Computer help

[FDNYpower]

I would like to get a new laptop but I need to know if it will run em4 with no lag. m.bestbuy.com/m/e/product/detail.jsp?skuId=7046195&pid=1219248584104&pcatId=abcat0502000

[MikeyPI]

AMD A6-6310 Processor with AMD Radeon R4 graphics
Ensures reliable performance.

 

This means an onboard chipset video graphics card, they do well with videos and things like that, they are not designed for gaming so at best you have a 50/50 chance it will run the game well...  On mine for example it runs it relatively well, but does not like particles or dynamic lighting...  Really to be able to play games on a laptop it would require either an ATI video chipset or a Nvidia chipset... Those two chips can do gaming relatively well for a laptop, however laptops are not designed for gaming so it's a push to expect desktop performance from a notebook device.

 

The last notebook I had that could handle gaming pretty well was a 1200 usd computer, if you are not willing to drop around 700+ for a notebook realize that it probrably won't be that capable when it comes to gaming.  In order to have any chance at being decent at gaming it should have an ATI or Nvidia dedicated chipset, not a processor integrated video system.

[theparanoid]

One thing I noticed it 4gb of ram but that shared with the video card.

[randomperson139]

How much money are you willing to spend? Is the $300 that machine costs about where you're thinking?

[mariuswww]

The funny thing is, that most computers made from 2004-2014 (with more than 2gb RAM, and even Intel graphics) will 99% likley run Em4. But if you wanna run mods like Manhattan mods that are big and maybe not 100% optimized, and also maybe run Em5 one day, you're going to have to put a little more money into a graphics card and in some cases a somewhat decent CPU to "future proof" your pc a little bit.

 

My suggestion would be an i3 or i5, and R7 250/R7 260 or Nvidia 750, these graphics card are fairly low end cheap but it would suprise me if they didnt run Em4 and Manhattan mod and they are still 100x better than integrated graphics such as Intel. But obviously the more money you can put into your computer the more "future proof" you're gonna be. 

 

My 2 cents..

[FDNYpower]

That's for the comments everybody it's a big help, but as far as my spending limit I only have 500 dollars

[MikeyPI]

At that price point you will only find an integrated chipset (amd or intel) while these can play some games, realize they are not dedicated memory and therefore not the best for gaming.. I have a Satellite with an AMD chipset, it generally can play most older games (pre-2013) without much effort, however it does struggle with particles (smoke) and shadows, turn these down on most games and it is pretty good overall.. As to EM4 the game is an oddball one, for it being so old when you use modifications with it, it needs a good deal of resources, so typically the integrated cards are spotty when it comes to mods...  IF that is the best you can do, the best way to help with that is higher memory available... The integrated chipsets have "shared memory" meaning it uses what the system has overall to supply it's self memory, this fact takes away physical memory from the application/system, while also limiting the card it's self... To help with that try to find a system with 6-8 gb ram, it will allow it more memory to use instead of a 4 gb where you'll likely lose a gb to the vid card.

[MedicalByte]

You could look into off-lease or refurbished laptops. I previously had a refurbished laptop (it was only because of  battery clip, not a very bad thing at all).

For example, here's an off-lease laptop that has a Radeon 6470M gpu (that fits your $500 budget): http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=9152163&srkey=1AS-102560108

 

My previous laptop had an Intel dual-core 2.1GHz cpu, 3GB RAM, and an ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4330 gpu. It ran Emergency 4 fairly well. Sometimes the particles/effects were too much for it (e.g. huge forest fires) but aside from that, it ran just about any mod I threw at it, even Manhattan mod (most of the time).

 

The laptop I listed above has an Intel i5 2.5GHz cpu, 4GB RAM, and a Radeon HD 6470M gpu. It is, at the very least, as good as the one I had, if not marginally better as well. According to GPUBoss (http://gpuboss.com/gpus/Radeon-HD-6470M-vs-Mobility-Radeon-HD-4330), the Radeon HD 6470M outperforms the HD 4330 I had, so technically you should be able to run Emergency 4/most (if not all) mods without too much trouble.

 

Keep in mind it only has a 14" screen compared to the 15" screen on the one you listed originally (in case screen size matters to you, not that you couldn't technically hook up an external monitor if need be).

[FDNYpower]

Thanks for the help everyone, I managed to get a great deal on an asus g73jh so I'll be all set with pretty much any game!

[randomperson139]

I bet that was a bit more than $300!