So any suggestions for a “work” laptop that’s also good for gaming for about $2500? It’s my turn to get a new laptop at work and I’ve just started shopping. But I’m pretty sure someone might raise eyebrows if I tried to order one named the Screamer or the Fragtastic. [Besides, I haven’t got the funding necessary for a boutique laptop anyway.] Basically I need a professional (i.e., boring-looking) laptop from a major vendor that just happens to have a nice video card in it. ;-)
I don’t travel much with my laptop, so size and weight isn’t too big of a concern: this is basically a desktop replacement. But I will be getting an external monitor too, so I don’t need a huge screen, either. 15" seems to be just the right size for me.
[And before Rimbo and the other Macolytes chime in: no, I can’t get a Mac. Thanks for playing.]
You can get a loaded dell inspiron 9400 (2Ghz C2D, 2GB RAM, 7900GS, 100GB 7200RPM drive, DVD burner, etc) for around $1700. This isn’t a particularly good deal for dell, coupons come up every week or two. The 7200RPM drive is particularly important, by the way.
Alternatively, the asus aj8s or in particular the asus G1 are good choices. That G1 is a hot item right now, it just came out.
So, for fun, I was looking at Alienware’s site, and they are offering dual GeForce 7900 SLI enabled video options. What’s the word on how fast these are, pros, cons, etc?
From reviews I’ve seen, the aurora system is heavily CPU bottlenecked, and the SLI version only beats the non-SLI by 4-11%. The AMD chips are drek. In games that don’t hit the CPU, the SLI 7900GS Go graphics are roughly as fast as a desktop x1900xt 256MB. Which is great for a notebook. But they need to put a core2duo merom in there.
Tom stumbled to the door, yelling at the early-morning visitor to stop the damned banging already, his only garmet a comforter wrapped rudely around himself.
“What’s this, some kind of stupid joke?” he said, unlatching the door and peering around the frame. “Knocking on my door at a quarter to thr…”
His voice trailed off at the sight of three white-robed figures before him, staring at the disrobed videogame reviewer and up-and-coming actor.
“Who are you?” Tom asked. Cistertian monks, perhaps, come to claim him? “But I already gave the abbot back his copy of <em>Ogier de Locedio<em>! And the Playboys!”
Ah, No, one of them was female.
“You were told to buy a mac,” their leader said. His eyes swam a little, and his lips were pressed into wide smile that didn’t quite reach them. “And yet … And yet you bought … an <em>IBM compatible</em>?”
Tom’s heart sunk as he noticed, for the first time, a delicate aqueous gloss on the deathly white of their garments, and a clean, perfectly-gradiated drop shadow neatly blurred beneath their white-shoed feet. With a mote of horror he saw that they were <em>slightly translucent.</em>
“I’m going to close the door now,” Tom said. “Please leave me alone. I have an iPod! Honestly!”
The leader blinked, the affixed smile flickering just a little.
“Have a happy new year, Tom,” he said, his lips finally parting to reveal a row of glossy white, perfectly-aligned and identically-sized teeth. “Do keep us in mind.”
Tom stumbled to the door, yelling at the early-morning visitor to stop the damned banging already, his only garmet a comforter wrapped rudely around himself.
“What’s this, some kind of stupid joke?” he said, slipping the latch and peering around the frame. “Knocking on my door at a quarter to thr…”
His voice trailed off at the sight of three white-robed figures before him, staring at the disrobed videogame reviewer and up-and-coming actor.
“Who are you?” Tom asked. Cistertian monks, perhaps, come to claim him? “But I already gave the abbot back his copy of Ogier de Locedio! And the Playboys!”
Ah, No, one of them was female.
“You were told to buy a mac,” their leader said. His eyes swam a little, and his lips were pressed into wide smile that didn’t quite reach them. “And yet … And yet you bought … an IBM compatible?”
Tom’s heart sunk as he noticed, for the first time, a delicate aqueous gloss on the deathly white of their garments, and a clean, perfectly-gradiated drop shadow neatly blurred beneath their white-shoed feet. With a mote of horror he saw that they were slightly translucent.
“I’m going to close the door now,” Tom said. “Please leave me alone. I have an iPod! Honestly!”
The leader blinked, the affixed smile flickering just a little.
“Have a happy new year, Tom,” he said, his lips finally parting to reveal a row of glossy white, perfectly-aligned and identically-sized teeth. “Do keep us in mind.”
No, it means “I am limited in what I’m allowed to buy and a MBP ain’t an option, so please don’t bother recommending one.” :-)
Anyway, I’ll probably go with a C2D laptop with 2 GB and a 7900GS, if I can swing it. I’d probably have a hard time justifying the extra expense of a 7900GTX, much as I might like to; and I’d rather have a big external monitor.
I don’t know about other systems, but there’s a decent-sized community of people who buy the lower-specced Dells and upgrade the video themselves later on. Notebookforums.com I think is where much of the discussion happens (or used to at any rate). Something to keep in mind – see if whatever you’re considering can do that.
A friend of mine runs this site about MXM laptop video upgrades. I haven’t looked over it too much but his purpose was assembling some info about upgradeable laptops. If it is any service to you guys knock yourselves out.
OK - through some very fortunate circumstances I was able to purchase a new notebook from Dell at a very reduced price (had to do with an issue that I had with Dell that was resolved this way - long story I don’t wanna get into here.) But the bottom line is that I was able to purchase an M1710, decked out with a T7200, 512 MB GeForce Go 7950 GTX, couple of gigs of fast RAM, etc. They even moved up the shipping so that instead of getting it on the 10th, apparently it is supposed to arrive today - that is a surprise. It will be interesting to compare, my buddy who I was helping ended up getting the Toshiba with the 7900, we’ll do some comparisons to see if there is any real eyeball discernible differences in gaming.
Question - I’m going to be using LapLinks’s PCMover to try to move the stuff from my older XPS to the new system - it says it moves everything, including Office software, license and all, so that you don’t have the pain of reinstalls. Anyone use this and have any caveats or tips/tricks?
I’m going to have to reconsider my recommendation for the NC8430.
Unpacked and started playing with it. The video started weirding out and then display would blank out, and occasionally return (flashes every few minutes.) It worked connected to an external display. So I call em up and send it in for repair.
Comes back, and the display works. They had a note that said they replaced the screen. However, the display now only goes up to 12801024, where I clearly paid for the 16801050 display (about $200 difference?).
Best part of it, they put a bloody sticker somewhere between the keyboard and the DVD drive, so I can’t open it without using a paper clip on the emergency eject.
It is still fairly light for it’s size, and the x1600 has been able to push games fairly well. Fingerprint scanner is a toy. Takes so long to recognize (sometimes 2 swipes, sometime 6) that it’s easier to type in PW. My coworker also swiped her fingers and it worked. Bah.
