Widescreen Gaming Forum

Situation:
I am a student who enjoys photography and graphics design and is taking several classes on it through my high school career. I don't play games a ton during the week and usually play about 5 hours over a weekend. I would like a system that could play modern games such as battlefield 2 and oblivion even on low settings since that is what my current pc runs most games on. Lastly i want something portable hence a notebook

The systems
Macbook Pro
2.33ghz Core 2 Duo
2gb Ram
x1600 with 256mb of ram
120gb harddrive
15 Inch 1440x900 screen
Boot camping

Pros:
Processor power
Good for graphics design
Light
Good battery life
Can easily be ran off car/airplane power ports
Cons: Not the best for graphics power or gaming
Kinda expensive

Dell E1705
2.0ghz Core 2 Duo
2gb ram
7900gs 256mb
160gb hdd upgraded by self with a 80gb external (only because dells upgrades are expensive)
17" 1920x1200

Pros: Better screen
Bigger hdd
Better graphics
Cons: Not made for graphics design
Heavy
Bad battery
Weak processor when compared

The dell is 200 dollars cheaper but with the same processor and same harddrive would cost the same

They get very similar benchmarks at both of their max resolutions with same settings

Note: Please post why you voted which way and please don't vote fanboy like ex Because its a mac or Because its a pc. (that means you Mr. Gheghe.)

Thank you for your help

Packerfan

Guess what I voted. :lol:

For starters.....the Dell is FOOGLY!!!. :mrgreen:

Second, it doesn't have OSX which is totally the way to go if you ask me.

Third, the Mac looks better

Fourth, you can run Windows aswell if you really really really want it.

Fifth, the Macbook Pro is so much more beautiful.....or did i say that allready. :shock:

Sixth, you are da man with a Macbook Pro, girls want you and guys want to be you. :wink: :lol:

Seventh, loads and loads of open source crap that replace stuff like Office and other expensive stuff.
.
.
.
.
.
O yeah, it looks better. :mrgreen:

You can filter out the non fanboy parts yourself right? :wink:

Sixth, you are da man with a Macbook Pro, girls want you and guys want to be you. :wink: :lol:

...dreamer...:mrgreen:

But I would go for the Mac too (especially because it looks much better), but isn't 1440x900 a bit small? :?

I actually voted for the dell, Bigger and better screen, Better graphics card, bigger HDD and cheaper.

Suspecting if your getting a $2000 laptop your not getting a PC anymore then i think you would like the dell better.

Dont get me wrong the MBP is awesome but like :/

1440x900 its on a 15" screen so its fine with me. That way i won't have to squint

Also the resolution compensates for the crappy graphics card so they end up with similar benchies

I also added the mac and easily be ran off car power ports and airplane power ports since it takes 60watts or 68 watts can't remember

The other thing i like is the boot camp i get the best of both worlds, im also used to crappy gaming power so this would be a decent upgrade

Once again its Graphic design power vs gaming power, im also thinking of knocking the dell lappy down a peg and just dell upgrading to the 120gb hdd or self upgrade whichever is cheaper and knock down some other things then getting a power mac g4 to screw around with so i get the graphics design and the osx to please Mr. Gheghe (ill refer to steef as that for now on :D)

Im now looking at this

Asus 14"
1440x900 display
120gb hdd
2.00 core 2 duo
2gb ram
512mb go 7700
Vista
Bluetooth and wireless
battery and air adapter
2 year warrenty
Mx518

Powermac g4 off ebay
Dual ~ 400mhz processors
512mb + ram
80gb+ hdd
Osx Tiger
crappy agp card might upgrade in future
For about 300 bucks
Ps2 mouse and keyboard

Both hooked up at home to a benq 19" ws pm through vga and asus through dvi

For a total that is equivilant to either the MPB or E1705

Don't do that mate. Just get one Macbook Pro.
That G4 is slooooowwwwwww and wont be up for the job if you want to work with Adobe creative suites and the like.
You're better of spending the money on one good rig instead of two crappy ones.

Don't do that mate. Just get one Macbook Pro.
That G4 is slooooowwwwwww and wont be up for the job if you want to work with Adobe creative suites and the like.
You're better of spending the money on one good rig instead of two crappy ones.

The little asus is apparently really fast. Also both of those with all of that stuff plus like 2 games is less than the MBPs price with a few things

Also the G4 is for rendering while i do other stuff on the laptop and to learn the ways of osx and moreso a learning machine. The g4s are about 300 bucks or less on ebay.

Ebay Link

I can install OSX (my dads K-12 school staff discount gets him it for 60 bucks) and a compatible Wifi card (compatible one is 30 bucks there are lists online) for less than 300 total price.

I'll probably only render while im gone or over night if i want to do something else on a laptop and to play with other various things.

What would you suggest.... Intel imac or something or if you would suggest an old powerbook or something then suggest that.

Keep in mind the lappy im looking at performs better graphicly that MBP but if you really reccomend MBP stick with it

You're not really decisive huh :lol: :lol:

How about this Imac 20":[list][*] 2.33GHz Intel Core 2 Duo[/*:m]
[*] 2GB 667 DDR2 SDRAM - 2x1GB[/*:m]
[*] 250GB Serial ATA Drive[/*:m]
[*] ATI Radeon X1600/256MB VRAM[/*:m]
[*] SuperDrive 8X (DVD+R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)[/*:m]
[*] Apple Keyboard & Mighty Mouse + Mac OS X (US English)[/*:m]
[*] 20-inch widescreen LCD[/*:m]
[*] AirPort Extreme[/*:m]
[*] Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR[/*:m][/list:u]

Total price: $1,999.00

That will get you a very good system aswell which is also really portable.
Just not as portable as a notebook but still......

Advantage of this solution:[list]
[*]More HDD space[/*:m]
[*]Bigger screen[/*:m]
[*]Nicer keyboard and mouse[/*:m]
[*]Still an all in one system[/*:m][/list:u]

Steef,

I found a notebook with the ati equivilant of the asus above except it has 256mb ram and hyper memory

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220142

That gives me about 600 for a used mac so it fits in budget

http://www.ebay.com

Find something you would recommend for that price please.

http://cgi.ebay.com/PowerMac-G4-dual-867-MHz-140-MB-HD-Space-512-GB-Ram_W0QQitemZ170095117834QQcategoryZ51035QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Dual 800mhz g4s 160gb hdd all i need to upgrade is ram for about 70 bucks and a wifi card for about 30 bucks

Double performance of last one

Get this: link

Or this one, which is even better: link