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1557G Notebook Review. - Page 3

post #41 of 182
1/13/04 at 8:42pm
Quote:
I agree about not putting in the Dell 8600. Here's another update for your chart: the M505 has a FIR port. You may also want to add rows for subwoofer and built-in microphone -- things that the M505 has that the 1557 does not.
Originally made the chart for myself to compare spec so I only listed the laptops i was interested in, in the configurations i wanted, and with the features I cared about.... but... i can expand a bit... will make changes tomorrow, won't be at my computer today.... SEE WHY I NEED A LAPTOP!
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post #42 of 182
1/13/04 at 11:06pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by devast
thanks for the corrections, will update that comparison chart. Not sure about putting the dell on there though as its just too $$$ and I'm not interested in it at all. Its heavier than the gateway 505 and thats already too heavy for my taste.
Thats fine, I just wasn't sure if you were aware of the 8600 so I put a blurb in.

Quote:
Anyway... here's something interesting that this guy marco over at abspc.com told me, as you know they only have 266 ddr on their configurator. Anyways he told me the 1557g takes 333ddr but runs it at 266ddr so the only sell it with 266ddr. It sounds to me like he'll tell me anything so i'd buy the laptop from him, but at the same time he sounded like he really believed it. Anyways, can anyone with 333ddr confirm or deny this by proof of benchmark, cpuid, or whatever you'd use to get a definate answer. I'm really interested in this laptop.... thanks.

Yep, according to Sandra it looks like my AGP and Hub interfaces are both clocking at 266. I checked Intels site and verfied this so it looks like he speakith with silver tongue. It's interesting that (according to Sandra) I am benching at 333 speeds in the Memory Bandwidth benchmark. The Cache and Memory benchmark shows me clearly at 266 bus speed. A good find devast! (shows how closely I was paying attention to my benchies)
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post #43 of 182
1/13/04 at 11:24pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by neonjam
Thanks for posting pics, Dej.

Just one last question- how hot does the thing get? I don't think you mentioned it in the review.

Thanks.
The notebook gets warm on the underside near the ram and cpu areas, but not hot. During games the fan will come on. I think there are 2 fan speeds, medium and fast. When I run the benchies, you can sometimes hear the fan kick into high. You can just feel some of the warmth from the keyboard near the side exhaust (right hand near the rightmost keys) during gaming. Otherwise you dont feel the warmth at the keyboard.

There is an air intake underneath and I think one at the back. The exhaust is on the right side. During gaming you can feel the warm air coming out of the exhaust. During web surfing and email you hardly feel any heat coming out. If you put the laptop on your lap or a bed or something and cover up the intake at the bottom, the fan will kick in more frequently.
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post #44 of 182
1/14/04 at 1:53am
Thanks for the reply. I keep picturing what happened to some guy in Japan or something...used his laptop on his lap a little too long.. second degree burns down there. Not fun, I bet.

*shudder*

Well, I'm pretty well decided. Thanks for the info and review, Dej!
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post #45 of 182
1/14/04 at 2:55am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by neonjam
Thanks for the reply. I keep picturing what happened to some guy in Japan or something...used his laptop on his lap a little too long.. second degree burns down there. Not fun, I bet.

*shudder*

Well, I'm pretty well decided. Thanks for the info and review, Dej!
No problem and good luck with whatever you decide. I've learned soo much from these forums that I felt obligated to post a review. If I get time I'll try to update the website this weekend with better pics.

I'm sure we'll be seeing alot more Pentium-M and ATI 9600 combos in the near future, but by then perhaps the Dothans and M11s will be out.
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post #46 of 182
1/14/04 at 10:07am
When the Fan kicks in is it loud? I got the 8600 initially and the fan was ridiculously loud which is why I returned it....thanks!

Also, how is the wireless range on this thing? Is the antenna in the top as with most of the other laptops...
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post #47 of 182
1/14/04 at 10:55am
Thread Starter 
I have not tried the wireless yet so I cant say. I dont know where the antena is located. My guess it its probably housed in the laptop casing, the wireless is optional.

The fan noise, like display quality, is subjective. If I place it next to my desktop I cant hear it. If there is background noise, like a tv, its difficult to hear. In a quiet room, you can hear it but its not ridiculously loud imho.
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post #48 of 182
1/14/04 at 12:45pm
CAn anyone confirm the weight difference of the M505x and the 1557g? I heard the luxurious m505 is about .5 pounds heavier then the simple 1557g.
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post #49 of 182
1/14/04 at 5:28pm
Quote:
The fan noise, like display quality, is subjective.
Also you ordered yours with a 7200 drive which is more often than not, louder than 4200s & 5400s. Are you sure its the fan you hear and not the drive?


