Laptop buying help, please?

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fripplebubby

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#1  Edited By fripplebubby

Hey guys, I wasn't sure on a few things and I thought if anyone knew, it would be the folks at Giantbomb.  
 
So I wanted to get a little netbook or small laptop for portability and sexyness (obviously), but I really can't find exactly what I want. I need something dirt cheap (around $400 would be good, no joke) that runs vista or 7 (not XP, please). The netbooks I saw on Amazon mainly ran Windows 7 Starter, which would be fine except that limits the computer to 1gb of RAM. That's ridiculous. Also, every one seems to have the same 1.66 GHZ processor.  
 
I just want a laptop or netbook that can run something like WoW (not specifically WoW, but that type of thing) and be decently cheap. The screen size doesn't really matter, battery life would be nice but i'm not above just getting a car charger or something.  
I'm not planning on trying to play Crysis or anything, but I would like it to be decently functional. Maybe i'm asking for too much, but i've been surprised before. Here is the link to the one I would get if there's nothing better available.  
 
Thanks for reading, please post suggestions.

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Geno

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#2  Edited By Geno

Not sure if a $400 laptop can even run WoW on low settings. Do you have a desktop where you can just put that $400 towards a better graphics card and/or CPU? If you're just looking for a netbook however there's a wide variety at that price range.
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fripplebubby

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#3  Edited By fripplebubby
@Geno: Yeah, I have a desktop that runs most of the stuff I want, that's not the issue. I just want something to carry around, take on road trips, etc. I figured I was asking too much... 
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Driadon

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#4  Edited By Driadon

Netbooks are designed to do exactly as it says: access the internet and that's basically it. The only game I can think of that could possibly run on one is Torchlight.

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71Ranchero

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#5  Edited By 71Ranchero

Its tough to get a laptop that will do any kind of decent gaming. Even if they are made with gaming in mind the simple fact remains that allot of pc games just dont support laptops. They dont exactly say that the game wont work on a laptop but often they are not optimized and its a buy at your own risk kind of deal. The key to buying a laptop that you want to do some gaming on is to remember that X mobile gfx card and X mobile processor are not the same as X pc gfx card and X pc processor even if they have similar specs. Can you get a $400 laptop that plays WoW? Yup, but dont expect much in the way or support if you have driver issues. Also I have heard horror stories about WoW overheating laptops as well. I cant point you in the direction of a good laptop because I dont use them personally, but if you already have a PC and you have decided that you definitely want a laptop then any modern one should play WoW and most likely just about any other game out. Just dont expect a high frame rate and be prepared to burn your legs from the heat. 
Stay away from netbooks though, you will be lucky to play flash games on those, let alone 3d games.

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DavidPalmer

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#6  Edited By DavidPalmer
@Geno said:
" Not sure if a $400 laptop can even run WoW on low settings. Do you have a desktop where you can just put that $400 towards a better graphics card and/or CPU? If you're just looking for a netbook however there's a wide variety at that price range. "
No it probably cannot. I have an HP netbook and this thing is almost painfully underpowered. Watching video on Hulu and surfing the web at the same time routinely crashes the browser. I'd go with a cheaper full size laptop or maybe a used Apple (you can run Boot Camp for Windows games) is better for you.