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Help! Laptop question.. I cant figure this out!

post #1 of 21
6/27/04 at 4:08pm
Thread Starter 
Hey guys, Im going to be buying a new laptop real soon(as in within a few days) for college. I need my laptop to be portable as in NOT a bulky beast like the Dell XPC laptops are but rather more of the size of their Insperon 8600 models,it has to get decent battery life(is 2 1/2 hours expecting too much?), and it also needs power. I would like my laptop to be able to play newer games like unreal tournament 2004. I think if I had to go with a laptop id want to go with either dell, alienware or HP but I cant decide which one. I think I might lean more towards the dell insperon 8600's if I knew the P4-m 1.8ghz (dothan) procs with GF GO 5060 were enough to run newer games (like ut2k4) otherwise I might think about the alienware... but then again.. with the alienware.. how good is the battery life? Any input would be greatly appriciated! Thanks guys!
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post #2 of 21
6/27/04 at 4:11pm
What are you looking for other than what you mentioned?
1. Widescreen or standard?
2. what will be your uses? mainly gaming?
3. how much money do you have to spend?
4. how important is a big name company to you?
5. how mobile are you going to be?
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post #3 of 21
6/27/04 at 4:22pm
CL56 is a good laptop. Hunt around this forum and you'll find alot about it....

also, check this link http://notebookforums.com/showthread...&highlight=odm
for popular notebooks
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post #4 of 21
6/27/04 at 4:37pm
Thread Starter 
well id like a sxga+ or usxga+ widescreen but if its not a wide I woudlnt really mind, Id prefere a bigger name company but if a smaller company has good rating and such i woudlnt mind buying from them, and I mean Im new to laptops so I dunno if this is to unreasonable to ask but what id really like is something that gets like 2+ hours of battery life and can play games like unreal tournament 2004 but also not being a really thick/bulky laptop. This laptop MUST be used for college work in my classes so it needs decent mobility for that but when I dont have work to do id like to be able to play games on it. But college work must come first which is why I like how the P4-M Dothan procs are sounding because they sound like they get good battery life.. but im not sure if they are powerfull enough to run games like UT2k4 which is why I started thinking about getting a regular P4 at a higher speed.. but then I started thinking im not going to have enough battery to last a 2hour class... As for price.. I can spend around 3000.. id prefer it under if possible. Thanks so much guys!
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post #5 of 21
6/27/04 at 4:44pm
it sounds like the Dell 8600 is a great option for you. Its not ultra portable, but it is portable. It gets good battery life, and yes, the Dothan's will be able to run games like UT2k4. As far as WSXGA+ and WUXGA screens with the Dothan and atleast an ATI 9600 graphics card (which for games like UT2k4, you don't want anything less), you are pretty limited. In fact, you are limited to the Dell. But, in all reality, the Dell is a great notebook. Their warranties are great, and their accidental damage program is unrivaled. I would say go with the Dell 8600, if you want something that is portable, has atleast a WSXGA+ screen, has Centrino, and atleast a 9600 128MB graphics card.
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post #6 of 21
6/27/04 at 4:49pm
I think i was a bit hard to understand reading back through that. Let me clarify.

As far as moblity is concerned, you want a Dothan processor (which are also very powerful. The 1.8GHz label, you times by 1.5, to get what it would be comparable to in a P4)
As far as graphics go, for the games you will play, you want atleast an ATI Mobility Radeon 9600 preferably with 128MB of video RAM. The only step up from that is the 9700.
As far as WSXGA+ and WUXGA are concerned, with centrino and atleast the 9600 graphics card, the Dell 8600 is your only option.

I think i was a bit clearer that time.

Go with the Dell

Also, depending on what school you are attending, Dell has some great programs with alot of schools where you can save up to 10%, maybe even more
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post #7 of 21
6/27/04 at 4:57pm
Thread Starter 
ah yea my college (NJIT) does get what seems like a decent discount through dell.. BUT.. to use it, you have to buy one of their sorta "preconfigured" laptops.. like you can pick between a few models and customize some things like proc speed but the only video card options I have are: GeForce FX GO 5060, Quadro GO700 and Quadro Go10001.. any idea on how well the Go5060 preforms?
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post #8 of 21
6/27/04 at 5:12pm
if you don't need wsxga+ and can live with sxga+, i would not recommend the dell based on your earlier comment:

