Which laptop to buy?????

AZB

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Jan 2, 2002
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Hello computer experts, I need some help. I am in the mood of buying a new top of the line laptop, but I am not sure which is better for my needs.
Lets talk about processors first. I am a fan of AMD chips and lately I have been hearing alot about amd 64 bit chips. I have seen models with amd 64 bit 3700+ chip installed. My question is this: how better is 64 bit chip vs. the amd 3700+ xp 32 bit? I mean we don't have 64 bit windows yet and no programs available for some time, so what is the advantage of having 64 bit processor when everything runs on 32 bits? Is it really that much better than amd xp of similar clock speed?
I will be making DVD recordings on my laptop, listen to mp3 music and do some digital photo artwork and ofcourse, internet.
So do I buy a 64 bit processor or simply buy a AMD xp processor?

Expert advice from PC professionals only please, no women input is required. hahahahah. I had to do this, sorry, couldn't help.
AZB
 

Rocky

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Laptops

I'll ask our resident expert, Brad, to answer your tech questions when he gets back form his day trip.
In the meantime, don't forget to research one very important detail that everybody seems to forget when looking for speed.
The hard drive speed plays a huge role in the general speed of your PC or laptop.
They seldomly give you the info on hard drives when selling or advertizing the unit, but you can Google the hard drive model and find out it's speed.
The RPM's make a world of a difference.
I have 4 PC's here with the same processors, and the fastest one is the one with an IBM 7,200 RPM hard drive, with only 256 of RAM.
My own PC has double the RAm, but a 5,200 RPM hard drive, and it's a fair bit slower. Another has 384 ram, with a 4,200 RPM hard drive, and it's a pig. The last one has a no name 10,000 RPM hard drive with only 256 RAM, and it the 2nd fastest of the bunch.
Then, when you buy your brand new laptop, make sure it doesn't have any AOL BS in it, that will slow it down considerably, as will Norton anti virus.
Strip those out, pronto, add in a "start up" program which prevents programs from starting up and running in the background for no good reason, and you'll have yourself a Formula 1 laptop.
 

AZB

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Jan 2, 2002
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Thanks rocky, I knew I could count on you. You have made some very valid points. Laptops seldomly come with 7200 RPMs but they do exist. I will look into all tha stuff. Tell me, my norton antivirus is slowing down my desktop?
AZB
 

Chris

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Oct 21, 2002
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AZB said:
Expert advice from PC professionals only please, no women input is required. hahahahah. I had to do this, sorry, couldn't help.
AZB

OK, fine.. I won't tell you anything. Somehow I acquired this new laptop. Very fast and a real pleasure to work on. But this all happened quite by a women's mistake and I won't give you my specs... not even if you offered me real Indian Food ;)

Uhm, about Norton, well.. I won't tell you anything either.
 

carlos

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May 29, 2002
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also...

keep in mind that you computer is only as fast as your fastest working component. So it makes little sense to have a good processor when something like your hard drive (as Rocky mentioned) is shitty.
 

BushBaby

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Buy the one that is sitting on MrMike's desk right now!! It might not be the fastest you will be able to buy but (if you get to it before he wipes everything off) you will have a whole load of cool programs PLUS a lot of info on the guy to use against him later!!!

Seriously, pass by & get his advice for 15/20 minutes - Price will be good anyway!! ~ Grahame.
 

Wag

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Feb 4, 2005
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If you are talking top of the line you should consider:

Sager laptops
Alienware laptops

That should run you probably 2000 to 3500 US but those laptops are desktops replacements. You are talking about:

128 + MB video cards
1GB + RAM SDDR PC400
Best chipsets and they do not use the low power processors (I am talking voltage, for high battery use) but desktops processor so cooling is important.


For more info:

http://notebookforums.com/
 

Chirimoya

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Dec 9, 2002
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Chris said:
OK, fine.. I won't tell you anything. Somehow I acquired this new laptop. Very fast and a real pleasure to work on. But this all happened quite by a women's mistake and I won't give you my specs... not even if you offered me real Indian Food ;)

Uhm, about Norton, well.. I won't tell you anything either.

