Dream Laptop??!! :) Advice needed!

S

Scouse

Guest
OK - I've got about £1500-2k to spend on a laptop (going to kill off my corporation tax bill so the damn government doesn't get it's hands on the hard-earned (and so I've got some mobile computing potential)).

If you could buy a laptop, had 2k to spend, liked the odd game now and again ;) what would you get?!

Sensible opinions please!! (The odd hyperlink wouldn't go amiss!)

Ta peeps!
 
B

bodhi

Guest
If you can't stretch to a Thinkpad get a VAIO. They take "uber elite" to a whole new level :)
 
T

Tui

Guest
I managed to convince my work to get me a Dell Latitude C810. Unlike most laptops it also has a touchpad, which I prefer.
P III 1.13GHz processor, 256 MB is standard, Geforce2 Go graphics and 15 inch screen is 1600 x 1200. Lower resolutions occupy the whole screen and are still clear. I got the integrated 56K modem 10/100 ethernet module to keep the PC slots free. It has 2 media bays at the front, one has the battery and the other can be used for floppy drive, cdrom or another battery. It's got the usual ports at the back, IR, IEEE 1394 (Firewire), S-video/TV out with an adaptor splitting it to S-video, composite video and audio. It comes with a decent carry case.
I've only had it for a couple of weeks and am pleased with it so far though someone has mumbled about problems with keyboards.
If you visit http://www.euro.dell.com/countries/uk/enu/bsd/products/model_latit_latit_c810.htm
you can configure the options and get the cost :)
 
S

Scouse

Guest
Ta chaps :)

I've decided on following specs so far:

DVD/CDRW combi
GeFarce2go 32 meg (Min!)
Minimum of 256 Meg RAM
Min 1.1 GHz processor (I heard the athlon mobile kicks ass?)
Integrated 56k and 10/100.

Just can't seem to find a lappy with the entire range of specs I'm after....

And have you guys noticed how much cheaper they are in "bang-for-buck" stakes from the US!!!! :( Grrrr
 
B

bodhi

Guest
Geforce2Go is obsolete now. Mobility Radeon 7500 and whatever nVIDIA are calling what they've just announced are far superior. The 7500 seems to be running rings around everything at the mo tho. Or for uber specs, a Mobility Fire GL 7800 is the ticket :)
 
S

(Shovel)

Guest
I'm prolly gonna go for a laptop too, in summer before UNI I expect.

Is there any special reason why, if I want 512 meg of ram, I have to add £220 to the cost. (based on that DELL link above) ??
 
S

Scouse

Guest
I've gotta get mine b4 the end of this month if I'm going to do it - tax reasons.

Apparently you can tell Dell to go suck eggs with their ram (too bloody expensive) and get it from somewhere else - some RAM manufacturers do matched RAM for lappy's - can't remember which ones off the top of my head tho :) Much cheaper too.

As for the Mobility Radeon 7500 and Nvidia's new NV17M - does anyone know of any laptops that have either of these in them??
 
W

Wilier

Guest
Ive got a Dell Latitude c400 from work but the grfx is absolutly shite (11fps in CS)
Is it possible to change the card a-la desktop pc, or is that a no-no with lappys??
 
X

Xavier

Guest
Originally posted by Scouse
OK - I've got about £1500-2k to spend on a laptop (going to kill off my corporation tax bill so the damn government doesn't get it's hands on the hard-earned (and so I've got some mobile computing potential)).

If you could buy a laptop, had 2k to spend, liked the odd game now and again ;) what would you get?!

Sensible opinions please!! (The odd hyperlink wouldn't go amiss!)

Ta peeps!
Click to expand...

there's only one laptop for the job...

Toshiba Satellite 5000 (1100Mhz PIII, 256Mb RAM, 15" TFT, CDRW and DVD Combo, Bluetooth and a host of other niceties...)

PLUS

for £200 you can get it upgraded to NV17M (NV17 Mobile) - w00t

we've been playing with one this week and all I can say is it's stunning, 3dmark score wise it gets around 4500 3dmarks on the default test (2001) and so far the medal of honor demo r0xx0r at 2x fsaa...

there isn't any competition really, Radeon Mobile can't touch this baby...

(Oh, and did I mention the TFT does 1600x1200 desktop res CRYSTAL CLEAR!! OMG!)
 
