Pop Lappie Quiz....

Straight_ManStraight_Man Geeky, in my own wayNaples, FL Icrontian
edited December 2004 in Hardware
What comes with a P4 3.2 GHz Prescott CPU, Sis648FX chipset, DVD+R/RW, 16.1 UXGA TFT panel driven by a NVidia GeForce FX Go5600, has a 60 GB Hd, Comes with XP Pro, has amodem and Wireless a/b/g compatibility, and weighs in at 7.5 pounds?? And had me drooling until price shock dried out my mouth????

Tested benchmarks: (AC Power/Battery)

3DMark03: 1819/1776
PCMark04: 4356/4329
CPU Score: 4700/4623
Memory Score: 3586/3562
Graphics Score: 1630/1771
HDD Score: 3430/4142
AquaMark3D: 11066/11066


Clue, it is an Alienware laptop. Benches from Computer Power User, May 2004 issue. They give it a 3.5 rating.

Extra credit question-- which two other laptops in the review of desktop replacement capable lappies got the SAME rating, and HWY??? Hints, one id a Dell, one an IBM Thinkpad....

Point, real point-- we have arrived at the extreme Laptop era. but the prices might dry out your mouth.... :D

John D. -- who will add: prices range from about 2,100 (IBM, smaller screen, no where near as good a graphics benchmark set, MUCH better battery rating, though) to almost 3,500 (Alienware ???) for the laptops they are reviewing in that mag issue. MIDprice is the Dell.

Comments

  • TheBaronTheBaron Austin, TX
    edited April 2004
    i'll be buying one of those ibms, except at a much discounted price. yay employee purchase!
  • Straight_ManStraight_Man Geeky, in my own way Naples, FL Icrontian
    edited April 2004
    TheBaron wrote:
    i'll be buying one of those ibms, except at a much discounted price. yay employee purchase!

    COOL, the X40 is a decent box. There's one answer. The other two are:

    Dell: Inspiron XPS. Havy at 9 pounds, two inchs thick when folded, and has feet to raise it about 3\8-1\2" up off a desk so cooling can work, but still a hot box to have.

    Alienware-- this one also got a first look by PCMag or PCworld, online. Area 51m.

    John D.-- who never could keep a secret of the extreme deal kind from friends and fellow techs and figured Geeky would be all over it with the right answers.
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited April 2004
    Eww, Alienware. Yech. (What can I say? I'm picky.) www.powernotebooks.com

    Check out the 8790. Now THAT is a notebook.
  • qparadoxqparadox Vancouver, BC
    edited April 2004
    At 10lbs I think that counts more as a textbook not a notebook :P.
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited April 2004
    mine weighs 9.6lbs with one battery anyhow, so it makes no difference to me... :D
  • WorriedWorried STOCKPORT UK
    edited April 2004
    have a look at this one .
    http://www.rockdirect.com/reviews/rev119.htm
    got one of these 6 weeks a go .love it,wont go back to desk top now
    pete
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited April 2004
    Yeah, the Rock Extreme is a nice notebook. It's the same thing as the Sager NP5680, which is an updated version of my 5620 (Rock & Sager are two of a large number of companies that use Clevo laptops).

    Anyhow, I've got a couple of pieces of advice on taking care of that thing properly...

    1- Clean the heatsink obsessively. Rock SHOULDN'T void your warranty for it (Sager doesn't) but you'd have to double check with them. By obsessively, I mean once a month. If there is a lot of dust buildup after a month, try doing it every 2 weeks.

    You have a notebook with a desktop CPU in it. A desktop CPU that was never, ever designed for notebook use. It puts out far, far more heat than mobile CPUs do (e.g. a 3GHz P4 puts out >100w of heat, vs. ~40w for a 2.5GHz P4-M). Laptops in general (newer ones, anyhow) are not nearly as tolerant of dust buildup as desktops, because they already have far less airflow. Now throw a CPU that puts out >2x the heat into one, and add some dust to the mix. What happens? It gets uncomfortably warm, it's potentially bad for the CPU, it can cause instability, slowdowns and "random" shutdowns.

    My point is that you need to keep it clean. All you have to do is unscrew the CPU access cover (which on your 5680 should mean just taking off the 3 screws on the bottom of the computer next to the exhaust vents) and pop or slide it off (I don't know how the one on the 5680 is attached for sure). Then just use canned air and/or a paintbrush to blow out all the dust from the heatsink and get it out of the laptop. Just be sure not to spin the fans with the canned air. Use a toothpick stuck in between two of the fan blades or something to keep them from being able to spin freely. If you don't do that, and you hit them with a good blast of the canned air, they'll spin up to some insane speed way beyond their rated maximum, fry their bearings, and never work again. This would be a Bad Thing.

    2- Ask Rock if removing the heatsink will void your warranty. If they say yes, ask them if it'll void your warranty even if you replace the thermal compound. If they'll let you do it, remove the heatsink, take off the stupid intel thermal pad crap and replace it with something decent, like Arctic Silver 5 or Arctic Silver Ceramique.

    3- See #1

    4- Ask Rock if lapping the CPU and heatsink will void the warranty. If it won't, and you want to do it, PM me and I'll tell you how to do it properly.

    5- See #1

    6- Download and run MobileMeter, which is one of the only hardware monitoring programs that works on these things (it's also the best one). It doesn't need to be installed to run, so just put it in a folder somewhere and put a link to it in your startup folder. Also, if it installs a program called SpeedStep XP, remove it. It won't work on your computer, and it can cause really strange things to happen (at least it does on mine...).

    7- See #1

    8- Don't touch laptop screens (or flat panel screens in general), period. They are extremely soft compared to CRT screens, and touching them can damage them. The only exception is when cleaning them. Use a clean, dry, lint-free towel Endust For Electronics, or use a very, very, VERY slightly damp towel (if it's dripping, it's too wet).

    9- See #1

    If the underside of your laptop isn't like the one in this pic, let me know- getting into the CPU compartment is a little different on other revisions of the 5600 chassis.
    7.jpg 109K
  • WorriedWorried STOCKPORT UK
    edited April 2004
    Geeky 1
    Thanks for that advice appreciate it,i will get in touch with Rock re warranty , got to be careful as its for 3 years,
    will let you know ,
    thanks pete.
  • puthupaputhupa
    edited December 2004
    hey Geeky1,

    have you got any tips for the Pro-Star 8854? i can't get the heatsink out to clean, or remove the cover to get the buildup from around the fans.

    also, not having seen your thread when i cleaned this a few months back, i blew the fans, though they seem to have kept working.

    any tips would be greatly appreciated.


    puthupa
  • gibbonslgibbonsl Grand Forks AFB
    edited December 2004
    this is the notebook i want :respect:http://pctorque.com/9860.php
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