The WoW-Friendly Netbook Returns For Clarification
Posted by 
iTZKooPA on Friday, June 12, 2009 - 10 Comments Tags: asus, asus 1000he, asus eee pc, computers that play wow, eee pc, gaming on a 1000he, gaming on a laptop, gaming on laptops, laptop, laptops, netbook, optimization, system requirements, wow on a laptop
iTZKooPA on Friday, June 12, 2009 - 10 Comments Tags: asus, asus 1000he, asus eee pc, computers that play wow, eee pc, gaming on a 1000he, gaming on a laptop, gaming on laptops, laptop, laptops, netbook, optimization, system requirements, wow on a laptop 
Misconceptions Cleared UpIt seems that there was a bit of confusion in the WoW On A Netbook post from last week. Enough, in my opinion, to warrant an entire response post, rather than a rebuttal comment. So here we are, returning to the topic to clear the air, set things straight and sprinkle in a few additional points.
Judging by the comments there are a few issues to tackle including the definition of a netbook, why the hell I would try to run WoW on such a piece of hardware and why it may matter to you, our loving readers. First and foremost, a netbook is a laptop that is primarily designed for web-browsing and e-mailing, with no maximum requirements on how that can be done. Rather the tertiary concern is that of battery consumption, leading the hardware engineers to nerf and throttle the buzzwords of computing, GHz, GB (RAM) and GB (HDD space), to save power. In the end, the netbook and laptop (aka notebook) discussion turns into the "a square is a rectangle, but a rectangle is not a square" discussion. Simply put, a Netbook is a subset of the laptop sector. It also happens to be the fastest growing computer market, more on that later.
Being an IT professional by design, design being my college degree, I tend to stay up on the latest trends in computing. I get asked my opinion on the topic all the time, so if I fall behind I feel that I am doing a disservice to friends and colleagues. Unfortunately, my three plus year old laptop continues to stand toe-to-toe with every single netbook currently available. Once I took purchase of upcoming events for this summer, E3, BlizzCon and Penny Arcade Expo to name a few, I broke down and added the conservatively priced Asus EEE PC 1000HE to my line-up of machines. It enters as my third active WoW-capable machine. Third is the key word. I have plenty of other machines that can play WoW, but this baby was purchased to make travelling easy. Playing WoW on it is a bonus, a huge one, that I made a requirement during my netbook research. I do not want to play on a netbook, I am just forced to when traveling. Of course, that doesn't stop me from wanting more powerful netbooks.
I understand that many people may not find discussions on the latest computing trends to be incredibly interesting, but they should at least be informative. If you, or your parents, haven't already purchased a shiny new machine for the upcoming school, business, or gaming, year then you'll likely to begin your research sometime soon. Desktop machines your cup of tea? Then move on to something more directly WoW related. A Mac user till death? Allow me to point you elsewhere. However if space, portability, money or power consumption (go green!) are your concern then netbooks should be at the top of your list. For those in this boat, hopefully the end of the summer will bring an ION-based machine, or a sexier, cheaper ASUS N10J.
Do you see a netbook in your future, or do you prefer lugging around a machine that can double as a murder weapon (Alienware) in crucial situations?
P.S. Just kidding Apple fans! I have a Powerbook sitting at home too!
Reader Comments (10)
first
"I do not want to play on a netbook, I am just forced to when traveling"
No, you DO want to. I'm sure no one is holding a gun to your head to force you to. ;)
I'm not a fan of my laptop in everyday situations, can't afford a third computer, so I just play on my desktop. It's for fun (WoW, the Sims sometimes, internet, etc). My laptop I can lug aorund to the library and where ever for school. It doesn't have any bells and whistles and I'm okay with that.
I'm also okay with taking breaks from WoW when away from home. helps boost my rest anyway :)
I read all of your blogs no matter the topic, as you write them in a way thats interesting to me.
I play only on laptops, as there is no convenient place in my small apartment to stick a desktop. Both of my laptops at this time suck at playing WoW, one has chronic fps lag, the other latency lag.
I used to have a very amazing laptop that played WoW like a dream, by the time I completely fell in love I accidently killed it. Ah well.
Nice post. I'm going to college in a year and am looking at computers. I was thinking a mac book, but i dont know now. WoW is a computing priority in the end!
I'm thinking about a netbook this year as I am also a writer and will be at PAX, BlizzCon, and E3 next year. When traveling and lugging things around the old school huge laptops just don't cut it :-(
Great post, I am also a tech junkie and love all the new gismo's and gadgets. Keep up the updates !
Also @ Elfennau, thank you captain obvious.
Well, I have some experience with laptops, and, if you want to fully play wow, and want to work with it too, get an Alienware. I think this is the most freakin powerfull laptop for gaming/digital works in the market nowadays.
I entered college this year, so, I'm broke, but was able to buy an Acer Aspire 4720z, and it supports WoW very well, even raiding and pvping with large groups. In the end of this year, I hope buying a new notebook, and it will be an Alienware!!!
P.S.: have 3 laptops, and had over 5 desktops, but the money ran out with this fckn crisis....
I only use a laptop. It can't run the highest end grapics settings but its good enough.
I play WoW on an Asus Eee PC1000HD (900 mhz Celeron) with 2 gigs of RAM. It's fine for leveling and grinding. I get 15-20 FPS in old world Azeroth, 10-15 or so in Outland, and ~5-10 (tops) while questing in Northrend areas. It takes getting used to that kind of frame rate but it is indeed playable.
At about the size of a generic hardback novel and weighing in at just over 2 lbs I find a 10" netbook much more convenient to keep in my backpack than a +5lb 15" laptop and equally as capable of doing almost any daily computing. It's also far less fragile or expensive as my massive 9 lb Gateway 17" P-series.
I run Adobe PhotoShop CS2, Acrobat, ArcGIS 9.3, and a number of other "big boy" applications on my netbook without a hickup. Granted - I enjoy the workspace offered by my larger laptops, however none of them last long enough on battery power to get the job done. I won't argue that it's FASTER or even as fast as any of my larger computers, but at a FRACTION of the cost of any of my laptops it can get the job done and is much easier to keep with me. My 1000HD gets a lot more use than any of my other laptops due to it's portability and battery life.
Being as it is that I take it with me pretty much anywhere to get work done, the fact that it CAN play games such as WoW is a very sweet bonus.
With all that said, I can say that just like the OP I'm pretty anxious to see an Ion powered laptop!