Should I get a new laptop?
Question: Should I get a new laptop now (for Christmas) or wait until next summer (Graduation/BDay)?
<UL>
Current laptop:
<LI>Sager NP5620 "Ultra"
<LI>2.4GHz P4 (512k/400MHz)
<LI>i845m chipset
<LI>2x 256MB Transcend (Samsung chip) PC2100 SODIMMs
<LI>ATi Radeon 7500m (M7) 64MB DDR
<LI>40GB Toshiba 4200RPM 2.5"/9.5mm HD
<LI>Teac 8/4/24/8 CD-RW/DVD
<LI>15" UXGA
<LI>10/100 Ethernet
</UL>
<UL>
Looking at:
<LI>Sager NP8890
<LI>3.2GHz P4 (512k/800MHz)
<LI>i865PE chipset
<LI>2x 512MB PC3200 DDR SODIMMs
<LI>ATi Radeon 9600 (M10?) 128MB DDR
<LI>2x 60GB 7200RPM/8MB 2.5"/9.5mm in RAID 0 <b>AND</b> 1 80GB 4200RPM or 5400RPM 2.5"/9.5mm, all internal
<LI>16/10/24/8?/2 CD-RW/DVD-RW
<LI>16" UXGA
<LI>Internal 802.11b
<LI>Internal Bluetooth
<LI>Gigabit Ethernet
</UL>
So, what do you think? Upgrade now, or wait?
<UL>
Current laptop:
<LI>Sager NP5620 "Ultra"
<LI>2.4GHz P4 (512k/400MHz)
<LI>i845m chipset
<LI>2x 256MB Transcend (Samsung chip) PC2100 SODIMMs
<LI>ATi Radeon 7500m (M7) 64MB DDR
<LI>40GB Toshiba 4200RPM 2.5"/9.5mm HD
<LI>Teac 8/4/24/8 CD-RW/DVD
<LI>15" UXGA
<LI>10/100 Ethernet
</UL>
<UL>
Looking at:
<LI>Sager NP8890
<LI>3.2GHz P4 (512k/800MHz)
<LI>i865PE chipset
<LI>2x 512MB PC3200 DDR SODIMMs
<LI>ATi Radeon 9600 (M10?) 128MB DDR
<LI>2x 60GB 7200RPM/8MB 2.5"/9.5mm in RAID 0 <b>AND</b> 1 80GB 4200RPM or 5400RPM 2.5"/9.5mm, all internal
<LI>16/10/24/8?/2 CD-RW/DVD-RW
<LI>16" UXGA
<LI>Internal 802.11b
<LI>Internal Bluetooth
<LI>Gigabit Ethernet
</UL>
So, what do you think? Upgrade now, or wait?
0
Comments
Furthermore, could you simply add this feature to your current one?
If you wait, you could get one even better yet.
Go go go!
However, I've got to send mine in since I borked it's:
PCMCIA slot- who knew that thing had to be screwed down?
RJ-45 port- apparently you should disconnect LAN cables before you get up and walk off with the computer...
Optical drive- I don't think it was my fault, but sometimes the access light blinks every few seconds, even when there's nothing in the drive, and it refuses to read any discs. It's done this on both OSes I've used (XP, 2K) and with multiple installs
So... mine has to go in anyhow. No, that doesn't mean I need to buy a new one because I can't wait 2 or 3 weeks or whatever it'll take to get it fixed, but I've been thinking about it...
Geez, it's (the CPU) is faster than my DESKTOP, which is currently the fastest PC in the house.
Look at a Dell 5150 if want a much better laptop, and look at HD options in configurator, but get it a nice cooling shelf riser also if you do this to extremes. Toshibas are a neat brand also, have not looked at details of their latest. HP and Gateway lag behind, and Sony Vaio's are more media featured and HD storage speed is not forte typically. right now, a large buffered 5400 is typical mid-end to low high-end option, standard on higher ends, and some 7200's are coming into laptop use. These are typically desktop replacement positions in laptop marketting ranges.
John-- who wishes PCMCIA slots had overstrain-safety-release card locks. ionce had a csutomer who had a net cable lose its connector before card became unlocked-- he made it, did not clamp it all the way, no wonder he had slow networking anyhow.
Also looked at Gateway. The M675 is similar to the Sager NP4780, but it has the i865 chipset instead of the SiS 648 that's in the Sager. It has no RAID, only supports 1 hard drive (the Sager will take 4 at most, 3 w/1 optical drive, 2 with 2 optical drives), and can't be had with more than 512MB of RAM unless you upgrade it after you get it.
I do not like Toshiba laptops. I've looked at them both times that I've been in the market for a laptop, and I wasn't impressed either time.
Looked at Sony, since my grandfather's laptops are all Sonys, and they're decent, but they have nothing that I consider a desktop replacement.
And I wouldn't touch a HP/Compaq.
