Laptop help! Im looking for a laptop with a good processor, an exchangeable video card, good price, (cont.)?

Laptop help! Im looking for a laptop with a good processor, an exchangeable video card, good price, and a good enough power supply to support a good video card. i plan on using it for gaming, primarily games that run on the source engine (TF2, Half-Life, etc.) and my idea of a good price is around the $500 dollar range maybe max up to $750 but any suggestions?|||Good luck with that.



Why?



Your unreasonable expectation of getting a laptop with a video card that can be removed, for $500 to $750. What would EVER make you think there was a laptop like this that even existed? Just because you want one to be that price?



Customizable laptops command a premium price, because they can do more. If you wanted a completely custom laptop, one that you could remove the video card with great gaming power, you can expect to pay upwards of $6000 at Falcon Northwest http://www.falcon-nw.com/ See for yourself. Otherwise, if you want a laptop in your pricerange, try actually LOOKING at what retail stores have to offer. You will see systems with integrated parts, low to midline graphic chipsets... laptops that are designed for media playback. That is what is out there for $500 to $750. And good gaming laptops with integrated parts usually start around $1100.



So you can expect that a laptop that can be upgraded to last longer, will cost even MORE.... since laptop manufacturers make their money by selling laptops. In order to sell laptops, people need to replace their existing laptops, as opposed to being able to upgrade them. So, you either can get a laptop at a replacable price like you want, or you can pay the premium for a laptop that can do everything AND be upgraded... since a gaming laptop with a removable video card is a laptop that can potentially run any game and software.



If you want a laptop that will be used mainly for Source Engine games, you should be looking for a laptop that you won't expect to run games that come out AFTER Those games came out.

http://supportwiki.steampowered.com/wiki…

Team Fortress 2 - Recommended: Pentium 4 processor (3.0GHz, or better), 1GB RAM, DirectX® 9 level Graphics Card

Half-life 2 - Recommended: 2.4 GHz Processor, 512MB RAM, DirectX 9 level graphics card



The problem HERE, is the processor speed. You can get all kinds of laptops in your price range that have 2.0ghz, 2.1ghz, 2.2ghz processors... but as you get up to 2.4 and 3.0ghz processors... not many programs require that much processor muscle. Games, sure. Internet Explorer? No. Windows Media player? No. Normal usage doesn't need much more than 2.0 ghz... dual core, quad core notwithstanding. A Quad core 2.0ghz processor still isn't going to run Team Fortress very well.



Now, my old 2004 Toshiba Satellite A75-s231 will play Source Engine games great. It's got a 3.33ghz P4 processor in it. However, it was a $2000 laptop when it came out. If you want to find one on Ebay (and they are out there) you will be stylin. You'll be able to get one for $300 if you look. You will have your laptop just for Source Engine games... but don't expect to play any games that require a Dual Core processor.



So, maybe you can find an old Alienware or Sager that will just meet the recommended specs, and it won't cost all that much... and you'll be able to swap out the Nvidia 7800 for an Nvidia 8800. Just be aware that you won't find anything new with a fast enough processor, for what you want to pay.



end of line|||Dell inspiron 1545, look it up on the dell website!

www.dell.com