The Future of Gaming Notebooks

The broad, attention grabbing title aside... This is just another newb coming to these forums seeking help and advice.

But before you decide to leave or ignore it... I have many questions that need your assistance in answering, so if you could just give me a little of your time I'd be much obliged.

Let me say that I have been browsing this forums along with many others like it for the past year. But as this is my fifth year on a Dell 1.9 GHZ, 1 Gig Ram, GeForce 2 MX graphics card... And have recently inherited some cash... I figured now would be a good time to reach the final conclusion, or end if you will, of my epic quest for a desktop replacement notebook.

With rapid advancements in technology, we are at the brink of fitting all the raw power and utility of a desktop into a heavy, portable notebook form. It excites me and I realize that in the future there may not even be desktops because portability is such an important part of our lives since we are constantly working and moving... Who wants to have a computer, the most advanced piece of consumer technology sitting on their desk rather than in their lap when traveling? Nobody.

Yet there remains one last great battle that I see with it is heat and efficiency, but what is heat? Heat is nothing more than lost energy and a reflection of inefficiency.. Much like taking a gallon of milk and chugging it while you take it in faster, some of it is lost down your neck and onto your shirt.

So in the future, as technology increases in speed... I seriously hope that they decide to also focus on effiency as well. Desktops these days with Quad SLI GPUs and addition Physics processors are almost uncalled for and inefficient unless you plan on playing multiple games at the same time.. But in the world of gaming, nothing is ever fast enough. So basically, I can deal with having just one GPU and one dual core processor because it's fast enough and compatible with games out now and games in the future. I know I've been playing games from EverQuest: Pre-Luclin in 2001 all the way to World of Warcraft in present day and never had a problem on a GeForce 2 MX GPU (Maybe because I have all my MS services turned off, two years worth of registry tweaks, and a Graphics Card Overclocked *STILL CANNOT FIND OUT HOW TO OVERCLOCK MY DELL CPU FREAKIN MORONS THEY ARE*.. But still).

But with that said, it was the first PC I bought.. Gaming notebooks were not out yet... I didn't know about the superiority of graphics cards for gaming... And I was on a tight budget. Now that I have knowledge, I also pursue greater knowledge by asking questions. So here are some questions for you all:

1.) I'm well aware of Gaming Notebooks' low battery life, heat problems, heaviness, feebleness, etc. But this is also why I plan on going with a 3-4 year warranty along with accidental damage... Though, I hate when stuff breaks and I could have possibly prevented it. So does anyone know any good websites for laptop coolers since I see heat as being a big problem especially for someone like me that will game for 20 hours a day and not even think about a laptop cooking my lap or palms?

2.) Technology is advancing quickly, but I am having problems keeping up with it other than going to individual component companies and looking at their future developement and news sections. Does anyone have a good website that updates you on upcoming technology in laptops?

3.) Going back to technology... Has anyone heard about a Dual SLI GPU/Dual Core Notebook releasing yet? I know there is a Dual SLI GPU with the AMD Trinton or w/e... But I really enjoy Dual Core Processors like the AMD FX 60. So I'm thinking of holding out until these come out, but no telling where they are gonna find the ability to keep that thing from exploding, melting, etc.

4.) If I were to make the choice now between Dual GPUs or Dual Core CPU... Which would you suggest?

5.) I have researched and configured over 12 individual laptop companies AMD based notebooks (I've played on P4s all my life, but went to a friends house once that had an AMD and it just sang to me a beautiful siren melody that wisp me away from P4s or P Extreme Edition as the premiere choice of my next PC's CPU). The only company I found with a low price like a Sager, the customization of a Voodoo, and the performance of an Alienware was the company Hypersonic and their Aviator FX7. Can anyone find one for a better price with similar/better customizations and performance? Cause I may be looking at a cut off point of $6,000+/-, but money saved is money better spent later.

And that's about it... I'm really interested in technology, so if you have any great insight on it please share it with me.

