Buy a 8886 or 5660?

If you don't mind me putting my two bits in, I too have had the dilemma of choosing between the 5660 and the 8886. I also game, program, and wanted a desktop replacement to superceed my older less capable laptop. All I can say is that in the end I went with the 8886. There are a number of factors to consider. First, of course, is the weight. If 12lbs is just too much for you to carry around ( and that is not including the AC adapter and other stuff ), well the 5660 does most of what the 8886 can do. The 8886 is more of a desktop replacement though, as out of the box it does almost everything. I like the built in video capabilities, the semi-full-sized keyboard, two pcmcia slots instead of one... Also, I decided that a 15.7" sxga was better than a 15" sxga+ or uxga. The fact is that you can't switch resolutions like you can on a crt, as an lcd only really looks okay at its' native resolution or 1/4th, 1/16th, etc... That means you could run the 5660's uxga 1600x1200 display at 800x600 and it wouldn't look fuzzy, but it would be 800x600. Nothing really wrong with that though, as of course you could just switch back to 1600x1200 any time you wanted. I just decided that 800x600 was too little space ( everything is just too large ), and 1600x1200 was too much ( everything is just too small ). SXGA 1280x1024 is just about right said the baby bear... That is what I use on my 21" desktop monitor too. However, I would say that if you run games normally at 800x600, and you don't need a numeric keypad, built in tv tuner, and mp3/memory drive ( which you can use like a usb key ), to go with the 5660. Then you can get the additional battery to up your non-ac life, and anything else that would bring the cost up to that which you were willing to spend on the 8886.
I mean, what do you really need two pcmcia slots for anyway ( since the 5660 has so much built in ).

Tough decision.....
I'm glad I went the 5660.
I still don't want the 8886...

I've only had it a couple of days now and I love it!!!
These things are heavy. My 5660 with the standard battery, DVD,floppy, and 40gig weighs 9.6lbs and I travel alot.
I've seen some data sheets that said 8.6....yeah, right!!!!
The spec on the 8886 is 12lbs.
If you are replacing a desktop, who cares about weight??
I also don't like that I only have 1pcmcia being that I have a couple of pcmcia drives that I use for storage and I'm also WiFi.
Pain in the butt to have to unplug one for the other...
Of course, when the bank account gets back up they will be replaced with USB 2.0 drives!!!
The screen is a tough one...
Bigger vs. Resolution hmmmm I got uxga and I posted in another thread about the res... If you run lower than native, it gets fuzzy..
Not bad but you can tell. Text is really small at 1600x1200....
Matter of preference again....
Either way, you wont loose!!!
If I was getting one for Christmas it wouldn't matter!!!! Just give me one!!!!!!! And give it to me NOW!!!!

B

No subject is beaten to death :-) Just as long as you take a second to read through the past threads, it's great to bring up the topic again. The old ones are for everyone's benefit. I will also say this... on these forums, you can pretty much trust anyone :-) The two that have posted thus far have given all of the insight most people need; that's the beauty of this community. Now on to the good stuff...

You want the lappy for gaming, programming, and a desktop replacement. Consider the 8886... more money, but it has a tv tuner internal with s-video in and out along with coaxial input. Do you need these? WIll you be using video inputs or television? Consider the mp3 player... Will you use it? Or do you already have one that you use and it wouldn't help to have one internal... Consider the remote... do you want it? I just think it's sweet :-) So I like it, but others might see no purpose in it. Do you need major expandability? The 8886 can hold like 3 hard drives max... the 5660 does not have a second hard drive option. However, it does have the dual battery option (although the 5660 with dual batts generally lasts around as long as the 8886 with its single battery because it's a 12 cell). Do you want a bigger screen? I do because I use my laptop for everything here at college... I like seeing it from farther away. Up close, most say it's not much of a difference. The resolution is a pretty much given and has been well written about in this thread so far. Do you need the expandability of the 8886 with its 5 spindle architecture? It's got one fixed drive and two smart bays... The 5660 has two smart bays. Do you need the expandability of a type 3 PCMCIA card (or multiple type 1 or 2)? The 8886 has this as well. Do you need lightweight (well, relative to sagers)? The 5660 has it. Do you need plain old raw performance as opposed to performance with some extra coolness? Another thing, do you plan on having external speakers? If not, the speakers are placed differently... The 5660 are up by the screen, the 8886 are pointing up ahead. Do you plan on using firewire peripherals? Do you plan to use things that can be self powered? In that case, you will need 6 pin firewire which the 8886 has. If you plan to use peripherals that have a separate power cord, then get the 5660 with 4 pin firewire (which is not self powered). Do you plan to do audio editing that you'd need an audio input for? The 8886 has an audio input separate from the microphone... They both work, but some prefer the separate audio input. I know this isn't a comprehensive list, but hopefully it helped you differentiate a little. I would have organized it a lil better, but it's pretty late and I need sleep :-) I haven't been posting much because the network died here at UD so I'm on dialup in my dorm, lol, pathetic to say the least. Let us know if you have more questions! More people will post I'm sure... GOod luck with your decision!

A good way to get a perspective on how the 5660 uxga would feel is to setup your apps to how you're comfortable at ,take a full screen shot of your display,pull out a tape measure and shrink the image to 15" and see if it feels good.(if you own a display that supports 1600x1200,otherwise this post is reduntant )I did this,and I can definately say that I would be comfortable enough with 1600x1200 on a 15" uxga.

I still say that 1600x1200 sucks...

lol, each has his/her own preference. Alien, thanks for that method of testing one's preference! Hopefully whoever tests it has a monitor to do it with :-) Have a great day everyone!

Welcome aboard Grasshopper!!!!

awesome, you won't regret it. after having mine now for, what.. 2 days, i have not once said "i surely wish i had gotten the 5600 series" and i'm quickly realizing that this will be replacing my desktop with just a few things added on.

so if this will BE your desktop, you're in excellent shape. i keep forgetting i can just pick it up and move it around. laptops aren't supposed to run this fast

Yeah baby :-) Go 8886! I will definitely be carrying my around when I need some portable gaming.