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Advice on college laptop?

post #1 of 16
7/12/04 at 3:30am
Thread Starter 
Ok, so I'm headed off to college in the Fall, (Tufts Univ... w00t) and am buying a laptop. Real glad Sager released the 4790/4750 in time for me to purchase one, and even more glad I found out about Sager in the first place and could convince my parents to let me get something that didn't start with 'd' and end with 'ell'

So here are my choices:

Both are configured with 1 gig of ram and a 60 gig/5,400 RPM hdd.

Sager 4750-C: Athlon 64 3200 ($2088)
Sager 4790-V: 3.2 GHZ P4 ($2095)

Now my question is what is the best choice here? Also, is the 1 gig of ram a good choice or is it unnecessary?

Why a 4-in-1 card reader and not the 7-in-1 reader like older models? What formats doesn't the new reader accept?

Does the recommended backpack work well with this laptop? I read a review (http://www.epinions.com/content_121686298244) stating otherwise... I was going to buy it for around 60 bucks including shipping (supplier on that same page.. save myself 15 bucks over PCTorque) but then read the review and became dubious about its compatability with 17-inchers.

Also, would people recommend getting an extended warrenty? I really don't want to shell out the extra cash, but if I need to I will.

Sorry for so many questions, but I need to make sure before shelling out 2,000+ dollars of hard-earned cash.

dan
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post #2 of 16
7/12/04 at 10:38am
My recommendations.

Go with the 4750C. It will have the most "straightline" CPU Power. You will have about 9 months to decide on the extended warranty.
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post #3 of 16
7/12/04 at 12:09pm
Yea I second the 4750. It'll have the most power.
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post #4 of 16
7/12/04 at 12:45pm
although i do still like pentiums, id go with the 4750 too

good luck at tufts (only school i didnt get into)
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post #5 of 16
7/12/04 at 12:51pm
Thread Starter 
Well alright, I was leaning toward the 4750 anyway... after all, 64 is a bigger number than 32, so it MUST be better, right?

Looking at benchmarks it looks like the intel and AMD processors are neck and neck in most gaming benchmarks, with the intel processors pucshing ahead in things like encoding etc... however, the upgradability of the 64 bit processor makes up for this IMO. And both will be fast enough in those respects, gaming is where the numbers really matter.

Thanks for the info on the extended warrenty, I didn't know I could wait to buy it.

So now all I need to know... Has anyone used this backpack and does it work with 17-inch 47xx models?

dan
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post #6 of 16
7/12/04 at 3:34pm
It does, otherwise PCT wouldn't offer it to go with their 17" laptops. Adam posted some pictures of the 8790, which is a bit fatter than the 4750, fitting comfortably in the pack.
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post #7 of 16
7/12/04 at 3:36pm
I like his reasoning irrational but similar to mine.
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post #8 of 16
7/12/04 at 3:38pm
lol, ur right, i remember you saying the exact same thing
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post #9 of 16
7/12/04 at 5:13pm
It takes reasoning like that to get in to tufts.

j/k
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post #10 of 16
7/12/04 at 5:50pm
Whats the difference between all the 47** series and the 8790? Besides Price?
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post #11 of 16
7/12/04 at 6:16pm
the 8790 has a few more options. you can have 2 hard drives set up in raid, a 12-cell battery, 7-in-1 card reader, and maybe some other little things. It's a slightly bigger chassis than the 47xx series so it can hold more hardware. Also the 256 meg on the 9700.
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post #12 of 16
7/12/04 at 6:46pm
The 8790 is a beast. It's much larger than the 4700. Check out pctorque and see if any of the extra stuff the 8790 has is usefull. It also costs more.
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post #13 of 16
7/12/04 at 6:58pm
The 8790 is about the same size, shape, and weight as the 4780. The extra HDD will add to the weight somewhat.
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post #14 of 16
7/12/04 at 7:36pm
Warranty needs to be as long as possible. Much easier to spend the money now since you're gonna be very, very poor the longer you're in college (if you're like most of us college folk ). You also won't want that additional worry of "oh no, it broke... what do i do now?" when you're in the middle of exams. Much nicer to know someone's there for you.
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post #15 of 16
7/12/04 at 8:04pm
hey man i was in the same situation you were a few months ago and i went with the 8790. my school (nyu baby) doesnt require a computer so i could go with whatever i wanted instead of some crappy cookie cutter deal (you know, everybody buys the same ibm because of the onsite support).

however, im at unc right now which does require a laptop during classes so they have to be able to last on batteries. i was jealous when i saw everybody whipping these thin, light notebooks out during class. until i saw the screen, that is. but i figure you already know about the power vs true mobility trade off, and i think the 4750 lasts a little longer than the 8790 w/ 8 cell. someone help here?

if i had it to do over, id probably go with a bigger hard drive. between games and stolen mp3s and ripped movies and some...uh...other stuff... my 60gig is getting kinda full...ill probably buy another one when prices come down.

oh and about the backpack fitting the 17 inch, i was able to fit the 8790 IN its briefcase in my targus heh...cant be too sure right?i hope it doesnt bake itself in there...
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post #16 of 16
7/12/04 at 8:08pm
yeah the athlon should last maybe 45 minutes longer than the P4 on the 8-cell battery. Once some reviews come out we'll know for sure.
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