Few questions about a laptop for me as i head off to college

svchiefs19

New Member
i need a computer for college as i will be majoring in computer engineering. ive settled on the hp pavilion dv6t, but im still not sure as to which processor and graphics card i want in it. since im doing computer engineering, i need a computer that is going to be fast, but i also plan on doing a lot with music and videos (movies and such) as well as playing some games (mostly command and conquer, age of empires, or roller coaster tycoon). heres a link for the laptop; http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shoppi… computing

here are the processors that are available:
Intel(R) Core(TM) i3-330M (2.13GHz, 3MB L2 Cache)
Intel(R) Core(TM) i3-350M (2.26GHz, 3MB L2 Cache)
Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-430M processor (2.26GHz, 3MB L2 Cache) with Turbo Boost up to 2.53 GHz
Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-520M processor (2.40GHz, 3MB L2 Cache) with Turbo Boost up to 2.93 GHz
they obviously increase in speed as you move on, but im wondering which processor will be sufficient for my needs

also, which video card will be able to adequately handle command and conquer and age of empires?
Intel(R) HD Graphics - For i3 and i5 Processors
512MB NVIDIA GeForce G 105M - For i3 and i5 Processors
1GB Nvidia GeForce GT 320M - For i3 and i5 Processors

i know thats a lot, thanks for sticking with me
any and all help is greatly appreciated!
 
I'm behind on the processor, but that sounds like a very promising processor.

Unfortunately, I cannot help.
 
Well it depends dude, what's your budget?? If it don't matter just get the i5 520M and the GT 320M. If you need to sacrifice one for the other get the i5 430M and the G 105M...
 
but i also plan on doing a lot with music and videos (movies and such) as well as playing some games (mostly command and conquer, age of empires, or roller coaster tycoon).
Well, any of the graphics cards will handle any of them. Which versions of C&C and AoE are you planning on playing? AoE III and the newer C&Cs might be a tad heavy on the Intel when maxed out, but if you turn down the settings it'll be fine.

As for the processors, any will do. Really, any of the i-series Intel CPUs will be plenty for anything you'd do on a laptop.
 
thanks for the help guys. actually, i did a little bit more searching and i think i found a laptop thats even better than the one i was looking at before, and its right about the same price. i found the hp pavilion dv6t quad edition(http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/s.../psg/notebooks/High_performance/dv6tqe_series). the specs on this one beat out the dv6t i was talking about earlier for about the same price. the quad core edition come with:

Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit
Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-720QM Processor (1.6GHz, 6MB L2 Cache, 1333MHz FSB) w/Turbo Boost up to 2.8 GHz
4GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm)
500GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection
1GB Nvidia GeForce GT 320M - For i7 Processors

the total comes out to just under $1100. for an intel quad core will a nice graphics card (i play AoE II/III and C&C Generals/Red Alert 3 so i thinkthis card will be able to handle those) and big hard drive, seems like a good deal to me.

(feel free to correct me if im wrong)
 
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