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02/13/2005 10:28:50 PM · #1 |
I need some opinions. I am looking to get a desktop replacement/light gaming notebook pretty soon. I am hoping to get an athlon based system. Some of the computers i have been looking into are models from. www.cyberpowersystems.com and www.ibuypower.com. I have also looked at a few hp's and an acer. My budget is about 1400-1600 dollars. I am a little worried about both cyberpower and ibuypower because there seems to be a lot of disastified customers on www.resellerratings.com
Ia m very excited about the compaw r3000z but the best graphic card available is geforce 440 64 meg. I was hoping to have at least a 128 meg.
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02/13/2005 11:00:14 PM · #2 |
buy a mac, that is my only advice.
the ibook is a very good machine in that price range. |
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02/13/2005 11:05:39 PM · #3 |
Apple 14" iBook for US$1499
And if you are a full-time student Apple will shave off a couple of $100 off the price.
Message edited by author 2005-02-13 23:12:08.
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02/13/2005 11:06:23 PM · #4 |
Buy a Mac. If you are going to spend that much that is your best choice. And don't worry about the GHz discrepancy. It's irrelevant when it comes to speed performance and reliability. A 1.2 GHz Mac will outperform a 2 GHz Pentium or AMD based laptop in graphics related tasks hands down.
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02/13/2005 11:10:40 PM · #5 |
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02/13/2005 11:15:17 PM · #6 |
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02/13/2005 11:16:29 PM · #7 |
| I'll agree...MAC is the way to go these days... |
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02/13/2005 11:32:45 PM · #8 |
I just had to purchase a laptop the other day to replace my desktop. The only problem is I had very little funds availible. So the best buy for me way a Gateway that was on sale for $899, Regular Price was $1050.
Got it from BestBuy and it has
1.4 GHz, 400MHz FSB, 1MB L2 cache
Windows XP SP2
512MB Ram
32MB Video W/ Extreame 3D Video Graphics
15.0 Ultra Bright TFT XGA Display
60 GB HD @ 7200
DVD +/-RW and CD-RW
4-in-1 Media Card Reader
1 FireWire (IEEE 1394 Port)
4 USB Ports 2.0
802.11g Wirless LAN
10/100 Mbps built in Ethernet
I know there are a lot better Laptops out there but for the money I had to spend, I could not find a better deal.
Message edited by author 2005-02-13 23:35:01. |
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02/13/2005 11:49:26 PM · #9 |
whatever you do... do not, do not, do not, buy Compaq.
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02/14/2005 12:14:58 AM · #10 |
^^^^I would like to know why. The same computer is available from hp as they are pretty much one in the same these days. Did you have a bad expierience with Compaq?
I am hesitant to go with apple, for many reasons. There are compatibility issues, overall higher price for some of the same specs and many others.
Message edited by author 2005-02-14 00:20:24. |
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02/14/2005 12:19:48 AM · #11 |
Originally posted by MyDayStrong:
Did you have a bad expierience with Compaq? |
I did.
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02/14/2005 12:45:01 AM · #12 |
Yah, I know, I work for a sister company of these guys...but I have been setting these up for my users lately and these are sweet. MobilePC Mag rates them above the Dells and the Sony's.
Fujitsu S6231
The Crystal Scan (smooth) displays are sweet...you can get one with a full 15" viewable not it doesn't weigh 4 lbs like this model. |
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02/14/2005 12:50:23 AM · #13 |
Originally posted by awpollard:
Yeah, I know, I work for a sister company of these guys...but I have been setting these up for my users lately and these are sweet. MobilePC Mag rates them above the Dells and the Sony's.
Fujitsu S
The Crystal Scan (smooth) displays are sweet...you can get one with a full 15" viewable not it doesn't weigh 4 lbs like this model. |
I have to agree with you on the display. I though something was wrong with mine when I purchased it because it was so much different [better] than my old screen. I have a 15" TFT XGA.
The specs on my computer are listed above in my previous post. Do you think I got a good deal, for the money? |
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02/14/2005 12:57:24 AM · #14 |
Go to the library and read all the issues of Maximum PC for reviews of any laptop you'll buy. If you are looking for a desktop replacement/gaming laptop, that's their specialty (meaning that's one of the angles they look at in their reviews). It's also the best magazine for critical hardware reviews.
I have a subscription but I don't keep the back issues. Some of their ratings are available online www.maximumpc.com.
