MithraPride

I may be able to get my father to get me a laptop for school(desktop sucks).
What would be a good one to run FFXI very well, and could i have remote access to the internet with it... srry to sound like a noob..

The essential part is the video card. Most laptops don't have the right card. While my "new" (less than 6 months) laptop has a video card with 64 MB, it's not an ATI/nVidia card, so it does not have TnL which FFXI requires. It absolutely must have a high end ATI/nVidia card, especially to compensate for the slower hard drives in laptops.

Hope that makes sense.. -.-

I would get a new desktop if you can, laptops really are not made for gaming. I mean there are some out there but most are missing one thing or another like Firemyst said.

i guess i could, wanted that whole on the go gaming thing.....lol

I'm afraid I concur...laptop gaming puts you at a bit of a disadvantage. For some, there simply is no choice due to their constant travel, but laptops are really inferior in all but one respect, and that's their mobility. And for those who need that, it's the only answer. But in return, you get a computer which is more expensive to upgrade and expand (if it's possible at all), is more likely to fail due to heat and rough handling (no matter how carefully you think you are handling it), and costs more than a comparably capable desktop machine.

The coolness factor is tempting, but I much prefer to put most of my money into a desktop machine, and get something simpler and more practical for the times when I can't be there. A basic PDA or a low-end laptop, say. Something I can take notes and do basic work with. Then I can come home to the uncompromised power of desktop machine, and both work and play on it, confident in the knowledge that it can be easily upgraded or repaired if need be, for a fraction of the cost of doing so with a laptop.

That said, if you're still really set on the laptop idea, I heard one of the video card makers was working on a modular design specification that would allow laptops that implemented it to have exchangable video daughtercards, making video upgrades possible. Might want to look into that and see if any laptops have that feature yet.

Alienware already has a laptop like that I think....
or maybe it was Voodoo?

With awesome power comes an awesome price....

Perhaps times have changed and I'm sure they just might if they haven't already but I stick to the hulky desktop for my gaming and if ever I get a lap top it will like as not be used for simple data input such as writing stories and such while on the move.

First, do not by Hewlett Packard or Compaq. They are teh sukc. How do I know this? I'm a technician! Second, look for one with an AMD processor. Yeah, P4's may run at 5,000,000 GHz, but and AMD is still better, expecially if you want to game on your laptop. Get a P4 if you like using Excel. Second, the video card. nVidia has what the call the geForceGo chips. They are scaled down and may not have what you need. Look for an ATI solution. 64MB of video RAM or better. HD size, 40GB is fine. RAM, you want 512MB of DDR. That's about it.

Ah-ha!!! GeForce sucks and Radeon kicks arse!!! Glad i got that radeon 256.

I would never get an AMD laptop. The power + noise + heat differences from AMD chips and Intel chips makes that an easy choice for me. My desktop is AMD, though.

I thought the newer AMD chips ran cooler than the comparable Intel chips...

*shrug*

They do. Not to mention the better performance. You get much more bang for a lot less buck.