Laptop question

[Apathetic Lurker]

Im looking at this brand new Toshiba Satellite E305-S1995 with 6gb ram, hybrid HD for 475 bucks. Never had a laptop since i'm mainly a gamer but would like something portable for travel with light gaming.

But mainly used to stick my photos when I go out to shoot or music.

When i'd game I mostly would use it for stuff like TCY, FM and some older strategy games and maybe a session or two of WOW.

Any thoughts? Too much? Integrated graphics suck? I need psychological help for even considering this?

[chinaski]

Seems like a good deal. Integrated graphic chips generally do suck, but I think this one should be decent for WoW. Should be fine for any 2d game, like the ones you mention. Has a memory card slot, hdmi and USB 2/3.0. Sounds just right for what you want to do with it.

[Apathetic Lurker]

Cool...Thanks

[stevew]

The track pad we had on a Toshiba was garbage. Hopefully this is better by now.

[Apathetic Lurker]

I hate trackpads...I tried using the wife's and I failed. I will use a mouse.

[MizzouRah]

Have you looked at HP or other brands at that price range?

[Desnudo]

If possible I would get a discrete graphics card

[Apathetic Lurker]

Well, I'm picking this up today. I did look at some other brands and the pure gaming laptops were ridiculously overpriced. I did see a few in roughly the same price range with discrete graphics cards but the tradeoff was slower HD speed, 5400 vs 7200 and the one i'm getting has a hybrid drive so its going to be even faster opening up stuff once it learns where i'm going. And the discrete cards were only a little better than the Intel crap in this one...Didnt think its worth it. The 5 lb weight will help when I fly. I wont feel like i'm carrying my desktop with me and I can still do basic 2d gaming on it.Worse comes to worse and I don't like it I can give it to the brat since she pretty much has the same gaming tastes and she needs one for school. Right now she has mom's rickety old laptop from last decade.

[DaddyTorgo]

I actually prefer to use my internal graphics card when I'm playing FM (even the 3d match engine) as it just seems to run "smoother" so for all your gaming needs under that it ought to be fine. Never played WOW, so dunno about that.

[MizzouRah]

I don't know much about hybrid HD's, so let us know how you like it.

[Honolulu_Blue]

I don't know much about hybrid HD's, so let us know how you like it.

I just got a new laptop with a 750 GB hybrid HD. So far, it's been great. Much faster than my old standard HD. I've never had a solid state, so it's hard to compare, but the computer boots up super fast.

[MizzouRah]

I just got a new laptop with a 750 GB hybrid HD. So far, it's been great. Much faster than my old standard HD. I've never had a solid state, so it's hard to compare, but the computer boots up super fast.

Thanks.. I have an SSD drive, but if the hybrids are cheaper, I would think about them for relatives looking for a pc.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Thanks.. I have an SSD drive, but if the hybrids are cheaper, I would think about them for relatives looking for a pc.

They are much cheaper. I've read good things about them, which is why I decided to go with it. They aren't quite as fast as a SSD, but a big improvement over traditional drives. They get better the more you use them, apparently, as the programs that are most often used/loaded are moved to the SSD portion of the drive for quicker access.

[INDalltheway]

SSD have changed my computing forever. Everything is just better.

[MizzouRah]

They are much cheaper. I've read good things about them, which is why I decided to go with it. They aren't quite as fast as a SSD, but a big improvement over traditional drives. They get better the more you use them, apparently, as the programs that are most often used/loaded are moved to the SSD portion of the drive for quicker access.

I've read the initial OS load and programs load are typical of a normal HD, but once you start using the drive, things get much faster.