What do you all think about this estimate for pc requirements?

"OS: Windows Vista SP2 or Windows 7 or Windows 8 and above.
CPU: Intel Core i5-760 2.8GHz / Phenom II X4 970.
RAM: 8 GB System Memory.
GPU VRAM: 2GB.
GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 670 or AMD Radeon R9 280.
HDD: 28 GB Free Hard Drive Space.
DX: DirectX 11."
-via idigitaltimes

Pardon my ignorance but can any of you possibly help me to figure out if it is tangible for me to purchase a laptop that can run FO4 smoothly with a budget of no more than $400 - $500 max?

Thanks for the help everyone!

A laptop for 400-500 probably not... a desktop probably. Sure mine could run it, but just to be sure I am upgrading my processor.

GTX 670? Way too high I think... FO4 will have in no way requierements as high as Witcher 3.

Minimum:

GPU: GTX 560Ti 1.5GB/GTX 650Ti 2GB [Depending on VRAM requirements]

CPU: QX9770/i7 1st gen/AMD Athlon x4 840

RAM: 8GB

HDD Space: ~25GB

Recommended:
GPU: GTX 670/HD 7950
CPU: i5 3570
RAM: 16GB
HDD Space: ~25GB

I'm going to attempt to run it on a...

Phenom 2 x6 1100t 3.3gb(3.7 turbo core) black edition

HIS HD6850 1gb

8gb DDR3 1600

Sata 3 HD

...if it has a hard time I'll upgrade my GPU(overdue anyway) and probably add another 8gb of RAM just for GP.

How much would I end up spending to meet the recommended requirements?

Is it tangible for my price range to get a laptop or should I just get a desktop? Just trying to get two birds stoned at once seeing as how I need a laptop for school as well. However being able to play FO4 takes precedence over everything.

If I had to hazard a WAG. (wild arsed guess) Probably just a tad meaner than Skyrim system requirements....... I think a 1gb vid card, for best performance, IS going to be required here though.

For a laptop, you going to have to be in the 1000 dollar range. However, without exact requirements I can't say for sure

Minimum specs would be a Lenovo Y50 refurbished for about $750-$800. It would be better actually, as the CPU [obviously I'm talking about a quad-core still, something with a MQ or HQ in the name of the intel CPU. No AMD A10/A8 APUs] is close to what I listed in the recommended and the 860m is close to a desktop 650Ti. [Part of the high GPU requirement is because a lot of the first gen DX11 GPUs had only 1GB of VRAM and I'm putting the VRAM requirement higher than that.] For Recommended, the GPU would be the the 970m, which is around $1300. A middle ground would be to go with a refurbished laptop with a 870m [~$1000], which is around a desktop gtx 660Ti. Used laptops with a HD 7970m/8970m and Intel CPU [No AMD A-10s] also should do well.

So far I have been able to run new games at near max specs on this bad boy, with the exception of Shadow of Mordor crashing to desktop at the worst possible times, but I think that's more the game's issue.

If you can play GTA 5 on your pc without any issues,you'll be able to play FO 4 just fine.

If you want it for school then get a laptop and concentrate on school.

There will be time for gaming later. For gaming I recommend desktops but for school - many college students carry laptops.

If you're looking for a pc for gaming AND school.

Try alienware brand.

My gf has a pc that runs skyrim just fine, I wonder how much of a leap it would be to get it to run FO4

Alienware aren't what they used to be. Now, they are just re-branded Dells. Nothing special about them, aside from a bigger price tag.

Or maybe my gf's lenovo g560 can run it at lower settings at least? Possibly higher finger crossed? Can anyone help me out?

We don't know. Beth has released zero info on hardware requirements. Until they do, it is all just speculation. If your GF's machine can run Skyrim reasonably well, then it should be able to run FO:4 in at least a playable form.

Plan around "No".

You are VERY unlikely to get any kind of laptop that could play this game for only $500, really simple as that. Get a lenova or Asus Republic of Gaming Laptop for a bit more then a $1000 (probably $1200-$1300) OR BUILD (DO NOT BUY) a desktop for about $500.

