Economic Laptop for FFXI! Help me out~

[Blue]

First of all, I'd like to say...Hi everyone! I barely post here, I just lurk. Anyways, I'm looking for advice of what kind of laptop I should buy. I want this laptop mainly for study purposes, and to play MMORPG's, since most of them are light requirements-wise. I don't know if it would be better for me to aim for a notebook good enough to perform smoothly on High Details, or just conform with Low Resolution. I was thinking of aiming for FFXI Low Resolution: as long as I can play smoothly on every normal situation (huge events don't count ) I'm pretty much set.

Can any of you tell me how much one should get in the benchmark in order to calculate if it's enough for normal playing?

I'm not sure what notebooks can have, and what they can't have. I wouldn't mind a slow CD-ROM driver and a kind of small HD, and primitive sound card if that lowers the price enough! I'm sure with a good chipset and a good video card the price will be quite steep...but it's a sacrifice I must do to enjoy the game. :angel:

Software-wise I'm set, so I wouldn't have to buy any extra software with the laptop. Not too much of a saving, but everything helps I think.

One thing...if you're going to recommend me websites, please make sure they have international shipping options, I don't like it when I see a good PC only to see they only deliver to USA/CANADA!

With all that said...I hope to see many helpful posts. See ya people!

[Doppelganger]

economy+any newer video game = not compatible

if you want to play ffxi, you need a geforcego4200 or higher, or a ati 9200 or higher (9700 mobility would own), and a good processor as well (emachine's amd 64 chip laptop is <1500 and is pretty good, wipes the floor with some models, though the pentium M processor should also work fine [ 1.5gh model=2.4 gh p4]), and sufficient momory (512 would be best if you have xp as OS)..... not to mension 6 gigs hdd space for game itself....

a laptop with base requirements is bound to be out there for <1500, but you won't get office 2003 or other usefull "study" programs..

[Blue]

Well, I know I'll have to get Office and such in some other ways, but if the price different isn't too much, I'll get Office 2003.

[Blue]

Problem solved

No worries, I found out a solution for my laptop problems.

[Doppelganger]

good for you ^^

office 2k3 is >200 for basic edition, and 500 for pro

[InuTrunks]

::cough:: office is free ::cough::

[Devryn]

My Inspiron 2650 runs the game just fine in 800x600 low res. No problems, no lag. 1.7 ghz Pentium M (not Centrino) 256 MB RAM, 32 MB GeForce2Go. Looks like crap but if my wife wants to spend time with me it's better than nothing. I can play in the living room and still listen to her talk...uh...sorta. LOL Always switch back to the desktop for major events and such.