Nolan

I think this is bullshit, if a publisher wants to combat used game sales they need to give incentive to purchase new rather than punish those who can't afford to. Such as not charging so much. I like buying new games, I prefer it to used where you're likely to get a generic box no manual and a Disc rubbed on asphalt, but I can't afford to get most games new, and some games you can't even find new(in my case I got just the disc of Dead Rising the other day). It's rather irksome to look at the large amount of games that are 2 or more years old, but still $30 new. Nintendo is a rather capital offender, with many games (SMG, Mario Party 8?!, MP3(and the trilogy oddly), SSBB) staying at full price and some of the used versions costing more than new 1st party titles of the same age (and newer) from MS and Sony. If someone is already having trouble scrapping money towards purchasing games new, I doubt they'll be happy when their used games have an arbitrary $5 extra tacked on for the full experience. Buuut, this is within their rights. I just think it's the wrong way to about things.

Dedicated Graphics probably would do, but that isn't Dedicated, just an ATI integrated solution. Finding a laptop that low with Dedicated isn't going to be an easy task either.

Raise of hands, who read the italics as Brain?

Probably go shopping.

Basically what I was just about to post. The sound really is NIN, but the voice is...I'm not sure if it fits. But I rarely like female singers

Well shit.

A lazy one at that.

I know lots of people who think the same thing, and I know others who dislike Oblivion greatly and really enjoyed Fallout 3. It is odd.

Yes, I remember just as well as anyone, but turning into a giant and destroying a fake earth before it crashes into earth, which is no larger than a platform for you to stand on is pretty damn climatic.

I just wonder how anything can top the first games final level...

You know...at this point in the industry, where everyone just wants to cash in on sequels that are really boil down to being new map packs. I'd love if Nintendo changed absolutely everything about Zelda, just as a big fuck you to the industry. Good or Bad I don't care I'd love it, too many games just playing it safe. Yes even as I type this I do realize that just the same as everyone else I end up being some of those endless droves of sequels, but god damn we need more Icos and Shadows of the Colossus's. Outside of some oddities, the industry has become stagnant, and it would be huge if something that's followed a formula since the 80's just changed.

I didn't see it till they mentioned it, but it's upside down.... That should be enough of a hint.

I have a Toshiba myself, it's a couple yeas old now, but before my screen broke(a result of being knocked off a table, not hardware fault) I took it everywhere with me. Even now it's still my main PC, and the build quality is grand. The biggest downside is that Toshiba and I think Sony are the only Manufactures that have opted out of allowing AMD/ATI to supply their own Drivers. Toshiba still wants us to use theirs, which they haven't updated in the 2 years I've had my laptop. Not a huge deal since if you really want to update graphics drivers, there is a nice simply tool that can do it. It's not withour issues though, my 3470 is only recognized as a 3450 after the modded drivers. But no biggie.

MSI £479 with VAT It's got an average CPU 4GB of RAM a 16" screen (1366x768 unfortunately, it's become so common) and a dedicated ATI 4330 with 512MB of DDR2 RAM. The card isn't anything special(but look at the price) it will however play Source games pretty well and even more demanding games like Fallout 3, but not as well and the settings take some tweaking. Toshiba £590 with VAT The CPU is a slight step down from the MSI, and it has 3GB of RAM and a smaller HDD. A 17" screen at 1600x900, it also has 64-bit Windows 7 (the MSI has 32-bit), and the GPU is a 4570 which is a nice step above the 4330 and it should fair much better in games and has faster GDDR3 RAM. Those are the big hardware differences in the two, and both are suppose to have Free Shipping.

Ah, that splains it.

Keep it, I'm 99% positive. Either way, It's about a 6 hour game so you'd have plenty of time to play it to death.

Looks good, but I'm curious did you change something else? I can't quite figure out how you got it to £561.

Steam is now on Macs, and to celebrate, Portal is currently free to everyone with Steam. Don't know how long this will last so hope to it...Unless like many many others you bought The Orange Box. Until the 24th. Also of note, If you're someone who likes to stay current with upgrades, don't buy Intel as they've already decided to kill off LGA 1366 and 1156 and replace them with other sockets without any form of Backwards Compatibility for their current Core line up.

I'm wary of no-names as well, and if going with a no name it'd be best to have as much overhead as possible. Even if it seems like overkill. Also, Phenom II's are generally lower at idle and load than Core i7, but not Core i5 (which is the more affordable line).

Check your cords, make sure the connections are good and try it with different cords and see if it still happens. If not...well then you'll know. Otherwise I don't really have any ideas since it's only happening on the external I doubt it's the Video Card, unless it's that Video out port that is having issues. What are you using? VGA DVI HDMI? Can you switch to a different one than what you are using?

http://www.cyberpowersystem.co.uk/ Has some pretty good deals for the price. In fact, This but change the GPU to a 5770 is £531 with VAT, but before shipping. It defaults to a 450W PSU and they(cyberpower) recommend 600W for the 5770, the 600W brings it to £547. That's with a 500GB HDD instead of 1TB, but you switch to 1TB for £24. It's also with an OS, which Vista Ultimate is £55 (32bit) and 7 Home is £70. Standard Shipping to UK mainland is £25. If that comes out to too much, the CPU is AMD's new 6-core model, so dropping that to an older (but just as capable) Quad or Dual can shave off anywhere from £12-£102.

About to go to school, but when I get back I'll post something.

Want want want.

I don't know if you guys can use Hulu, but it's actually pretty nice. About a minute of ads spread out before the video starts, at the beginning and before credits roll. At least for Fist of the North Star which I just started watching, it's so bad it's awesome. Actually it's awesome for other reasons, but goddamn some of the animation is atrocious. Par for the time period I suppose. Hulu also will nicely play each episode in order automatically. And taking 480p (I believe) to full screen doesn't look bad like usual. And now I'm back to FotNS.

I need that.