Laptop with trackpoint and good graphics?

January 19, 2008 3:01 PM

Is there a laptop with a TrackPoint that is not objectively horrible for gaming?

I'm looking to buy a new laptop to replace my T41, which I loved. However, I find myself having to lug my huge desktop around for even extremely light lan gaming, as the the T41 has a really bad graphics card.

I want a replacement that has a trackpad, because I love them and I can't stand using touchpads. I also use it on planes and other cramped places, so "use a mouse!" doesn't really work. I still want a fairly portable laptop, not one of those huge ass desktop replacements.

So, can I get a laptop that both has a trackpad (or equivalent), and decent gaming performance? I'm looking for about 6800 level or better, something I can play Team fortress 2, but not necessarily crysis on. The new thinkpad T60's don't seem to fit this requirement, unless someone can explain the really confusing pro video to consumer video model conversion to me. For instance, what the heck is a "Quadro FX 570M" card anyway?

posted by JZig to computers & internet (7 comments total)

I can't help you with recent T60 video cards. But I have a 1.5 year old T60 with an ATI Mobility X1300 in it and it's just fine for gaming. Plays World of Warcraft well, at least, which was my main concern.
posted by Nelson at 4:01 PM on January 19

After trowling message boards, I figured out that a 570M is the equivalent of an 8600M GT card, and you can even install the consumer drivers. That's a perfectly good card, and the 15 inch T61p is at the top of my list right now, for other people who may read this.

I'm sad that trackpoints seem to be on life support. They're so much better than touchpads.
posted by JZig at 4:11 PM on January 19

I'm sad that trackpoints seem to be on life support.

Hardly. They're still the only option on some ThinkPads, and I never knew them to be widespread on non-IBM/Lenovo hardware anyway. Maybe IBM charges too much to license the patent.
posted by grouse at 4:35 PM on January 19

I haven't had much luck with trackpads for gaming. There's quite a lot of very small cordless mice with usb recievers. I have used some that track very well on most surfaces, including my leg. I know that's not what you've asked for, but that might be a better option that would give you more choices for a new laptop.
posted by Orrorin at 11:20 PM on January 19

I'm pretty happy gaming on a T61. I can play HL2, WoW, NWN2 well. I haven't tried TF2 on the T61 yet, but I imagine it will be fairly good, as HL2 runs well.
posted by Cat Pie Hurts at 12:14 AM on January 20

Orrorin, the idea is that I use my laptop for 2 things: mobile software development, and gaming. Trackpad is awesome for mobile software development, and I use an external mouse for gaming. T61 looks like I can swap back and forth between the 2 fine. Thanks for replying everyone!
posted by JZig at 1:48 AM on January 20

Just got my T61p today, and am playing TF2 at full speed and high res. Seems great so far!
posted by JZig at 1:17 AM on January 27