TF2 Graphics Hitch

[OmegaZero_Alpha]

turn off aero

/thread

Aero turns off when it's in the backgroud, genius.

I shelled out a lot of cash for a nice laptop

Heres your problem.

Source engine is horrifically dependant on your ram and CPU compared to most games, and laptops are horrifically weak in those areas to cut on battery use.

If it is lag then it will be an internet, though. Maybe some interference in your wireless, or spikes in packet loss or bandwidth. I can see the spikes in your net graph and I would go that route and limit your roomate's bandwidth via your router setting, run trace routes, etc.

Check and see that you don't have a driver conflict coming from an update, or networking conflicts stemming from your bluetooth.

[TheSlinger]

I don't know how to do any of those things :/

I have 6 GB of RAM so that's not the problem. 1.9 GHz processor which is less than the recommended system requirements but still well above the minimum for TF2. In any case the game was running fine until a few days ago so I imagine the solution lies in one of those techy-sounding things you said.

[daem0n]

turn off aero

/thread

Aero turns off when it's in the backgroud, genius.

only if in full screen - maybe op is in windowed

[Snarf]

It's unlikely that he is running it windowed, most people run fullscreen. Regardless 1.9ghz explains a lot of this I am not surprised you idle at that fps. Somebody will probably be able to give you some tips to give you better fps but I haven't touched the game in so long that I couldn't help you much. Only thing I can say is make sure you have AA(Anti aliasing) completely off.
But judging by that alone what is happening here is clearly the cpu bottlenecking. Unless of course it is actual lag and not frame dropping in which case oza would be 100% correct as far as options and troubleshooting goes.

[OmegaZero_Alpha]

I don't know how to do any of those things :/

I have 6 GB of RAM so that's not the problem. 1.9 GHz processor which is less than the recommended system requirements but still well above the minimum for TF2. In any case the game was running fine until a few days ago so I imagine the solution lies in one of those techy-sounding things you said.

ram performance is measured in speed, not size, and the clock rate of processors is irrelevant in measuring sperformance l also.

But look into those other things.