Just picked up the 17" 2.3 Quad Core

[sammich]

Wrong. Go to Dalaran with 150 people in the main quad in the evening. On a Dual Geforce 295 liquid cooled quad core gaming tower at 1920x1200 I get 40fps. Anything I do in Crysis, FarCry, Fear2, Call of Duty Black Ops...much higher frame rates, usually over 100-150fps.

The low frame rates are related to the syncing with the server, when you have that many people in the one area, it gets messy (or that what I've heard).

 

[Evil Spoonman]

Wrong. Go to Dalaran with 150 people in the main quad in the evening. On a Dual Geforce 295 liquid cooled quad core gaming tower at 1920x1200 I get 40fps. Anything I do in Crysis, FarCry, Fear2, Call of Duty Black Ops...much higher frame rates, usually over 100-150fps.

-Note: some of it is how you have WOW configured. Where the system typically gets pushed is in outdoor environments that have long draw distances, while being set at 1920x1200 at 4 or 8xAA.

Also, the new water rendering engine in WOW is on par with the better water engines out there (ie Crysis)

When I rendered video in Handbrake earlier a fan came on but it was really quiet. Ill throw the temp monitor on it and measure it this morning for some info.

My WOW settings comparrison was with everything set on medium, 4XAA and 1920x1200.

So, you remember way back in 2004/2005 those giant server-size battles at Tarren Mill? I assume every server had them. Remember how the zone became essentially a slideshow, on even the best hardware of the time. Even if you weren't anywhere near the action.

Well, when Wrath launched there was another server-size battle there for old time's sake. Fun to be had, and the old world was still using those wonderful early-2000s graphics. Even on crossfired 4870s the game slowed to a standstill.

Basically WoW is optimized like absolute crap. Always has been. If you look at the complexity of what is being rendered, it is minimal and unimpressive. MMOs definitely present their own challenges in this area, but like it or not WoW is not anywhere near as demanding as Crysis: Warhead or similar modern games (Metro).

 

[nowstime]

Why did the price go up on the 17 model only? Spec wise 17 is same as the high-end 15 model except the screen size and resolution. Even counting the HS upgrade which existed in the previous generation only the 17 price went up. The price difference used to be $100 but now its $200.

I would love to get the 17 but 15 seems to have better value money wise...am I missing something? I'm in the middle of deciding either a 17 or 15...my heart says 17 but my wallet is screaming 15.

 

[dagamer34]

Why did the price go up on the 17 model only? Spec wise 17 is same as the high-end 15 model except the screen size and resolution. Even counting the HS upgrade which existed in the previous generation only the 17 price went up. The price difference used to be $100 but now its $200.

I would love to get the 17 but 15 seems to have better value money wise...am I missing something? I'm in the middle of deciding either a 17 or 15...my heart says 17 but my wallet is screaming 15.

Time to find a college student to teach that wallet a lesson!