Laptop Help for a Sick WoW player

[MabotoRex]

To preface this, I wanted to thank you guys for maintaining a forum where you don't have to be a paying WoW member to post at.

One of our coworkers, who we'd more likely consider family, is in a rough spot. His mother, who is also an avid WoW player, is having some health concerns and has been in the office for some time. Me and a few of the guys here were planning on putting some money together to get her a laptop so she can at least play some. I know it'll be laggy, and likely won't give her the full experience, but we really just wanted to get her something.

We found something we can afford, and I need to know if it will at the very least play WoW on low resolution, and with all the effects turned down.



Summary:
Windows Vista Home Premium
2GB DDR2 667mhz(can always upgrade)
Athlon 64 X2 DC (TL-60) 2.0ghz
GeForce 7000M (256mb)

Thanks everyone!

[MabotoRex]

Also the hyper link didn't show up

http://www.pcconnection.com/IPA/Shop/Product/Detail.htm?sku=9320570

http://www.pcconnection.com/IPA/Shop/Product/Detail.htm?sku=9320570

[elsegundo]

it will work. but it will suck greatly. there are two problems i see.
1. 2 gigs of ram will run vista. and thats it. maybe a website, or email, or something non-intensive, but you just have enough ram to run the operating system.
2. the 7000m will barely be able to play wow on minimum settings. if all you really want to do is log in, fly around, kill a few things and work on professions, this video card is fine. you will get 10-15 fps depending on your preferences, and will dip to 1-2 fps in high demand (dalaran, battles, leaving buildings).

[MabotoRex]

it will work. but it will suck greatly. there are two problems i see.
1. 2 gigs of ram will run vista. and thats it. maybe a website, or email, or something non-intensive, but you just have enough ram to run the operating system.
2. the 7000m will barely be able to play wow on minimum settings. if all you really want to do is log in, fly around, kill a few things and work on professions, this video card is fine. you will get 10-15 fps depending on your preferences, and will dip to 1-2 fps in high demand (dalaran, battles, leaving buildings).

Thank you very much. I can probably get some cheap memory from Newegg, but my main concern was the Nvidia card. I figured it's better than getting a core 2 with integrated "Intel Accelerator", but I really just didn't know.

[elsegundo]

i think the 7000m is integrated. you'll probably get ok performance if you turn off multisampling and play at 800x600 resolution. image quality will suck, but at least it will be playable.

[Grarrak]

I'm not sure what you are looking at cost wise. However I would recommend a trip to bestbuy and they have a laptop from ASUS that is going for about 650.00 it has a dedicated graphics Nvidia card that has 512 megs of vram. The screen will only be 14 inches however you can play the game with all of the effects turned up to max and it is portable.

I have one here as the 3rd notebook I have that plays WOW. I bought it for the kids because it is less expensive and I'm very impressed by how well it runs. The only complaint anyone has on this computer is that the mousepad's buttons are very tight. I this bothers someone a 12 dollar external mouse takes care of that problem.

[backfire]

i think playing WoW on a laptop is nice, you just need to tweak the settings so it could be at playable frame rates.

[Wintrow]

I think it'll play nicely at 1024x768 with everything turned off once you get 3GB RAM in there. Yes, no fps over 18 and no raiding or heavy addon usage. But besides that you pretty much what I'm using here and I don't have much to complain about.

Once the game is installed. Number 1 to look after is RAM. 2GB on XP is enough. 3GB on Vista though...

Also, you'll probably have 2 x 1GB RAM, not 1 x 2GB. So you'll have to buy an extra 1 x 2GB in order to get to 3GB.

[MabotoRex]

Thanks everyone who posted. We ordered a computer from Newegg that has a dedicated ATI HD 3650 card. And it was only $699...We're really hoping it will ship today, and if everything goes right, we'll get it by Friday. I'd love to be able to bring it to the hospital for her soon. I should really try to find her username and server...But I'm sure she'll appreciate it.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16834114631

Now I just need to put away a little money and try to get one of these laptops for myself. All in due time.

Thanks!