Computer to Run SH3
 

Looking for answers to the following question:

What is the least expensive laptop computer available to purchase new online for delivery in the US that will run SH3 and its more graphics-intensive mods satisfactorily?

I suspect there is no one right answer. I would like to get opinions.

I recently purchased a multipurpose laptop, I7 2.3ghz Processor, 8Gigs of Ram and 2Gigs of Video ( NVIDIA ), an ASUS ( 64 bit ), it has the option to upgrade to 16Gigs of RAM.

Runs SH3 flawlessly now, can run all of Aces great mods, MFM, GWX and a bunch of other stuff with great performance. My load times with the above set-up are about 8-10 minutes. I use the 4Gig patch as well.

When I got the system it was more out of necessity then what game it would run ( my older system was closing in on eight years ). But I did not want to just get a system that would not only run SH3, but 4 and 5 as well. SH5 is still a work in progress, but at some point I will fire it up again. I think it is worth spending the extra $$ to get a little beefier system.

Also I got the above with the option to try and buy for 15 days. So I could take it home and put the thing through its paces before I bought it. I tried an AMD based system and was not nearly as happy as when I switched to Intel.

The system above was about $1000.00 Canadian before taxes.

I am sure you could do something for cheaper than the above for sure, but again I would go with something above just running the current
mods-game you want to use.

I'm using a Dell Latitude 3540 Intel 4200U 1.6Ghz (up to 2.6Ghz with Intel TurboBoost running), 4GB 1600Mhz DDR3 RAM, 5400RPM 500GB Hard Drive, and it has two GPUs (the integrated Intel 4400 HD for power-saving apps) and an (integrated AMD Radeon 8850M 2GB for performance based apps). It came with Windows 7 Pro 64-bit but I upgraded it to Windows 8.1 Pro 64-bit the day it came in the mail.

VA Vocational Rehab bought me this computer with a Brother Ink-jet printer for me to do my school work on. But it's not a bad mid-range gaming laptop/PC either. The VA paid like $1900 for this PC and the printer and a copy of Office 365 and a 4GB USB drive on the invoice. They got ripped off big time IMHO, but it's not my money (it's the tax payers money) and I didn't have a say in what I got but I'm glad to have it to do my school work on.

Anyways, looking up this PC online it runs around the $800 price point but it's been as low as $600 on sale. The RAM is upgradable to 16GB because there's two RAM slots that each support 8GB and that's been confirmed with Crucial.

The hard drive is upgradable as well. I think with an SSD drive or at least an SSD Hybrid drive and 16GB of RAM this system would be very nice. But it's good enough right now for SHIII + GWX and the 1920x1080 mod/fix because I played it last night with smooth frame rates.

The CPU isn't upgradable I don't think, but it is an i5 (4th gen) with 2 cores running 4 threads. The i7 quad-core (4500U) would be better but would cost a little more of course. But it's hard to find any system with 3Ghz+ quad-core for cheap - especially in a laptop. But the Turbo-boost on this system can and does sustain 2.6Ghz nicely. The fan does kick on and can be a little loud but it keeps the temps down. Just use some headphones and you'll hardly notice it.

I have a 1920X1080 27" monitor sitting on top of my laptop. I prefer the bigger screen than the laptop's built in screen but it is native 1920X1080 on the laptop screen. This system does not have an HDMI port but it does have a VGA port on the side. So that's how I connected my monitor to the laptop. I've done that same thing with an HDMI cable before on an old laptop I used to own. But VGA works just as well. It just doesn't support sound to my monitor which has built in speakers. But the laptop speakers still work even with the case closed and my monitor sitting on top of it. I have a USB backlight keyboard and a USB Razor gaming mouse plugged into the sides of the laptop. It has 4 USB ports. 3 of them are USB 3.0 and one of them is USB 2.0

Anyways, that's all I got to say about that.

Nice post FullMetalADCAP :yep:

I should also mention that I went for a system with a higher resolution capability, the system I have runs at its highest, 1920X1080.

The Dell Latitude 3540 runs at 1920X1080 native as well. I just use my 27" monitor to get a bigger image than the 15.6" laptop screen. If I have to go on the road I will leave the bigger monitor here at home and just take the laptop. But at home I use the larger monitor connected to the laptop. Anyways, the Latitude 3540 is a good system for the money and can play games as well due to the AMD Radeon 8850M 2GB GDDR5 RAM. I plan on upgrading the hard drive and increasing the 4GB of system RAM to 16GB around the holidays. The 16GB of RAM will cost about $165 (maybe less if on sale) and an SSD card with 500GB is about $250-300 give or take. I might just get a 1TB SSD hybrid drive for even cheaper so I have more space versus the speed. I haven't decided yet.