On the market for a laptop

[horvendile]

I have discovered that for the first time ever, I'm on the market for a laptop. Never having bothered with them before, I also discovered that I lack most clues I have about stationary computers.

I basically want three things out of my laptop:
a) It must be portable. I'm not looking for a desktop replacement. I must not hesitate whether it's worth the trouble to take it along on, for example, business trips. I suspect that 12" would be perfect, but up to 14" may be acceptable.
b) It should have decent battery life.
c) The graphics must be sufficient to drive at least some games. The bar is not set at Oblivion, but rather Europa Universalis 3, Civ 4, maybe AoE 3. This is for those hotel nights without anything to do. Also, Vista with Aero should be usable.

I have found two alternatives. This
http://www.komplett.se/k/ki.asp?sku=331664 (Asus A8Js, 14", nVidia Go7700, 2.4 kg)
and this
http://www.komplett.se/k/ki.asp?sku=334550 (LG Z1-A7FNV, 12", Mobility Radeon X1350, 1.9 kg)
The links are in Swedish, but hardware specs tend to be international

So... any comments? In particular, will the Mobility Radeon X1350 be sufficient for my needs? That, I suspect, will be the core of the problem. It seems nigh on impossible to find a 12" with decent graphics.

Oh, and I live in Sweden. (Well, duh)

 

[horvendile]

BTW, I forgot one thing.
There is really no immediate hurry, other than the usual "ohmygodwhatagreatidea, I must shop NOW!"-exhilaration. Is there any special reason to wait one or a couple of months?

 

[digitalwanderer]

No clue. I got my first laptop a little while ago but my requirements were way different, I got a 17" monster that is used as a portable desktop replacement/entertainment center pretty much.

Got a Dell E1705 and I really like it, if that helps any.

EDITED BITS: If I had to do it again, I'd get something with more "oomph" than the X1400 mobility. It's great for watching anything, but it's REALLY limited on gaming. (The 1920x1200 display don't help with that. )

 

[poopypoo]

the nV GF7700 (512 MB) in that A8Js is pretty good for gaming, I must say. My g/f's got a just-about-identical computer to that, specwise (asus g1), and it runs AOE3 Warchiefs without any hitches, all settings maxed. I want to mess with the resolution some more but she doesn't like anything higher than 1280x720 (not great eyesight). If you want, I could bench something for you, but I'd say AOE3 is by far the most demanding game you mentioned enjoying...

 

[Graham]

Unless you wait for the impending avalanche of DX10 notebook announcements (I'd expect) then you can't beat the A8Js. The specs on that little devil are insane for a 14", everything, screen (1440x900), hdd, cpu, ram, webcam, gpu especially. It's nuts.
My attitude is get what you know will be satisfying, even if it costs more than you'd like to pay. It sucks terribly when you skimp on something, then have to live with it.

I personally am waiting to see what asus do with DX10 mobile + hybrid hdds. A 14" with a 2600xt + Hdd with ~8gb flash would be rather tasty indeed.

 

[horvendile]

Thanks folks!
I opened my cupboard'o'games at home and found lots of slightly older games that I would love to play and that would be perfectly happy with the X1350. It's not that I don't enjoy Oblivion, but there are plenty of less demanding games that I could also play. Remember that this would not be my primary gaming platform. Let's just hope that those older games will work under Vista...

Actually, Vista seems to be my new stumbling block. Will the games work, and will the X1350 be enough to drive Aero? You don't know of any good site covering those aspects?

 

[horvendile]

NB. Having been away from the forums a while, I didn't know about the purchasing decision forum, where I guess this thread really belongs. Sorry! Should any mods want to move the thread, be my guest.

 

[Frank]

Thanks folks!
I opened my cupboard'o'games at home and found lots of slightly older games that I would love to play and that would be perfectly happy with the X1350. It's not that I don't enjoy Oblivion, but there are plenty of less demanding games that I could also play. Remember that this would not be my primary gaming platform. Let's just hope that those older games will work under Vista...

Actually, Vista seems to be my new stumbling block. Will the games work, and will the X1350 be enough to drive Aero? You don't know of any good site covering those aspects?

The X1350 will be plenty to use Aero. And any old game. But the Asus is very nice.

Then again, if you only game occasionally, the resolution of that sceen is too high for it's size. Unless you turn the resolution down to about 800 * 600 (and scaling is bad), using Windows or general apps requires great eyesight or a high treshold of things looking out of whack.

 

[horvendile]

I rather fancy that I have great eyesight!
But of course, I won't buy anything without going to some computer shop and pat, if not identical, at least similar computers.