Aw Chris, you could at least have told him what colour it is.
 

Rocky

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Norton's a big fat slow pig on a PC.
There are free anti virus programs that protect as well, if not better and don't slow your PC down.
If you need anything along those lines, I have just about all the installers for anti virus, spyware, start up programs. etc. and I can just email them or file transfer them over to you.
Just let me know.
 

Ricardo900

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Jul 12, 2004
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Maybe a Dell

If you're not going to do any hard-core gaming i.e. Half-Life 2, Doom-3, Ghost Recon, etc.. You will be better off having:
512-MB or 1-GB RAM (DDR of course)
128-MB Video RAM (ATI or G-Force)
120 GB Hard Drive (w/ 8MB buffer)
Pentium rules "Border-Town"
 

AZB

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Jan 2, 2002
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Chris said:
OK, fine.. I won't tell you anything. Somehow I acquired this new laptop. Very fast and a real pleasure to work on. But this all happened quite by a women's mistake and I won't give you my specs... not even if you offered me real Indian Food ;)

Uhm, about Norton, well.. I won't tell you anything either.
Please do tell, pretty please.
hey I don't even consider you a woman, after all, your name is chris.
Hehehehehe
AZB
 

Chris

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Oct 21, 2002
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Sorry for posting twice in a row, but something just floated across my desk.. dual core chips shipping next week.. AZB, are you sure you want to buy that notebook right now?

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=technologyNews&storyID=8146525

And.. uhm, 64 bit chips - sounds really exciting for notebooks eh! (For the real technically savvy, its cool but nothing runs on it!) But, for a man of your stature, I'm sure you can program your operating system and applications to utilize 64 bit technology. Should be no problem. However, it may be a better idea to just wait until Microsoft or some other simple software company like Linux comes up with something that actually runs 64 bits on small machines. Rule number one when buying hardware, specify your software first and buy the hardware to suit your apps. You want it work don't you!

Oops, sorry, back to doing my nails.
 

Escott

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Jan 14, 2002
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Dawn just got a Dell with a P4, 60gig hd, 512 ram and a DVD Burner that I happen to be on until she returns my toshiba which I happen to have grown accustomed to but cant use because she HASNT RETURNED IT YET!!!

NO, I will not mule it back for you either!
 

miguel

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Jul 2, 2003
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This one is pretty good!

AZB said:
Hello computer experts, I need some help. I am in the mood of buying a new top of the line laptop, but I am not sure which is better for my needs.
Lets talk about processors first. I am a fan of AMD chips and lately I have been hearing alot about amd 64 bit chips. I have seen models with amd 64 bit 3700+ chip installed. My question is this: how better is 64 bit chip vs. the amd 3700+ xp 32 bit? I mean we don't have 64 bit windows yet and no programs available for some time, so what is the advantage of having 64 bit processor when everything runs on 32 bits? Is it really that much better than amd xp of similar clock speed?
I will be making DVD recordings on my laptop, listen to mp3 music and do some digital photo artwork and ofcourse, internet.
So do I buy a 64 bit processor or simply buy a AMD xp processor?

Expert advice from PC professionals only please, no women input is required. hahahahah. I had to do this, sorry, couldn't help.
AZB
The Toshiba s611 is pretty good.

'17 "TrueBrite" widescreen
Mobile Intel Pentium 4 Processor 548 with HT Technology
Reads and Writes DVD's and CD's
3.33 ghz speed
512MB DDR SDRAM memory
100 gigabyte hard drive
5-in-1 bridge media adapter.

