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Enough Battery Life for college classes in the 5500?

post #1 of 10
2/27/05 at 2:53pm
Thread Starter 
I've been using this forum a lot recently to get answers to a lot of the questions I've had about the Area-51m 5500 I'll be purchasing for college soon, and want to thank everyone for their help.

One more concern: I know that because I want to get a gaming-level notebook, I will be sacrificing battery life. Will 2 batteries for the 5500 be enough to get me through a day of classes? I can't imagine I would be running more than basic applications at this time, most of the intense work (games, lots of music, movies, etc.) would be done plugged in.
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post #2 of 10
2/27/05 at 3:20pm
the a51 5500 has a pretty large base ... if that isn't a problem I'm going to say that with 2 batteries you'll get 3 hours of life giveor take ... so it depends how much do you use it during the school day?
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post #3 of 10
2/27/05 at 8:17pm
mad4sax2, the 5500 is a great notebook. I own one myself. But dont buy one if your main use is going to be for college. I go to college myself and the 5500 is not practical. Many of the class rooms at my university have those desks with the small tops on them and the 5500 is too big to fit on them. Also, unless you have power outlet in class, the 5500 will not get you through a day of classes if your taking a full load like me. With 2 batteries you will be lucky to get 3 hours out of it.
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post #4 of 10
2/27/05 at 8:23pm
Get a sentia =D
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post #5 of 10
2/27/05 at 11:47pm
Yeah sentia good call. Better for work and school.
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post #6 of 10
2/28/05 at 5:01pm
Thread Starter 
Only problem is that I want to use this computer for gaming, school stuff, everything. It will be my main, and only, computer. Ideally, I would have a gaming desktop and a smaller, cheaper, more mobile notebook, but right now I don't think I can do both of these things on my budget (about $3k). So, I figured that the 5500 would strike a good middle ground, being a notebook; not being as big and stationary as the 7700, but still powerful enough to be my main computer, unlike the smaller, less powerful Sentia.

If anyone can suggest something better, I am willing to alter my plans, but right now the 5500 seems to be the only solution for what I want at my budget of $3k.
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post #7 of 10
2/28/05 at 5:22pm
u may wanna look at that acer w/ a X700 and a (centrino? somnoa? whatever gives u 3+hours battery life?) processor (sry i dont know acers )
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post #8 of 10
2/28/05 at 5:37pm
You can get a nice little notebook for around $1000, like a Dell(I know I know) 700m.

And then spend Your remaining 2k on a nice desktop and a big CRT monitor.
As far as Desktop's go, If you can an Alienware Aurora 5500 into your budget then you can still be part of the AW family. =-)
Or if money gets tight, just build yourself a beauty desktop. $2000 buys a NICE desktop, if you build it yourself.
PS: Remember to factor in your monitor $200ish.
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post #9 of 10
2/28/05 at 7:52pm
It depends on how much you are gonna be using your lappy at class. I take my 5500 to class 3 times a week, but only use it in the library or use the battery for short amounts of time. The 5500 is a great machine, but the battery life may not be good for you. I turn the video card down when on battery....seems to help some. It lasts in the 1.5-2hr range.
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post #10 of 10
2/28/05 at 8:59pm
why not get atablet like this? the versapad: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...0630&CatId=219

not bad for 850....


Or maybe a toshiba m200, I use it in my classes and it is not bad at games(not as good as my alien beastie, but....)

I would reallyrecommend a tablet for school, nothing like taking notes to keep up with the teacher.
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