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I don't know a thing about laptops so I'm asking here. Move if needed.

My sister and her husband play Runescape and their old laptop was no good even before their daughter spilled her juice on it.

The old one had the integrated graphics on an i3 processor from a year and a half ago and would only do 12 fps. I don't know any more about the processor, but I assume it was a sandy bridge one..
They're looking at a Toshiba with an i5-2450M Processor @ 2.5 GHz and Intel 3000 graphics and are wondering whether a discrete NVIDIA GeForce GT 540M is worth it for Runescape. It runs on Java iirc - does it even use the graphics card or is it all CPU?

Should they just get a $500 Dell or HP with a nice i5 and 4+gb of RAM? Any help appreciated.

Minecraft will benefit from a good GPU. I have an old GeForce GTX 460, and it does just fine running minecraft in Linux Mint with 2 gigs of ram on a Core 2 Duo E4400 processor. My GPU and CPU are kind of mismatched, so I would assume the performance of my GPU is more alone the lines of a pre-fermi GeForce card in my current system. If your running windows, you may need something a bit beefier. Minecraft doesn't run quite as well with Windows on my system as it does when I have Linux installed on my system. Not trying to start a windows vs. linux flame war. I am just stating my experience between the two. Runescape, I'm not sure about, but minecraft definitely will benefit from a higher GPU, especially if your going to run a high-res texture pack.

RuneScape does utilize the GPU and will see a benefit from a dedicated card, however both games should operate tolerably on the integrated.

hope your family enjoys RuneScape while it lasts though, recent developments in that game make it seem an awful lot like it won't be around much longer, very sad.

A discrete GPU makes a big difference on Runescape. Just have to enable DirectX rendering under graphics options.
And to 00-Evan, they're making a lot of changes to make it seem like it'll be around for a while. Whether those changes percolate to f2p, well.... probably not, but still. I think the game will be around for a while. It's a cheap alternative to every other MMO.

lonleyppl wrote:

A discrete GPU makes a big difference on Runescape. Just have to enable DirectX rendering under graphics options.
And to 00-Evan, they're making a lot of changes to make it seem like it'll be around for a while. Whether those changes percolate to f2p, well.... probably not, but still. I think the game will be around for a while. It's a cheap alternative to every other MMO.

For the sake of not derailing this thread completely i'll just quickly state why I think the game is going out and nothing further. Simply put, it's no longer controlled by those who care, only those who want profit at any expense. It's being normalized very aggressively, when the game's strongest quality was its originality. And it's being fiercely monetized, to the point where the owners are now selling significant ingame advantages, a practise they spent 5 years in a holy war against cheaters doing just prior.

Now back to your regularly scheduled thread.

Hey guys,

I've never actually played Runescape for more than 10 minutes now and again to see what new version looks like, but on a recent vacation in Spain I was sinking a few beers with friends and we ended up (inevitably) whining about MMORPGs.The MMO scene is definitely a mess right now, with subscriber numbers dropping across the board for all franchises. I'm an ex-WoW addict (clean for almost six months now) but the general trend is pretty ugly. If there was ever a (dot.com-like) 'bubble' for MMO's, it's bursting as we speak.

I can't promise anything, but since I've lived with, am close friends with, and go on vacation with some of the past-and-present Runescape team, PM me what you think they could do to keep people happy. I'm sure that the opinions of well-informed TR gerbils are better than the flamewars and nerdrage rants you get on every MMO forum to ever have existed.

I don't even care about Runescape, have turned down repeated suggestions that I should work for Jagex and should probably find an excuse to move out of London, but I think all MMO developers are floundering around with a massive shift in the market. What are you looking for in the game (and specifically, what would you be willing to PAY for, since this is what keeps development going).

I can tell you about my experience:

I have an i7-2620M (it's a two core CPU) with HD3000 and 8GB RAM (Dual Channel: 2*4GB).

Both Runescape and Minecraft, even with an HD texture pack like Misa's, run fine on 1366*768. I'm sure that i5-2450M with HD3000 is enough, too. Just make sure to add 2*4GB RAM for dual channel mode as it will highly benefit the integrated graphics.

I'm surprised no one mentioned an A6 llano notebook, fairly inexpensive and should fit the bill no problem.

http://www.staples.ca/ENG/Catalog/cat_s ... xedcode=WW