T43 any good for gaming?

[xcountryrower]

Looking at the 2668-G7U with the VR3200, 1 GB or ram, and a 2.13 processor. How would the computer play on HL2, Doom 3, and Far Cry with low-moderate settings?

[rhema83]

Looking at the 2668-G7U with the VR3200, 1 GB or ram, and a 2.13 processor. How would the computer play on HL2, Doom 3, and Far Cry with low-moderate settings?

You can definitely play them at low-moderate setting. Even my T42 with 1.7GHz processor, 768MB RAM and 64MB Radeon 9600 can run them at low to medium settings.

My opinion is that you should get a tried and tested T42. The Radeon 9600 drivers are pretty much stable now and you shouldn't run into problems running those games. The new graphics drivers may have bugs which will cause problems with your games. Not to mention, you will save a whole lot.

I see that you are entering college soon. Wait till you are eligible for higher education discount, and also look at your school's store for superb deals. Some of the best deals are found in colleges! Also, don't bother too much about the processor speed and RAM because you cannot notice 0.1GHz of processor speed difference, and RAM is easily and cheaply upgraded. IBM charges too much for RAM anyway.

Remember, you are only entering college, so don't spend so much. The risk of damage and theft in college is also very high. Also, after so many months in engineering, I have never fully utilised my T42's power except when I did Euler Method iterations in MATLAB and when I played games.

Here are some guidelines...
512MB RAM from Crucial ~$110 shipped
60GB 7200rpm HDD from ZipZoomFly ~$150 shipped

[CChoi83]

I agree with rhema83. It isn't really neccessary but then again, hey, if you got the cash to burn, why not right? Just remember as rhema83 said, you're entering college and "the risk of damage and theft in college is also very high" statement. This is my fourth year (but not my last) and I have yet to experience any kind of "foul play" but hey, sh*t happens.

[xcountryrower]

Thanks for the replies. Thats sure good to know. I take it that it would be easier to buy a cheap T42 with good processor and vid card and then upgrade the memory and HD seperately? Since I'm going to college, would it be a good idea to get the fingerprint reader, or would that be money down the hole? Thanks again.