Gaming Notebook, is this a good buy?

[kenjiwb]

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=34-224-014&catalog=23&manufactory=BROWSE

Im lookin to get a new notebook in the very near future to replace an old Compaq POS. Basically I want to be able to play WoW and Sims 2 on it, but still have it somewhat future proof. I wanted to get a Dell 9200 but they wont ship to APO address (yay for the troops Dell), so Im limited to Ebay (shrug) or Newegg (the only store I know that will send to APO). Anyways, this seems like the best notebook for my budget but I wanted to get a second oppinion before I invest in it. If you have any thoughts or recommendations please let me know as I want to purchase one soon. Thanks in advance!

[kent1146]

Yes, this notebook will play WoW and Sims 2, but on the lower end of performance. It's not a bad notebook, but a bit heavy for my tastes... also, running an Athlon64 will not give you the battery performance that a Pentium-M would.

If you want to future proof your laptop, I'd stick with a Sonoma laptop (has Intel 915 chipset) with a Mobility Radeon x700 or Geforce 6600Go / 6800 Go GPU. I have a laptop with a mobility 9700 chipset. It's a two-year old chipset that is starting to show its age.

And if you want the best value for your money, there are better laptop buys out there. Check out the Compal CL56 on Mwave for around $1250. There will also be a bunch of notebook enthusiasts looking to dump their Compal CL56 laptops to upgrade to a Sonoma laptop on eBay and the for-sale forums on http://www.notebookforums.com