1557 dothan on IBUYPOWER - Page 5

Alright, thanks man. That definately clears that up. Now i just have to decide if i need the portablility and battery life of the compal, or if i can get away with the 5690... The college i'm attending next year is requiring a laptop but won't tell me where i'll be using it! (ie in class with no power for long periods of time, or if there will only be limited use w/out power)

Damn, I just read through all these posts and am now getting the E-Turbo for sure. Thanks a lot guys. My only question is, do you think external speakers would greatly help or would the 2 internal ones suffice (for gaming, dvds, etc)?

I've got the 1557GLS and the speakers suck ass for anything other than just your basic windows sounds. I just use headphones.

as a person who used to work in high end audio sales for 2+ years, i'd have to say all laptop speakers suck :P

hmm, alright. So Logitech Z640's would kick ass for this?

Logitech z2200 is kick ass. Its a 2.1 and u can find it for 100 on amazon with no shipping/tax.

yes but those are expensive. Does it have to be 2.1 for Aopen 1557g? Or can it use 5.1 as well?

You can use 5.1 speakers if you buy the external creative labs audigy NX thing, otherwise I believe you are stuck with 2.1 speakers on a laptop.

i think i might go with the battalion, too. my only worry is the 1 year warranty versus powernotebook's 3 yr warranty on the cl56. is saving some $ and a cool paint job worth it?

If you buy it with a platinum credit card, it will extend the warranty for a year.

Not ideal, but it is better than nothing.

@Rincewind:
Since you own teh Compal CL56 and seem to have read a lot of AOpen 1557 reviews I've got a question concerning the noise of these two notebooks for you:

About the CL56:
I currently have a friend's Acer Travelmate 291LMI Sxga+ what seems to be based on the CL56. When it's idle a low noise can be heard that sounds like a very silent slow-rotating fan. If the room isn't silent you have to go near the air-vent to hear it but in a silent room it is clearly audible when sitting in working-distance from the notebook and listening for it. Some people on another board said that this could be the sound of the build-in harddisk but I think this would be a strange sound for a harddisk. Is this also the case with the CL56 or is it -at least in normal office applications + internet- totally silent besides the HD (think of putting your ear next to the notebook)?

When using the notebook without power plugged in and setting it to "Desktop"-mode I have also experienced a low very high pitched noise that vanishes as soon as the power cable is plugged in or the notebook is set to "Laptop"-mode. Not a great issue since who really uses his notebook in this way but it would be nice to know wheter the CL56 does the same and why.


About the AOpen 1557:
In some places I read that it is totally silent just like the CL56 but others say that the fan kicks in several times (about every other 20mins for about 1min) what would really be a non-buying argument for me.

its silent in a silent room

if i stick my ear next to the laptop i can hear a lil whirrrr

under general use the fan will never engage

unless u are using your laptop in the sahara desert and the atmospheric temperature is 130

i dont know about the aopen

i had the mitac 8335 previously and i know that the fan on that one would engage every 15 minutes and run for 60 seconds to cool the cpu down (under general use)

Well is a landslide now, I'm getting the Aopen. Now that I hear the Dothan 1.7 is coming out for IBUYPOWER, and what this about a swappable Battery for the DVD bay? Awesome a must buy IMO. This screen problem you guys mention is no big deal for me I’ve owned LCD monitors for years now and have grown accustom to the pour angle view.

Guys, I bought three of these AOpen 1557G laptops for my office. I'll give you a quick rundown of what I think.

Cons:
1. Display: Prolly the worst 15" 1400x1050 LCD I've seen to date. The contrast is horrid.
2. Keyboard: I hate where they put the Home and End keys. You have to use the function key to get to them.
3. Wireless radio quick button: If you are using a G card it does nothing.
4. Speakers: I think you've covered this already.
5. Lack of PS/2 port.
6. No way to swap in a floppy drive.

Pros:
1. Battery Life: I've seen 4.5-5 hours easy with a 1.7Mhz and 1 GB memory. (Make sure you load the WinXp Centrino patch, my vendor forgot!)
2. Performance: Fantastic. 3D is ok with the 64MB 9600. (M10)
3. Weight: Pretty good for a 15" setup.
4. Solid construction.
5. Decent price.

Also here is a link to the vendor I bought it from:
http://www.cyberpowersystem.com/high...S43200.asp?v=d

Base price is $1645 with 1.7Ghz and 1GB memory.

Don't look at the picture though, its wrong. The CYBERPOWER S4-3200 is an Aopen 1557G with RADEON 9700.

Too bad they didn't have the RADEON 9700 when I bought these three months ago.

vidmo: have you ever gamed using the 1557G and if not could you possibly try. One problem about this lappy that has been discussed is that while gaming, it can't handle more than two keypresses at a time. Thanks man.

Also, did the lappy come with cyberpower's stupid logo on the back of the screen?

No it did not come with the logo thank goodness.

Also,

RE: Keypresses. I've only tried one two games thus far, neither of which was a FPS, so I'll have to let you know later.

RE: Noise: I have yet to hear the fan make anything but a whipser at any point in time. That includes normal use and 3D gaming.

Also I did get the Toshiba 7200 RPM drive, and it DOES make a difference, esp in WinXp load times. Using ATTO the drive brings in an average of 37Mps write and 38Mps read.

thank you vidmo, you are being very informative. two more questions: did you get any with a paint job? I'm just wondering whether you only get a logo if you get the paint job. Some other member here on the forum said he called cyberpower and was told that the logo is neccessary and appears on all lappys.
And how was the service? Did you get the lappies at the specified time?