PCI-Express & MR9800 might take longer then expected. - Page 3

Brn2Crz where is that quote from...I like it

I have to disagree. Most of the users on this forum are well educated on the computer market and how it works. Sure we all drool over the latest and greatest but we are far from spontaneous purchasers. Hell some of the people on this forum spend more time researching what they want in their laptops than they probably did for their car!

For some of us it is a hobby as well as part of our jobs in the IT field to stay on the cutting edge of technology.

I built pc's and consult friends/family on computer purchasing decisions. When someone asks me what is the best, chances are I know up to the minute what it is. I also tell them what is the best bang for their buck, etc.

It's not all corporate mindwashing.

In addition, GPUs have been one of the biggest bottlenecks in keeping DTRs always quite a bit behind desktops. A 4 pipeline jump is huge and most games today benefit greatly from 4 extra pipes of data. The 9700 we have in our laptops isn't REALLY a 9700. We are still running on 9600 toned down cores that are over a year old.


Now to my point. Yes when new technologies come out they tend to be a bit expensive. However, newer things coming out means the 9600 and 9700 laptop prices are going to go down even further, benefiting a lot of the college kids going back to school.

It also means for us die-hards we can finally get our hands on a solid card. A 9800 with 8 pipelines will sure as hell last a lot longer than a card running with 4 pipes. This is a significant jump in technology.

It has been my experience in the last 10 years of buying/consulting computer purchases that that there are certain times when it's good to buy and throw down a chunk of change for components that won't go out of date as quickly.

Example...

A year ago I built what some may consider an upper mid-range system...

A small form factor shuttle (when they first came out) with an nforce 2 motherboard, amd athlon 2500 xp, 1 gig 3200 ram, 160 gig 8meg cache maxtor, and a 9800 radeon non-pro. I also splurged and dumped $520 on a nice 17" view sonic flat panal.

What happened? Was my PC out of date in 3 months? Heck no...

Turns out my CPU is massively overclockable, so with a few simple clicks in the bios I am running a 2.2ghz. My 1 gig of ram purchase also proved to be solid as ram requirements have not increased and 3200 ddr is still the standard (sure you can get 3500+ memory but it's really only for overclocking). Turns out my 9800 non-pro was easily flashed via bios update to a fully functional 9800 pro! woot! My 160 gig 7200 8 meg cache purchase is still running strong, sure there is SATA now but that's not that big of a deal. Also flatpanal prices flatted off and stopped falling almost as soon as i bought my monitor, demand for the LCD screens went up and so prices stayed relatively the same... again another great purchase.

So here I am over a year later and the PC I paid about $900 for is still pretty solid and can run the **** out of Doom 3 and Half Life 2 beta

Why? Because I did my homework, knew existing technology and got a decent system at the time at good prices.

Msatchmo. well said..8 pipelines is a huge deal in a laptop which at the moment has stopped me from purchasing a Sager even though its my system of choice. But I dont see paying for it the same price today as I would have paid for it before this new card hit.. As of today it is now outdated with a new card out that is twice as fast..so why pay 2500 plus for it something outdated? Don't get me wrong..many may not care...but as Msatchmo said 8 pipes is going to last a heck of alot longer then four...and if I have to sink more then two grand into something, I want it to last as long as possible..

At least if Sager doesn't update their GPU by the beggining of September, we should expect a price drop because of the 9700 and AMD has cut their processor prices.

Well hopefully someone at Sager reads these forums because if they don't come out with some type of price drop or new graphics card in their systems before college begins, they may lose customers. I, for one, need a laptop before school begins (or at least completed an order for one), so the sooner they upgrade, the better for everyone. And like Syn, I wouldn't want to spend $3000 on a notebook right now when there is better technology out.

Chaing the next "Bestest" thing is always frustrating. Just because something new is "lurking" around the corner does not in and of itself mean that prices will be dropping. Buy based on your current need or wait until that need is satisfied.

Tell me about it. If I had went ahead and bought the 8790 when I wanted to I would have been perfectly happy with it...but now that the next latest and greatest (Can I say that about a dell? heh) is out... that makes it alot tougher to put down 2.5k on a notebook with a vid card that has half the performance..Im going to try to wait it out til September or til I get itchy fingers..I can't save money to save my life ...:outs:: and Im such a Sager die hard...I just hope I dont have to get the Dell...

It's human nature, nothing much can be done about it. Today's NEED is to play Doom 3 at HIGH settings on a 42" Plasma screen (at HDTV resolution). I doubt if 4750 or 8790 with the new Mobile9800 can achieve it. If they can't, probably I (there are many with this requirement) have to wait for X800 to be ported as mobile, it won't take long since PCIe is already around the corner. If they can, not many will be waiting for latest & greatest as they don't need it. If 9800 can handle Doom 3 in High settings ( I am sure it can't after checking the ExtremeTech benchmarks), it can probably handle anything for next 1.5 years in medium settings & so we can go ahead as soon as 9800 is offered in 4750.

