Anyone experienced with Windows Performance Information Tool

[Daninski]

Here's the link. I plan to buy a Laptop and discovered this windows system device performance scoring tool. One Aces computer was on sale from $1299 to $799 but it's low score was 4.7 with the 3D at only 5.2. Now I understand that we have to consider whats important to us like 3D video speeds if we're gaming where as hard drive transfer numbers may not be as relevant. SO, I saw a Toshiba that had real good numbers like 6.1 for 3D for only $749. Is this scoring tool a good bench mark?

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/wind ... nformation

[Hoodzy]

This basically will rate your processor, memory, graphics, gaming graphics and primary hard disk. The base score it simply the lowest score out of them which is quite useless.. an average would be better no??

If you have no clue what you are looking for then you are simply going off the lowest rated part of the computer.

I would suggest simply looking up what specs of a comp mean. Then easily just looking at the specs of the computer.

Depending what you are planning doing with the computer. Generally when it comes to laptops the brand has its base price then basically the price will reflect the ability of the computer.
EG.. Acers will have a lower price point Macs higher, regardless of internals.
Why does the Toshiba have a higher 3D score? Well I'd just google the name of the video card and look at its specs and compare to the acers vid card. The sub scores of each through windows will simplify it.

[Nd4SpdSe]

Don't use the scores. Tell us what he plans on using the machine for and shows us the links of what you're looking and we'll give you some opinions on which ones to look at.

[Daninski]

I understand what's being scored and of course for gaming 3d is of significance. Here's the best price and scores I've found so far. http://www.futureshop.ca/en-CA/product/ ... 61948.aspx This one had real solid scores for the price, the best out of every Laptop I checked up to a $999 dollar Laptop in three different stores. Best B, Future S and Staples

This Acer, reduced $500 to $799 had horrible scores like 5.2 for 3D graphics. http://www.staples.ca/ENG/static/static ... =viewflyer

the $949.51 Laptop is the same as the first one but with 1gig of video ram on a ATI 5650 where as the top mentioned HP has only 512gig of ram on a AMD Radeon HD 6370. $200 more for just 512 more ram,,no way. http://www.staples.ca/ENG/Catalog/cat_s ... bid=909171

[Nd4SpdSe]

You planing on gaming with that at all? Why the focus on 3D? What kind of games will be played on it?

[Daninski]

COD possibly. In essence I just want to get the best deal I can. I've seen other higher priced computers with lower numbers and I wonder how one can truly compare when two parts e.g video cards can be so different between computers. I do know that who makes the part means a lot but we don't know who made what because it's all hidden inside. My buddies Laptop is one year old, cost $950 bucks and his 3D score is only 3.2. I almost sh*t. That's total crap for a $950 dollar machine. Now in saying that he did have some very respectable numbers for RAM, HD transfer rate, etc so for non graphics oriented use it's probably a good machine. I just can't stand not getting the best deal i can possibly get.

[Inodoro Pereyra]

I just can't stand not getting the best deal i can possibly get.

Hey Dan. Here's a computer that may suit your needs...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/7090811.stm

[Nd4SpdSe]

I'll sit down and look at thos in a bit, but just to say, if you're gaming, dont' expect much out of a $1000 laptop. If your primary focus is gaming, expect to spend $1500 and more on a good laptop.

As per:
http://www.futureshop.ca/en-CA/product/ ... ccc385en02

http://www.futureshop.ca/en-CA/product/ ... 4ff1b0en02

[Daninski]

I'd like that MSI for sure. Anyway thanks for the input. I went back to futre shop and bought the one I was interested in. Score was
Processor; 6.6
RAM; 7.3
Graphics; 5.0
Gaming Graphics; 6.2
Pri Hard Disk; 5.9
Every Laptop I checked under $900 were well below these specs, I paid $749.
Anyway these numbers can be found by going to Control Panel / Performance Information and Tools. Cheers

[Dragon1212]

That score is out of 7.9. Btw that computer is better than my gaming machine my graphics are 6.8

[mikeinaus]

uhm windows performance tool is useless...

read some reviews on the video cards that are in the systems in your price range and pick the best one. you want some real world gaming benchmarks with the games your interested in playing.

laptops are a hard buy for me, mainly because you cant upgrade the gpu in the future. cpu, memory and hard drive are all upgradeable so there not as important to buy top of the line. buying the best video card with the lowest speed cpu (in the class you want. ie. core i3/i5/i7) with less ram and a smaller hard drive is usually the best bet. hard drives and ram are extremely cheap after market and are a simple upgrade.

http://ncix.com/products/index.php?sku= ... omoid=1281 this is a sick laptop... whats your budget? we can find you the best system if you give us a price range...

edit: just realized you bought one already... enjoy your new lappy

[Daninski]

Thanks for the link. I didn't want to wait as this was going off sale and they only had one left in stock. I decided on $800 or less as not to get too stupid when I have other expenses as well. I love MSI and may eventually buy a better one but for now I'll see how this baby performes. Thanks for the input guys.

One comment; it's fine to check out what the vid card is but who makes the card is really important and there's no way that I know of to find that out. Like I said the $1,299 Acer looked nice but came up with lousy numbers when I ran the Performance Tool.

[Nd4SpdSe]

uhm windows performance tool is useless...

Ya, just a Microsoft marketting tool

read some reviews on the video cards that are in the systems in your price range and pick the best one. you want some real world gaming benchmarks with the games your interested in playing.

Exactly. There's a lot of review sites out there that do comparison and testing

laptops are a hard buy for me, mainly because you cant upgrade the gpu in the future. cpu, memory and hard drive are all upgradeable so there not as important to buy top of the line. buying the best video card with the lowest speed cpu (in the class you want. ie. core i3/i5/i7) with less ram and a smaller hard drive is usually the best bet. hard drives and ram are extremely cheap after market and are a simple upgrade.

Indeed, not a fan of laptops, but I need one, always on the move. My current laptop is more powerful than my desktop, sadly enough; no point upgrading a computer that I'm not around to use. I don't consider the CPU upgradable, but indeed hard drive and ram easilly are.

Actually who makes the card isn't important at all, it's the chipset, and not the amout of ram, but the speed of that ram.

The performance tool is just what Microsoft uses as a benchmark and to compare, but what Microsoft says is good and what will be good to suite your needs can be 2 different things.

[Daninski]

Actually who makes the card isn't important at all, it's the chipset, and not the amout of ram, but the speed of that ram.

Sorry Mike but I have to disagree. I've read many vid card reviews and over clocking ability and some cards just don't over clock worth a sh*t while others just seem to rock. I agree the chipset is an important consideration but if the company mounts it on a cheaply made card you end up with a card that just doesn't perform as well as a well made card. I know MSI makes real good stuff but then there's other companies that just seem to make crap.

[Nd4SpdSe]

Yes and no. You were talking about laptops here, overclocking isnt' something you look for in a laptop.

For a video card, the manufacturer makes teh chips, they do make their own card sometimes, but for the chips, they just send them out with the info on building a card and the 3rd party makes it and tweaks it how they want. Overclocking doesn't mean it's a cheap card, it means they went by the minimum specs that the manufacturer recommended. There's not much out for "cheap" cards, but not everyone overclocks either. What makes cards overclockable is not only the chipset's ability to handle the higher closk speeds, but also the rest of the components, especially the RAM, is handling higher clock speeds and higher voltages.

In the desktop world, of course you want to research the card itself, *especially if you're overclocking, but for laptops, it's really not something to consider