Edit: Fixed typo. One of these day's I'll type the right "their" and "there" in the correct usage. I do know which to use, but I never seem to do it.
Message edited by author 2005-02-14 01:03:43. |
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02/14/2005 01:01:12 AM · #15 |
Originally posted by SDW65:
Originally posted by awpollard:
Yeah, I know, I work for a sister company of these guys...but I have been setting these up for my users lately and these are sweet. MobilePC Mag rates them above the Dells and the Sony's.
Fujitsu S
The Crystal Scan (smooth) displays are sweet...you can get one with a full 15" viewable not it doesn't weigh 4 lbs like this model. |
I have to agree with you on the display. I though something was wrong with mine when I purchased it because it was so much different [better] than my old screen. I have a 15" TFT XGA.
The specs on my computer are listed above in my previous post. Do you think I got a good deal, for the money? |
You got a great deal on that one...I ran a gateway into the ground (Actually it's still kicking, I gave it to my son...it's probably about 8 years old now).
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02/14/2005 01:06:28 AM · #16 |
Other info: I think Fujitsu's are great, but they are a bit more expensive.
My latest notebook is a Gatway Convertible Tablet PC -- I forget the model. It's really excellent, it works like a notebook but the screen swivels and folds flat, so you can also sit on the couch and use the pen to surf the web and even vote the DPC challenges. |
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02/14/2005 01:06:49 AM · #17 |
Or check reviews here
Mobile PC Magazine Reviews
I too subscribe to MaximumPC (they do some wicked desktops there). |
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02/14/2005 01:28:34 AM · #18 |
If you don't have a ton of money and past records set into PC-land the advice to look toward Mac for your photo work, is a good one. I decided to keep all my old software and to stick with the PC. While I like the Athelon also it is pretty much limited to HP as far as I can see, and their display is beautifull but awfully glare prone, and their support is pretty sketchy. As to the gaming, I have never seen a laptop that could run games at a decent level.
I was in the same boat a few months ago and ended up with the toshiba satilite p-35 which has a very nice 17 inch display and weighs about the same as a Yugo. I bought it at Costco so I would get the no questions return policy. It will not go back, the thing is great. |
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02/14/2005 01:49:43 AM · #19 |
Hi Aagin - don't overlook the Apple for Photo work.
The new PowerBook 15" has a ATI Mobility Radeon
9700 (64 MB DDR) graphics card - but can be upgraded to the ATI Mobility Radeon
9700 (128 MB DDR) card. The new system has built - in graphics at core. The photo filing system in the iLife suite can take RAW files, enable dtae alongside filing - so becomes an organiser of your 10s of thousands of images - Photoshop of course is stunning. Not sure about your US pricing/ suppliers - but look at (//store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/71401/wo/Un3ZHqMVS1X92Rz4wY88htUgzED/0.0.11.1.0.6.21.1.1.1.1.0.0.1.0) for overview.
Graham
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02/14/2005 02:03:02 AM · #20 |
... furthe to your reluctance comments.. what are compatibility issues you have? Whichs apps do you currently run that you see a problem with?
The underlying OS for Apple is now Unix - so very clean compatibility and stability!! - I have not had a crash on my PowerBook for over 12 months!!. MS Office has 100% file compatibility (assuming current versions are being transferred - if not compatibility is the same as various versions within PC environment). Over 60% of the pre-press and advertising world use Macs for very good reasons.
Re same specs vs pricing - don't be fooled... check the specs carfefully - including the apps that ship with it as well as the hardware features (eg built in wireless networking - great for wireless networks around home, Bluetooth, quality of displays, Firewire2/ USB2 ports built-in ...) |
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02/14/2005 07:40:55 AM · #21 |
Take a MAC replacemant Gateway 7422GX
Product Details
Warranty Terms - Parts 1 year limited
Warranty Terms - Labour 1 year limited
Product Height 1.6"
Product Width 14"
Product Weight 7.5 lbs.
Product Length 10.4"
Processor Brand Mobile AMD Athlon 64
Processor Speed 2.2GHz
Display Type WXGA TFT widescreen with Ultrabright technology (1280 x 800)
Screen Size 15.4"
System Bus 1600MHz
Cache Memory 1MB on die Level 2
System Memory (RAM) 1.0GB
System Memory (RAM) Expandable To 1.5GB
Type of Memory (RAM) PC2700 DDR SoDIMM
Hard Drive Type EIDE
Hard Drive Size 80.0GB
Optical Drive Double-layer DVD±RW/CD-RW drive
Optical Drive Speeds 8x4x8 DVD+RW; 8x4x8 DVD-RW; 24x10x24 CD-RW
Diskette Drive No
Graphics ATI Mobility RADEON 9550
Video Memory 64MB
MPEG Yes
Modem 56 Kbps* ITU V.92 *Capable of receiving 56 Kbps downloads. However, current regulations limit download speed to 53 Kbps.
