15.4" Gaming notebook advice. - Page 3

Normal 5.13 Catalyst drivers with older ControlPanel. Drivers you have to mod with DHmodTool to work with your Mobility Radeon...

BF2 plays great on my 15.4" laptop, Dell m70, so now you can go educate all those people you miseducated.

Tellerve

u xtreme-g warcat drivers from tweaksrus.com. they are great even tho i have a go 6800. :-P

I'm using Omega Drivers and get some very nice performance.

x700>>>6600

m70

I didn't know about the m70 until I saw your post. With a Dell coupon, the m70 can be had for a great price, but it might be too heavy for my purposes. What is the weight like on the m70? Do you travel with it often?

Thanks,
Brian

Runs fine on my Z71V. What was that guy smokin'?

I actually do travel with it a lot to work. I do freelance digital animation so I'm going from place to place every couple weeks or so and I carry it in a Crumpler backpack. Fits very well and I have a 6x8 wacom tablet that is almost identically sized that both fit in the internal(removeable) sleeve inside the backpack.

The weight of the laptop is a bit under 7lbs, so it isn't a svelt one. I think it is rated at 6.7lbs. It is solid and very well built with an amazing keyboard. My roomie got a m20 on a special deal and sadly the keyboard isn't near as good.

Tellerve

eurocom/mtech d700t has a p4 and mobile radeon x800 if you dont mind weight, it can also have dual battery

The fastest 15.4" notebook is still the old XPS/9100 with unlocked MR9800 to my knowledge. Pick up a used one of those if you must have 15.4".

really? I wouldn't think that is faster than my m70. The Quadro 1400 is a 6800 Go which I would think beats a 9800. But I don't recall benchmarks on it.

Tellerve

http://trustedreviews.com/article.as...d=36&page=5325

Acer 8204, dual core, 15.4", ATi X1600
benchmarks between 6800go and 6800ultra

I need a laptop that I can play games on, take to class for notes, take to the library, and that will fit in my Targus backpack. A desktop isn't a solution. I have a pretty decent desktop(Athlon 64 3200+, 6600GT) but I don't use it. In 5 months I've used it 50 hours if that.




Of course the inside is nearly identical...but the build quality is not. Yes, the case for example is important. I don't want to use a piece of equipment for hours each day that has a cheap feel to it. When I click the mouse or use the touchpad I want it to feel nice. The touchpad on my dad's HP isn't that great. If you press on it at certain angles it actually moves a little. The buttons feel so cheap it honestly annoys me. My D600 however has a solid buttons and a nice touchpad. The keyboard on the HP has a bit of flex while the Dell has none. Even the feel of the monitor when opening and closing the laptop is much better on the Dell. The LEDs look cleaner. There isn't the bleeding of one LED lighting up another spot(e.g. num lock lighting up caps lock a little) as there is present in the HP. They're both midrange laptops but the Dell's quality is simply much better. And that is worth a few hundred more.

The name printed on the item is something you can judge anything by. It gives you an idea of the quality and reliability you can expect.

The Acer TM8204 would be my suggestion

2.0ghz Core Duo (dual core Pentium M)
256 meg X1600 Mobility
15.4" high res LCD
120 Gig 5400 rpm HD
2 gb of ram (667mhz)
8x DL DVD burner
Carbon fiber screen
integrated 1.3 megapixel web cam
integrated Voip support
DVI-D output

The cost is high around $2499 however There is an 8202 Version as well which should be around $1999 It is identical with the following differences. 1.66 ghz Core Duo, 1 GB of ram, 100 GB 5400 RPM.

/personal opinion rant on
I have to totally disagree here, there is no way the the Slight improvement in build quality of the dell, is worth "a few hundred more". How much is a "few hundred", and why would I pay for something that doesn't give me better performance or protection (if I drop it, it is still broke whether it is a Dell or HP)? I think it is a better idea to buy the cheaper one and invest the extra you would have spent on a Dell on the extended warranty.

The name printed on the item is not worthless but close, there have been through history companies that "rode" their good name and sold inferior products for inflated prices (the guitar companies Tockamine, Alvarez, and Fender come to mind). By the same token there are MANY "no-name" companies the produce a superior product. I'm not suggesting that you buy from some south Texas company that will jump the border as soon as they have your money.

The Big companies don't really have to worry too much about individual customer support, as they have the advertising clout to recover from 200 pissed customers. A smaller company will worry about those 200 customers and try to make sure they aren't pissed in the first place, and if they are will work overtime to make/keep them happy.
/personal opinion rant off

x600 plays UT2004 and farcry very nice