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Small, Light Yet powerful enough for some 3D Games?

post #1 of 58
5/8/04 at 5:04am
Thread Starter 
Ok,

I've given up on trying to buy laptop from the U.S. - since I'm currently stuck in Thailand for a while.

I was trying to buy a pretty extreme 8790s from Sager but it turned out that I would have to pay an extra $500-650 in shipping and duty. This kinda turned me off that deal.

Now I decided to settle for a brand and model that exist in Singapore. This being the cheapest place around me where I could get an ok price. They however obvoiusly don't carry the "U.S./U.K.-only brands" such as Alienware, Sager etc., this makes me have to settle for Acer, NEC, Dell (they don't carry XPS outside the U.S.!), Toshiba, HP etc., - the more common, global brands.

To make a long story short (too late I know), I've decided to screw the EXTREME LAPTOP idea and go with a fast, lightweight with ENOUGH 3D to let me play DaoC, Warcraft 3, etc., rather WITHOUT having to run on "minimum" settings. Is there a FAST 64/128MB GPU in a sweet lightweight model?

So what do you "experts" suggest? If you can - please link me a review etc.,

Thanx for your help,

Kaj
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post #2 of 58
5/8/04 at 6:09am
Sorry but there isnt anything that is real small and light with a 64mb or 128mb gpu. The closest thing I can think of, and that might be available in Singapore, as it is not available in the US or Canada, is the Samsung X10. It is very light, portable, small, and it has a 64mb nvidia. Not the newest, or the fastest, but thats a compromise you have to make.
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post #3 of 58
5/8/04 at 6:15am
IBM t41p has 128 MB fire gl2 and 1400x1050 screen resolution. But it costs a lot!

HP nc6000 is another light weight laptop. It has typically 32 MB Mobility Radeon 9600 and XGA, but you may be able to configure it. However, the standard 32 MB version gets 1500 3dmark 03, which is well enough for WarCraft III and many other games at the XGA resolution.

Edit: HP nc6000 has also a big brother, nc8000, which is a bit heavier but has 64 MB MR 9600 and a SXGA+ screen (if pick the right model). That is, if you consider 6.5 lbs a light laptop.
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post #4 of 58
5/8/04 at 6:22am
Another small one, that is underpowered in the gpu department, is the Sony v505 series. They ship with 32mb ATi 9200. Not the best, but its one of the smallest.
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post #5 of 58
5/8/04 at 6:26am
What about the new Acer Ferrari 3200?
Look at the specs there:
http://pctorque.com/acer_ferrari_3200.php

It has a low voltage Mobile Athlon64 processor and a Radeon 9700 128MB video card. The battery life should be around 3 to 4 hours.
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post #6 of 58
5/8/04 at 6:29am
Shinzon, I dont think 6.6 lbs counts as light.

There are many others that fit that category, however, those arent the ones that he is looking for, or at least not in accordance to the title.
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post #7 of 58
5/8/04 at 9:31am
The Japanese NEC LaVie RX LR700/8E (which I posted about on LeoG), is one of the smallest machines I've seen with a 9600. The only feature it seems to be missing for me is S-video out.

NEC doesn't sell any notebooks in the US and none of the regular importers I know even carry this model, so it's nearly impossible to get this one unless you have connections in Japan. I don't know if it would be available in Thailand.

The IBM T41 (also available with the 9600/FIRE GL T2) is similar in weight, though you need to replace to T41's optical drive with a weight saver to match the NEC. They are close in size, the NEC is thicker and the IBM is deeper.

NEC LaVie RX specs:

Pentium M 1.5GHz
512MB RAM (max 1.5GB)
64 MB ATI Mobility Radeon 9600 (64MB)
14.1" SXGA+ 1,400x1,050
315w x 258d x 29.7-37h mm
2.1kg (4.6 lbs) with standard battery

Specs (in Japanese):
http://121ware.com/product/pc/200401...pec/index.html
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post #8 of 58
5/9/04 at 12:06am
Thread Starter 

Thanx for the info...

