Laptops and D3...

[Empyrean]

Sorry if this thread has been made before, I've searched around these forums and haven't found anything that answers my question satisfactorily.

Anyway, so I'm pretty much a poor college kid getting by on a business laptop. I know Blizzard said that it doesn't want graphics to be a limiting factor for people to play D3, but would a non-super high end laptop still be able to run D3 to a decent degree? If it helps any, I have an nVidia Quadro NVS 140m (standard on business builds).

I'm also kicking myself for SC2...I'm having worries about being able to run that as well :/

[Klose]

Hey, you live relatively close to me! (I'm in Raleigh.)

Anyway... this is probably not of much help, but I have an extremely old IBM Thinkpad (it's at least 9 years old, minimum) which could always run DII: LoD with no noticeable slowness or problems that I ever became aware of. So if the technology's growth of this decade is comparable to the last decade, if you have a newer, higher-end laptop than my Thinkpad, I can easily see it running D3. Then again, who knows? Not me.

[skinandvein]

HI,

Nvidia Geforce Go 6800

The Geforce Go 6800 shares the same core architecture as the desktop line of Geforce 6800 cards and is the current fastest mobile 3D graphics option available. Performance exceeds the mobility radeon 9800 by up to 40% to 50% or more as the screen resolution increases.


thanks!

[Asrrin]

Quadro's aren't known for being too gaming friendly, but they do support advanced 3D features, as they are primarily used for things like AUTOCAD and 3D manipulation. I would say that if you can run something like Warcraft III (a simialar looking engine) and a recent shooter title (Like Quake Wars, UTIII, etc.) even on low settings, you should have confidence that it will be playable on your machine.

[AtomicJ]

Okay, I have a Dell Vostro 1700, about two years old.

system specs:
Intel Core 2 Duo 1.60 GHz
NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT
2.00 GB RAM

I'm not very savvy with computers, but my laptop seems to run Titan Quest and its expansion pack without any trouble.

In the official tech geeks' opinion, what's the likelihood that I can run Diablo 3?

[Farmrush]

Okay, I have a Dell Vostro 1700, about two years old.

system specs:
Intel Core 2 Duo 1.60 GHz
NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT
2.00 GB RAM

I'm not very savvy with computers, but my laptop seems to run Titan Quest and its expansion pack without any trouble.

In the official tech geeks' opinion, what's the likelihood that I can run Diablo 3?

The processor might hurt your settings a bit (as CPUs generally deal with physics calculations), but if I were to make a wild guess I'd say this is passable.

[beardedcap]

My laptop has a Core Duo 2.5 ghz CPU, 19 inch 1920x1200 res monitor, Nvidia 9800gs, 4gb of ram, 64 bit vista, can I run it?

[GuardianHadriel]

now you're just showing off, beardedcap...that's awsome for a laptop...quite awsome atleast...but you should be able to hadle it more than just fine...but it IS a laptop, and the specs on those can be conceiving...

[BigKevSexyMan]

I'd take a guess that the absolute minimum you would need is at least a card that can run directx 9.0c.


That's what I see for most of the new games coming out now as a minimum spec.

As for processing speed, if you have any hicups on a laptop, you could just turn the sound quality way down, which should help your processor do the graphics better. It worked on my laptop with left 4 dead on near minimum settings.

Also, I think that someone did a article or something discovering what type of pixel shader the demo at blizzcon was using. I'm fairly certain he said directx 9.0c.

[sunkenfaith]

IIRC, Blizz mentioned before that they do not wish the sys requirements to be a constraint for players.

[Autti]

what about apple laptops?
I dont really have much knowledge about apple laptops and gaming i just got mine.

Its the 2.26Ghz Duo, 2GB 1066HMZ ddr3, NVIDIA geforce 9400M 256mb.
I am hoping this will be enough to run it.

But because the release date is 2011 it might not be. Atleast it would give me enough time to build a killer windows7 comp

[ThulRasha]

what about apple laptops?
I dont really have much knowledge about apple laptops and gaming i just got mine.

Its the 2.26Ghz Duo, 2GB 1066HMZ ddr3, NVIDIA geforce 9400M 256mb.
I am hoping this will be enough to run it.

But because the release date is 2011 it might not be. Atleast it would give me enough time to build a killer windows7 comp

The geforce 9400M is no gaming card. It might still run it at lower settings though.

Expect the worst and you wont be disappointed :p

If your going for a cheap geforce card in your "killer" windows7 comp, then pay attention to the second number in the series. A 6 or higher usually indicates the speed of the card (eg. 7600, 8600, 9600).
It's better you just compare benchmarks of course. Theres lots of sites with benchmarks for graphics cards and processors.

[Autti]

The geforce 9400M is no gaming card. It might still run it at lower settings though.

Expect the worst and you wont be disappointed :p

I know the 9400M isn't a gaming card :) its not even a discrete card.
I know all about gaming builds and graphics cards, just not how well apple's run with software, as in do they require faster hardware or slower.