Basically there are 3 companies that sell notebooks that I'd consider- Clevo, Alienware, and ECS. Clevo is the OEM for Sager and Voodoo, as well as possibly Alienware, although their new Area51s may be from another company. ECS has a P4 notebook out that has a 128MB R9600m, but it's got the SiS 648 chipset, so it's out. That leaves me Alienware, Voodoo, and Sager.
Alienware and Voodoo are overpriced. Which leaves me one brand- Sager.
WHAT budget? My grandparents are buying this thing, not me.
Mine was about 3600 when I bought it. The most I could spend would probably be 4k.
EDIT
TheSMJ: Yeah, I could get a new HD for it. I've been thinking about that too. The only problem then is talking them into a new laptop 6 months from now: "But you just upgraded yours 6 months ago, didn't you?"
BTW, you said that my laptop is faster than your desktop, which is the fastest thing in your house. Would now be a good time to point out that (excepting my "print server") the laptop is the slowest computer I have?
i'd just get a gigantic lcd monitor or something for the desktop or a couple 19's instead of new laptop. particularly when the new one isn't going to be much better than the old one.
obviously you've got lots of money to burn (or at least through your parents) but just wasting it is dumb. maybe get a tablet pc for taking notes at school. i was considering buying one when i get rid of the laptop i never used. at least then i could take it to class and not have to do with paper but have all the flexibililty of paper notes and more. if you want to go back and add something before something, you can create space unlike with paper.
plus, when your graduation comes around next year, you're going to see the machines are even faster and want a new one then regardless of whether you've got your current laptop or the new one. of course, the fact that a faster one is going to come out is no reason not to get a new one as that will always be the case, but the difference between what you've got and what you would get isn't enough. also, you've got a machine that can be upgraded some to get closer to the specs of this new machine you want. so you could consider just upgrading the hard drive like you said and maybe the processor could go up some too and sell the old one or use it in a desktop.
i looked at the 8890 it is nice (hardware Raid with 2x7200 would be sweet)
would have bought one if i had 3000 to 4000 dollors(i like tricked out ones
only had 2500 to play with so decided to go with the 5680
they are some great nothbooks
if you could wait for a couple months you could get this monster
http://talknotebooks.com/showthread.php?t=9961
My laptop is actually my primary computer. Since I take it to school and take all my notes on it, and I've got my C++ compiler on it, I basically all of my school-related work on it.
My primary desktop is my "print server" which will not be upgraded, except with dual P3-1.4S CPUs, anytime soon. Since it's on all of the time, and it's in my bedroom, I demand that it be essentially silent. This rules out any AMD Athlon or P4 system, since I can't use watercooling. I can't get the P3s from anyone, I'll have to buy them myself, because I wasn't actually technically really supposed to build that computer, and even though it's been in plain sight in the middle of my desk since I built it in September, my parents haven't really noticed it yet.
That is, they haven't made the connection between it and the two gigantic server towers that are under said desk yet.
My other two desktops get used (outside of folding) on basically three occasions:
-When I've farked both the laptop and the print server at the same time, and I don't want to go downstairs and use one of the family computers (of which only 1 has internet access)
-When I have time to play games (ha!)
-When I have friends over.
However, they don't really need upgrading...
Desktop specs:
<UL>System 1
<LI>MSI K7D Master-L AMD 760MPX motherboard
<LI>2x AMD Athlon XP 2500+ @ 150x12.5
<LI>512MB PC2700 Kingston ValueRam
<LI>512MB SimpleTech PC3200 CL2.5
<LI>ATi Radeon 8500/64MB (pending RMA of my "extra" 9700 Pro)
<LI>HighPoint RocketRAID 1540 4ch SATA RAID card
<LI>MSI USB2 PCI card
<LI>Creative Audigy2 Platinum
<LI>LiteOn 52/24/52 CD-RW
<LI>16x Toshiba DVD
<LI>Zip250
<LI>4x 160GB Maxtor DiamondMax9 7200RPM/8MB ATA-133 HDDs w/SATA converters
<LI>Antec TrueControl 550w PS
<LI>AMS CK-1100 (I think that's the right model) Server Cube
<LI>2 Thermalright SLK-800A heatsinks w/Tt SmartFan2s
<LI>3 Sunon "-BX" 50CFM 80mm, 3 TopMotor ~30cfm 80mm, 1 130cfm 120mm, 1 90cfm 120mm
</UL>
<UL>System 2:
<LI>ABIT NF7-S rev. 2.0
<LI>Athlon XP 1800+ JIUHB/DLT3C @ 2.51GHz (218x11.5)
<LI>2x 512MB Generic PC3200/CL2.5 DDR @ 436MHz
<LI>ATi Radeon 9700 Pro
<LI>Plextor 24/10/40 CD-RW
<LI>2x 80GB Maxtor DiamondMax9 7200RPM/8MB ATA-133 HDDs w/SATA converters
