Wich laptop

[Jmac 10+ year member]

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8907043&st=gateway+fx&lp=2&type=product&cp=1&id=1213046783376
i bought it for 750 on sale, got away with 811$ including tax.

radeon 2600

4 gigs

dual core duo centrino 1

"very nice"-borat

That would be decent and not badly-priced, either.
It uses older equipment (65 nm Core 2, HD 2600, and 965 chipset), so don't expect stellar battery life or thermals, though. It's also a little thicker and heavier than most modern laptops, too (probably from heatsink due to less efficient parts).

If you're going to be plugging it in most of the time, this shouldn't be much of an issue ...

 

[benchambers80]

That would be decent and not badly-priced, either.
It uses older equipment (65 nm Core 2, HD 2600, and 965 chipset), so don't expect stellar battery life or thermals, though. It's also a little thicker and heavier than most modern laptops, too (probably from heatsink due to less efficient parts).

If you're going to be plugging it in most of the time, this shouldn't be much of an issue ...

yea, its not bad.

performance vs battery life

performance vs value

 

[scrappy 10+ year member]

The 3200 (aka HD 2400) and 3450 are almost useless for gaming, though ... They're fine for older games (3+ years old) and low-end casual games, but are insufficient for most new games. My friend has a GeForce 8400 and Civ 4 is barely playable on medium graphics settings (he runs it at low so he can maintain a decent framerate) and that's on par w/ those 2. Civ 4 is by no means new or even graphically intensive, as well.
Even the 8600/9500 and 2600/3650 are barely passable for new games @ medium settings, thus why I advise getting AT LEAST those cards if you want to have the ability to play future games w/ half decent framerates, even if they can only be played at low/low-medium settings.

Alright Ill look into those card. This is why im not a big computer gamer. It seems like inorder to play for more than a year you have to always update the video card. Anything else

 

[SQL4Life 10+ year member]

buy it from a powerseller on ebay, save u a couple hundred... that is what i did with my laptop

 

[Jmac 10+ year member]

Alright Ill look into those card. This is why im not a big computer gamer. It seems like inorder to play for more than a year you have to always update the video card. Anything else

It depends how fast the card is, what shader model it supports, and how much memory it has. Obviously, if you get a high-end card that supports a next generation shader model, you're going to get substantially more use from it than a low-end card with a current generation shader model.
For example, I got a GeForce 8800 GTS 640 MB in January 2007 (released fall 2006). This card is perfectly adequate for even today's games, even being 2 years old, although a few newer games can only run at medium settings. I could have very easily used this card for at least another year, possibly 2 or even 3 before it became completely obsolete (unsupported and/or unable to play games at even low settings).

With a laptop, you don't have the option of upgrading the video card, so if you want to play games for a while, you'll want to get at least a midrange card, if not a high-end card (keep in mind, high-end entails terrible battery life, a substantial amount of heat, thicker chassis, and heavier weight; midrange cards are generally still energy efficient and don't come with the same drastic drawbacks).