I need my laptop to be portable as in NOT a bulky beast

the 8600 is a bulky beast compard to laptops like the compal cl56. it weighs nearly 8 lbs at 1.6 inches thick, and the chassis design leaves a lot to be desired.
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post #9 of 21
6/27/04 at 5:13pm
i don't, but go to tomshardware.com, and somewhere on there they compare the major video cards. i think they compare the go5060 with the ati 9600 and 9700, if i remember right. i would give you the link, but i am to lazy to find it. sorry...good luck though

i would still go with the dell, maybe just don't buy it from your school
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post #10 of 21
6/27/04 at 5:14pm
Thread Starter 
hhmmm.. wow when I built the same laptop through dells site not using my college login the laptop costs 500 bucks more! But the problem with this damn college discount thing is I cant pick another graphics card or hard drive which sucks.. cause id much rather have another vid card than this damn Go5060.... hhmm know of any place that cells good p4-m Dothan laptops that offer Radeon 9700 Pro mobil cards in them for a decent price?
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post #11 of 21
6/27/04 at 5:17pm
yeah, but, you don't get the wsxga+ or wuxga...you either get a sxga+ (not w) or wxga
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post #12 of 21
6/27/04 at 5:19pm
Thread Starter 
oh well I dont really care much about the widescreen part that much.. especially if I cant get a better laptop
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post #13 of 21
6/27/04 at 5:19pm
some good notebooks with the dothan and the 9700 are the compal cl56 (sxga+, with 128MB of vram), the asus m6ne (sxga+, with 64MB of VRAM), the asus m6bne (wxga, with 64MB of vram), the mitac 8050 (wxga, with 128mb of vram), the aopen 1557 (sxga+, with 128MB of Vram(i think))...those are probably your best bets
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post #14 of 21
6/27/04 at 5:24pm
Thread Starter 
thanks so much for ur help! ill look into them!
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post #15 of 21
6/27/04 at 6:00pm
Thread Starter 
hhmmm ok ive got an interesting question: I was browsing those "Compal CL56" notebooks through the various vendors and I configured it as such: Ati Mobility 9700, P4-m 1.8ghz, 60GB 7200rpm hd, additional battery, 1 year warenty, winxp pro, ect and through all the vendors the price was like around 3600 bucks.. yet WHY when I do that through ibuypower is it only $2,514.00??????? Its like a thousand bucks cheaper! How is that possible? is there somethinig im missing? http://www.ibuypower.com/ibp.net/sto...?mid=87#header
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post #16 of 21
6/27/04 at 7:42pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by raventy
hhmmm ok ive got an interesting question: I was browsing those "Compal CL56" notebooks through the various vendors and I configured it as such: Ati Mobility 9700, P4-m 1.8ghz, 60GB 7200rpm hd, additional battery, 1 year warenty, winxp pro, ect and through all the vendors the price was like around 3600 bucks.. yet WHY when I do that through ibuypower is it only $2,514.00??????? Its like a thousand bucks cheaper! How is that possible? is there somethinig im missing? http://www.ibuypower.com/ibp.net/sto...?mid=87#header
Something tells me you were looking at Alienware or Falcon-NW machines. They're essentially boutique brands that charge more for a nearly identical machine. Beyond a $1000+ price difference, a fancy paint job and perhaps slightly better service, you won't see much of a difference between let's say...Voodoo's M360 and a Hypersonic's CX-5.
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post #17 of 21
6/27/04 at 7:51pm
Seriously look into the CL56. I am in the same situation as you and i think this laptop is about perfect for me (or maybe you too). Longe battery life, small, light, powerful. I still prefer non widescreen screens for gaming, simply for conpatibility issues. I had a widescreen and getting it to play in widescreen was a pain in the ass sometimes. So this new one i got is standard and I don't have to worry about any of that. i wasn't that impressed by widescreen either. but that is just me.
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post #18 of 21
6/27/04 at 9:22pm
3600 bucks.... i have no idea what you're looking it. that would be the price for 2 CL56s at any of the following shops:

ibuypower
powernotebooks
discountlaptops
mwave
internetishop
hypersonic-pc

maybe you're missing eyes.
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post #19 of 21
6/27/04 at 9:59pm
Thread Starter 
i looked up the cl2 at northfalcon and voodo pc and they both had them for that price.. i was looking into ibuypower but i dont trust them.. their rating isnt that good..
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post #20 of 21
6/28/04 at 1:25am
Thread Starter 
actualy u know what guys.. how are these MiTAC 8050
notebooks? they seem really nice and do u guys think ABS is good to go with? They do assemble these notebooks right? seems more lik eim ordering parts lol: http://www.abspc.com/app/Config.asp?mono=1851&view=2
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