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Questions for College Notebook

post #1 of 12
6/14/06 at 7:31pm
Thread Starter 
I'm the family computer guy and I'm buying my brother a computer for college. I bought a Uniwill model from IBuyPower for myself a couple years ago and am very satisfied. I'm looking at CyberPower for my brother (same company I believe) and here's what I've come up with. Specifically I have some questions about the Turion Ultra Low Power processor (How fast is it in a notebook environment and is it future proof?):

CyberPower X64-9900
15.4" Glare WXGA TFT LCD Display Max: 1280x800 Pixels
Mobile AMD Turion™64 MT-40 CPU @ 2.2GHz 1MB Cache Ultra Low Voltage 25Watt w/ HyperTransport Technology
ATI RX 480M + ATI SB 400 Chipset Mainboard
2GB (2x1GB) PC3200 400MHz DDR SODIMM Memory (Corsair)
Built-in Mobility™ Radeon® X1600 256MB PCI-Express X16 Video
80GB 7200RPM ULTRA ATA 100 HARD DRIVE
8X DVD REWRITABLE DRIVE
BUILT-IN AC 97 SOUND (the AC 97 is still 6.1 correct?)
Intel Pro/Wireless 2915A/B/G 802.11a/b/g 54Mbps MiniPCI Card

The final price comes out to $1463 when I just have the HD blank formatted. My allotted money to buy this thing is $2000, but my brother wants a ton of screen space when in his room (he is a big online poker buff) so I am going to buy him an external 1600x1200 LCD, which is going to cost the rest, once a printer, backpack, and speaker system are thrown in.) My brother is not a huge gamer, but I like game laptops because they retain their speed into the future, and the weight isn't a problem for him. What does anybody think, I'm open to any suggestions, especially if anybody thinks I should go with a Duo based chip instead of Turion, or if another company has another system that should peak my interest.

Thanks for your help,

~Lyuokdea
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post #2 of 12
6/14/06 at 7:42pm
I think you should focus on what you really need. You need a good screen with a lot of logical space (high res.). Do not get this notebook, because it does not have what your brother will need must, and that's not right.

I would prefer an Asus with WSXGA+ screen, no buts. And considering you still have more money to spend...
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post #3 of 12
6/15/06 at 3:45pm
Thread Starter 
looking at the Asus's I saw, I'm not sure that I agree. Yes, you will get a slightly bigger screen. However, you're losing a lot in other places to get it. I haven't found a model yet at a similar price with 256 MB of VRAM, which is important, if you are going to extend a 1400x1050 screen along with another 1600x1200 screen, i would feel uncomfortable doing that with the video cards that the asus laptops have, especially if this computer eventually runs Vista which is supposed to be so visually demanding.

If you have a recommendation on a specific Asus computer that fixes that problem, I'd like to look at it. However, the extra screen space isn't really worth it, especially as it doesn't actually translate to being able to play more poker games simultaneously because the poker screens are usually around 600x600 and thus you can only fit two on either 1200x800 or 1450x1050.

~Lyuokdea
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post #4 of 12
6/15/06 at 5:39pm
1. You dont need 256mb of video ram in order to run it at that resolution.
2. You dont need 256mb of video ram in order to run vista.
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post #5 of 12
6/15/06 at 5:58pm
Thread Starter 
In my experience 128 is already bordering on too little running Windows XP with a dual monitor 1280x800 + 1280x1024 setup. I'd hate to in 4 years try to run the same video card on a 1450x1050 + 1600x1200 using Vista which is known to be much more video intensive than XP.

~Lyuokdea
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post #6 of 12
6/15/06 at 8:09pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lyuokdea
In my experience 128 is already bordering on too little running Windows XP with a dual monitor 1280x800 + 1280x1024 setup. I'd hate to in 4 years try to run the same video card on a 1450x1050 + 1600x1200 using Vista which is known to be much more video intensive than XP.

~Lyuokdea
That's because you prob have a 350Mhz RamDAC video card. New video cards have dual 400MHz RamDacs, meaning u won't lag at all, even in quad displays on very high resolutions.
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post #7 of 12
6/16/06 at 1:34pm
Thread Starter 
I was looking at the Hypersonic PCs and some have the mix of screen size and options that I need, however, they are a little out of my price range. Are there any other PC makers or resellers that sell similar models at lower prices?

~Lyuokdea
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post #8 of 12
6/18/06 at 4:17pm
Thread Starter 
I'm also looking at this model from HP. But I always worry about HP products because their customer service is so horrible. Does anybody have any experience with this laptop or any HP products? I thought about going with the Turion version, but I see that it doesn't support near the RAM speed of Duo right now, is that true of all AMD products, or just HP design, also how much of an effect will that have on end speed?

