Laptop R.I.P.

[Ninot]

I don't think they'd mind.

[Nostromo]

You mean, it died after a year? That sucks, man My Toshiba still works perfectly after 7 years... Are you turned off by Toshiba? If not I'd go with a Toshiba.

I'm not sure Lenovo/IBM can build a decent budget laptop. They're overpriced laptops are great though, or so I hear And they're probably not great for games. Great keyboards, though.

I wouldn't buy an HP.

Maybe Acer. I hear they sell even more laptops than Toshiba at the moment. I'm not sure if they're reliable, though.

[Ninot]

I loved my toshiba to the end.

I don't trust HP or Compaq, and I consider Sony to be overpriced bull.

I'm thinking of getting this Toshiba, with an xbox on the side for gaming:

http://www.staples.ca/ENG/Catalog/cat_sku.asp?CatIds=88%2C89%2C90,4567&webid=652237&affixedcode=WW

[Nostromo]

I don't trust HP or Compaq, and I consider Sony to be overpriced bull.

QFT

Can you play CIV on the Toshiba? If so, go for it. But the integrated graphics means it will not be that hot for gaming. Maybe it'll do just fine for CIV, though.

[Ninot]

I don't know if I could. Honestly, I'd guess no, or it would have to be with all the bells and whistles turned off. Not that I need the graphics.

[Aabraxan]

If you can tack on a few bucks of your own: (1) you might be able to get a better bargain, even if the laptop costs a little more; and (2) it would allow you to ensure that you get the full value of that warranty ($1400), as opposed to (for example) buying a $1300 laptop and losing $100 of that value.

[Ninot]

The warranty refund is good for 2 years, and I don't have to use it all at once. I'm sure I'll need school supplies enough to use it up.

[Jon Miller]

The M405 is fine with Civ4. That suggests that any current Toshiba would be.

I would recomment: Fujitsu, IBM (not as good as they use to be), Assus, or Toshiba (not as good as they use to be) as they make the best quality. For cheapness, Dell, HP, and Gateway are the best choices. Apple has some of their machines made by Assus, those are good (I think).

Jon Miller
(Sony is just overpriced..)

[snoopy369]

The Intel 950 GMA (which is the graphics card on that machine) is on the 'marginal' list, due to the fact that it only supports T&L through a software workaround. I'd bet it's pretty slow, though I think it would actually play Civ4. But it doesn't 'technically' meet the minimum requirements.

I think its main problem might be RAM - if you can get that with an extra 1GB of RAM, that'd be nice. The GMA uses system RAM, so that would be a slowdown factor. Make sure to set it to always use the full 128MB at least...

[Jon Miller]

Mine played Civ4 better (once I had turned off my wireless) than half the laptops at the Apolycon.

JM

[Ninot]

JM, did your M405 have Intel graphics?

[Jon Miller]

Yeah. I think they all do. It plays Rise of Legends and EVE also (not too poorly).

Jon Miller

[Kuciwalker]

Originally posted by snoopy369
I'm not sure I understand the staples aspect of this... you have a warranty with them that allows replacement up to $1400 [at no cost to you]? If that's true, then ... have fun buying overpriced laptops without spending your own money Otherwise, i'd head over to newegg or whatever you canadians use instead ...

1400 CDN isn't overpriced at all.