But as I said it's a human nature to always "chase the bestest thing" and so, one might get disappointed when XP64 is launched (even if after 8 months as someone told) since they can't have it in 8790. True, today's 4750 may not have the horsepower to run an OS, to be released in 8 months from now, at top speed. But it still can run it. Probably just like today's XP SP1 runs on a 1 GHz Pentium III. Not many can afford another new laptop in 8 months (even if Intel has a 64-bit version ready for XP64 then), that's why probably 4750 (with 9800 of course if Sager offers it) is a better buy even though it's little slower than 8790 in all APP benchmarks. At least you can try XP64 when it's launched & tell others, I HAVE IT

dell is best bang for the buck?

i just configured a Dell XPS system....with the new video card for an extra 200 bucks, and 1 gig of ram...they actually want $350 to go from 512 to 1 gig of memory....sager charges like 140 for that same upgrade...what's up with that?

so anyways, 'the best bang for my buck' just came out to $2900, not to mention tax and shipping...(btw, 2 day shipping from dell is 70 or 80...sager 2 day is 50)..
also add in the half hour it took me to scroll through all of the useless options dell tries to dump on you! hehehe

in any case, i dont mean to bash, i almost bought a dell..(until i was reading through the Dell forums and someone said the name 'sager'.)

my main gripe is the price....(350 for a memory upgrade), and the stability of the laptops....i used to work with them...i was not that impressed..at least not with the ones we had.....
now a dell desktop, i can't say anything bad about...i've always been impressed with them...
as far as breaking into the gamers market...i think they definitely have a nice hold, but only because of their name...and i think it's an insult that they try to shove a 2000 dollar product (ok fine, 2500) down our throat for 3000 dollars

but that just would lead to other sites that charge 3 and even 4 thousand dollars for the same laptop...who was that again...go I? maybe, hehefunny stuff...

Dell overcharges like crazy for ram upgrades. If you do happen to order from them, config with the minimum and buy from newegg. ding ding, you saved 200$.

Missing the 17" screen which is quite important for me. Also unlike other Inspirons or Lattitudes, this 1 is not so good looking, same as XPS. Also does it have tons of other gadgets that 8790 has, like built-in camera, TV Tuner, 5 speakers, G wireless etc ? Just asking since I haven't seen a 9100 in person, on Dell's site it really looks ugly. Dell can definitely provide all the gadgets, but they normally ask a moon & an earth for them. Only thing they are providing today & other aren't, is MR9800. So probably for a month, Dell will have the best bang for the money since others simply can't provide it.

My plan: Get an 8790 now, enjoy it for what it is (a badass lappy that will suit me well for 3D animation, programming and gaming, I'm just using my old dell XPS 933 desktop right now =\ ). Put a little cash aside for the next two years and then build a hardcore desktop that will be ready to handle the next-gen operating systems etc. I will say though, that phantom was looking pretty impressive, but college starts sept 20 for me so time's running short.

One more thing, as far as the Anti-Dell sentiments. I've used 4 Dell PCs and one laptop and they've all been outstanding. However, I wouldn't currently purchase a Dell laptop because I just don't think they offer the best bang for the buck (and the XPS/9100 are just so @#*& ugly). Although who knows, if you catch all their crazy discounts at just the right time maybe it would be a more viable option. I wish Sager gave educational discounts!

exactly my plan thegad. all I need is something that can handle today's games (doom3, hl2, ut2k4, WoW, etc.) and new ones for a year or two and then build a cheap gaming rig myself. I'm not going to worry over pci-e or the 9800 like the rest of 'em, I'm really happy that I got a 4750

I bet your happy because you know now that the 4750 is a gaming bear!

FrancisQ,

The origional quote is from the radio show "The Shadow". It went "who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows."

Satch your technical expertise is not questioned.

Prices are going to drop following August. There has been significant production of flat screens so expect to see those televisions go down, down and down. Notebooks are hot right now and the market is leaning in that precise direction. Our favorite companies are burning rubber to make third quarter the ramp for rocketing into a very successfull fourth. That means the goodies cometh whether they be done or not with fair pricing excruciatingly calculated to clean the pockets of even the modest with enough left over to get that DSL line you've been slavering over. Note just how many people are waiting for the long trumpeted entrance of the rollout. It's not just rumors but very well orchestrated marketing.

Cheers

I thought I read a sales review on theinquirer that suggested notebook sales were cooling off...

will try and ressurect the link...

As ugly as the dell is it is the best right now. I don't keep myself limited to what I will buy. If I can get a XPS for 2100 then I am all for it. Hopefully we will know something by the middle of August. If not, I hate to say it, but I will buy the XPS. I kinda prefer the 15.4 wuxga over the 17in. In a way I am like most of you I would hate to have to lower myself to get a Dell. I don't think the performance can be overlooked. Truthfully I rather have PCI-E. At least then you could go from 4 or 8 pipes to 12 or 16.