Operating System Genuine Windows XP Home Edition
Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) Duo processor T2500 (2.0 GHz)
Display 17.0" WSXGA+ BrightView Widescreen (1680x1050)
Graphics Card 256MB NVIDIA(R) GeForce(R) Go 7600
Memory 2.0GB DDR2 SDRAM (2x1024MB)
Hard Drive 100 GB 7200 RPM SATA Hard Drive
Primary CD/DVD Drive Super Multi 8X DVD+/-R/RW w/Double Layer Support
Networking Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network w/Bluetooth
Primary Battery 8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
Productivity Software Microsoft(R) Works/Money

~Lyuokdea
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post #9 of 12
6/22/06 at 5:55am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lyuokdea
I'm also looking at this model from HP. But I always worry about HP products because their customer service is so horrible. Does anybody have any experience with this laptop or any HP products? I thought about going with the Turion version, but I see that it doesn't support near the RAM speed of Duo right now, is that true of all AMD products, or just HP design, also how much of an effect will that have on end speed?

Operating System \tGenuine Windows XP Home Edition \t
Processor \tIntel(R) Core(TM) Duo processor T2500 (2.0 GHz) \t
Display \t17.0" WSXGA+ BrightView Widescreen (1680x1050) \t
Graphics Card \t256MB NVIDIA(R) GeForce(R) Go 7600 \t
Memory \t2.0GB DDR2 SDRAM (2x1024MB) \t
Hard Drive \t100 GB 7200 RPM SATA Hard Drive \t
Primary CD/DVD Drive \tSuper Multi 8X DVD+/-R/RW w/Double Layer Support \t
Networking \tIntel(R) PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network w/Bluetooth \t
Primary Battery \t8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery \t
Productivity Software \tMicrosoft(R) Works/Money \t

~Lyuokdea

Ok so other than am2 amd systems only support ddr1 memory. DDR1 memory comes in lower speeds but with lower latencies as well. Intel systems (and the newest amd systems) come with DDR2 memory which runs at higher speeds but with higher latencies. The end result is that while ddr2 memory looks impressive with its high speeds it does not perform faster in a linear fashion. In many cases amd systems with ddr1 run just as well or better than intel systems with ddr2. I will say this however, in laptops Core Duo processors have shown themselves to be nothing short of amazing and they would probably be a much better choice than single core turions as far as futureproofing goes. There are turion x2s which I will not claim to know anything about and are probably somehow competitive with core duos but I would reccomend getting a core duo. When merom comes out (or even now if you can get your hands on a es ) you should be able to throw it right in. So if you get a core duo notebook you can have the benefits of this generation as well as SOME of the benefits of the next generation.
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post #10 of 12
6/22/06 at 6:20pm
Your brother isn't a gamer and won't be needing great graphics so don't waste his money. I also say go for a smaller screen. College students soon realize that they wish they had a smaller laptop for taking around campus. He can still hook up the external you mentioned for playing poker. I think the Sony SZ series laptop is great for students. I would serously look into it. I wouldn't recamend buying from the companies you mentioned. I would buy some sort of namebrand computer becasue they seem to resell much better if your brother ever decided he wanted something differant.
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post #11 of 12
6/22/06 at 7:01pm
I second that. Go with a 13 or 14inch laptop he will be much happier carrying it
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post #12 of 12
6/24/06 at 5:18am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lyuokdea
I'm also looking at this model from HP. But I always worry about HP products because their customer service is so horrible. Does anybody have any experience with this laptop or any HP products? I thought about going with the Turion version, but I see that it doesn't support near the RAM speed of Duo right now, is that true of all AMD products, or just HP design, also how much of an effect will that have on end speed?

Operating System Genuine Windows XP Home Edition
Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) Duo processor T2500 (2.0 GHz)
Display 17.0" WSXGA+ BrightView Widescreen (1680x1050)
Graphics Card 256MB NVIDIA(R) GeForce(R) Go 7600
Memory 2.0GB DDR2 SDRAM (2x1024MB)
Hard Drive 100 GB 7200 RPM SATA Hard Drive
Primary CD/DVD Drive Super Multi 8X DVD+/-R/RW w/Double Layer Support
Networking Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network w/Bluetooth
Primary Battery 8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
Productivity Software Microsoft(R) Works/Money

~Lyuokdea


Lyuokdea,

To get more detailed info on the dv8000t... Search / look around in the HP section of the board. There's plenty of info on the dv8000t (You don't want the "z version) The ones with the 7600GPU would make for a pretty nice machine. BTW the Intel(R) Core(TM) Duo processor T2500 (2.0 GHz) is a FAST CPU.

I've made a bunch of posts on it and links to the best place to buy one.

So far as college.... I'd be looking at a 15.4 or smaller if it's going to be moved allot....
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