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AMD Mobile Athlons

post #1 of 10
12/11/03 at 2:52pm
Thread Starter 
I was wondering what you guys think of the Mobile Athlons. How are they on battery life and performance when compared to Intel's big two processors, the P4M and the PM? They sure as hell are cheaper, but is it really worth it if the batery life is only like 2 hours? I doubt it.
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post #2 of 10
12/11/03 at 3:11pm
For a given performance level, the mobile Athlon falls in between the Pentium M and Pentium 4 on battery life. Unfortunately, the PC market has relegated mobile Athlons to only the cheapest of laptops.

Look here to see a sample Athlon laptop. From specs on other Athlon laptops, I would guess that this one gets about 3 hours of battery life.
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post #3 of 10
12/11/03 at 3:19pm
Thread Starter 
The eMachines and I think I saw a Compaq with nice specs powered by the AMD chip.

I'm looking at the HP ZT3010US laptop as my favorite right now. Got any other sugestions? Trying to stay in the $1500 range, a little over is no big deal.
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post #4 of 10
12/11/03 at 3:24pm
There is not one laptop that is best for everyone. Before I can give you a good recommendation, I need answers to the following questions:
What do you intend to use the laptop for? In particular, will you be using it to play computer games or some other graphics-intensive application? How much battery life do you need? Do you care about size and weight?
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post #5 of 10
12/11/03 at 3:34pm
Thread Starter 
Im a student. I'll be running simulations (Matlab and LabVIEW). I'm mainly looking at the Centrino because of battery life and it's performance compared to the P4s (~2-2.6 GHz). As far as gaming I could see myself installing a few games short term for entertainment purposes but I'm nat a "gamer". The most graphic intensive thing I run now is GunBound. Since I'll be at school alot I need portability, which is why some of the toshiba's and Dell's aren't really an option. I know what I want, that HP, but with the same specs an AMD laptop is really enticing given it's price but I need reliability and performance out of what I'll be running. AND NO CELERON'S!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Do the Athlon-Ms run as hot as the normal Athlons?
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post #6 of 10
12/11/03 at 4:22pm
Given your budget and your needs, I recommend that you take a hard look at the Gateway M505X. It is very solidly built for Gateway by Wistron who also makes ThinkPads for IBM. It will cost you $1499 this week with free shipping. You can "try before you buy" at your local Gateway Country store. Its ATI 9600 graphics will help assure that you can run newly released software for some time to come. For reviews, see here.

Since you are a student, I doubt that you have the extra money to "experiment" with a series of laptops. I'd much rather recommend a notebook to you that I know is good than a "pig in a poke" from some unknown online vendor.
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post #7 of 10
12/11/03 at 4:46pm
Thread Starter 
Thank you. It looks good. Especially with that 15.4" screen which is what I'm looking for. Any opinions on the HP ZT3010US? I can get it from Best Buy for 1549 right now and It has a 1.5Ghz P-M, 60 GB HD, DVD writer, but a lesser videocard if I recall. Seems like more of a computer for not much more of a price, but what about their reliability and build quality. I have an older HP desktop that I hate the internals of though it's been reliable. How are their notebooks since the merger? As good as their desktops?
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post #8 of 10
12/11/03 at 4:59pm
The zt3010 is certainly a reasonable option for you. It is made for HP by Compal who also makes the Dell 8600. The build quality, though not bad, is not as good as on the Gateway M505. At best, the ATI 9200 graphics in the zt3010 will be half as fast as the ATI 9600. If you must have a DVD writer (and can stretch your budget), then I suggest you look at either the Gateway M505XL or the Dell 8600 with ATI 9600 video. Gateway is known for good customer support, as was Dell before they subcontracted their consumer technical support to the lowest bidder in India. HP/Compaq is known for having average technical support.
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post #9 of 10
12/11/03 at 5:30pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks for the info. The DVD writer isn't necessary at all, but it's just what the HP comes with. I'm sure for my low graphics needs the 9200 is not big hit. Hell, I've run Jedi Knight 2: Jedi Academy on my P3 600 MHz with a GeForce2 GTS just fine. I'm not overly critical of graphical performance. And I love the price. Even when I spec out similar computers online due to rebates I can't get that low. Thanks again for the info, I'll take it all into consideration when I go to buy.
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post #10 of 10
12/11/03 at 11:29pm
the 9200 is just a clocked vers of the 9000 i have the 32mb 9200 and i can play all the games i throw at it halo,bf1942,ut2k3,unreal2, its no 9600 but for the cost i realy like my x1000 and 6hrs of battery time to boot
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