Quote:
CAn anyone confirm the weight difference of the M505x and the 1557g?
gateway lists the 505xl as ~6.7lbs, and aopen lists the 1557 at 6 lbs
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post #50 of 182
1/14/04 at 8:48pm
Hey guys, I updated the chart, let me know if there are any corrections. I threw in the nc8000 and i8600 for comparison, not sure about the specs

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post #51 of 182
1/14/04 at 8:59pm
from that chart, it appears that the ABS ZForce F2 is a winner. But i am doubtful of the 80/5400 HDD as it may produce lots of noise and others, like the ones that m505XL ppl have gotten (60gb version). Does anyone have the F2 that would like to give some comments?
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post #52 of 182
1/14/04 at 9:58pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by devast
Also you ordered yours with a 7200 drive which is more often than not, louder than 4200s & 5400s. Are you sure its the fan you hear and not the drive?
I'm sure its not the HD. In fact the hard drive hardly makes any sound at all. Not sure if its because of the 1gig ram, the casing or what, but when I copy or load files I occasionally hear a click but mostly see the HD light blink.

Quote:
gateway lists the 505xl as ~6.7lbs, and aopen lists the 1557 at 6 lbs
I dont think the scale in my bathroom is sensitive enough to give the kinds of readings you guys are looking for.
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post #53 of 182
1/14/04 at 10:36pm
Thread Starter 
Devast, nice chart! I'm sure there will be many more sprouting up in the next month or two. The HP has the Intel 855PM chipset like the 1557G models.
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post #54 of 182
1/14/04 at 10:37pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ancientmtk
from that chart, it appears that the ABS ZForce F2 is a winner. But i am doubtful of the 80/5400 HDD as it may produce lots of noise and others, like the ones that m505XL ppl have gotten (60gb version). Does anyone have the F2 that would like to give some comments?
ABS does have its own forum for the F2. Might try there as well.
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post #55 of 182
1/15/04 at 1:15am
The ABS forum has a bug. I posted there, but once a thread reaches more than one pages, the rest of the pages cannot be accessed as a server error will be generated.
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post #56 of 182
1/15/04 at 2:31am
ya, it seems the population is very small
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post #57 of 182
1/16/04 at 3:01am
Checked the ABS site today and they finally added 333ddr to the 1557 configurator... owell.. I think anyone interested should call in orders anyway, They gave me a student discount when I ordered.... I'm not even a student, but they didn't ask me that part
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post #58 of 182
1/16/04 at 2:43pm
Ah crap. I was just about to order an ABS zForce F2 too, when I re-read the thread and found out about the 266 Mhz memory...

Anyway, does anybody know what the situation is? That is, what speed does the memory run at? The specs on AOpen's webpage shows that it accepts both 333 and 266 Mhz DDR RAM, but I'm not too sure which of Intel's Chipsets it uses, as one of them states that it uses only 200/266 Mhz memory.

So close, yet so far...

BTW, Devast, how much of a student discount did ABS give you?
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post #59 of 182
1/16/04 at 4:29pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Datheron
Ah crap. I was just about to order an ABS zForce F2 too, when I re-read the thread and found out about the 266 Mhz memory...

Anyway, does anybody know what the situation is? That is, what speed does the memory run at? The specs on AOpen's webpage shows that it accepts both 333 and 266 Mhz DDR RAM, but I'm not too sure which of Intel's Chipsets it uses, as one of them states that it uses only 200/266 Mhz memory.

So close, yet so far...
Its an 855PM chipset. This chipset was intitially released to handle up to 266 ram. There was a modification and on some of the newer releases it can take up to 333. Here is a diagram of the chipset.
Intel 855PM

On the newer version of the chipset the AGP Interface bus and the Hub Interface bus are limited to 266MHz. I believe the memory bus is running at the speed of the ram (333/266). I talked with a friend at work about this whose reasonably knowledgable and he tells me the differences in performance between 333 and 266 in this situation aren't going to be all that great. Looks like the Dell 8600, HP nc8000, and the Gateway 505s are also using the 855PM chipset, so I would say they are under the same restrictions.
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post #60 of 182
1/16/04 at 4:38pm
From Intel's website, it seems like the 855GM chipset only supports 266/200MHz ram, while the 855PM and the 855GME chipsets support 333MHz ram in addition to the other two. Also the memory bus for the PM and GME would run at the ram frequency, which means that integrated graphics would have a higher performance if paired with 333MHz Ram. This is as far as I can tell, but it may not be the whole story. Perhaps the 855PM chipset was recently revised as dej said and the older version cannot run at 333MHz.
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