Cheapest possible laptop?

LivetoGive

Hey folks,

I'm trying to find the cheapest possible laptop/netbook that meets these requirements;

PC Minimum System Requirements*:

• Windows® XP/Windows Vista®/Windows® 7 (Updated with the latest Service Packs) with DirectX® 9.0c
• 2.6 GHz Pentium® IV or equivalent AMD Athlon® processor
• 128 MB PCIe NVIDIA® GeForce® 6600 GT or ATI Radeon® 9800 PRO video card or better
• 12 GB available HD space
• 1 GB RAM (1.5 GB required for Windows Vista®/Windows® 7 users)
• DVD-ROM drive
• Broadband Internet connection
• 1024X720 minimum display resolution

Any suggestions? I can possibly upgrade RAM myself etc so all I really need is 2.6GHz processor and a decent video card. Thanks.

LivetoGive

Budget: Very little, like 300 euro range

Intended use: Starcraft 2

Mobility: not important

Warranty: not important

What Operating System do you use? Windows 7

Ok I fixed the format of my request, can someone please help me now?

LivetoGive

LivetoGive wrote: »

Budget: Very little, like 300 euro range

Intended use: Starcraft 2

Mobility: not important

Warranty: not important

What Operating System do you use? Windows 7

Ok I fixed the format of my request, can someone please help me now?

not possible new for 300 euro. 550 or so I would say for such a laptop new. look for second-hand in adverts. laptops that can run new/ relatively new games are expensive.

http://www.maximumpc.com/article/home/what_kind_machine_will_run_starcraft_ii_we_find_out

starcraft 2 on various pc specs..

Overheal

why the cheapest possible?

odonnellcarey

This MSI A6300 for €349 in Argos should run it at lower graphics settings.

odonnellcarey

odonnellcarey wrote: »

This MSI A6300 for €349 in Argos should run it at lower graphics settings.

should just about do it yes - buy it and if it's crap return it!

LivetoGive

Thanks for all the replies

glasso wrote: »

http://www.maximumpc.com/article/home/what_kind_machine_will_run_starcraft_ii_we_find_out

starcraft 2 on various pc specs..

That's awesome, thanks man! I'll give it a read asap.

Overheal wrote: »

why the cheapest possible?

Because I only want it for Starcraft 2, so all other perks/specs are irrelevant. And I'm broke as %&!@

glasso wrote: »

not possible new for 300 euro. 550 or so I would say for such a laptop new. look for second-hand in adverts. laptops that can run new/ relatively new games are expensive.

odonnellcarey wrote: »

This MSI A6300 for €349 in Argos should run it at lower graphics settings.

My budget is now reduced to 100 euro :eek: It dawned on me to check Ebay for second hand laptops and I found a few that might run the game for $100 USD. However...

For most of them the RAM needs to be upgraded but I can do that for very cheap, which would make it a bargain imo. Can any laptop be easily opened (with apt knowledge) and given extra RAM or is there something I'm missing?

Do you guys wanna check the links below and see if these kinds of laptops could run the game with a simple RAM upgrade?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-ZX5000-Laptop-Note-Book-Windows-XP-P4-CD-Backup-Car-Home-Power-Wireless-NR-/260885796763?pt=Laptops_Nov05&hash=item3cbe01579b

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-Inspiron-5150-Pentium-4-3-06GHz-512MB-DVD-Combo-15-LCD-Laptop-Computer-/170723182492?pt=Laptops_Nov05&hash=item27bfe5079c

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Toshiba-Satellite-A70-3-06GHz-1GB-0GB-15-4-WXGA-WLAN-/130573767444?pt=Laptops_Nov05&hash=item1e66cd9314

Many thanks for the help

tl;dr - Could these laptops run SC2?

Alanstrainor

Screw that man, those laptops are heaps of ****e. Id check adverts and the likes and wait until you've got more cash to play with. Wouldn't touch any of those machines. I mean those laptops have to be 5 years plus old.

man, there is cheap and hoping that things are cheap. I'd like an ipad 2 for 50 euro but it ain't going to happen. no hope for buying a laptop for 100 euro to run this unless it's nicked and I hope that you're not planning on going down that road. scrape together the cash over a while and get the Argos one. Pentium 4 won't run it for definite.

Overheal

LivetoGive wrote: »

Because I only want it for Starcraft 2, so all other perks/specs are irrelevant. And I'm broke as %&!@

and you think a netbook will run SC2?

Thats why I asked.

If you cant afford the right thing, dont waste money on the wrong thing.

LivetoGive

Ok I won't get any of the ebay laptops Thanks for the heads-up
I like the look of that Argos one, but the processor it has is an 'AMD Athlon(tm) II Dual Core P340', and I can't find out, what speed does it run at? GHz wise?

how about any of these:

http://www.adverts.ie/laptops/custom-made-laptop-15-4/1093363
http://www.adverts.ie/laptops/asus-eeepc-windows-7-as-new/1071801

I think I'm going to go with a Dell Latitude E6400 notebook, second hand.

strobe

LivetoGive wrote: »

Ok I won't get any of the ebay laptops Thanks for the heads-up
I like the look of that Argos one, but the processor it has is an 'AMD Athlon(tm) II Dual Core P340', and I can't find out, what speed does it run at? GHz wise?

how about any of these:

http://www.adverts.ie/laptops/custom-made-laptop-15-4/1093363
http://www.adverts.ie/laptops/asus-eeepc-windows-7-as-new/1071801

I think I'm going to go with a Dell Latitude E6400 notebook, second hand.

This site is really good for checking out processors and graphics cards and things.

www.notebookcheck.net

Processor rankings/comparisons.
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Processors-Benchmarklist.2436.0.html

Here's the page for the P340
http://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-Athlon-II-P340-Notebook-Processor.37883.0.html

Graphics card rankings/comparisons.
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Graphics-Cards-Benchmark-List.844.0.html
(I think you'd want one of the ones at least in the top 150 but preferably one in the top 100 if you want to play it on higher graphics setting.)

Here is the same sites review of the Dell E6400
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-Dell-Latitude-E6400-Notebook.12875.0.html

And here is a direct comparison for some cards and how they run SCII
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/blizzard-entertainment-starcraft-ii-benchmark,2611-6.html

LivetoGive

strobe wrote: »

This site is really good for checking out processors and graphics cards and things.

www.notebookcheck.net

Processor rankings/comparisons.
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Processors-Benchmarklist.2436.0.html

Here's the page for the P340
http://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-Athlon-II-P340-Notebook-Processor.37883.0.html

Graphics card rankings/comparisons.
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Graphics-Cards-Benchmark-List.844.0.html
(I think you'd want one of the ones at least in the top 150 but preferably one in the top 100 if you want to play it on higher graphics setting.)

Here is the same sites review of the Dell E6400
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-Dell-Latitude-E6400-Notebook.12875.0.html

And here is a direct comparison for some cards and how they run SCII
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/blizzard-entertainment-starcraft-ii-benchmark,2611-6.html

Wow, helpfulness overload! Thanks so much!

Alanstrainor

LivetoGive wrote: »

I think I'm going to go with a Dell Latitude E6400 notebook, second hand.

Did your budget just increase dramatically or am i missing something?

Overheal

SC2 Needs a good processor. Just saying. Athlons definitely dont cut the mustard on that game, and certainly not the mobile athlons.

LivetoGive

Alanstrainor wrote: »

Did your budget just increase dramatically or am i missing something?

Well my budget has to increase if I want to get what I'm after, but yeah I realised I can sell my current laptop for 100 euro. I'm going to pay whatever it takes, but I still want the cheapest possible laptop, budget be damned.