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Buying New Laptop... Need help...

post #1 of 8
7/29/04 at 9:09pm
Thread Starter 
Hey guys, I don't know a lot about what's been going on in the PC world because I haven't been around compys for probably 6 years... I don't know jack about the new Dothans, Centrinos and even the frigging 9700 or 9600s
What ever happened to VOODOO?! heh
I have some questions and maybe some of you can help me out with out thinking that I am too much of an idiot.

I am about to purchase my 1st laptop for university, I was originally going to get a Powerbook G4 but then I am having to pay for my dorm and tuition and such which took away the 2k budget. I do a lot of Photoshop and used to do a lot of video editing on my friend's mac but because I can't get my hands on a Powerbook I will forget about editing films and concentrate on photoshop.

1.) what's the difference between the Dothan and the Centrino? which one is more powerful, I am not looking at the HT because I heard it drains the battery.

2.) what's with all the like front side bus and stuff what does that mean? like how fast it process like the G5 dual chipset with the 800ghz and such? Does it matter much how fast my FSB is?

3.) i am thinking about at least 1024 mb of ram, what's the best ram for playing games and doing visual rendering?

4.) I am thinking about getting a bluetooth system set up so I can have wireless keyboard and mouse set up in my dorm, is there any other use for the Bluetooth system?

5.) How much diff does it make to have a MD that runs at 7200rpm as opposed to others?

I am buying my computer in Taiwan, so there might be some different brands that aren't famous in the states or canada but I will also be doing some gaming to pass the time in the dorms...

6.) will a radeon 9600 be enough for gaming? if so which model should i look for? what if it's a nvidia card, which one should i look for in my lappy? I doubt I will find a 9700 ati card in any of the centrinos because i havent seen any and i've looked.. are there any laptops that are centrino based with a 9700?

7.) what's the top 3 best mobil cards for ATI and nVidia? if it 1st is out of my price range i'll shoot for 2nd...

Thank you guys for reading this, i know this is a lot to ask but I keep asking my friends and such and there's just so much to be answered! a week ago i didn't even know dothans and centrinos existed!

Chigga
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post #2 of 8
7/29/04 at 9:24pm
Hey,

Voodoo was bought out by nVidia.

Centrino is not a CPU, but a technology, which combines the Pentium M processor, some Intel internal nic, and one more thing, I forgot.

Dothan is the codename for the new Pentium M, which has 2mb cache.

More ram is better, of course.

What is your budget?
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post #3 of 8
7/29/04 at 9:27pm
1. Dothan is a name for the Pentium M processor. The Centrino name is just a package involving the Pentium M processor (Dothan or Banias), wireless capabilities, and long battery life.
2.??
3. 1024mb should do it.
4. No idea.
5. MD?? maybe you mean HD. at speeds of 7200rpm it'll boot faster and programs will open faster than other 5400rpm or 4200rpm drives.
6. 9600 should be enough for casual gaming but i'd recommend the 9700 to make it last a little longer.
7. Mobile cards? they are usually integrated. 9600 64mb and 128mb, 9700 w/ 64mb and 128mb, for ATI. Nvidia?? does anyone really care?
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post #4 of 8
7/29/04 at 9:28pm
1) centrino is pretty much the combination of a pentium M machine and a integrated wireless. Dothan is the actualy processor. It is an evolution to pentium M, since it has 2mb cache. i reccomend this.

2) not sure

3) Well, 1024 will be great only cause 2048 prices are outragous and 512 is pretty much a "at least" number

4) Yes, there is a phone w/ bluetooth technology, and there are a few printers. Maybe cameras, but i doubt that.

5) Ok, 7200 is great for a laptop, and u will see an improvement over a 5400, but then again 5400 isnt that bad, but dont get a 4200....thats pushing it. in other words, if money is a problem, dont worry about the 7200, but get a 5400, and not the 4200.

6) the radeon 9600 is enough, and the 9700 is in a few centinos, for example the cl56, which is popular in these forums. It is a great laptop.

7) Im not in w/ nvidia much, and ati is pretty simple, and most cases ull see that if they are available in the configuration of ur system, Most expensive=better. But other than that, i dont kno much.
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post #5 of 8
7/29/04 at 11:04pm
As all but 2) have been answered handily by the others, I attack that.

The FSB or Front Side Bus is the connection between the CPU, the chipset and the memory. Its a special, very high speed bus, mostly because this is where the majority of the traffic is. As such, its speed has a basic influence on the performance of the overall machine. Its not the only influence, as there are other bottlenecks that can slow a machine's performance, but this is one very critical one. If its slow, the whole machine is slow. Its kind of like the speed limit on a freeway, if the speed limit is 55 MPH, there's only so many cars the freeway can carry. If its 75, the freeway can carry more cars, "can" being the operative work, as the freeway doesn't carry much traffic at 3 am or when there is a wreck someplace or someother jam up.

The bus speed is rated in MHz, based upon its base bandwidth and the level of pumping achieved on that. The 800 FSB is based on a 200 MHz bandwith that is double pumped by using both the rising and falling edges of the signal to carry data and they count it going both ways. So the rated speed is 4x the actual bandwidth. The old buses were 100 MHz, and quad pumped they are rated at 400 MHz, or 133 MHz rated at 533 MHz.

As to rest of the question, I am not sure what you are asking. The G5 is an IBM chip used in Apple machines. Being dual or not has nothing to do with the FSB. You can have dual or whatever on a FSB but its not the only internal bus system there is. For instance, AMD machines use HyperTransport, not to be confused with HyperThreading, as their equivalent of FSB. HT is much faster though, having a band width of 800 or 1000 MT/s (megatransactions per second) and counted both ways, that's either 1600 or 2000.

But yes, as stated above, FSB is a critical basic performance specification for a machine. If its not fast, the machine won't be either. Then again, no matter how fast the FSB is, if the rest of the components are crap, the machine will still be crap.
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post #6 of 8
7/29/04 at 11:05pm
Uh, no, Centrino is a combination (all or nothing) of Intel 855 chipset, Pentium M proc, and Intel Pro wireless.
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post #7 of 8
7/29/04 at 11:48pm
Thread Starter 
My budget is around 1500$ to 1800$
I think I can get a pretty decent lappy for that price in asia.
Thank you all for your input it's going to help me with my choice in the end! woo hoo!

Another question though... I hear a lot about the CL56 but they all say its from different companies, what does that mean? what does cl56 mean, who makes it and which one is the best in my price range?

Thank you
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post #8 of 8
7/30/04 at 12:04am
The CL56 is a barebone (minimum hardware) manufactured by Compal. Other companies, such as Asus, Mitac, and Hypersonic take the CL56, put in their own parts, and call it a different name. Any company will probally be in you price range. To start you off:

Hypersonic CX5
Mitac 8050
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