Guild Wars 2

Hi everyone. I’m a total noob when it comes to computers and would appreciate a little input on this laptop I’m looking to buy.

HP Pavilion dv7t-7000 Quad Edition
• Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
• 3rd generation Intel® Core™ i7-3610QM Processor (2.3 GHz, 6MB L3 Cache)
• NVIDIA GeForce® GT 630M Graphics with 1GB GDDR3 memory [HDMI, VGA]
• 8GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm)
• FREE Upgrade to 1TB 5400 rpm Hard Drive
• NO mSSD Hard Drive Acceleration Cache
• 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
• 17.3-inch diagonal High Definition BrightView LED-backlit Display (1600 × 900)
• Blu-ray player & SuperMulti DVD burner
• HP TrueVision HD Webcam
• 802.11b/g/n WLAN
• Standard Keyboard with numeric keypad
• Included 2 Year Warranty

The only game I’d play on this laptop is GW2. I would get a desktop, but I’m hardly ever at home so I need something portable. My current laptop (not built for games what-so-ever) currently gets around 10 fps in pve and 1-2 fps (3 if I’m lucky) in the bonus round during fractals, so I guess anything would be a step up lol.

I know HP isn’t the best, but according to the reviews on this laptop it’s pretty decent. Just want to know what everyone thinks. Thank you!

Running down the list of important specifications,
The CPU is alright, it would be better with at least a 3630QM for the extra frequency from the processor since that is what Guild Wars 2 craves to work well.

The graphics card is, for a lack of a better term, gross. With the GT 630M I wouldn’t expect anything above low-medium settings to run at 720p at 30FPS.

The amount of RAM is good, the speed remains a question though. I would shoot for 1600 at least, the stuff you likely have is 1066 or 1333.

No SSD, but this is more of a luxury item and only affects load times for the most part.

1TB will do you good unless you pirate loads of media. My parents have a hard time filling a 500GB drive, so you’re most likely fine.

Overall if you’re spending this much on a laptop toss in a little more and it will make it worthwhile to get a better graphics card and processor. Shoot for a 660M and 3630QM.

Okay, thank you for helping.
I asked my fellow guildies (go TRU!) if they had any laptops they’d recommend. One sent me to Newegg.com and I found this laptop. Think I could get some input on this one from y’all as well?

Lenovo IdeaPad Y500
Notebook Intel Core i7 3630QM(2.40GHz) 15.6" 12GB Memory DDR3 1600 16GB SSD 1TB HDD 5400rpm Dual NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M SLI

Better. Much Better. Load times will still be slow due to the 5400rpm drive but hey, it’s a laptop, sacrifices must be made.

I Cut Like a Buffalo.2375:

Okay, thank you for helping.
I asked my fellow guildies (go TRU!) if they had any laptops they’d recommend. One sent me to Newegg.com and I found this laptop. Think I could get some input on this one from y’all as well?

Lenovo IdeaPad Y500
Notebook Intel Core i7 3630QM(2.40GHz) 15.6" 12GB Memory DDR3 1600 16GB SSD 1TB HDD 5400rpm Dual NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M SLI

I’ve seen this one mentioned before on the forums and I still don’t know how I feel about SLI in a laptop. A single GPU already generates enough heat and adding a second one is only fuel to the fire. With that said though, this is the 650M we’re talking about which I imagine when pushed to its extreme that it won’t generate a ton of heat like the more uppity up cards like the 680MX and 670MX. I’m speaking from what I would expect from this, not from actual experience. The only experience I have with dual card configurations is when I tried tossing a 9800GT in with a GTX 560Ti and the cards were both considerably warmer.

The processor is what I would consider as a minimum for a laptop for Guild Wars 2.

The storage is standard for a laptop besides that 16GB SSD. This will likely house your operating system which will allow the computer to boot up really fast. This however, won’t affect Guild Wars 2’s performance at all.

The amount of RAM is solid as well as its speed.

Overall, much better like Behellagh said.