Last year I was going to order an Alienware m5700. But the day after I ordered they announced AMD being put into laptops so I had to cancel. Since then I've been waiting for a Dual Core AMD CPU/Dual Nividia SLI gaming notebook to release and that way I have both great graphics and great performance all together.

Anyway, it's always fun to get on these forums and see how people stick by their brands of their systems. I'm a motoGP fan and enjoy riding/racing motorcycles (Another reason for laptop, carry it on my back to school)... And much like motorcycle forums where they segregate by brands, all of you as well seem very loyal to the company you buy from... I'm a Suzuki fan but only because I hope to jump up from my Gixxer 750 onto a Hayabusa one day and thus I've never really wanted to mess with other brands... Even though the R6 with all it's features was an awesome reason for any squid wanting a 600 to go with Yamaha. Pity about the 17,500 RPM redline being fake.... Almost like Alienware selling out to Dell...

But ya, I've never heard of Hypersonic before, but once I found their website and configured their system and seen the price was cheaper than Alienware/Voodoo, yet it had paint options/custom text like a Voodoo, performance like an Alienware... I knew I had found the brand I wanted to go with.

Anyway, nice to say hi to you all.. And hope to get some great feedback. I'll have to steal my sister's digital camera if I order a laptop just so I can take pictures of the UPS guy, packaging, etc. seems that is like your virgin cherry popper ritual around here.

Thanks much

Eek.. No responses. Probably too long of a post.

Just wanted to say I finally found Turion X2s release date scheduled for May 9th.

So that takes care of my question about any notebook coming out with both Dual Core and Dual GPUs... Hopefully they won't come out with Quad SLI notebooks by that time and the price stays under $7,000 (I'll continue to save up more money). Plus this will support DDR2 memory like Intel processors, so it'll use less power but also be faster!

It should be interesting to see this mobile concept of the XPS that Dell has releasing. Of course it's Dell and I hate it, not to mention you carry the thing around like a portfolio, but I'm sure there should be something fun about it. 20 inch monitor is crazy... The base probably covers the entire area of my computer chair.

But ya, my birthday is in May... So the AMD Turion X2 will be my birthday CPU of choice unless Intel decides to come up with something previous unheard of, but right now it looks like AMD is pulling ahead. ^_^

In regards to the writer inquiry.

No, I'm just a college student and thus a professional when it comes to BSing term & thesis papers.

Though, back in middle school, I won three essay contests because they were forced on me by teachers for organizations such as KY Wildlife Foundation and the KY State Government.

But $1,500 worth in savings bonds and an additional $500 cash was acceptable revenue since I was practically making a dollar everytime I typed three to five words. And at 90+ WPM, in the real world, that's over 30 dollars a minute and if any writer aside from Stephen King & a few other individuals could make that much money an hour... I'd definately be a writer, but my passion lies with Computer Science and Game Design.

Oh ya, I also won another contest, but ummm... It was sorta for my sister's D.A.R.E. class. She did not want to write the paper, so she paid me $10 to write it for her. Poor kid had to get up in front of her entire 5th grade class and read a paper containing words whose meaning would have possibly been clearer if written in Japanese Kanji. But at least she won a cool trophy!

Anyway, thanks for the compliment. I think I shall refer to this website the next time my English Composition professor gives me a C.

Budget: $7,000 is max straight cash or $300 monthly payments...

I am not paying more for a notebook than I do my bikes. Plus I'll probably end up getting an additional Mac with Intel Core Duo chips in them since my job will require a lot of graphics/video and audio editing.

Definately waiting for Turion X2 with Dual GPU SLI configurations available to see the benchmarks on them though.

I'm pretty sure even with a single core AMD Turion Processor and Dual GPU SLI configs now on the Sager 5950... It's already looking pretty good.

But once dual core releases and I have assured myself that my technology will be good for at least two years (supposidly when they are releasing processors with more than two cores)... I shall finally be content in my search.