Review Fujitsu-Siemens Amilo M4438G - Page 27

The "modified" drivers only have the configuration file changed to allow use for the notebook graphics cards. The files themselves, other than that one, are identical. Basically, it's a desktop driver that has been allowed to run with the 6800 Go. As Ruptured said, check the temperatures as well, hopefully they're not too high.

Are these pauses very soon after starting the game, or only after (for example) 10 minutes of play?

Great thread, hopefully great Laptop ...

Hi all

New to this Forum. Happened to see (and try out!) an M3438G at a local retail store Saturday. Rare to find a decent machine like this in South Africa.

It's taken me the best part of this afternoon to read this thread & others regarding this lappy. I HAVE to replace my four year old Dell Latitude C800, was about to commit to a FS M1425 and then I saw this monster!

Needless to say I am impressed. Installed the BF2 Demo in store (took all of a couple minutes to install, takes waaay longer to install on my Desktop 1Gig RAM FX5900 2.6Ghz P4HT) then maxed just about every setting and the results were unbelievable. Apart from the temperature issues (we have such a hot climate here that the norm for our GPU's is 85 Degrees C, the Dell's HDD was running at 53-4 Degrees this afternoon according to DTemp) so I don't think I should be too worried. Dead Pixels on the display IS a cause for concern as well, we do have good FS support here but I am not so sure that they will carry those kind of spares in quantity.

Now to talk to the bank tomorrow to arrange finance

Thanks for all the information (and Pix) that helped to make the decision!

Greetz

Rob

How do you check the temperature? I would like to chek it too.

Right-click on desktop -> Properties -> Settings -> Advanced -> GeForce Go 6800 -> Temperature Settings (left-hand panel that pops up)

Fool of me, quite simple.
Thank you

Hi again, one more question: after installing the drivers from the CD, a folder was created at C:\ called "fsc.tmp". I suppose it is a temporary folder because of the "tmp", but the thing is that there are numerous subfolders (one for every driver installed) and in these subfolders there are lots of files with extensions such as: cab,exe, ini, bin, bat, sys, dll, and much more, I was wondering if, as the extension of the folder is "tmp", it is safe to delete this folder or if it is necesary for the drivers to work properly. It seems that it was only created temporary to install the drivers but I don't know if it is safe to delete. What do you think guys?
Thank you.

Try it and see, I guess. Make a backup of the folder first, and also create a system restore point.

I should be joining the m3438g club soon. Awaiting delivery mid week.

I’ve got a little problem with InstantOn and M3438 (2Ghz +2*60gb HD) and was wondering if any of you had a solution.

Out of the box I tested the laptop and made sure it all worked and then decided to reformat the HD and get rid of the bloat ware plus I wanted to have RAID 0.

Downloaded all the latest drivers and newest version of InstantOn from FS site and all when well. Sandra HD test showed 55Mb/s (29 Mb/s without RAID) and 3Dmark05 gave 3700. InstantOn worked fine as well (installed from windows).

Given I had a basic stable set up, I decided to make a backup of the hard disk with TrueImage (v8) so that I could restore it should something happen.

After installing some games and some application I decided I didn’t want on laptop I decide the restore from the Image I’d made with TrueImage. All seem to go well and the system ran as it did when I made the back-up. I then tested InstantOn and it looked as though it wasn’t installed!!. I could see the application in the Add\Remove list in Control panel but when I hit the InstantOn button (one on the extreme left) with the laptop off it tried to boot from the LAN. Obviously it can’t find the partition where InstantOn was installed.

When I made a disk Image with True Image (I did this in windows and not via the Boot disk) I only saw one partition, the active boot partition made up of the two HD in raid 0 config (111.8mb in total) and that’s the one that I backed up. I couldn’t see the Linux partition so I didn’t back that up. So the first question is how do you ensure that when you make a backup with TrueImage you get both the Windows partition and the Linux partition?

Ok, so realising that the Linux partition was missing so I uninstalled InstantOn from Add\Remove and then reinstalled it in windows. All seem to go well but when I tried to activate InstantOn I get the same response, i.e it tries to boot from the LAN????

Any ideas?

Ok, has anyone of you tried Dawn of War? I downloaded the demo and I don't seem to be getting all that great performance... has anyone played it on his lappy and if so what kind of settings and performance did you get?

On my machine the framerate drops to around 30 often without any AA on and I don't know, that seems like a bit too low for me...

you can safely delete this folder
I've deleted it immediately after installing everything. No problems

Thank you Lualyrr, I don't like having mess so I will delete it.

Kieran's top tip:-

What I tend to do in those circumstances is zip all the files (and folder-tree) into a single RAR file (leaving the RAR file where it is) and deleting the files/folders, and then see if the system works well without them. After a while, if there are no problems, then I delete the RAR file. Otherwise I can always unzip the files/folders again if I later find they were important and needed to be there.

*.tmp files are usually ok to be deleted straight off, though.

Hey guys,

Seems many American retailers will be selling this notebook. So far rjtech.com and powernotebook.com are selling systems. Seems like an awesome rig... too bad its so heavy.

I don't really understand comments like this. Sure Mx438 is bulky but it is a 17" desktop replacement. In fact, it's one of the slimmest DTR-laptops around and certainly more mobile than Alienware or XPS Gen2.

I think people need to decide whether they want mobility or DTR-style, but it seems weird to me that someone doesn't buy DTR-laptop because of it's size, especially since the Mx438 is probably the slimmest DTR-laptop in the market.

I totally agree with you. I bought this laptop as a replacement of my desktop PC to be able to use it at home while I'm sitting at the living room with my wife or while watching TV or something else. If my intention were for travelling, I would have bought another one smaller and lighter.
This laptop is perfect for using at home as a media center or so.

More questions (just one this time)
what hardware components can be changed in the laptop (memory modules, craphic card, chipset, etc)? I would like to know if I can replace some components in the future when it gets older.
Thank you

As far as I know:
- RAM
- Graphics card (debatable)
- Processor
- Hard drive(s)

While its slim, it's 8.8 lbs with battery and its a 17" notebook. I'm looking for a slightly smaller and lighter notebook. I do find this notebook very interesting and am finding myself flirting with the idea of purchasing it because of it's nice features. This notebook is probably too heavy for my needs and that's all you need to understand with regard to my previous comment. My purpose in writing my previous post was to inform people of the availability of this notebook in the US.

Hello!
First post, but been reading the forum for quite some time now, since I 'm interested in the 3438 too.

@btacular: If you think that 3438 is heavy, have you considered the Gateway 7700?

@all: has anyone tried using the laptop in more "summer" conditions? (Ambient temperatures >30C ?) Are there any overheating probs, even with the single HDD models?