Gateway Parts

Gaming: Desktop VS Notebook?

i currently have a acer 5516 with the following specs: turion tl-52- 1.6ghz dual core 1mb l2 cache , 4GB Ram, 128MB video up to 700mb shared, 160GB HDD 7200RPM, windows xp sp3. Why is it that my brother has a single core 1.8ghz computer with a pretty good graphics card and it can run nba 2k10 better then my laptop can run it. My bro's desktop specs: 1.8ghz single core, 2gb ram, nvidia geforce 6 series, 1.)Why is it that his 1.8ghz single core outperforms my dual core laptop? 2.) could it be the video cards? 3.) should i upgrade my cpu/ram on my laptop or should i just make my own costume built gaming computer all together; my budget is $350 and will be getting my parts from ebay.

Public Comments

1. Dual core of course is much better than single core but he has a lot better graphic card and his performance is 1.8ghz instead of yours which is 1.6ghz and so $350 is not enough to get any gaming laptops/desktops. I'm sorry for saying this but it's true, $350 is not enough...even if you're going to build it yourself. Hope this helps.
2. Why is his performance better in the game? Because a dual core processor is optimized for multi-tasking... which you are not doing while you are playing the game. So right there is one reason why his single core processor would provide better performance when playing the game, as it is faster. Also, I noticed that you said nothing about the specific video chipset that you have in your Acer... but you have a Radeon Xpress 1200... which is not as good as an NVidia GeForce 6 series. So, he has a better video chipset for gaming, and he has a better processor when it comes to games. This is why his system out performs yours. You aren't going to be able to upgrade your CPU... and I doubt that you will be able to build a desktop you will like with only $350. end of line
3. Go into your power management options in your control panel. It is likely that your computer may be running in an under clocked state to save power. Change to a "High Performance" mode. The other possibility is overheating. Go find yourself a good $50-$70 aluminum laptop heating pad. This is a good investment since you can use it for future laptops as well.
4. Desktops almost always out perform laptops. I can hear the Laptop fans whining in the background. Laptops sacrifice everything to be mobile. They usually lack proper cooling, good graphic cards, and acceptable power for gaming. There are acceptions to the rule (but not cheap acceptions). Ex Alienware (now Dell), Falcon, etc. But as a rule desktops are faster, have better graphics (when equipped) and run cooler than laptops. Want to run with the desktops? Get a desktop or a gaming laptop (neither will be Walmart specials) so bring your pocketbook. Custom computers are almost always faster than store computers. (if you carefully select parts that work well together. (Read Pc World, CPU, Maximum PC, etc. for suggestions on parts and winning combinations from professionals).