Decent Laptop

2

Comments

  • EnisadaEnisada Edmonton Member
    edited June 2003
    I've been having some good results with Asus's line oif notebooks also some good results with Toshiba. I think you should go with a labtop with a Radeon 9600 Mobility. Cause you never know when you are going to want to play a few games on the side. And with the fastest mobility chip on the market then you can't go wrong.
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited June 2003
    Loki, yea, I've been very happy with the Sager I have, and we bought my mom a PowerPro from Powernotebooks too, and she's happy with it. The PowerPros are OEM ASUS units by the way, so they're very good as well. I had a hard time believing what they claimed when I was in the market for a notebook last time as well ($1000 less for this thing than a Dell, and it's faster? c'mon guys, gimme a break...) but I looked them up on resellerratings, I read about the sager units in laptop magazines, and I decided to buy one. It's one of the best, if not the best, notebooks I've ever used. My only complaints about it would be it's weight (~10lbs), it's battery life (1.5-2hrs per battery @ most) and that it runs a bit hot, although all 3 of those are to be expected since it uses a desktop cpu. Overall tho, I'm very happy with it. I recently got it to run the ATi Catalyst 3.4 drivers as well, and that put some fire back into it- it now does ~5300 in 3dmark 2001se, which isn't bad for a radeon 7500m... :D
  • Loki047Loki047
    edited June 2003
    Has there been any problems with their warranty and tech support stuff, I mean i can usually figure out most software issues and hardware conflicts and such. But when something fails are they on the ball?
  • EnverexEnverex Worcester, UK Icrontian
    edited June 2003
    I had fast responses with their tech team and they were human responses, not corportate garbage or automated.

    NS
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited June 2003
    none whatsoever. I had to rma the primary battery because it was acting up... I called them up, got a real live human being (that understood english, no less!) I got an RMA number within 5 minutes on the phone, sent the battery off, and got a replacement a few days later with a note saying that they tested the old one, found nothing wrong, but replaced it anyhow.

    Powernotebooks also has easily the best tech support of any company I've ever dealt with, in person or online. I have no qualms recommending Sager or Powernotebooks to anyone and everyone...
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited June 2003
    oh, one thing I should mention tho, is that the finish on the plastic isn't as durable as I'd like... after using mine for a year, it's starting to wear off in the area on either side where my arms usually are... not a big deal for me, but if you're really anal about aesthetics, it may bug you...

    Here's a pic of what I mean...
  • Loki047Loki047
    edited June 2003
    Hey if your biggest gripe is the longevity of their paint job, then thats a good sign :) Well looks like that toshiba is for my girlfriend :) Is there anyone in the Chicago Land Area that would let me mess with their laptop? We can do it over lunch (my treat) or something
  • Loki047Loki047
    edited June 2003
    Oh Geek, can you take some more pictures? I would really like to see some hi res shots, cause the ones on the website arent that great. Thanks!
  • Massive_gasMassive_gas Baghdad
    edited June 2003
    IBM laptops are good
  • Loki047Loki047
    edited June 2003
    But IBM are too expensive, dont offer enough toys
  • Massive_gasMassive_gas Baghdad
    edited June 2003
    Originally posted by Loki047
    But IBM are too expensive, dont offer enough toys

    ?!?!?!??! expensive?!?!?!? :eek:
  • EnisadaEnisada Edmonton Member
    edited June 2003
    No, Alienware and Voodoo are some expensive labtops...but they sure do look yummy...
  • Loki047Loki047
    edited June 2003
    Compared to other stuff you guys really think that IBM is competition?
  • Loki047Loki047
    edited June 2003
    I mean for the same price they do not have the ATI video with 128, they have hald the ram, and a smaller screen, while power books offers all that
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited June 2003
    More pictures loki? Hope ya got broadband, coz I maxed out my 1.5MP digital camera... :D

    Bottom... it's got a copper heatsink with 2 ~45mm blowers, plus a really small fan for cooling some kind of power circuitry or something... speaking of power, it's got a 20v/6a power brick... :eek:

    The cd-rw/dvd is in the bay across from the heatsink, which is not exactly modular (u have to unscrew 1 screw to remove the drive), with a secondary battery in the bay in front of it, next to the primary battery... the hdd is below the modular bay where the 2nd battery is in this pic...
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited June 2003
    Heatsink side
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited June 2003
    front... note the cracked "audio dj" lcd- I dunno how this happened, coz I've never dropped it, but it's not exactly a big deal... who plays cds when the computer is off anyhow? :rolleyes:
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited June 2003
    drive side
  • Loki047Loki047
    edited June 2003
    oh wow these are nice.. Infact im watching u post them... Watch as u go... Very nice!
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited June 2003
    backside... line in, line out, optical out, firewire, 2 usb, 2 more usb, modem/lan, VGA, parallel, PS2
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited June 2003
    open... note 1600x1200 15" screen :D
  • Massive_gasMassive_gas Baghdad
    edited June 2003
    ^^^ hey, that's my post :)
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited June 2003
    someone asked about the keyboard...
  • EnisadaEnisada Edmonton Member
    edited June 2003
    Thats a sweet looking setup you got there...
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited June 2003
    And finally, I said it got a bit hot... well, here's how I take care of that little issue...
  • Loki047Loki047
    edited June 2003
    Is that really necessary to disappate the heat?
  • Loki047Loki047
    edited June 2003
    THanks for all the pictures!!! Definitly helps the process
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited June 2003
    thanks for the compliments guys... I don't think it's too bad (for a P4 that is... :D ) but the price surprised me... I bought that thing last June (it's a year old this week in fact) and it was about $3400, but that included:
    2.4GHz P4 512k/400MHz
    512MB (2x 256MB) PC2100 DDR SODIMMs
    15" UXGA 1600x1200 LCD
    ATi Radeon 7500m 64MB
    40GB Toshiba 4200rpm hdd
    8/4/8/24/8 CD-RW/DVD

    WinXP Pro
    Office XP Pro

    2 extra batteries
    extra ac adapter
    300w TrippLite DC-AC inverter
    2 cases (1 standard, 1 optional)
    a bunch of free software including staroffice
    a 3 year extended warranty
    2 day shipping


    A similar Dell system would've been slower (2.0GHz P4-M), $500-$1000 more, and wouldn't have had all the extras...

    I'm happy with it... and since I got it to run the Catalyst 3.4s, it's now doing a very respectable 5300 in 3dmark2001se... it runs Black & White @ 1600x1200/32-bit, max. detail without a problem...
  • LINLIN Tri_State Area
    edited June 2003
    originally posted by DoM-aL:

    My cousin had an issue installing SP1 on his toshiba. Everytime he installed he lost sound. He tried reinstalling sound drivers but itt didnt work so he is still on xp home sp 0 :/.

    He did uninstall the original sound drivers prior to SP1 install, I take it?


    Nice deal on the 45mm fans, Geeky1! Laptops get heated rather quickly.


    Toshiba here, BTW, Loki047.


    LIN
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited June 2003
    Loki, no that fan isn't necessary, but it gets lukewarm to the touch without it, and I don't like typing on a lukewarm surface... :D Besides, I run F@H on it, and under full load, without some kind of aux. cooling, the exhaust air is 140*F+, which makes me nervous... altho I should note that it gets that hot when gaming and stuff too, and I've never had stability problems, even without that fan... I'm just paranoid... :D
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