Is 850m gonna cut it? Atleast medium settings

The following observations exclude self-built, custom-built PCs and only deal with off-the-shelf OEM products.

A few years ago, the OEMs finally split the prices between general use (i.e., no separate GPU) and gaming/high-end video processing (i.e., separate GPU chipset). Before this happened, the prices for PCs were a fairly continuous spectrum, but afterwards, a clear split in prices became apparent.

The price you mentioned would be for a general use PC (no separate GPU) regardless of it being a desktop or laptop. This would be okay for most school use excluding any work you may have to do if you are majoring in gaming or some form of high-end video processing (e.g., CGI art production, animation, etc for film). It would not be the type of PC you'd want for gaming, though, and probably would not run FO4 or would only run it with low specs and great difficulty.

It is far better to spend the extra money and get a higher end gaming-specific PC because you can do both general use work such as office productivity as well as high-end work such as gaming or video processing. Having a separate GPU chipset that is specifically designed to perform video processing and lessen the load on the CPU is always going to be a better choice.

Gaming laptops usually start around the $1000 price mark. As I said, there is a clear price split between general use PCs and gaming PCs now. However, you can get an ASUS gaming PC that is very powerful from Best Buy or other retailers for about $1000 and it should do pretty much anything you want it to do, including running FO4 at very good specs, perhaps even ultra mode. I'd recommend making sure that you get one with the Nvidia GPU because they seem to perform better. I have two ASUS gaming laptops, one with a 260M GPU and one with a 560M GPU, and both of them run Bethesda games on ultra mode with high-end graphics mods with no trouble at all (well, aside from the typical crashes due to mods, of course, but that cannot be avoided).

I seriously doubt that FO4 will require a 600+ series Nvidia GPU, but the 640 (and 640M for laptops) is probably the lowest price you'll find today in ASUS OEM laptops. My laptops are a few years old so they have older GPUs, that's all, but it has never been a problem (not yet, of course).

Edit:

Basically, it is worth it to invest the money now rather than attempt to push a PC that just isn't intended to be used for high-end software. As an anology, you don't try to race cars with a typical passenger car because the latter car's hardware/mechanics just is not intended for such high-performance work.

Also, there is a long-standing and still-prevalent myth that desktops are superior to laptops for gaming, or even that desktops are required because laptops simply can't handle the work. This is false and has been false for many years now (maybe since about 2007 or so). Rather than a concern about laptops running games as well as desktops (which they do and have for many years, as long as you compare gaming laptops to desktops), the question is whether or not you want/need portability. Some people don't need to be mobile so a desktop is okay. However, many people really need to be able to be mobile, including the freedom to game wherever they are, so they need a gaming laptop because they can't lug their desktop around everywhere. The higher price for gaming laptops today is mainly due to paying for the freedom of mobility for high-end work rather than being able to do the work at all. You can pay less for a desktop to do the same work but you won't be mobile.

It'd probably be okay.

I think even my old HD 6950 will still play it since it ran Skyrim + texture mods without a problem. If not I'll finally upgrade since I have a desktop.

If you can wait then I would wait, though. If you purchase beforehand you'll have to guess and it could be an expensive guess if you get it wrong.

It's only like 3.5 months to wait.

I've head other people on the forum say that if you can run Skyrim, you can probably run Fallout 4. I hope they come out with the requirements because I have an older (2011) computer too.

Of course you could buy an Xbox One or a PS4 for that price range and it would be guaranteed to run it.

I agree with pretty much everything you have to say here.

One note though: Dollar for dollar, desktops will outperform laptops. Just the nature of the beast. Desktop hardware is less expensive, and cooling options are limitless. Heat is a major concern on laptops, and the more effective its heat dissipation system is, usually means the battery goes dead that much quicker. Of course, you would want to be plugged in for gaming in any event...... So, maybe that isn't as much of an issue. Also, desktops are FAR easier to upgrade, most laptops, the only thing you can do is add more ram, or a bigger (second?) harddrive, can't swap out the video card, meaner processor, etc.

I think it will have about the same specs as Witcher 3, but we do not know until we have the specs from Bethesda and how the optimization is going through the polish phase. Witcher 3 is still going through that now at least still with the last patch recently released.