<LI>Antec PP403-X 400w PS
<LI>Antec SX1240 "File Server" full tower
<LI>Thermalright SLK-900A w/66CFM YSTech 92mm (Up to 2.45GHz) or 92mm Tornado (above 2.45GHz)
<LI>5x Thermaltake SmartFan2 80mm fans, 1 92mm Sunon "PTB2"
<LI>Ajigo/AMD AL/CU thin-fin heatsink w/60x13mm Delta (AMD labeled) 18cfm fan on the R9700 Pro
<LI>Coolermaster 50mm aluminum S7/370/A HSF w/20cfm 50mm fan on northbridge
</ul>
<UL>System 3:
<LI>MSI Pro266TD Master-LR Dual P3/DDR board, Via Pro266 chipset
<LI>1.3GHz Celeron @ 1.5GHz (116MHz FSB)
<LI>2x 256MB Samsung PC2100 DDR
<LI>ATi Rage 128/32MB AGP
<LI>LiteOn 52/32/52 CD-RW
<LI>1 80GB Maxtor DiamondMax 9 7200RPM/8MB ATA-133 HD
<LI>Antec SL-350 350w PS
<LI>Antec SLK-3700AMB mid-tower w/2 80mm blowholes
<LI>Generic Aluminum heatsink from SVC, lapped, w/80mm Coolermaster themally controlled (remote probe) fan
<LI>2x Enermax 120mm fans, 2 Vantec Stealth 80mm fans, all 4 of which are on a Vantec Nexus fan controller
<LI>Zalman passive northbridge heatsink (that gold one) on Rage 128 GPU
</UL>
So basically, I have nothing that needs upgrading. I'm waiting for PCI Express to upgrade the two Radeon 9700s, and I've got over a terabyte of disk space if you take into account my laptop drive, the external drive I have, and my currently-unused 10,000rpm SCSI drives...
You're right that I'll want something faster when it comes out, regardless of whether I have this laptop or a new one, but that's not really the point... my current laptop is basically fast enough (except for the hard drive) but my grandparents have offered to buy me a new one now if I want one, so I'm trying to decide what I want to do.
McBain... see pseudonym's post. The 9100 is too slow. Besides, it's still a Dell (eww).
Pseudonym... any laptop I get, be it now or later, will be the closest thing to a full tower with an UPS and a LCD duct taped to it that I can get (HEY! that's not a bad idea... Hmm...
what is going to be the video card then? and what's going to be the processor out then? are new chipsets coming out?
when i got my laptop at the beginning of summer before school last year it was the best you could get and laptops didn't make a big jump until about a year later when the pentium-m/centrino came out. of course you're going to get a desktop processor but you do have the chipsets and video cards that came out during that time.
the video cards in laptops have improved so much. my video card did suck, it might have been that radeon 7500, or maybe it was an earlier radeon. it was only 32 meg to make it worse, though.
i only kept that laptop about 8 months till desktops lured me back.
Need a new laptop for school, with the ability to do some serious double duty into the gaming realm too.
Been looking at the Alienware 51m. Lotta dough, (spec'ed mine out @ $3149) Like the features it has though.
Sanger huh, never heard of them till now, guess the Dell/Alien/Gateway/Toshiba hype has quelled Sanger to the back of the hi-end PC mags.
How's Sangers warranty? How reliable is the unit itself. It's gotta last and be worth the investment
The OEM for Alenware was (and may still be) Clevo, which is also the OEM for Sager, Fosa, VoodooPC's new notebooks, and a number of other companies.
As for reliability: Let me put it this way... every problem I've had with mine has been my fault. If I didn't f**k around with mine (meaning taking it apart, modifying it, etc.) as much as I do, I wouldn't have any problems with it.
They're fast, extremely well built, and far, far cheaper than any of the more mainstream notebooks.
If you want a desktop replacement notebook, you can do no better. If you want something a bit more portable, the PowerPros that www.powernotebooks.com sells are also excellent machines; my mom's is an outstanding computer... not quite as fast as my Sager NP5620, but it's close (2.2GHz P4-M vs. 2.4GHz P4), it has 2x the battery life, and it weighs 2/3 of what my Sager does.
www.powernotebooks.com has Sager and PowerPro. They have a 10/10 rating on Resellerratings.com with ~600 reviews, and they have by far and away the best service I have ever dealt with, both before and after the sale. Try an average turnaround time for e-mails of ~10 minutes.
Sager's support is also extremely good, btw.
You may also look at www.pctorque.com , which sells Sagers, and has like a 9.98 rating on resellerratings. They will paint your notebook for you though, which Powernotebooks won't do. Anything else that PCTorque has, Powernotebooks should be able to get you if you ask them though.
Talked to one of the co-ops here at work. He has a 8890 w/ 2 60gig 7200s in a RAID 0 setup! LOL! His macine weight almost 13 lbs! OUCH!
I'm prolly gonna wait till Jan to get one - the new 8790 is coming out then. If I don't get the 8790, the 4790 should be much cheaper.
Thanks for your help
-R-