New Gaming Laptop

Except Apple's entire business model is to eliminate all competition. They tie you in to using only their products. Bastards :p

Yeah I figured you'd just get involved now. As you say, you can wait indefinitely and the tech will just keep improving. Worth asking whether with new parts coming in soon they can knock a bit off, but judging by the prices elsewhere, the one you've put together actually seems reasonably priced now :)
 
Well it's a good thing for me that Apple don't have anything I need :) If they can fool gamers and casual users into buying their products, it forces our side to price more aggressively.. in theory :p

Got my email fired off, says 1-2 hours for a reply, so that'd be cool. Asked if it was possible to get the earlier model 2.5GHz or 2.7GHz Extreme processor with the 8mb cache. The cheapest 3.6-3.8GHz 10mb cache they're offering looks like it might be overclocked already.. or a typo.

And from the SSD article, I read that the SATA hybrid drives are pretty sick. So for $10 extra, I can get a 500GB hybrid instead of a 750GB SATA. Hmmm.
 
I'd get the hybrid I reckon. 500gb is a lot of space, and you can always grab a portable to keep stuff you don't use further down the line :)

Good luck dude :cheers
 
Yeah, I should be fine with 500GB. I have an external 320GB drive laying around if needed for storage, and I can always burn pictures or videos off.

Thanks man, will keep you posted :D
 
Speedy reply from p4laptops, but not all good news.

The Metabox P270WM has been delayed due to pre-production concerns and they're tentatively aiming for mid-May release :(

The 680 graphics card should be available late May/early June, and they're not sure of the price, so I don't think I'll be waiting for that. Still good discount leverage though.

Can't use the smaller processors either, but oh well, price is still good and that was just me trying to cheap out a little.

No other brands that p4 deal with (Asus, Sony, Toshiba) will be releasing similar models soon, but Asus does have a new gaming line coming out next week. It's Friday afternoon here, so waiting shouldn't hurt.
 
I'd say macs have maybe 3 advantages, but they don't justify their higher price.

They have a higher build quality
You get to use Mac OSX (debatable I suppose lol)
It's easier to get repairs because they only make a few standardised models rather than a whole heap of different ones.

And I suppose they look rather nice.

The only mac that is worth it's price imo is the macbook air. They're actually not much more expensive than similar ultrabooks and they look much better imo. But then you can argue that ultrabooks themselves are expensive and overpriced which is a whole different debate :p
 
I played Rome for a bit last night. I remember now why I didn't take to it initially - the camera is bloody annoying. I've tried messing with the settings, but it doesn't improve. I want to scroll sideways and it keeps rotating and ---- like that, just feels really clumsy.

Then as far as battles go, I keep ending up with broken lines and groups going off on their own chasing the enemy.. or just huge piles of troops that you can throw a blanket over, all of which get smashed up by charging cavalry.

I can't beat the second battle with the river crossing even on easy :lol
 
Just saw your post about it being delayed. Very odd and clearly disappointing :(

Haha stay patient. You're troops at the start are still fairly basic. You haven't got access to the likes of the legionaries yet who will just fight to the death without routing :)

I thought the arrow keys moved the map so it didn't keep rotating. Also pausing it every so often to have a look and just set up some troops correctly can help.

If you're fighting barbarian type hordes bare in mind that they will not have any order. Advance your lines as a big group slowly (you can select a load of troops at once, tag them to a number like 1 or 2) and move them foward slowly. The barbarian hordes are highly likely to just charge you, meaning you just have to hold while they do. Once engaged, look to get some cavalry doing hits into the side or back of units and then pulling back out straight away.

I often might have for example two lines of infantry troops so that as one might be getting the fear and thinking about routing I can then march another set in and change the balance. A well timed cavalry charge at the right point will break a line.

Heh, fair enough if it doesn't click. Although maybe try a free campaign as the Egyptians and just unleash Elephants everywhere :D
 
Yeah, not good early signs with the Metabox having some problems :/ At least 2 weeks just to order if I'm lucky, but now I know exactly what I'm looking for, so if Asus or MSI come out with something it that time, they might be more worthwhile. Still annoying that I thought I'd definitely have something by then.

Hmm arrow keys.. sounds so crazy that it might just work! It's always hard to get used to camera nuances when you've been playing games with similar views (Civ IV and Capitalism 2 recently for me).

Definitely going to go back and keep trying for a little while longer. I started with classic battles, so I've been going up against the Persians.. might be better off looking for the barbarian games.
 