Networking Built-in wireless LAN with 125HSM technology (802.11b/g); 10/100Base-T Ethernet LAN (RJ-45 connector)
Audio PC2001-compliant AC '97
Speakers Built-in stereo
PCMCIA Slots 1 Type I/Type II
USB Ports 4 USB 2.0
IEEE 1394 FireWire Ports 1
Parallel Ports None
Serial Ports None
Game Ports None
Battery Type Lithium-ion
Pointing Device Touchpad with vertical scroll zone
Operating System Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition SP2
Included Software Microsoft Works 8.0, Money 2004, Picture It! 9.0, Media Player; Adobe Acrobat Reader 6.0; Nero 6 Suite; CyberLink PowerDVD; Gateway BigFix and more
Message edited by Manic - removed 100+ linebreaks. |
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02/14/2005 08:25:42 AM · #22 |
Since you are into gaming, it would be very safe to assume that a Mac Laptop will simply not work for you. Unless you don't care to play many new release games, many popular on Windows PCs or even be able to play with/against players on Windows PCs. (I understand some, not all, Multi-player versions of PC games on Mac PCs are unable to 'talk' with the PC version.)
With that out of the way...
The only laptop that I would consider is Dell. Of course, you won't be able to get an AMD or AMD-64 Processor in that laptop, but when it comes to laptops, Dell is pretty hard to beat.
When I say hard to beat, I am talking about after sales support and service. Dell offers a 3 year on-site service repair program that is very affordable, if you are looking at a higher end laptop. Let me tell you how awesome this is.
With many laptops, if you have a problem, you take it into a service center and 3 to 4 weeks later, after they ship it out and get it back, the unit is repaired and returned to you. With Dell, you call them up, tell them the problem and they schedule a day to come out and fix it, usually within a handful of days (the longest I have seen was 4 days, which included Saturday and Sunday). The tech shows up, repairs the laptop and you are back in business right away.
Other then that, Dell does have some pretty sweet specs on their laptops.
Good luck with whatever you end up with. |
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02/14/2005 08:37:22 AM · #23 |
Originally posted by MyDayStrong:
^^^^I would like to know why. The same computer is available from hp as they are pretty much one in the same these days. Did you have a bad expierience with Compaq?
I am hesitant to go with apple, for many reasons. There are compatibility issues, overall higher price for some of the same specs and many others. |
Compuke is the botton of the barrel IMO. We have them at work. When we first got them, all of the laptops would spontaneously reboot every 20-30 minutes, causing a LOT of lost work, not to mention a near riot among the users.
Over a period of 18 months, my own laptop has had to have 2 new Hard Drives, a new motherboard, a new display and a new CD drive.
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02/14/2005 08:40:43 AM · #24 |
I just got a Dell laptop. It's the Inspiron 9200. It has a 2.0 Ghz Intel Centrino processor, which is said to be comparable to a 4.0 pentium 4. It has 1 gig of ram, 60 gig 7200rpm hard drive, Ati Radeon graphics card, cd/dvd dual layer burner, built-in wireless and ethernet network cards, Fire Wire and 4 usb 2.0 ports, and a 17 inch widescreen ultrasharp monitor.
As far as performance, it's just as fast as my dell 3.0 ghz pentium 4. Plays all the latest games including doom 3 which is a good game for benchmarking your system. Battery life is decent for such a powerfull laptop. Probably about 2.5 hours gaming and processor intensive applications and maybe 3+ on surfing.
I'd recommend Dell as this is my second one. So far havent had a problem with the desk top, which is a year old, and the laptop which is about a month.
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02/14/2005 08:51:16 AM · #25 |
DELL hmmmm, every second pc or laptop go back to DELL with mainboard ,
networkcard or processor problem
HP and Comp this is on company with 2 names
Yeeee and buy pc from BESTBUY , CIRCUITCITY , COMPUSA with extendet woranty
Message edited by author 2005-02-14 08:58:34.
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