so now I am thinking a laptop - advice?

[chad878262]

What about the Dell insipiron i3543? Only comes with 4 GB RAM, but expandable to 8 and a 2 gb dedicated video card RAM. Amazon has it for about $440...

[Thorsson]

4Gb and a dedicated card should do, but that looks like an i3 based laptop and i3s are being dropped. Probably AMD is a better route if you can't reach i5. Dells are generally a bit overpriced these days IMO, but that's an old model, which probably explains the price. $ for $ laptops will not give as much bang as desktop.

[Aspect of Sorrow]

A Clevo based notebook with an AMD chipset is the best performance per dollar in the laptop scheme with upgradable components (follows MXM type modularity, etc).

ASUS ROG
SAGER P and N series
AVADirect

You absolutely do not want 4Gb RAM with onboard video - the RAM is shared and that will definitely cause problems.

Can't stress this enough, though UMA works well on the intel 6200 with enough ram, 6 GB at minimum on the system, or 8GB with all DIMMs used for maximum throughput.

Alternatively, if the work laptop is good enough, use the lastest VMWare Workstation to a USB3 or eSATA external drive. I don't know how well VirtualBox games these days.

[chad878262]

Didn't think about that, suppose I could wait until I get my work laptop to see what it is, though I doubt it will be gaming quality in any case... I'll keep looking out for deals...

Edit: question about nwn2 on an external drive... don't all the various mods and such get saved to "my documents"? So how does that work if you install it to an external? Does anything end up on the system hard drive?

[Aspect of Sorrow]

Didn't think about that, suppose I could wait until I get my work laptop to see what it is, though I doubt it will be gaming quality in any case... I'll keep looking out for deals...

Edit: question about nwn2 on an external drive... don't all the various mods and such get saved to "my documents"? So how does that work if you install it to an external? Does anything end up on the system hard drive?

NWN2 will run on HD4000 intel GPUs that're built into SB+ architectures. It's built into the CPU. Many laptop vendors that try to cut costs incorporate this.

Symbolic links is what you'll want.

MKLINK - Microsoft Corporation

Let's assume your external drive is always called Z:

Copy your desktop's Program Files \ NWN2 directory to Z as NWN2. This will be your game execution folder and base assets.

Copy your desktop's My Documents \ NWN2 directory to Z as NWN2DOC. This will be your game custom assets as designed to circumvent UAC restrictions of Vista+ by maintaining file enumeration in the user space.

On the laptop, create a symbolic link that ties to the now attached external drive by starting command prompt, navigating to your MyDocs folder, and running the following

Code: Select all

mklink /D "Neverwinter Nights 2" z:\NWN2DOC

The game will encapsulate accordingly.

If you want it to create the link only prior to running then immediately delete it thereafter, add that command to the top of a batch file, have the next line execute the NWN2CE application which launches NWN2 in tandem, then it sits in the background and waits. Once the game closes, have the last line of the batch file run the symbolic link to automatically remove the file.

An example bat file would be...

Code: Select all

mklink /D "%UserProfile%\Documents\Neverwinter Nights 2" Z:\NWN2DOC
"Z:\NWN2\NWLauncher.exe" +connect 208.94.245.10
rm "%UserProfile%\Documents\Neverwinter Nights 2"

UserProfile will automatically resolve to the proper user profile path, irregardless of account name, and this way all files will remain on the external drive except with the symlink made on demand. File deletion from the command line will not go to the Recycle Bin.

Unix derivatives (Linux, Mac) can use the same theory gained through Wine by

Code: Select all

ln -s

[chad878262]

Oh how I wish this wasn't over my head...

I'll see if I can decipher it though

[Thorsson]

You can also do it by setting your 'My Documents' folder to Z:\Documents (for example) in File Explorer. OFC that means it will be the default Documents folder for everything, but that generally means all games use it as the default Save folder, which I don't see as a problem. I generally want to Save real documents to a specific folder anyway.

[Aspect of Sorrow]

He will likely not have that opportunity with a domain joined device whose GP restricts it for cache options.

[chad878262]

Hey all, looking to purchase my laptop today and I've narrowed it down to two options, any advice as to which I should choose?

1. HP 15.6 in. Series 15-G059WM
AMD A8 6410m Quad core 2.0 ghz CPU
ATI Radeon R5 w/ 1 GB Dedicated video memory
8GB DDR3 RAM
750 GB SATA Hard drive
Windows 10 Pro 64

Concerns:
It's refurbished, but hp factory so there is a 90 day warranty.

Not sure about the AMD does instead of an i5

Description states the video card has 1 gb dedicated and also shared 4GB with the CPU... I've never heard of this and it seems wrong.


Option 2:

Dell Inspiron 15.6"

Intel Core i5-5200U (dual core)
Nvidia GeForce 820M 2GB dedicated graphics
4GB RAM
500GB HDD
Windows 10 home

Concerns:
Have to buy 8GB RAM to replace the stock 4 (yes it is upgradeable, but 8 is the max)

Dual core processor



So basically the first one has better overall specs and is cheaper, but is refurbished. The second is new, but will cost me $40 more plus however much it costs to upgrade the RAM.

Thoughts from anyone? I'm a bit torn as I've never used a laptop outside of work and am not very trusting of refurbished items in general, but also like the idea of not spending more money later to upgrade... still kind of leaning toward the new dell, but would like your thoughts!

Thanks!

[Touri]

I use the same dell for 6 years now. It still works fine. .

[chad878262]

I use the same dell for 6 years now. It still works fine. .

Do you know approximate cost to switch to 8GB RAM? What about replacing the HDD with a SSD?

Thanks Touri!

[Touri]

Do you know approximate cost to switch to 8GB RAM? What about replacing the HDD with a SSD?

I think I purchased it directly by dell and phoned with them because I needed a XP Downgrade . My Brother and my father also have dell laptops. Theirs did very well for years as well.
I also had some extras like a better videocard, another hdd and a dvd burner. It is very long ago, so I don't know how much it was. I think it must be 50 to 100 bugs. But I would ask them directly.

Good luck and have fun with your new Lappy.