Aqualung

Thanks everyone for your replies so far. I'll be sure to keep proper cooling in mind when I make my final decision. I realize now that inadequate heat dispersion was one of the problems with my previous laptop system running FSX (that on top of inferior specs led to a miserable experience). Ryanbatcund- You mentioned the video card. I do have experience changing parts on a large desktop computer, but a laptop worries me a little. Do you know if the video card on a laptop like that can be changed, or is it built-in or too difficult to modify without harming the other components? If it isn't, I might get that computer and anticipate on buying a new video card and changing the default somewhere down the line. I know of the can of worms that gets opened when FSX and laptops are mixed. My previous set-up involved a Gateway NV53 with an old AMD processor. Just getting FSX running took an effort. But I figure that I am going to be buying a new laptop anyway so why not try to find the optimal one for FSX. I guess I'm not looking for a "good" computer, just the most tolerable one.

Hello Everyone, I am relatively new here (I heard the Avsim forums are the best place to go for tech advice :smile:). I apologize if this is a redundant post; I know you guys must grow tired of answering the same questions over and over, but here's my dilemma: I am currently shopping for a new laptop and am a bit short on cash at the moment. I'm looking in the $550'ish range and am completely baffled on what to get (I don't know anything about computers, so please understand). I already know I will not be able to purchase a system with performance comparable to everyone else's, but I just really want to get the most "bang for my buck." It has to be a laptop because my nature of work requires one. I took a shot in the dark and picked out a $549 Acer Aspire V3-571-6492 with these specifications: Windows 7 Home Premium - Intel® Core™ i5-3230M processor (2.6GHz/3.2GHz w/ Turbo Boost) - 4GB DDR3 memory - 500GB hard drive - Intel® HD Graphics 4000 - Mobile Intel® HM77 Express chipset Would you consider the performance of this computer typical of what I would get in this price range, or are there better ones out there that I could consider purchasing? What would you get? Thank you all so much.