And my "killer" windows 7 build is projected to be:
i7 920 O.C to 4Ghz
Asus P6Q X58
2x Gskill Falcon 128gb SSD in Raid 0
2x GTX 285
6gb DDR3, probably Corsair high end

Certainly more than enough to handle D3 on ultra high on a 24" monitor :)
I was just wondering if my 13" Macbook Pro could play it at all.

[BigKevSexyMan]

You'd probably save a buck or two going with an AMD phenom II. They're range from 100-200 bucks cheaper than the i7. Although i7 does retain a small gap ahead of the Phenom II in speed. There are also certain games that receive a speed boost when using an Intel processor over an AMD, because Intel paid them off or something.

And isn't the 9400M an integrated graphics chipset for a laptop motherboard?

[Autti]

You'd probably save a buck or two going with an AMD phenom II. And isn't the 9400M an integrated graphics chipset for a laptop motherboard?

Yeah the 9400M is integrated into the motherboard.

Yeah i know about the Phenom II's but this will be in a years time, when intel's new range is out and prices have dropped considerably so i don't think there will be much difference.
But this isn't really the thread to discuss that :)

I did see that Starcraft2 was being played on maximum settings at Blizzcon08 on an ASUS gaming laptop. This of course relies on wether or not Starcraft2 and Diablo3 are similar in terms of graphics intensive gameplay.

[Equalizer]

I'm hoping to run Diablo 3 and SC 2 in my laptop i bought this february. 3 Gigs of Ram, 2.0 ghz core and a ATI 4870 radeon video card.

It's a toshiba satellite and i am sure it will be able to run diablo 3 and starcraft around medium settings. So if you've got close to the same specs as me i think you'll be ok.

[Vaath]

The geforce 9400M is no gaming card. It might still run it at lower settings though.

Expect the worst and you wont be disappointed :p

If your going for a cheap geforce card in your "killer" windows7 comp, then pay attention to the second number in the series. A 6 or higher usually indicates the speed of the card (eg. 7600, 8600, 9600).
It's better you just compare benchmarks of course. Theres lots of sites with benchmarks for graphics cards and processors.

I too own a Apple computer, the 9400m is a surprising little card actually. I mean not as fast as my 7700 in my asus laptop or gtx 260 in my desktop. But with very little tweaking it plays Left 4 Dead and Team Fortress 2 @ 1280x800 (native res) smooth.

Its mainly my travel laptop but I am holding out hope it will run half decent Diablo III.

His apple is a little faster for graphics than mine too, as he is running DDR3 memory for his video memory i'm only using DDR2 so his should be a few fps faster.

[raveharu]

Sorry if this thread has been made before, I've searched around these forums and haven't found anything that answers my question satisfactorily.

Anyway, so I'm pretty much a poor college kid getting by on a business laptop. I know Blizzard said that it doesn't want graphics to be a limiting factor for people to play D3, but would a non-super high end laptop still be able to run D3 to a decent degree? If it helps any, I have an nVidia Quadro NVS 140m (standard on business builds).

I'm also kicking myself for SC2...I'm having worries about being able to run that as well :/

Yes lowend PC/laptop will be able to run the games, but you will definitely lose out on gameplay smoothness, especially the lag eperienced if you intend to play on BNET.

[sbrown]

hey i run a toshiba laptop core 2 duo cpu T6400 @2.00 ghz. with 4 gigs of memory and a ATI 3650 HD graphics 512mb i bit this well work good with direct X 10.0 yes its badass

[Typoko]

Hi!

Laptops and over 20 hour gamesessions don't match up. If you plan playing for long hours you don't want to be doing it on a laptop. I managed to ruin my "gaming" laptop in a year or so and now it overheats eaven if i try to install something to it. Proper cooling fans help alot so you better check that it's well cooled and don't play on shoft surfaces like in bed where the fans can't suck cool air from the bottom.

[StrikexForce]

you guys have to remember that D3 is not going to be released for a very long time.

even todays top machines could probably run D3 max settings quite easily.

by the time D3 is actually released, a brand new low to mid end machine would probably be able to run D3 at max.

[captain]

you guys have to remember that D3 is not going to be released for a very long time.

even todays top machines could probably run D3 max settings quite easily.

by the time D3 is actually released, a brand new low to mid end machine would probably be able to run D3 at max.

This is very true. Last year I went through the same thought process of what system to buy/put together. Now that I've accepted that DIII will be out in no less then 18 months for now. I can assume the game will be playable on an average system. No need too dish out too much cash for a monster rig...unless you want bragging rights. I've learned to never spend more then $1,500 for a computer. I have a nice HP laptop now. It runs most things pretty well. And when DIII does come out I'll convince my wife we need a new computer. Buy then components that are high end now will be cheaper.

My advice is to hold off on any buying unless you absolutely need to.

[StrikexForce]

yeah. my plan is to buy a new desktop a couple weeks before D3 is released.

im looking to spend around $1200 on one, which im quite sure will be able to run D3 at max.