Laptops that have game!

[Zantos]

That's a pretty good processor. I don't think the size would be a huge issue. I'm in physical sciences anyway, so it's going to be a lot of math work which will likely require pen+paper.

Trust me, you'll be looking to software to do your maths more and more as the years go by. Luckily any good gaming computer will run Mathematica or Maple pretty well too. Turns out scientific requirements are similar to gaming ones.

 

[martin's a madman]

That's a pretty good processor. I don't think the size would be a huge issue. I'm in physical sciences anyway, so it's going to be a lot of math work which will likely require pen+paper.

Trust me, you'll be looking to software to do your maths more and more as the years go by. Luckily any good gaming computer will run Mathematica or Maple pretty well too. Turns out scientific requirements are similar to gaming ones.

Haha, yes, I always forget that science is done almost entirely with computers.
So much so that I was dumbstruck when I found out I'd be taking a programming course.

 

[psicat]

The MSI GE620 is a good one.
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=416893&CatId=4938

With that laptop, it says processor speed is 2.0Ghz with 2,9 with intel turbo boost technology. Is that an add on feature? And is its practical speed 2.0Ghz or 2.9? Because that's an important difference.

It's a 2.0Ghz processor but Intel Turbo Boost basically overclocks the processor to 2.9Ghz once thermal limits are reached it should drop back to 2.0Ghz until it cools down again.

So, would a game which requires 2.1Ghz minimum be unplayable?

No because the most a game requires is based on the clock speed of a Core 2 Duo so a quad core processor is more than enough to run anything you throw at it. Usually where you want to be careful anyways with a gaming on a laptop is not meeting GPU requirements that's why you want to look for something with a dedicated graphics card like the one I recommended.

Quad core means there are 4 individual units for processing, and they each work at 2.0, right?

Yes, that's right. Something with a good quad core processor, at least 4GB RAM, and a dedicated graphics card should handle pretty much anything you can throw at it. A mouse and perhaps a Cooling Pad would be a good idea to, especially for gaming. I've found MSI, Sony, ASUS, and Samsung laptops all pretty good, and if you don't mind spending extra Alienware are considered rather good to, if rather overpriced.

 

[martin's a madman]

The MSI GE620 is a good one.
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=416893&CatId=4938

With that laptop, it says processor speed is 2.0Ghz with 2,9 with intel turbo boost technology. Is that an add on feature? And is its practical speed 2.0Ghz or 2.9? Because that's an important difference.

It's a 2.0Ghz processor but Intel Turbo Boost basically overclocks the processor to 2.9Ghz once thermal limits are reached it should drop back to 2.0Ghz until it cools down again.

So, would a game which requires 2.1Ghz minimum be unplayable?

No because the most a game requires is based on the clock speed of a Core 2 Duo so a quad core processor is more than enough to run anything you throw at it. Usually where you want to be careful anyways with a gaming on a laptop is not meeting GPU requirements that's why you want to look for something with a dedicated graphics card like the one I recommended.

Quad core means there are 4 individual units for processing, and they each work at 2.0, right?

Yes, that's right. Something with a good quad core processor, at least 4GB RAM, and a dedicated graphics card should handle pretty much anything you can throw at it. A mouse and perhaps a Cooling Pad would be a good idea to, especially for gaming. I've found MSI, Sony, ASUS, and Samsung laptops all pretty good, and if you don't mind spending extra Alienware are considered rather good to, if rather overpriced.

Thank you, you've been very helpful.