New Laptop!

[ThruX]

I would like some opinions on what would be an all around good system. It will primarily be for school/work and would like to still pop on CSS every so often. I am looking at the 999 standard, not the red edition. Also anyone have any experience with the dell warehouse, certified refurbished, should I stay away from these. Any opions on what I need and do not would be helpful. Thanks in advance.

 

http://www.dell.com/content/products/produ...;l=en&s=dhs

 

edit:forgot link.

Edited June 23, 2008 by BIGchiefKODIAK

[DNA]

I dont know if I had to choose I would take the one for $200 more for the better Battery little more HD and a slittly fast CPU and FSB. The battery would be the big one for me that would make me willing to spend the extra $200.

[Cujo]

xps laptops are an insane waste of money but if you insist let me quote one up.

[Cujo]

This Video Card does not support your selected Processor.

 

wth??? someone please tell me how this makes sense.

 

edit - not to mention:

 

None

Free Recycling Kit add $0

Support Reforestation: Plant a Tree for Me [add $2]

Recycling Kit and Plant a Tree for Me [included in Price]

 

so let me get this straight. if i want to plant a tree but don't want the free kit i have to pay 2 bucks more. however, i get the tree and the kit for free.

Edited June 24, 2008 by Cujo

[Cujo]

if it was my money, here's how my quote would look: edit - though if it was my money i wouldn't get a dell...

 

sadly, there is no way to remove the extra junk software or the online data safe or the vista label.

 

oddly, the 160gb 7200rpm drive is cheaper than the 120gb.

 

i don't see an option for 64bit windows but 4gb is there for the future. it's only $100 more than 2gb and given that if you get 2gb then it's still two sticks anyway it's worth the price.

 

don't go high res cause the vid card won't game at native res.

Edited June 24, 2008 by Cujo

[anonymo]

if it was my money, here's how my quote would look: edit - though if it was my money i wouldn't get a dell...

 

sadly, there is no way to remove the extra junk software or the online data safe or the vista label.

 

oddly, the 160gb 7200rpm drive is cheaper than the 120gb.

 

i don't see an option for 64bit windows but 4gb is there for the future. it's only $100 more than 2gb and given that if you get 2gb then it's still two sticks anyway it's worth the price.

 

don't go high res cause the vid card won't game at native res.

 

Cujo, you need to give that vid card more credit...I run AoC out to my 1920x1200 and still get 40+ fps (which for AoC is fair chunk of frames) running off my T61..or did you mean something else...also if you use custom drivers you can unlock all the safety settings and make it the same as an 8600GT (as far as I have seen, not so comfortable with trying it )

 

Most suppliers I have come to found do not support Vista 64bit for some reason in laptops (Dell and Lenovo specifically).

 

Also, I know we talk about this all the time but as far as I have read from various sources, Windows 32bit may not show your full 4gb and may not allow programs access to it all but I have come to understand that Windows does in fact use all 4gb in 32bit...ah well the debate rages on...I guess I could get another 2gb stick and test it out for myself one of these days

 

Otherwise I'd say you can't go wrong with that lappy, though it will crush CSS

[ZesteR]

xps laptops are an insane waste of money but if you insist let me quote one up.

dell is getting rid of their xps systems and working with Alienware to create a replacement

 

i don't see an option for 64bit windows but 4gb is there for the future. it's only $100 more than 2gb and given that if you get 2gb then it's still two sticks anyway it's worth the price.

I wouldn't waste ur $ on getting the 4gb directly from dell... get the cheapest ram u can, then upgrade it urself for over half the cost. I got the normal 1gb (2x512) then upgraded to 4gb(2x2gb) by myself. Much much cheaper and if u do not want to upgrade to 4gb yet, I have a 2gb (2x1gb) 800 MHZ laying around b/c I didnt know my santa rosa mb couldn't support anything more than 667. PM me if ya want. (It's OCZ RAM TOO)

 

Also, I know we talk about this all the time but as far as I have read from various sources, Windows 32bit may not show your full 4gb and may not allow programs access to it all but I have come to understand that Windows does in fact use all 4gb in 32bit...ah well the debate rages on...I guess I could get another 2gb stick and test it out for myself one of these days

 

Otherwise I'd say you can't go wrong with that lappy, though it will crush CSS

I have 4gb in my laptop. I'm seeing 3851MB of RAM. Not the full 4gb of RAM. but it's still nice when I have used more than 2.1 gb of RAM at a time, several times. Memory is cheap, why not

 

 

Also, on the build that cujo made, I have the 8600 gt, it's really nice and plays tf2 and css at native res. 1680x1050.

