Buy it now, or upgrade later.

[Grayhame]

So I have narrowed down my search for a good gaming laptop to the Sager NP8690.

My question is, I would prefer to go cheaper and just get the i5 that comes with it, and upgrade to a beefier mobile processor later down the road, perhaps the 740 or 840 once they are available.

The games I want to play are:

Empire: Total War
Fallout 3
Mass Effect 1 and 2
Dragon Age

and a few older ones that I don't believe will have an issue running. Just mainly the newer games. I would also like to screw around in Crysis mainly for that Mechwarrior Mod Living Legends.

So, will I be able to enjoy these games at high settings with the i5 + HD 8570 @ 1920X1080 ? Or will I need to just chip in the extra cash and get the i7 720QM that everyone seems to get with the NP8690.

Thanks!

[powerpack]

i5 will be fine for what you want. The higher clocked duals might even do better than lower clocked quads for your needs.

[jbermi]

the 720 has come down in price, the 740 has just a slight increase in speed, for an upgrade of 150, i think the 720 is worth it. intel is running out the 720's since the 740 is now available or being used by a lot of manufacturers.

you should have no issues running those games even with the i5/5870 combo.