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AMD64 notebook SHIPPED... arriving in 3 days :) - Page 3

post #41 of 248
4/7/04 at 10:11pm
Thread Starter 
yes i got it from ibuypower.com

and they gave me no badge, but im a visual arts major at univ of MD so i will prolly make someting neat to put in its place...

it doesnt look that bad w/o it but if you cant stand an imperfection then i guess it would irk you a bit more...

i dont know wh the voodoo version is more expensive...

they dont do anything diff but slap on some fruity paint with some decals...

i dont like hte young 'ricer' look for cars and i certainly dont like it for laptops either lol

this odm one is a nice color... silver and the inside is black
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post #42 of 248
4/7/04 at 10:11pm
klas- That make sense. A lot of companies do that, same with Alienware.

rice- thank you for the info. Umm I think I could definitly live without the badge.

But when you purchase that laptop at Ibuypower or cyberpowerinc, will you get a carrying case with the laptop. Because I am seriously considering purchasing this notebook.
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post #43 of 248
4/7/04 at 10:14pm
Thread Starter 
yes it runs fast... its based on th same desktop athlon64 3400
read up @ anandtech for benchmarks vs comparable intel p4's...
i got this coz i wanted performance and at te same time battery life

the p4's are good, but the athlon64s are just as good and already 64bit for the next generation o/s plus they dont run as hot and dont require as much cooling so its quieter and lasts longer when u are runnin on battery

and yes this laptop came with a leather case ... if u look on the very fisrt page i have high res pics of everthing when it first arrived
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post #44 of 248
4/7/04 at 10:16pm
Yea I like AMD much more then Intel. They do run much better.

Thank you for all of your help and your useful info. I definitly think I am going to buy this laptop.
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post #45 of 248
4/7/04 at 10:19pm
rincewind.... We REALLY appreceate you posting pictures, but some of them were pretty useless. Can you PLEASE post a picture of the back & bottom of the laptop. that would be awesome!
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post #46 of 248
4/7/04 at 10:25pm
Thread Starter 
i'll take pix of all that whn i finish the review

david b: the drivers that i got for my internal wi-fi card came on a CD with the notebook, it was calld XG600... i looked on the web for tat and i actually found the company its called xsystera or something...

i ordred an intel pro2200 b/g card taht i hear works better for 40 bux at newegg it should be here friday and i'll post pics about th installation along with a finished review w/ more pics

its no biggie payin for that coz the internal 54b/g card that i got from ibuypower was free... it just doesnt work all that well so i'll just get a better one :P
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post #47 of 248
4/7/04 at 10:38pm
ok guys lets stop interrupting rincewind with our questions while he is working on the review


I am just about to order this one, but one thing stops me is that I heard 9700 Pro is 30% faster then 9600....
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post #48 of 248
4/8/04 at 1:20am
Thread Starter 
when i purchased my laptop the 9700 was out and available but the oly athlon64 processor that had it was the voodoo m860... and that laptop only uses an 8 cell battery so you get around 2 hrs instead of the 3+ hours the m:855 has...plus i couldnt find another us retailer that carried the ODM version of it... (im not paying voodoos overpricd systems for 3000)

so i was like i can live with the 9600 pro... coz its 1800 bux w/ the cpu i want and with th big battery etc
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post #49 of 248
4/8/04 at 1:45am
is the screen very bright? any problems with display?
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post #50 of 248
4/8/04 at 2:28am
Thread Starter 
this is my first laptop so i dont have much to compare from

i did take a look at circuit city and the laptops tha tthey had there

whil this scren is not as pretty as the sony x-brite, it is good, no ghosting when playing video games and my screen happned to have 0 dead or stuck pixels

flawlss and luck i guess
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post #51 of 248
4/8/04 at 2:46am
do you have aim i would like to talk more in detail.
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post #52 of 248
4/8/04 at 5:16am
alright I did it!!! After giving it some thought I went ahead and placed an order.!!! 2 weeks wait time!!! Crazy!!!

Here are the specs:

Case ( Battalion-101 SL-Series 15.0" SXGA 1400x1050 LCD TFT Notebook w/Li-Ion Battery, Universal AC Power Adapter, Deluxe Carrying )
Processor ( Mobile AMD® Athlon-64 2800+ CPU )
Memory ( 512MB DDR-333 PC-2700 [Notebook Memory] Major Brand )
Video Card ( Mobility 128MB ATI Radeon 9600 Pro 256-bit 3D Video )
Hard Drive ( 60 GB 7200rpm ATA-100 Super Slim Notebook Hard Drive )
CD-RW/DVD-RW Drive ( 8x DVD-ROM & 24X16X24 CD-RW Combo Drive [SL-Series] )
Sound Card ( 3D Wave Stereo Sound Onboard )
Fax Modem ( Build-in 56K V.90 Fax Modem [Notebook] )
Network Card ( Build-in 10/100 Network LAN [Notebook] )
Flash Media Reader/Writer ( Build-in 3-in-i Media Card Reader/Writer [Notebook] )
USB Port ( Build-in 3x USB 2.0 Ports [Notebook] )
IEEE-1394 Fire Wire Card ( Build-in 1x IEEE-1394 Firewire Port [Notebook] )