I've also played prey, c&c3, and a bunch of other steam games.

 

Def. go with the larger battery. It sticks out past ur laptop's back, but that doesnt bother me. It's just an inch more footprint.

When the display is on low setting, I get around 4 hours on it, and 1-1.5 hours on high when I'm gaming.

 

At the time I got a good deal from Mag for 300 off any dell laptop over 1300, so I ended up at ur price range, but got a better laptop.

 

Make sure you get ALL your drivers from Dell.

Also, I'm told the built in mic sounds crappy for ppl when I talk. (good thing I dont have to hear it )

Edited June 24, 2008 by ZesteR
Final thought

[NOFX]

I personally would NEVER buy a new laptop like this. I've only owned two laptops my whole life and I have bought both off of Ebay. I also have never paid more than $400 for a laptop.

 

Think about what you will be using it for and do yourself a favor and only by what you need.

 

I personally feel like a laptop should be a portable machine and that is what I use it for. To do everything but play games. If you want to play games, your going to need to buy a top of the line gaming laptop, else I feel like the crappy fsp you get on a standard gaming laptop will turn you off from playing on it after an hour or so.

 

Anywho, I buy the lightest one I can find. Once you carry you 6 lber around for a year, you will love something like the Dell X1. I just picked up a Dell 700m off ebay, came with a small laptop bag, and an extra 5 hour battery. I think its around 3.5 lbs and I think its still to heavy. I also believe your processor speed is irrelevant on a laptop. My old Dell C400 with 800Mhz with 256 megs worked 100% fine until I broke the housing for the LCD the second time. It opens firefox fast and opens word docs and such quick also. What are you going to do with that 2Ghz 2 gig of ram machine? Open firefox 5ms faster? Get buff carrying around an 8lb bag of computer? Ridiculous how manufactors try to push the totally unnecessary on the consumer.

 

 

If you want a laptop for photo video editing or gaming, don't get an all-in-one 8 lb beast, buy youself a desktop for the hardcore stuff and something light and easy to carry around for your portable needs.

[dwEEziL]

This is SwOOp's "laptop".

 

http://www.thedigitals.com/2006/10/portabl...dell-xps-m2010/

[Magruter]

It's not too portable at 20 lbs... I looked at that one before.

[Cujo]

anon, not to say i don't believe you but even the 9800gx2 and x2 3870 can barely hold 40fps at 1920 and they're using a high end intel cpu.

http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MT...W50aHVzaWFzdA==

not to mention the 3870 which is much faster than the 8600gtm barely does 20.

 

hp now has 64 bit with the majority of their systems.

 

the more ram the better for vista. whether it can see the full 4gb or not.

 

 

zest, i would have said the same thing but 2gb is the lowest you can get and it's $100 extra to go to 4gb. since the 2gb would be 2 sticks he'd have to buy 2x2gb sticks elsewhere which would come out to more than that $100 extra.

 

alienware will just be an even more insane waste of money.

Edited June 24, 2008 by Cujo

[[LaW]Maverick]

Personally, I'd go with something more like this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16834220334

[anonymo]

anon, not to say i don't believe you but even the 9800gx2 and x2 3870 can barely hold 40fps at 1920 and they're using a high end intel cpu.

http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MT...W50aHVzaWFzdA==

not to mention the 3870 which is much faster than the 8600gtm barely does 20.

 

hp now has 64 bit with the majority of their systems.

 

the more ram the better for vista. whether it can see the full 4gb or not.

 

 

zest, i would have said the same thing but 2gb is the lowest you can get and it's $100 extra to go to 4gb. since the 2gb would be 2 sticks he'd have to buy 2x2gb sticks elsewhere which would come out to more than that $100 extra.

 

alienware will just be an even more insane waste of money.

 

Yeah, I was getting 4 SPF (if you can figure out what SPF is) back when they did that. Since June 8 there have been 4 optimization updates.