Regular price is about US $ 1,800 plus tax
 
Sony

Sony VAIO T250P/S Notebook

? Processor Name: Intel? Pentium? M Processor Ultra Low Voltage 753 (1.20GHz19, 2MB L2 Cache)
? Operating System: Microsoft? Windows? XP Professional with Service Pack 2
? Front Side Bus Speed: 400MHz
? Color: Silver
? Chipset: Intel? 855GME
? Integrated Wireless LAN: Intel? PRO/ Wireless 2200BG Network Connection (802.11b/g)1
? Bluetooth: Integrated Bluetooth? Technology14
? LCD: 10.6? WXGA display90 (1280x768) with XBRITE? technology
? Hard Drive: 60GB (4200rpm)33 Ultra ATA
? Memory: 512MB PC-2700 333MHz DDR (512 MB x 1) (Expandable to 1GB)
? Graphics: Intel? 855GME Chipset Integrated Graphics
64MB Video RAM (shared w/ Main Memory)
? Graphics Interface: VGA out w/ Smart Display Sensor
? Optical Drive: DVD?RW/CD-RW Optical Drive25
DVD+RW
DVD+R Write (2.4x MAX)
DVD+RW Write (2.4x MAX)
DVD-RW
DVD-R Write (2x MAX)
DVD-RW Write (2x MAX)
CD-RW
CD-R Write (24x MAX)
CD-RW Write (10x MAX)
DVD-ROM
DVD Read (8x MAX)
CD Read (24x MAX)
? Modem: Integrated V.90 modem (RJ-11)
? Ethernet: 10BASE-T/100BASE-TX Ethernet with RJ-45 interface
? Audio: Windows? sound system compatible
Dolby? Headphone & Dolby? Virtual Speaker
Built-in stereo speakers
? Audio Interface: Monaural mini-jack microphone
Stereo mini-jack headphone
? Memory Stick? Media Slot: Supports optional Memory Stick?, Memory Stick PRO? media44
? Other Interfaces: RJ-11 modem jack, i.LINK? (IEEE 1394) interface35, 2 USB 2.081, RJ-45 Ethernet, VGA output, headphone (stereo), monaural mini-jack microphone
? PC Card Slots: One PCMCIA - Type II/Type I card slot with CardBus support
? Pointing Device: Electro-Static touch pad
? Keyboard: QWERTY, 82 keys with 1.7mm stroke and 17mm pitch
? Action Buttons: DVD/CD Playback, Volume/Mute buttons, WLAN/BT on/off
? Optional Port Replicator Interfaces (VGP-PRT1): 3 USB 2.0, RJ-45 Ethernet, VGA output, DC in, printer port
? Power Requirements: 68W+10%
? Battery: Lithium-ion battery (VGP-BPS3A)
? Estimated Battery Life: 3.5-9.0 hours with standard battery13
? Weight:3.04 lbs. with standard battery (weight is approximate and may vary)
? Size (W x H x D): 10.7? X 1?-1.34? X 8.1?
? Supplied Accessories:
Lithium-ion battery (VGP-BPS3A)
AC adapter (VGP-AC16V8)
Power Cord

Finding a laptop with a high speed HD is a tough thing to do, they do not seem to make 7200 rpm drives from what I have seen in notebooks. I stand to be corrected on this issue.
This little gems runs around $1660 US
 

MrMike

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Pretty much everything Toshiba makes is great in laptops. I have one of their handhelds too, and I hate it but I use it constantly.

About the antivirus thing, I have all but abandoned Norton, (which I used to swear by) in favor of a free antivirus program which can be found here:

http://free.grisoft.com/

It is far from perfect and comes with some built in annoyances made to make you want to get the paid version (like scanning every file on your PC every day at 8:00 AM with no way to change the schedule)But if doesn't slow down your PC and it catches the damn virii, which is about all anyone really asks of an AV. Between this antivirus and using FireFox instead of IE my daily browsing is much improved.
 

Rocky

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Pavilion zv5360us Notebook has a 7,200 RPM hard drive.

It can be difficult to find out the hard drive speed of a given unit, as they seldomly mention it in advertisements, but Google searches, or part searches can usually turn up the hard drive model number for a given laptop, and from there, you can search out it's speed.
 

Rocky

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Major Geeks

The most comprehensive internet dowload website I have found is
http://www.majorgeeks.com/
AdAware SE, Spybot, Spyware Blaster, Start UP by UNH and AVG anti virus are all worth having.
Make 100% sure you do not have 2 anti virus programs running at the same time.
It could be fatal.
If you do not want to remove your existing anti virus program before trying out the new one, you must deactivate it and be sure it is not running when you install the new one, and be sure that you remove one of the 2 before rebooting, or they might both boot up, and that's where the trouble could begin.