Wireless Network Adapter ( [FREE] Wireless LAN Wi-Fi 802.11g 54Mbps Mini-PCI Module )



Total is 1629



Oh, and I added in the comments for them to include some kind of sticker for the top of the laptop or cancel my order...
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post #53 of 248
4/8/04 at 5:32am
If it's not too much trouble, I've got a few questions:

How is the keyboard? Is it a soft-touch or is there a wee bit of resistance to each keypress? Where is the delete key located? Believe it or not, this is a big conern to me. It's really annoying when it's in some funky location. Sadly, I have to do some work sometimes and it annoys me no end when I accidentally press the "end" key instead (or whatever).

Also, 3-4 hours of battery life? Dear God, are you sure?! I would be ~thrilled~ to give AMD my cash instead of Intel, but I've been assuming that the Centrino is where it's at for battery life. I could live with 3-4 hours...

Thanks!

Pics of the keyboard would be awesome, btw
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post #54 of 248
4/8/04 at 9:19am
Thread Starter 
the keyboard gets some getting used to (ive never used a laptop extensively before, mainly coz i never owned one prior) but thats all speaking interms of key placement... everything is jammed together in the limited space that you have for a laptop... for instance the del home pg up pg down end keys are not in that 3x2 square we are familar with. its rearranged in a straight line on the right side of the enter key... also for this particular laptop the ctrl key is not in the right spot, a function key is there in its place... the ctrl key is where the left shift key should be normally.

interms of how the keyboard actually is during use, it is not resisting at all, contrary to what people said on reviews, the keys do not have 'stickers' on them. they are responsive and not loud when u type. the keys themselves do have a little transparency behind them, but only if you look very carefully.
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post #55 of 248
4/8/04 at 10:05am
Well idd just like to say that i have the same laptop as you too, and the onboard Wireless is crap because you could just be sitting there surfing the net and BANG! it just drops the connection. So i went out and bought a Netgear Wireless PCIMCA card that works great 100% signal all the time.

The laptop its self i find is great for playing games and surfing the web, extreamly fast. The battery life is about 3-4 hours and thats when im watching a dvd.

Game play is great too, i can play a game for about 2-3 hours on the battery, and thats 1400x1050 all details on highest, and there is no lag at all (game was max payne 2 and call of duty) but i do find that it gets very hot at times espesially where you put your hands to type on the keyboard.

Screen is very nice but could be better for what you pay

Ill be taking some pics shortly for you guys of the sides the back ect.
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post #56 of 248
4/8/04 at 12:17pm
I also have to confes that i thought centrino was the way to go but after reading what rincewind has to say and seeing the price from ibuypower.com and comparing to the voodoo im am seriously considering a purchase. If it wouldnt be too much trouble would the rest of you guys with this laptop do a full review of this laptop with picks, im sorry for being a pain in the ass but i wanna make sure i get my moneys worth when i throw 2 grand down for a nice toy like this. Also you say the screen is okay but should be better for your money, whats the problem exactly? brightness? color? does it look grainy? hard to read in a lit room? can someone take a comparison shot next to other laptops or even a desktop crt? thanks
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post #57 of 248
4/8/04 at 12:22pm
Yes, closeup pics of the keyboard alone would really be helpful for me

Is that delete key in the upper right hand corner? If so, I can get used to it. If not, history tells me to pass. It's a real shame that such a small thing is a determinant for me.

The best laptop keyboard I've ever laid hands on is the Gateway 200 series. There's a wee bit of resistance from each keypress and it makes it easier for me to type accurately for some reason. Maybe I should check out the emachine keyboards before I order anything....
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post #58 of 248
4/8/04 at 12:30pm
kk another question i forgot which website i was reading the review for this laptop but they reviewer stated that the ram isthe limiting factor in this notebook. the laptop supports DDR333 PC3200 ram but it comes with DDR333 PC2700 and its really slows down the performance quite a bit. my question is can you buy the DDR333 PC3200 ram online and just pop it in yourself? If so where an you purchase
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post #59 of 248
4/8/04 at 12:48pm
Yea of course you could get the ram and put it in your self, the thing is though when i look at my laptop i opened the pannels on the bottom of it, but could not see the ram slots, one pannel reveals the hard drive and the other the CPU and the massive! fan. So inorder to put in the ram you would have to take off the whole underneath of the laptop, just a tip m8
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post #60 of 248
4/8/04 at 12:50pm
Thread Starter 
yes the delete key is in the upper right hand corner.

nice order klas, but u paid 1600, why didnt u spend another 200 for the 3400 cpu...

i have nothing to compare from with screens but my expreienc with this is positive... it has good contrast and brightness.. only prob is the viewing angle... its good for you, but not for other ppl if they are sitting to the left and right of you... but i guess thats common for lcds' unlss they got a wide viewing angle thing
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