 

I know it's not at 1920 but it gives you an idea of what the 8600M can do (actually...I wish I could tell you why it takes SS at 1440x900 must be another way to take full rez screenshots...or the game is defaulting me to that resolution and I haven't noticed...still, it's way above 40)

[Cujo]

Yeah, I was getting 4 SPF (if you can figure out what SPF is) back when they did that. Since June 8 there have been 4 optimization updates.

 

I know it's not at 1920 but it gives you an idea of what the 8600M can do (actually...I wish I could tell you why it takes SS at 1440x900 must be another way to take full rez screenshots...or the game is defaulting me to that resolution and I haven't noticed...still, it's way above 40)

i'm not gonna argue with you as our drive to ff will leave plenty of time for that. suffice to say the 8600gt is a $75 vid card right now. the mobile version is a castrated version so we'll say $60 value. how many of us are gaming on $60 video cards right now? if you want a laptop for gaming buy one with a low native res or be prepared to game at non-native res.

 

mavs, suggestion is a good one except for the 4200rpm hard drive.

 

i like this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16834220272

 

except it's probably also a 4200rpm drive but you can get a 120gb 5400rpm for under 100 bucks. then buy a usb enclosure for the 320gb and i have a nice ultra portable back up drive that requires no external power.

[DNA]

Please install wifi cam in car for trip down to FF...Pay-Per-View Event FTW!!!

 

I really would pay to see the arguements to come

[[LaW]Maverick]

Yeah, I was getting 4 SPF (if you can figure out what SPF is) back when they did that. Since June 8 there have been 4 optimization updates.

 

I know it's not at 1920 but it gives you an idea of what the 8600M can do (actually...I wish I could tell you why it takes SS at 1440x900 must be another way to take full rez screenshots...or the game is defaulting me to that resolution and I haven't noticed...still, it's way above 40)

i'm not gonna argue with you as our drive to ff will leave plenty of time for that. suffice to say the 8600gt is a $75 vid card right now. the mobile version is a castrated version so we'll say $60 value. how many of us are gaming on $60 video cards right now? if you want a laptop for gaming buy one with a low native res or be prepared to game at non-native res.

 

mavs, suggestion is a good one except for the 4200rpm hard drive.

 

i like this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16834220272

 

except it's probably also a 4200rpm drive but you can get a 120gb 5400rpm for under 100 bucks. then buy a usb enclosure for the 320gb and i have a nice ultra portable back up drive that requires no external power.

 

I'm with Cujo--I was just trying to keep close to the original price he had picked out. That ASUS has some serious bang for your buck. I didn't notice the 4200 RPM drive though--boo on that. My wife has an F-series ASUS that plays LoTRO CS:S, and COD4 just fine--and LoTRO is a fairly demanding game. It has the 8600 in it...lemme see if it's still up on NewEgg....

 

They don't sell it, but this is what she has: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16834220163

 

We love the thing...though we upgraded it to 4 gigs of RAM

[ThruX]

Wow, I purchased a Dell desktop and seems more than what I needed at the time. I have been told by people only buy dell,HP, or mac if they are apple guys, I have never used one. So I wish I never asked, you guys saying it is a waste of money. I guess I will shop around. Funny thing you said about alienware, I thought they were cool. Maybe Im just the perfect canidate for marketing schemes. On the website it is so smooth and flashy and is just the powerhouse for gaming.

 

Let me go back through cujo's post and see what differs.

Asus, never heard of them.

[Cujo]

because it's a dell or an hp doesn't make it faster. an asus spec'ed the same as a dell will perform the same. in fact the asus will probably be faster as the motherboard would be faster. the reason mav and i like asus so much is all the little things you get included. bluetooth, gigabit lan, firewire, webcam, etc. the list goes on. all things that you either can't get on a dell or they want extra for.

 

you can get an alienware or you can get an asus with the same specs. the alienware will cost anywhere from $100 to $500 more for essentially the same computer. same as a mac. same as an hp or dell to a lesser extent.

[dwEEziL]

You buy Dell for a good surfing/email/not intense games and especially for the warranty (if you get a Dell, get the extended warranty). A buddy of mine has had two ASUS laptops and loves them. They seem to be a really good system. Alienware makes great systems (desktop and laptop) but you pay out the wazoo for the name.