X

Xavier

Guest
Originally posted by Wilier
Ive got a Dell Latitude c400 from work but the grfx is absolutly shite (11fps in CS)
Is it possible to change the card a-la desktop pc, or is that a no-no with lappys??
Click to expand...

no, 99% of the time the video is hardwired (soldered) onto the motherboard, the satellite 5000 is a very special case indeed ;)
 
P

PR.

Guest
Raghh I recently got me a laptop for £2600

Dell Inspiron 8100

15" Screen
Geforce2go 32mb
512mb ram
P3m 1.2ghz
48gb hdd
8x DVD
8x CDRW
Floppy disk
2 batteries
Carry case
10/100NIC
56k modem
Win XP home

The performance is brilliant, once I upgraded the bios and gfx drivers it is now rock solid. Nice DVD quality high fps in RTCW/TFC/MaxPayne

After reading many reviews who all reckoned this was a good desktop replacement system, I made the purchase the only downsides to it are

That theres no active SpeedStep you have to suspend and restore to switch from Battery speed to mains speed

Its pretty heavy not a carry around for hours machine

With both batteries on battery speed your looking at 5hours life

Dell
 
X

Xavier

Guest
bleh - seeing as NV17M was announced late last year why didn't you wait?

For £2200 you'd have had the same spec but with Geforce 2go 4!
 
P

PR.

Guest
But then I'd be waiting for the P4 laptop then the laptop that lasted 12hours on a half charged battery.

Ya always buying out of date technology :(

For a laptop this GF2go is more than enough at this time
 
L

~Lazarus~

Guest
you guys know that Dell have site which they use to sell off product fairly cheap ???

Not sure if its a auction site - when I get to work Ill post the link






































if you really want it :)
 
X

Xavier

Guest
will take a pic of the NV17M tosh and post them tonight :)
 
S

Scouse

Guest
Got one - came today :)

Went with the dell Inspiron 8100:

1.2Ghz P3M (the 0.13 micron jobby with 512k of L2 Cache)
256 Meg
30 Gig HDD
CDRW/DVD Rom
64 Meg ATI Mobility Radeon 7500

Looks good - but I'll have to kill the bell-end of an XP home install and put XP Pro on it (dunno if there are any driver issues yet).

Got 159 fps on a vanilla Q3 install benchmark (Demo1) - but I reckon I can get way more out of it when I do my rebuild.

Couldn't wait for the NV17M - tax man was going to rob all my money - so I had to buy quickly!

:)
 
L

~Lazarus~

Guest
oh dear.

you didnt get the one with the 30gb hdd ?

ooops
 
P

PR.

Guest
iirc everything up to and including 30gb ran at a lower rpm to the 48gb hence the reason I went for that :)
 
E

Embattle

Guest
TBH I would never use a laptop for games, the crippling effects that sometimes arise when playing games on a full PC is enough let alone on a laptop.
 
O

old.Jas

Guest
A decent speced laptop will run HL/TFC/CS just fine (I used to play on a PII 400 laptop).

But your right - the demands on hardware are high and they struggle with newer games.

At the end of the day laptops arn't designed for games - unless you count that CEO in the Virgin Atlantic First Class lounge playing Solitaire a gamer ;)
 
E

Embattle

Guest
I mean more the physical side than the technological, I've used touchpad's and they suck royal ass.
 
P

PR.

Guest
good god man!!

Its crippling to browse the net with a touchpad, that is why I bought another intellimouse explorer.

And when compared that this laptop is more reliable than my new p4 1.9, which ever since bsod'd on the sp demo of mohaa after a total rebuild it has done nothing but store files from my laptop.

/me spits at desktop machine, fecking waste of money :mad:
 
E

Embattle

Guest
As do the keyboards etc etc.

/Me pisses on laptop :p
 
O

old.D0LLySh33p

Guest
It ain't too bad if you're always on the move...

My sister goes to Sheffield Uni. - lives on one side of the city has to travel to the other for her course.

Laptop is so much easier to use.

/me wipes Emb's pee off laptop.
 
X

Xavier

Guest
hmm, I keep my tosh satellite pro on a vanilla build of XP for worky bits such as code and email... which leaves my desktop (2.2ghz northwood) and other laptop (1.1Ghz PIII w/nv17m) open to abuse for games... the only thing that the lappy wins for is mobility, the desktop will always be king :D
 
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