The NEC looks sweet! Like you said however - cannot find it anywhere besides on JAPANESE pages

IBM thinkpads I hate. Usually their BIOS sux and they have always looked the same - which I don't like. It still looks like a 1992 thinkpad, except for it being much smaller. Besides it's way overpriced if you wanna get some power in it.

Thank you so much for the info - now I just gotta figure out how to get me one of those NEC's
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post #9 of 58
5/9/04 at 12:21am
BAsed on the games you want to play, I can say for certain that an ATI 9000 equipped card will do just fine. I play WC3 at native res on the Acer without a hitch.

-Wow, I just saw that lavie link. VERY sexy.
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post #10 of 58
5/9/04 at 1:19am
you may want to also consider an Asus M6N. They have dothan cpu's now, and they're getting a gpu upgrade to a 9700 mobility soon. I had an hour-long talk with Justin, the president of Proportable (perfect 10 on resellerratings.com) tonight and he is a very cool guy so I would recommend checking them out. proportable.com
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post #11 of 58
5/9/04 at 2:01am
kallaway1 that is definitely the way to go. i think ill be ordering one in the next 2-3 days. 2.0 dothan, 1024, 7200, all i need is that 128 and i'm sold.
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post #12 of 58
5/9/04 at 2:01am
Quote:
Originally Posted by kallaway1
you may want to also consider an Asus M6N. They have dothan cpu's now, and they're getting a gpu upgrade to a 9700 mobility soon. I had an hour-long talk with Justin, the president of Proportable (perfect 10 on resellerratings.com) tonight and he is a very cool guy so I would recommend checking them out. proportable.com
Kallway1-

Did you happen to find out if they were offering the ATI 9700 128 MB or just the 9700 64 MB?
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post #13 of 58
5/9/04 at 2:04am
right now its 9600 64mb...i need 9700 128
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post #14 of 58
5/9/04 at 2:06am
From what I hear it will be a 64mb 9700, but Justin told me that tests only show like a 3 or 4% performance increase in the 128mb 9700 over the 64mb version so I personally wouldn't sweat it too much unless it's more of a bragging rights issue...
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post #15 of 58
5/9/04 at 2:11am
i know its stupid, but i'm just afraid of being left behind with a 64.
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post #16 of 58
5/9/04 at 2:15am
yeah i used to be pretty obsessed about a 128 video chip and spat on the idea of a 64mb card but once I found out about the real performance differences I really don't care either way. And this is coming from a gamer


edit: lemme add that I was looking at the compal CL56 for a while with the 128mb M11, but that thing just seems to have a few issues like the problematic screen and other things that are a real turn off... after checking out some other odm's besides compal like Aopen and mitac, Asus just seems to have the best quality stuff out there. I built a desktop using asus components last year and it's been running great.
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post #17 of 58
5/9/04 at 2:20am
you think the new doom, half-life 2 and who knows what else will run ok on the 64? i just cant get over the idea of getting cutting-edge processor, ram, hd, but not graphics
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post #18 of 58
5/9/04 at 2:22am
if doom3 doesn't run decently on a 64mb m11, it almost certainly won't run like butter on a 128mb version if that helps heh

you might also want to keep in mind that an m11 is almost the same thing as an M10 anyways, just with a slightly faster core.
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post #19 of 58
5/9/04 at 2:25am
no teg no you don't need that 128

i can't listen to reason, im calling monday to see when they'll offer the 9700 with 128...regardless though, i'm 99% sure i'll be ordering this laptop this week. anyone know the turnaround time from proportables?
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post #20 of 58
5/9/04 at 3:50am
about the 64 vs 128 dilemma ...

I think performance is not the only thing to verify. When I play Unreal Tournament 2004 with 64 Mb and all settings maxed out, some bushes show up white (seems like no texture on them). High res textures eat up a lot a VRAM.
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