I'd suggest just go with the campaign then :) Don't pick the Italians that are stuck on their own island though as that volcano has a tendency to erupt (I think it's Mt Etna). I think I was the green Italians. Keep Rome happy, they're miserable bastards :p

The beauty of the early campaign is it gives you a few smallish battles you should win :)

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If it makes you feel any better, I was about to order mine, then delayed, and in the end the company I used took 2 months to build and send it. I was not happy, and even less happy when they went bust 6 months later and left my warranty useless (here's hoping it never breaks :facepalm )
 
I'm into the Alexander campaign now, definitely more enjoyable than the mindless battles I was doing earlier. Still getting my ass kicked often, but now I'm enjoying it. Cursor keys are working too :spy

If it makes you feel any better, I was about to order mine, then delayed, and in the end the company I used took 2 months to build and send it. I was not happy, and even less happy when they went bust 6 months later and left my warranty useless (here's hoping it never breaks :facepalm )

That was a depressing story, I don't feel better at all :(
 
They got screwed over as a company, and had been a reasonably successful company in terms of selling high end laptops in England. I'm making it sound a little more depressing than it is and to be honest a normal laptop repair place will be able to fix this if anything goes wrong such was the build quality :)

My only regret was paying extra for a longer warranty precisely because it was a highish end laptop, and then being pretty gutted when that money was essentially lost. I think I've mentioned it, but I still love my laptop heh

Ah cool, are you playing as Alexander and the Macedons then? Never did that, you've clearly got some excellent spear troops for dealing with cavalry :)

I just love the campaign map and the way your generals and family as well as spies etc grow throughout the ages. Get really attached to some before they die, and invariably their children never live up to expectations. Although it's always easy to create blood thirsty generals by just keeping them on the front lines alive :)

After a while I barely did any of the battles that I knew we'd win comfortably and instead took the backs to the wall ones and anything epically big. Nothing cooler than having an army with a full set of reinforcements trying to assault your 3 tiered citadel and being sent with their tails between their legs and your army still entirely intact...

Or doing likewise to someone else having already sent a spy in to open the gates haha... Yes, that's right, my 2000 strong army is now walking in through your front door :p
 
Sucks to lose the warranty on it, they're certainly not cheap here anyways. I think it's over $300 just for the extra two years on the ones I've looked at. I'd consider it if it was $150 tops, but it's hard to justify spending any more than I am already. I wasn't really that happy with 4k for the Alienware, but I thought it was my only option at that point.

I sunk a few hours into Rome last night. I had no idea that it has a Civ style map with city management and all that. I thought the crux of the game was the large scale battles, but I've just been simulating those now too :p
I couldn't find any other campaign modes other than the Alexander one. Hopefully when I complete it, others will unlock.
I should probably build some spies if it means not having to siege a city for 6-8 turns before being able to attack, kinda eats up the 100 turn limit for the campaign.
 
Heh, yeah the battles just get in the way. It's all about the family. It's fairly context based as well. A general wins victories they get more things that boost their skill on a battlefield. A general who spends a while in a city with good schooling etc will probably pick up skills like book keeping. A general who does absolutely nothing ever... well he'll probably start gambling or sleeping with young boys :( Gutting when you lose your favourite general.

Heh now you're on the campaign map. You might understand why I loved Quintus. He took an army all the way through France, into Spain and down into Portugal before succumbing to old age just as he was starting to take on The Moors down in Africa. The man died a hero and a legend, and all over the map were the little markers representing a "famous battle" where he'd instigated yet another masacre heh :D

Glad you've got into it a bit, the depth in the campaign is awesome. I think that might have been the one I did to be fair, also, it doesn't actually end at 100 turns if I recall, so you can just take your time and enjoy the Civ style long-game :)

Did you have the choice of 3 Italian families to pick from? Scipii, and two others who I can't remember.

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Think I remember now. Once you've played through once with one of those families, you can start a game with any nation and their different strengths and weaknesses.

I also loved Medievel Total War 2. Should be dirt cheap now, and playing as the English was hilarious because I'd just pepper everyone with my awesome archers :D
 
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Yeah, don't have the option of choosing anyone else to start with yet. I just sat back chilling with 5 cities for most of the game in my previous attempt and it ended when the time expired, so I'm starting to get a foothold in Persia a lot earlier this time. Already felt the disappointment of kickass family members dying of old age :(
 

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