread. I just got so excited, that's all.

 

Haha grats man, hmm as for the dual core, i'd say it should run pcsx2 fine, i think i was running it on my q9000 (with 2 cores only) and the 4850 and was getting some nice frames out of that (Above 60 if i recall.)

 

lol, shouldn't this be in OT? Congrats anyway.

Shouldn't you be looking into something more portable for college?

 

How is this not portable? Its a laptop. If you can really tell the difference between 1-2lbs over the course of your whole backpack perhaps you need to hit the gym. I carry every day my laptop(currently Hp dv6875se) its power brick, a mouse, and 2-3 college classes worth of textbooks. And when my gx gets here on tuesday i'll be carrying that around instead.

He wants a computer that he can use like a desktop but still be able to take with him when he needs it. Not everyone has a large desktop at home and a dedicated portable rig.

 

Yuppers. Well said, my man. I'm only 5'4" and 135lbs, but a 10lb backpack load doesnt scare me. If it really becomes heavy, then it's just a reminder to me that I need to hit the gym, as Retto suggests. Shouldn't be a problem though. I was looking at some 15.6" notebooks today at Staples, and the size seems okay. When it's 17inches, then that's way too big for me, as it's probably gonna be bigger than my back/torso.

@Cataclysm,

Should I stick with an i5-430m or should I up to 520 or 540m? I'm pretty sure I wouldnt need the power of an i7-620m.

 

Whether you should upgrade the CPU depends on the prices of the CPUs. Based on what I've seen, you should probably stick with the stock CPU, and if it's insufficient upgrade it yourself later.

 

MSI puts a 430m in the GX640 stock.. so the upgrade prices to other processors is steeper than other laptops because the resellers have to eat the price of the 430M. It should be plenty fast for most people's needs.

 

Portability is more than just weight, it's also battery life. For college battery life is a big thing especially when no open sockets are around. If you consider the GX640 a portable laptop...well, you can think that.

But I mean if dookie11 wants it, by all means get it. He's the kind of guy that doesn't want to compromise on his graphics power, which is understandable.

 

5850 GDDR5 to a 5650 GDDR3 is a heck of a drop..

5870 GDDR5 to a 5830 GDDR3 for me was noticeably a huge drop as well..

If I play games often, I won't drop the GPU no matter what.

 

The laptops more than portable, this commentary on its not, is boring me, my 1722 is portable..

16:10 ftw.

Dookie, stock stock CPU should be good but if you do some performance comparisons and see if the price performance ratio is good, you could concider an upgrade (You wont need it though)

Meraks right, both are huge drops,, GPU over CPU for the majority of games to date.

 

I dont know about you but finding an open power socket is super easy. Unless your at some ancient school. Just park your at a seat near a wall and usually within 6 ft there is a socket.

 

Depends how big the room is, in a theatre for 750 ppl, good luck finding sockets. And the spots near the edge of the room are normally the hardest from which to pay attention

 

CPU power for me. Don't need much GPU power, cuz I dont play FPS games. I will only play SC2, PCSX2, and Dolphin emulator at most. All require sufficient CPU power. I've been asking around to see if i5-430m will be enough for PCSX2 emulation, but there's no definite answer quite yet. People have confirmed that i7-620m works perfectly though.

P.S.: 2hours of battery is fine for me, as I usually will be the one hunting for an outlet first. Also, grad school doesnt have huge lecture halls like undergrad classes, so I dont need to worry about fighting for the edge seats.