[Cujo]

Please install wifi cam in car for trip down to FF...Pay-Per-View Event FTW!!!

 

I really would pay to see the arguements to come

 

well my laptop has a built in webcam and my wireless ev-do card should work until the border. after which i think i'm on the hook for roaming fees. technically this is possible.

[boiler]

Please install wifi cam in car for trip down to FF...Pay-Per-View Event FTW!!!

 

I really would pay to see the arguements to come

 

well my laptop has a built in webcam and my wireless ev-do card should work until the border. after which i think i'm on the hook for roaming fees. technically this is possible.

If it was free, I would watch this

[[LaW]Maverick]

because it's a dell or an hp doesn't make it faster. an asus spec'ed the same as a dell will perform the same. in fact the asus will probably be faster as the motherboard would be faster. the reason mav and i like asus so much is all the little things you get included. bluetooth, gigabit lan, firewire, webcam, etc. the list goes on. all things that you either can't get on a dell or they want extra for.

 

you can get an alienware or you can get an asus with the same specs. the alienware will cost anywhere from $100 to $500 more for essentially the same computer. same as a mac. same as an hp or dell to a lesser extent.

 

Not to mention they come standard with a two year warranty instead of a one year--make their own hardware, and they are known for extreme durability.

 

The laptop I'm typing on right now is an Alienware (from right before Dell bought them out) and I'm pretty happy with it--but back when I bought it, it was significantly cheaper than the closest Dell equivalent.

 

Another big reason I like Asus so much is that they cost less than any comparable laptop.

 

I wouldn't buy HP 'cause I've had such bad experience with them, and if you check benchmarks, they tend not to be ridiculously strong in the gamine department. Though, I have friends that have them and they love them.

 

As far as never hearing of Asus: http://www.indiaprwire.com/pressrelease/in...08061310294.htm

That's a pretty big deal.

[ZesteR]

zest, i would have said the same thing but 2gb is the lowest you can get and it's $100 extra to go to 4gb. since the 2gb would be 2 sticks he'd have to buy 2x2gb sticks elsewhere which would come out to more than that $100 extra.

 

and zest is the coolest

First off.. thanks.

Secondly, I bought 2x2gb sticks for under 80 bucks USD back in November 07. (but that was 667mhz, maybe 800 is much more now that they make MB that support it.)

[anonymo]

i'm not gonna argue with you as our drive to ff will leave plenty of time for that. suffice to say the 8600gt is a $75 vid card right now. the mobile version is a castrated version so we'll say $60 value. how many of us are gaming on $60 video cards right now? if you want a laptop for gaming buy one with a low native res or be prepared to game at non-native res.

 

You're coming way out of left field.

 

I agree with you for the most part.

 

It will primarily be for school/work and would like to still pop on CSS every so often.

 

Those were his requirements.

 

don't go high res cause the vid card won't game at native res.

 

That's why I said give the card more credit. I can play AoC at 1680x1050 with a smooth framerate with the Quadro 570M. For what BCK wants it will be more than enough.

 

I won't even touch that whole price thing, not sure what you were thinking but it doesn't make you sound very knowledgeable on the subject (you still get the benefit of the doubt).

 

Bottom line in my opinion, if money is an issue the 8600M GT 256Mb or 512Mb (as it's available) is the best midrange mobile card atm. You can go up to the 9500M 512Mb but the only offerings I can find (within a reasonable amount of time) that are within a reasonable budget are in machines with the nerfed T8*** series CPUs from Intel and once you get to the T9*** series the price jumps $500+. The 9300 GS is also available but as far as I can tell it's more nerfed than the 570M.

[Cujo]

what doesn't make me sound very knowledgeable?

 

http://infonec.com/site/main.php?module=detail&id=351727

 

it's on special for 60 bucks regular 80. i'm just comparing it to what most of us use on our desktops. it's a cheap card. i'm glad you can play AoC at 1680 but 1920 is a whole lot more pixels and requires a lot more memory bandwidth than what this card is capable of delivering.

 

you are right though his requirements were only the need to play some occasional css in which case the 8600gtm should do alright.