http://www.jbhifi.com.au/computers/hp/pavilion-15-inch-noteb…
Looking for a new laptop for work and some gaming on the side (not overly intensive games; mostly older ones circa 2003, and a few recent ones like Civilization V and The Sims 3). Is this a decent one in terms of ram, processor and graphics card?
I'm an editor so do a lot of writing, use photoshop heaps for digital image editing, etc. Yeah I have heard constantly that the 1366 x 768 resolution is not ideal, but is it really that bad? I'm sure my current laptop (2010 Acer Aspire 5742) is the same and I've had no problems using it these last three and a half years.
Thanks for the link, btw. Not necessarily interested in playing the latest games or biggest ones (BF4, MMOs, etc) on this, just a few older titles (circa 2011, probably) I've missed out on in the last few years.
You won't be able to make out targets in the distance relative to other players with igher resolution so you'd be disadvantaged in most fps games, just play dota 2, dont need much else lol
That's the thing, I don't really mind because I won't be playing intensive first-person shooters, online or MMO games like Battlefield 4 or Elder Scrolls Online — I'll mostly be playing old school games or games from the last few years, like Civilization V and The Sims 3. Is this laptop good enough for those type of games?
Yeah definitely, 740m is quite good for a laptop, only issues I've found with laptops is overheating, a little tip I do is elevate it from the surface I'm playing on lol, 2 to 4 tank pieces of pencil rubbers would help
Thanks for the advice dude. So will the processor (1.8GHz with turbo up to 3.0GHz) be okay for Civilization V and other games?
I use to play civ 5 with a 6370m, had no issues, 740m is better, CPU is fine
I think full HD (1080) is a minimum for a 15" screen. For photoshop and editing writing, I would say its a must have - you may not know what you are missing. Depending on your workspace, a second screen might be a better investment than a more expensive laptop.
That being said, I'd prefer the Asus you listed below so that you have a little money left over to buy upgrade it to an SSD. An SSD makes the biggest difference to your day-to-day performance.
HP is cr@p, their heat sink is shxt…
I bought 2 HP laptop and they both melted… their overheated GPU & CPU will destroy the motherboard and wireless lan, so you will start experience internet drop, and motherboard failure if you continously play graphic demanding games (for me, that was wow, rift, bf)
p.s. I am a gamer, if you just use it for work purpose, with a proper laptop stand, it may still ok, but again, I dont suggest this brand. Go out JB hifi have a look on the demo, and have a feel on the temperature on those laptop which only runs windows and nothing else, you can still feel a noticeable different from HP and the better brand like ASUS or Dell.
Read up on the overheating in regards to HP Pavillion, doesn't look that great. Do these look like good alternatives?
Toshiba: http://www.jbhifionline.com.au/computers-laptops/laptops/tos…
Dell: http://www.jbhifionline.com.au/computers-laptops/laptops/del…
Asus: http://www.jbhifionline.com.au/computers-laptops/laptops/asu…
What's your budget mate?
$1000. I got a $200 gift card at JB which is why I'm trying to buy from there.
The Dell looks like the best deal, definitely the best graphics card, resolution isn't ideal for high end multiplayer gaming but that's not what you're going for. Also the Dell has more storage and features, double the ram and a better CPU
Recently discovered in my HP DV6 laptop it was the cheap-crap thermal paste that was causing the overheating since purchase, fan always ran at 100% I just thought this was normal.
Removed and reapplied quality paste - managed to drop my CPU load temps by 25degrees (105deg down to 80deg).
To summerise, I would never buy a HP again - shouldnt be something I need to replace.
Yeah I don't get how cutting costs on thermal paste helps, it's so cheap and effective…
I would say its machine applied and poorly, it looked like the original paste completely missed half the chip.
Depending on what you do for "work". However if you need to do lots of reading, having high density information on the screen, sorting through many rows of spreadsheets, etc — you would want to get a better screen than 1366 x 768.
NVIDIA GeForce GT 740M should have no problem. Performance according to NotebookCheck - BF4 "playable" in medium settings.