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Need Help picking a Laptop from these:

post #1 of 16
7/16/05 at 11:56pm
Thread Starter 
I REALLY WANT to get a laptop. Its for university (Science program) and just about everything else. I want one that will surpass my old desktop (running a HP PIII 850mHz 16mb integrated here) in every way, and square it. Also I will use it for note taking, write ups, portability, and casual gaming. I would like a fast CPU, good HD for just about any type of work and files (not much video editing or art work), and a good battery life (3+ hours please). Also my residence is built with LAN considerations and the campus is WiFi accessible. Also I would like a laptop with good cooling. By good cooling I would like a laptop that wont heat up my lap quickly (when using a Processor) or hands when on keyboard or heat up a room.

By casual gaming, I mean I would like to play games such as CS: Source and new games on REASONABLE settings. Thats right, I dont want to run graphic intensive games like Doom3 on highest with 60fps. Medium or low is fine with me, just as long it can run reasonably. Also I like to play RPGs (Guild Wars would be nice to try).

I plan to be using this laptop for many years (current Desktop lasted me 6 years with 1 RAM upgrade). I'm a cheap kinda guy, but I really wanna get something good here for a $1800-$2500 CAD range.

Through days of browsing Canadian versions of sites, Notebook review sites, and reading other member's posts on this very site (great job and thank you very much guys), I've come up with these 3 Notebooks:

Sony VAIO VGN-FS6660W

http://www.sonystyle.ca/commerce/ser...ductId=1001585


Pick up price at Sony Store (20% deal): $2,023.99 CAD with tax (1,657.92 USD)

Dell Inspiron 6000d

http://configure.dell.com/dellstore/...l=en&cs=cadhs1

Price: $2,372.10 CAD with tax and shipping (1,943.07 USD)

I can get a 1.86Ghz Pentium M and make total price $2500.01 CAD, if its worth it (but damn thats a lot of money )

I dont want the 9300 because its just too big and that takes away from the portability.

Toshiba M40

http://www.toshiba.ca/web/specificat...4070&part=2873

Price: $2,069.99 CAD with tax (1,695.60 USD)


What do any of you think is my safest and best choice?

Any help would be much appreciated. IF there's any problems with links, please let me know ASAP and i will just post specs.
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post #2 of 16
7/17/05 at 12:17am
As a casual gamer the 6600 would benefit you greatly which the M40 has. the 6600 is a great graphics cheap would offers amazing performance benefits over the Sony chosen 6200 and the dells x300/x600 gpus. However if you want to save the dough then consider the 6000 more since we have coupons flying around in the coupon thead that offers discounts on the 6000 for US and Canadian residents.
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post #3 of 16
7/17/05 at 12:41am
Thread Starter 
How much of a performance difference is there between...

Intel Pentium M 725 1.60 GHz/2MB Cache/400MHz FSB

and

Intel Pentium M 750 1.86 GHz/2MB Cache/533MHz FSB
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post #4 of 16
7/17/05 at 12:50am
Quote:
Originally Posted by The New Avenger
How much of a performance difference is there between...

Intel Pentium M 725 1.60 GHz/2MB Cache/400MHz FSB

and

Intel Pentium M 750 1.86 GHz/2MB Cache/533MHz FSB
Not that much, honestly, and certainly not worth the difference in money.
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post #5 of 16
7/17/05 at 1:06am
Quote:
Originally Posted by The New Avenger
I REALLY WANT to get a laptop. Its for university (Science program) and just about everything else. I want one that will surpass my old desktop (running a HP PIII 850mHz 16mb integrated here) in every way, and square it. Also I will use it for note taking, write ups, portability, and casual gaming. I would like a fast CPU, good HD for just about any type of work and files (not much video editing or art work), and a good battery life (3+ hours please). Also my residence is built with LAN considerations and the campus is WiFi accessible. Also I would like a laptop with good cooling. By good cooling I would like a laptop that wont heat up my lap quickly (when using a Processor) or hands when on keyboard or heat up a room.

By casual gaming, I mean I would like to play games such as CS: Source and new games on REASONABLE settings. Thats right, I dont want to run graphic intensive games like Doom3 on highest with 60fps. Medium or low is fine with me, just as long it can run reasonably. Also I like to play RPGs (Guild Wars would be nice to try).

I plan to be using this laptop for many years (current Desktop lasted me 6 years with 1 RAM upgrade). I'm a cheap kinda guy, but I really wanna get something good here for a $1800-$2500 CAD range.

Through days of browsing Canadian versions of sites, Notebook review sites, and reading other member's posts on this very site (great job and thank you very much guys), I've come up with these 3 Notebooks:

Sony VAIO VGN-FS6660W

http://www.sonystyle.ca/commerce/ser...ductId=1001585


Pick up price at Sony Store (20% deal): $2,023.99 CAD with tax (1,657.92 USD)

Dell Inspiron 6000d

http://configure.dell.com/dellstore/...l=en&cs=cadhs1

Price: $2,372.10 CAD with tax and shipping (1,943.07 USD)

I can get a 1.86Ghz Pentium M and make total price $2500.01 CAD, if its worth it (but damn thats a lot of money )

I dont want the 9300 because its just too big and that takes away from the portability.

Toshiba M40

http://www.toshiba.ca/web/specificat...4070&part=2873

Price: $2,069.99 CAD with tax (1,695.60 USD)


What do any of you think is my safest and best choice?

