Laptop Specs Question

[sbrylski06]

I'm looking at the: Sony Vaio S

13.3" VAIO Display with LED backlight (1366 x 768)
Intel® Core™ i7-2620M processor (2.70GHz) with Turbo Boost up to 3.40GHz
AMD Radeon™ HD 6630M (1GB VRAM)
8GB (4GBx2) DDR3-SDRAM-1333

My general question is... what would be the anticipated life span of this machine when it comes to gaming? Though Civ V will be the primary gaming application, I'm hoping to have the capability to play most games that come out within the next 3-4 years.

I'm no expert, and my research so far only tells me that this graphics setup should work just fine for today's software. What I can't discern is what kind of longevity I would be getting.

Any help is much appreciated.

 

[timtofly]

When it comes to computers there is no standard for longevity. You can just look at it like, "how much fun have I missed, because I waited". If you can afford it, do it. If you can't afford it, then keep dreaming. However it is next to impossible to get ahead of the game. I have noticed though that Best Buy is trying to sale the idea that they will keep you "up to date", but that sounds more like a gimmick than reality. I also knew a guy who road the Sears warranty wave with a Packard Bell and they seemed to be so junky that he would receive the latest and greatest, until it broke down a year later, but that is a little chancy to me.

 

[sbrylski06]

When it comes to computers there is no standard for longevity. You can just look at it like, "how much fun have I missed, because I waited". If you can afford it, do it. If you can't afford it, then keep dreaming. However it is next to impossible to get ahead of the game. I have noticed though that Best Buy is trying to sale the idea that they will keep you "up to date", but that sounds more like a gimmick than reality. I also knew a guy who road the Sears warranty wave with a Packard Bell and they seemed to be so junky that he would receive the latest and greatest, until it broke down a year later, but that is a little chancy to me.

Every year when the new model came out his old one just seemed to break, huh?

Just joking. What you said seems to be pretty good advice.

 

[tokala]

Cynical answer:
probably longer than the hardware will physically last
Sony notebooks have a reputation for being nice to look at but to break down rather easily.

If it will not break down early, should be good enough to at least in principle run anything until the next console generation comes out (2 years?), and we get showered with badly ported games for those.

CPU looks pretty good for a notebook, gfx will be the limiting factor, as for most laptops. Not much that can be done about that, unless you get a desktop replacement monstrosity.
It's not bad, but it is only equivalent to an entry-level desktop video card.
If TSMC actually gets it's act together with the 28nm process, then we could see a major performance leap for video cards next year, and accordingly faster obsolescence of the current generation.
But no one knows that yet, as with the consoles, so just buy a decent system for today and stop worrying