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Geek Culture / Cheap Laptops

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Lampton Worm
22
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Joined: 4th Sep 2002
Location: United Kingdom
Posted: 4th Dec 2003 11:34
Hello all,

Can anyone recommend a good place in the UK to get hold of a cheap laptop capable of being used as a games dev machine (i.e. running DBPro, Milkshape, CharFX etc.)? I know it will vary depending on what speed/memory etc. but if you have any advice feel free to share it

This one weighs in at £1000, but its pretty nice -
http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/products/features.aspx/notebooks_Q4_W5_inspn_8600_I19?c=uk&l=en&s=dhs

Bit too much on the price side though. I was thinking 500 quid... wonder what I can get for that..

Thanks.
OSX Using Happy Dude
21
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Joined: 21st Aug 2003
Location: At home
Posted: 4th Dec 2003 12:09 Edited at: 4th Dec 2003 12:23
Probably not something particularlly good...

Even second-hand ones dont tend to be cheap... Could try eBay though.

Have a look at : http://www.laptopsuperstore.co.uk/

http://www.europc.co.uk/europc/home.aspx?CategoryID=40&CategoryName=Laptops&selection=2

http://www.technoworld.com/make.asp?selSort=price&category=220&ProductMake=Hewlett+Packard


Mirrors are more fun than television. Well, that was fun, in a not-so-fun sort of way...
adr
21
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Joined: 21st May 2003
Location: Job Centre
Posted: 4th Dec 2003 15:18
www.sterlingxs.co.uk do cheap refurbs...

if you don't fancy a refurb then try the dell outlet store - cheap deals for non-new laptops...

(by non-new I mean they're not strictly brand new... but they're not second hand. Stuff from the outlet store is sourced from people who return their laptop within 30 days, for example)

Can I ask you a Question?
What is it?
It's an interrogative form of sentence, used to test knowledge. But that's not important right now.
lagmaster
22
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Joined: 26th Aug 2002
Playing:
Posted: 4th Dec 2003 15:29
www.ebuyer.com has a £650~ laptop
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=54918

comet.co.uk £628 (online) shop little bit more
http://www.comet.co.uk/comet/html/cache/320_153990.html

pcworld
EI SYSTEMS INTEL CELERON 2.2GHz PROCESSOR LAPTOP
Model - EI SYSTEMS 4410
Product Code - 978949
64Mb Graphics
in-store price £649.99
web exclusive £599.99

dabs.com (evil) £668
[href]TravelMate 243Xe C2.5GHz 256MB [/href]

i would post morte but i forgot what websites to go on

it seems you can buy a laptop for £500 maybe upping your spending to £600 and you can afford these items

lagmasteruk - http://www.lagmaster.net is alive! http://www.dbforums.co.uk/ - another db forum!

Dark Snippet Pro V9 is out!!
lagmaster
22
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Joined: 26th Aug 2002
Playing:
Posted: 4th Dec 2003 15:32
http://uk.special.reserve.co.uk/search/special.php?ty=laph&sortorder=2a

specialise in gaming laptops

lagmasteruk - http://www.lagmaster.net is alive! http://www.dbforums.co.uk/ - another db forum!

Dark Snippet Pro V9 is out!!
Elleomea
21
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Joined: 2nd Aug 2003
Location: England
Posted: 4th Dec 2003 15:33 Edited at: 4th Dec 2003 15:33
You might want to try MultiVision, they have some fairly powerful laptops for pretty reasonable prices. I'm planning on getting myself one (the 1015) early next year.

How much ham could a hamster stir, if a hamster could stir ham?
Shock
AGK Developer
22
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Joined: 24th Oct 2002
Location: United Kingdom
Posted: 4th Dec 2003 21:46
a laptop capable of running dbpro could be a problem, iv'e been doing research on them. i asked rich if dbpro was laptop friendly, but then he reminded me that *most* laptop in-built graphics cards only support 24 bit colour.

unfortunately, nearly every program you'll find made in dbpro automatically assumes your have 32 bit graphics.

this means the most of the time when you try and play other dbp'ers games, they'll crash before they start. it also means you couldn't really create your games to use the 'near enough standard' 32bit graphics of todays games. you could make all your games in 16bit colour ofcourse, but what would be the point?

oh, and to be honest iv;e just thought you could create a little something that finds out graphics card colour capability and settles for that standard. but still, after all that, your going have to spend alot for full decent directx support, and a fast gpu.

i too have dreams of sitting in the garden on a hot day, with a lager in one hand, and a dbp-ready laptop sat on my knee. i still havent made my mind up yet.

two places to check out (one mentioned above somewhere):
http://www.technoworld.com
http://www.dabs.com
http://www.thecomputerworld.co.uk/ (an interesting merge of tiny and time, and in personal opinion tiny computers are very high quality)


Sticking feathers up your butt doesn't make you a chicken.
lagmaster
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Posted: 4th Dec 2003 21:55
my laptop supports 32bit mode in directx.

i run most of my programs in 32bit, including sim city 4

lagmasteruk - http://www.lagmaster.net is alive! http://www.dbforums.co.uk/ - another db forum!

Dark Snippet Pro V9 is out!!
the_winch
21
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Joined: 1st Feb 2003
Location: Oxford, UK
Posted: 4th Dec 2003 22:37
The most important thing is the graphics card really. Just make sure whatever one you get has a decent card. If the card only supports 24bit it proberly isn't going to be good enough for gaming anyway.

dbpro : p166mmx @ 233 : 256mb : sb 128pci : sis onboard
Lampton Worm
22
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Joined: 4th Sep 2002
Location: United Kingdom
Posted: 4th Dec 2003 22:47
Thanks everyone I'll start hunting around those URL's.
Shock
AGK Developer
22
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Joined: 24th Oct 2002
Location: United Kingdom
Posted: 4th Dec 2003 23:58
Quote: "my laptop supports 32bit mode in directx."


was it expensive?
what make is the laptop, and what gpu does it have?


Sticking feathers up your butt doesn't make you a chicken.
lagmaster
22
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Posted: 5th Dec 2003 00:28
samsung v25
intel extreme 64mb
cost £1000

yeah sim city runs on 1024x768x32

must depend on the graphics chip you use

lagmasteruk - http://www.lagmaster.net is alive! http://www.dbforums.co.uk/ - another db forum!

Dark Snippet Pro V9 is out!!
Chris K
21
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Joined: 7th Oct 2003
Location: Lake Hylia
Posted: 5th Dec 2003 00:32
You could always get an Alienware laptop.


...and like that; he's gone...
Elleomea
21
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Joined: 2nd Aug 2003
Location: England
Posted: 5th Dec 2003 01:42
The radeon mobility 9000 supports 32 bit colour depth (check the multivision link earlier for some fairly cheap radeon m9 laptops)

How much ham could a hamster stir, if a hamster could stir ham?
OSX Using Happy Dude
21
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Joined: 21st Aug 2003
Location: At home
Posted: 5th Dec 2003 16:33
Quote: "You could always get an Alienware laptop."

If you can successfully rob a bank...


Mirrors are more fun than television. Well, that was fun, in a not-so-fun sort of way...
Chris K
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Location: Lake Hylia
Posted: 5th Dec 2003 20:33
Naturally


...and like that; he's gone...
OSX Using Happy Dude
21
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Joined: 21st Aug 2003
Location: At home
Posted: 5th Dec 2003 21:47 Edited at: 5th Dec 2003 21:47



Mirrors are more fun than television. Well, that was fun, in a not-so-fun sort of way...

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