Any help would be much appreciated. IF there's any problems with links, please let me know ASAP and i will just post specs.
For gaming, the M40 would definitely be the best, however, I'd consider this model first:

http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/pro...81&catid=22495

One thing to keep in mind about the M40s however is that they have pretty dismal battery life. If you want that sort of performance, but better battery life, I'd take a look at the ASUS Z71V. The ASUS Z70V refresh would also be great, but you'll have to see if that fits your time frame. (Canada won't get it before late August I'd think)
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post #6 of 16
7/17/05 at 1:18am
Thread Starter 
So the 128mb Geforce Go 6600 is better than the 128mb Mobility Radeon x300?

Yeah the one reason I don't like that Toshiba M40 deal is that the battery life is short.

Hmm I wonder if I could go to Future Shop and show them the Dell deal, and bargain for a lower price or stronger battery! After all they are commission based...
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post #7 of 16
7/17/05 at 1:21am
The Dell in performance terms is pretty crappy compared to the M40. Battery life it's the other way around. Now if you were to order that system from the US, you could always apply a coupon that Dell always runs to bring that price down quite a bit.

And yes, the X300 is about 1/2 the performance of the Go 6600.
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post #8 of 16
7/17/05 at 1:40am
Thread Starter 
Dell Inspiron 6000d has 512mb DDR2 VS M40's 512mb DDR. Does DDR and DDR2 have a noticeable difference?
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post #9 of 16
7/17/05 at 1:49am
Quote:
Originally Posted by The New Avenger
Dell Inspiron 6000d has 512mb DDR2 VS M40's 512mb DDR. Does DDR and DDR2 have a noticeable difference?
no it doesn't
i would highly recommend something like the asus z71v, z70v, sager 3880 for your needs.. more powerful, higher resolution screen, better builds, and significantly better battery life
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post #10 of 16
7/17/05 at 1:49am
Quote:
Originally Posted by The New Avenger
Dell Inspiron 6000d has 512mb DDR2 VS M40's 512mb DDR. Does DDR and DDR2 have a noticeable difference?
It will depend on the type of task that you are running.

the DDR-II will have higher bandwidth, which in single channel might benefit access speed, on tasks that are oriented towards continuous read or write of large contiguous blocks of memory, such as during encoding.

However, the bandwidth of a single channel mem controller will take up the entire bandwidth of the FSB at 533 from the north bridge to the CPU; and dual channel memory is not really that useful, unless another device (other than the CPU is regularly accessing the memory, such as onboard graphics with shared memory architecture). So in best case scenario, DDR-II would offer some increases in memory access due to bandwidth, in worst case, absolutely none.


The DDR will have lower latency overall, which, especially in 1T timing, would allow fast access of small amounts of memory at different locations of the total memory field. This would be the types of tasks such as running a physics engiene of a game, or a binary search in a statistical program or such.

So everything will depend on what you do the most with your computer. But you also need to consider the higher cost of DDR-II at this point in time.
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post #11 of 16
7/17/05 at 1:56am
Actually the sonoma platform does show slight performance increase going from DDR333 to DDRII 533. However the difference is quite small. The higher latencies of DDRII start being negated by the sheer higher speeds at about 533MHz. Tests are showing that DDRII 533 stuff can equal low latency DDR400 so I'd think DDR533 would definitely beat out the 2.5-3-3-x or higher timings of DDR333.
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post #12 of 16
7/17/05 at 2:32am
Thread Starter 
.......but is it noticeable when running a game like Half Life 2 or Photoshop...

Also is it possible to get a stronger battery for the M40?
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post #13 of 16
7/17/05 at 2:40am
Quote:
Originally Posted by The New Avenger
.......but is it noticeable when running a game like Half Life 2 or Photoshop...

Also is it possible to get a stronger battery for the M40?
Photoshop, maybe,

But I highly doubt while running HL2 that there will be enough difference for any user to notice it short of doing a benchmark.
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post #14 of 16
7/17/05 at 2:46am
You can get a 12 cell battery from Toshiba.ca. Just go to products then Accessories on the side. Look up the M40 and it shows the high capacity battery. It sticks out the back mind you. (says it's for the Qismos, but since it's listed under M40, it should work)
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post #15 of 16
7/17/05 at 3:25am
Thread Starter 
I was looking at the Asus Z71V, and it looks damn fine.

Here's what this site offers for an Asus Z71V:

http://www.lucomputers.com/astore/de...sp?systemid=48

and here's what I added:

http://www.lucomputers.com/astore/de...em&cartsysid=0

I didnt add any anti virus / OS / Software since I can install my own (but I wonder how with no OS since i never did that before).

What do you guys think? I gotta check out the credibility of that store tho. I'm just scared of little shops since they may go under. Is it wise getting a Notebook from a little shop?

Other than that... It's pretty much me tearing out my hair trying to decide whether the Toshiba M40 is worth it with low battery life (12 cell is too expensive) or Inspiron 6000d with the price and ATI's weaker video.
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post #16 of 16
7/17/05 at 5:22am
well alot of places have plug ins... check out the library at your university to see if they have plenty of plugs available and if they do then battery life should not really be an issue for you. dont make the mistake of thingking that you will take all of your notes on your laptop or bring it to class with you all the time. in a first year science program there is much that cannot be quickly copied down to a laptop (equations and formula's and what not) and you will find that a pen and paper is much more efficient for that. taking that into concideration prettymuch removes the concern over battery life in the m40, since more often than not you will be able to plug it in.

honestly just check the university out, if it is like mine there are plugs in many of the classes and all over in the libraries (especially those used mainly by science students). if you see plugs aplenty then have no fear of the m40 it will be a very good machine for you and will do everything you want it to.
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