Moblie computing
partcleguy
Tallahassee, Fl
Hmm its been a while since i posted and this site has changed a lot...
Anyway, I was wondering if anyone has any experience with mobile gaming. I'm looking into getting a laptop (my parents are paying otherwise I would build my own desktop, but I can't do both). I haven't looked too much into the mobile gaming market, but I know alienware is decent for gaming and there aren't too many preformance laptops more geared towards gaming.
Does anybody actually own a newish alienware laptop? Are they fast, or can you recommend another brand? Also, I would think since they use regular p4 @ like 2 ghz+ they would have to be super loud for the small fan @ high rpms, right? Thanks.
Anyway, I was wondering if anyone has any experience with mobile gaming. I'm looking into getting a laptop (my parents are paying otherwise I would build my own desktop, but I can't do both). I haven't looked too much into the mobile gaming market, but I know alienware is decent for gaming and there aren't too many preformance laptops more geared towards gaming.
Does anybody actually own a newish alienware laptop? Are they fast, or can you recommend another brand? Also, I would think since they use regular p4 @ like 2 ghz+ they would have to be super loud for the small fan @ high rpms, right? Thanks.
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Comments
Also, I can personally vouch for the Pentium M (Centrino) processors. They are FAST - faster than P4-M's clocked almost twice as fast.
Alienware's new notebook uses the GeForce FX Go 5600. The GFFXGo5600 is a piece of sh!t. It's far, far slower than the ATi Radeon 9600 Mobility (see Anandtech's review of them both). Alienware's tech support/service went into the crapper about 2 years ago from what I've read. Finally, Alienware's notebooks are highly overrated and highly overpriced.
2. What you should get instead.
Go to www.powernotebooks.com and look around. I should let you know that I bought a notebook from them last June (a Sager NP5620) and another one earlier this year (a PowerPro for my Mother). Both have been trouble-free. Sager's NP56X0 series is identical to the Alienware Area51 (except the newest model), since both are made by Clevo. And, Sager's version is a lot cheaper than Alienware's was. Powernotebooks.com is the best company I've ever dealt with (online or off), bar none. The LONGEST I waited for a response to one of my e-mails was less than 24 hours. The shortest lag time was less than 5 minutes- and that was at 11:00 at night
These guys are a small business (I presume), since many of my e-mails were answered directly by the owner. He was always polite, courteous, and answered all my questions as best as he possibly could, even though I sent him something like 25 e-mails before I bought my notebook from them the first time
Just to give you an idea of how much cheaper these guys are than Dell/Alienware/Gateway/etc., I bought a Sager NP5620 "Supra" from them in June of last year.
Specs:
P4 Northwood @ 2.4GHz w/400MHz FSB
Intel 845m Chipset
ATi Radeon 7500 Mobility 64MB DDR w/15" UXGA 1600x1200 LCD
Teac 8/4/24/8 CD-RW/DVD
40GB Toshiba 4200RPM HD
Two extra batteries for the modular bay
An extra AC adapter
An extra case
Office XP Pro
Win XP Pro
3yr Extended warranty
Total: ~$3400
Compare that to a similar Dell system from the same era, with a 1.8GHz Pentium 4-M (fastest you could get at the time) and everything else essentially the same. The Dell would've cost me almost $4500.
The Sagers are cheaper than mainstream notebooks, they're very well built, and they're the only true desktop replacement notebooks I've seen (excluding the other companies that use Clevo for their OEM).
I don't know what your budget is, but take a look at their newest model, the 8890:
Specs:
Intel 865PE chipset
Intel Pentium 4 CPUs up to 3.2GHz+ on 400/533/800MHz FSBs
16" SXGA display
ATi Radeon 9600 Mobility 128MB
Optical drives from CD-ROMs through DVD-R/RW/CD-RW combo drives- supports 2 drives at once
Supports up to 4 (realistically 3) hard drives, 2 of which can be RAIDed in HARDWARE.
Optional IBM/Hitachi 60GB/7200RPM/8MB laptop drives, as well as standard 5400 and 4200rpm models
near-full size keyboard with separate numeric keypad (no fn key and num lock button- it's got a separate numeric keypad as part of the keyboard)
The Sagers are NOT loud. They do run a bit hot (as would be expected from cramming a desktop P4 into a notebook) but I've modified mine to run a lot cooler, and it's not difficult to make it run pretty cool.
Seriously, check them out. www.powernotebooks.com
Both the Sagers and the PowerPros are worth considering, btw, but the Sager is more of a dedicated desktop replacement than the PowerPro is.
Are you buying a laptop for college?
lol that would be awesome!
Yes, I am getting a laptop for college...
The only thing that stinks about those sagers is the battery life. That 8890 has a two hour battery life. U think the centrino based ones have a longer battery life? I mean with two hours, thats barely enough to watch a movie...
However, I haven't had any issues with battery life with my notebook. the 88x0 series doesn't have any way of swapping out batteries easily, but the 56x0 series does, and so you could just get a 5680 with one or two extra batteries, too... Although I just carry one of the AC adapters with me and plug it in as much as possible. I will admit though, that carrying a 10lb laptop, plus another 5lbs of batteries and ac adapters, plus the weight of the laptop case, gets old eventually...
2.15" thick, 14.17" wide. 12 pounds with battery.
http://www.powernotebooks.com/8880_Pics.php3
As you are going to be using this for college then I dont recommend any of the Sager range or the Alienware machines (the Sager 5550D was the Alienware Area-51M) as they are noisy and will whirr up in class without reason (just writing) and they weight so much you will most likely give up on hauling them around after the first week or two). They also have dire battery life even with 2 batteries.
Those machines are mobile desktop replacements, not laptops (i.e. they have the name Deskbooks for a reason).
NS
It does spin up the fans doing word processing and stuff, but given the amount of heat it has to dissipate, that's to be expected. It's not all that noisy though... I use it in class all the time, and I've never had anyone complain. The battery life is another matter. It ranges from "bad" to "yikes!". I get about 1.5-2hrs/battery if the screen brightness is down and I'm not doing 3d stuff. Games bring it down to under an hour per battery.