Choices, choices

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by nugget, Jan 24, 2005.

  1. nugget
    Honorary Member

    nugget Junior toady

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    I'm looking for some help deciding on which laptop to get out of these two. I've highlighted the main draw points for my choice as I would like also to run vmware on it. I will also not need to use it as a 'mobile' laptop apart from transporting it to and from work. I also do not know how loud they are as they are new and not yet in stock but as one of them has a desktop cpu I would say the fan would run constantly like my present laptop.

    Processor Intel Pentium4 mobile 538 - 3.20 GHz
    Chipsatz SIS 648FX + SIS 963
    System bus 400MHz
    Ram 1 GB DDR-Ram, PC2700
    Harddisc 80 GB, 5400rpm, 8MB Cache
    Display 15" SXGA+, up to 1400 * 1050
    Sound Sound Blaster Pro compatible, support AC97 V2.2, 2x 2W Speaker
    Optical Device DVD-Rewriter Dual +/- R/RW
    Graphics Chipset ATI 9700 (M11), 128MB SGDDR RAM, 128bit
    Networking &Communication 10/100/1000Mbps Fast Ethernet
    56K ITU V.92 data/fax modem
    U.S.Robotics® Wireless Turbo PC Card 100Mbps, 802.11g
    Dimension + Weight 329 (W) × 275 (D) × 36 (H) mm, 2.8Kg (without Battery)

    Others
    1 × CardReader 7 in1
    1 × Firewire , IEEE1394
    1 × serial 9pin
    1 × Infrared
    1 × CardBus type II slot
    1 × RJ-11 jack for modem
    1 × RJ-45 jack for Ethernet
    2 × USB 2.0 ports
    1 × external VGA port
    1 × Audio-out jack
    1 × Microphone-in jack
    1 × S-video-TVout (NTSC/PAL) port
    1 × DC-in jack for AC adapter

    ________________________________________________________________________________

    Processor Intel Pentium4 M550J - 3.4GHz, 1MB Cache, LGA775
    Chipsatz Intel 915P
    System bus 800MHz
    Ram 1 GB Dual DDRII - Ram, 533MHz
    Harddisc 80 GB, 5400rpm, 8MB Cache
    One changeable 2nd RAID HDD
    Display 17"WSXGA+, up to 1680 * 1050
    Sound Embedded Audio DJ, SRS &WOW Audio, Intel Azalia Codec
    Virtual 8-channel sound output
    4 Speaker & Built-in Sub woofer
    4-color LED audio DJ with remote control
    Optical Device DVD-Rewriter Dual +/- R/RW
    One changeable secondary ODD
    Graphics Chipset nVidia Geforece Go 6800 with 256MB VRAM onboard ( upgradable )
    PCI-EXPRESS x16 data bus
    DVI & HDTV support
    Networking & Communication 10/100/1000Mbps Fast Ethernet
    Wireless LAN, 802.11g, 54MB
    56K ITU V.92 data/fax modem
    FIR Infrared IrDA 1.1
    Bluetooth support
    Camera 300K-pixel VIDEO CAMERA
    Dimension + Weight 397 (W) × 298 (D) × 49.5 (H) mm, 5.2Kg (with Battery)
    Power AC 100-240V, 20V, 9.0A, 180W
    Battery 6600mAh, 14.8V, 1.0hr (12-cell)

    Others
    1 × CardReader 7 in1
    4 × USB 2.0 ports
    2 × Firewire , IEEE1394
    1 × serial 9pin
    1 × parallel port
    1 × CardBus type II slot
    1 × RJ-11 jack for modem
    1 × RJ-45 jack for Ethernet
    1 × analog VGA port
    1 × DVI VGA port
    1 × PS2 port for external k/b& mouse
    1 × Audio-out jack
    1 × Microphone-in jack
    1 × S/P DIF output
    1 × Speaker-out jack
    1 × Line-in jack
    1 × TVout port
    1 × DC-in jack for AC adapter
     
    Certifications: A+ | Network+ | Security+ | MCP (270,271,272,290,620) | MCDST | MCTS:Vista
    WIP: MCSA, 70-622,680,685
  2. Phoenix
    Honorary Member

    Phoenix 53656e696f7220 4d6f64

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    Hmm, do you have to buy it this instant? there has been a recently new development in the laptop market with the introduction of the Aviso chipset

    why have you not considered a pentium M system? they run comparable with desktop processors over 1Ghz faster than them

    id get a pentium M 2.0 or the new 2.13 w/aviso chipset

    a decent hard drive, memory us upgradable, which is usually cheaper than having it 'come' with the laptop
    graphics, well u dont play games, but a 9700 is good, VM would run fine on far less, try and get a 5400rpm or 7200rpm disk, as a 4200 would hurt your VM performance :)

    check out www.anandtech.com for new reports into Aviso and the Pentium M

    as a side note, will you be carrying those things much? as they are likley to weigh ' a ton ' quite literally, i notice some of them ahve dual hard drives and optical drives, i know you said you need usage during transport, but if this isnt something that just going to sit at a desk, its going to weigh a lot, and burn through its battery in no time

    never mnd just saw the weight
    over 5kg for one, eek! hehe
    good for burning off Australia day beer belly though!
     
    Certifications: MCSE, MCITP, VCP
    WIP: > 0
  3. nugget
    Honorary Member

    nugget Junior toady

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    Thanks for the tips Phoenix. In answer to your questions,

    I'd like to buy it soon as my current laptop is getting on a bit (3 years) and the hdd is starting to make a bit of noise, the fan sounds like a jet engine (on the whole time) and is rather slow.[​IMG]

    As for Pentium M's, the 'newest' available here in Switzerland is 1.7 with the occasional 1.8 and 2.0 showing up, albeit with a very inflated price tag, and until the Alviso chipsset comes out here and is affordable......[​IMG]

    Memory over here is expensive regardless of where or what it is.[​IMG]

    I have a couple of RTS games I like to mess around with but not interested in Half life and Doom 3.[​IMG]

    Sorry if I wasn't clear about the transport issue. I take/carry it with me everywhere but I don't use it underway unless it's a longer trip 20-30 mins plus.[​IMG]


    Plus, I would like to ramp up my studies and if I had another (portable) machine capable of running vmware it would be nice.
     
    Certifications: A+ | Network+ | Security+ | MCP (270,271,272,290,620) | MCDST | MCTS:Vista
    WIP: MCSA, 70-622,680,685

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