laptop uberness Vs. money

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DarksideZero
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laptop uberness Vs. money

Post by DarksideZero »

alright I got to run this one by my family and see what they think
I'm looking hard into getting an alienware gaming laptop since I need a laptop for the sea tours, and they seem to be the only ones with the graphics support I need I have a tendancy to set up overpowered systems, lets face it no one really needs a full 3 Ghz on thier proccesor, and what do you do with 1024Mb DDR ram, and the system is a little more expesive than i'd like for what I'm looking for so i wanted to run the specs by ya and see if anyone suggests any changes

Pentium® 4 Processor 2.8GHz 533MHz FSB w/ 512KB Cache
512MB DDR PC-2100
60GB 7200 RPM ATA100 with 8MB Cache
Smart Bay 1 - 1x DVD-R/RW /8x DVD/16x10x24x CD-RW Drive
Smart bay 2 - Secondary Lithium-Ion Smart Battery
Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional
ATI Mobility RADEON 9000 128MB DDR

right now this is adding up to $2,977.00 without shipping added on
do I really need 2.8 Ghz or can I go with a 2.66 Ghz and save myself 84 bucks is it really worth those 84 bucks to get .14 gigs
is the difference between XP home and prof enough for me to really care cause thats a 57 dollar difference, either way Its well within my current budget I'm just not really feeling like spending 3 grand this week I might want to get a better than sh** car when i get my drivers licence... cource I'll still have 10,000 to put towards a car at this point

well what do ya think you lifeless computer junkies you
You're not your character class
You're not how much gil you have in the bank
You're not the airship you fly
You're not the contents of your item screen
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MCmasters_girl
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Post by MCmasters_girl »

Buy the Laptop!!!! It's not like everyone can be as lucky as me and have Daddy buy them a laptop that costs 3G's. Oh Wait! Nevermind, my sister got that lucky too. If you do buy a laptop make sure to get the Rage Warranty, which will replace it even if you throw it out a window, shoot it, and back over it with a car.
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MaudDib125
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Post by MaudDib125 »

Speak with Shawn about the Prof edition of XP. I am pretty sure it would find its way onto your system once you came home next time.
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BigGunna
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Post by BigGunna »

To Uber or not to uber, that is the question...

ImageThis may not be your actual laptop
VS.
ImageThis will NOT be your actual car.

The answer is NO! Think of it this way, the option to buy is the coolest option in the world.
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Post by Buzzman25 »

Ok...

Here is my personal opinion on the subject.

First off, no matter what system you get, get windows XP Professional edition along with Microsoft Office Professional, Norton SystemWorks 2003 (or better), and Norton Internet Securities 2003 (or better) and install them. Every system that I format and reinstall I ask these 4 things of everyone.

I start off by installing Win XP Pro and get all the updates, make sure you get SP1! After that I install MS Office Pro and then update them. (If you have Visio install this now and update.) Once the main core is installed install Norton SystemWorks, restart and then install Norton Internet Securities (when installing Internet Securities don't reinstall the Anti-Virus, just skip it). With both Norton programs installed update them, restart, update them, restart, etc, until you have all the updates.

Now, with that said and done, the choices...

If you can afford it, get both a laptop and desktop computer. If you go this option keep the laptop basic, get 256 MB + RAM and over 40 GB + Hard Drive. I personally like a screen that I can see clearly so try to get something of a 17" + viewable screen size.

For your Desktop go overboard! Make a gaming system that you can be proud of that will last you 4+ years. I recommend at least 512 MB PC 133 + RAM, you'll eventually want to upgrade to 1GB of RAM so buy 1 512 chip so you can easily install another later. If you are buying from Dell, try and get the 1GB of RAM upfront as they use dual chips to get 512 rather then using 1. Get a 17" + monitor, either normal or flat-screen should not matter, just don't buy a crap monitor since you don't want radiation in your eyes and you'll want to keep everything looking keen. You'll want a 2 GHz+ processor to keep up with the games of the future. If you get a low end chip make sure your board can support a processor upgrade. You're going to want at minimum a 64 MB 8x AGP video-card, anything after this will make your system run flawlessly. As far as peripherals go with what you want, 48X CD-R, 40X CD-RW, 16X DVD-R, 8X DVD-RW, etc. The sound card is all dependant on what you plan on connecting it to. If you are going to plug it into your 5 channel stereo system go with the Sound Blaster Audigy, but if you don't need that, keep with the simple SB 5.1 sound card.

IMPORTANT: No matter what you do, please don't buy a motherboard that has integrated sound and / or video. They are shit and tend to screw up more then mother boards without them soldered on. I'm kind of disappointed that Dell is using these boards, but that's just my opinion.

If you can only afford one or the other some things to consider are:
1. Will I be traveling away from home a lot?
2. Do I need mobility?
3. Do I care that won't be able to upgrade?

If you need mobility and won't be home much, a laptop might serve you best. At this time go all out and trick your laptop out since it will act as your primary computer. Do realize that laptops are not made for gaming and such, so do this as your own peril. Laptops can not, and never will be able to outperform desktops. Sure with time they get better and outperform older desktops, but an equivalent desktop will rape a laptop on a bench test.

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Post by Flamebo »

Splurg! Buy the laptop. I'd cut down on the processor though and bump back up to 1g ram.

I've got a Gig and currently my system typically will be using around 750mb ram at one time while playing SWG, sometimes spikes to the 1.1 gig limit or whatever it is

My processor is only a 1.8 AMD athlon, but it runs pretty well. Though I think its overheating and causeing infrequent crashes, despite my 7 fans (overkill i know, but Kenny had extras)

erK
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Post by Buzzman25 »

Ok, I splurged a little giving everyone a view on Desktops VS Laptops but this isn't what Grant was looking for. He just wanted to know my opinion on what he should get for a laptop
DarksideZero wrote:so the question is super uber laptop or barely adequate laptop
So, with that said, I conquer with Flambo above in that you should go with as much RAM as you can. Processor speed is nice, but RAM's the way to go. With more ram you'll have less CPU usage getting files from the Hard Drive to the memory to be accessed, lost and recalled when it needs the files again. The hope is to be able to load the entire game into RAM.
DarksideZero wrote:its not like I'm looking to play Doom III on the thing
Perfect, as long as you aren't getting a super intensive game you should be ok. A 2.66 GHz machine with 1GB RAM, and a 64 MB Video Card you should be set to run FF XI without problems, along with most other games. As long as you are getting a laptop from a reputable company, the lesser costing laptops should still be very good. I don't know the limits on the Video card, but if you want to keep it around for more then 4 years get the best video, or near the best, that you can get, get the ram, and the 2.66 GHz processor will suit you fine.
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DarksideZero
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Post by DarksideZero »

alright sweet deal I bought my laptop and Uber won out after I thought about the 35,000 reinlistment bonus I get for signing 2 more years into the navy, the pay raise I get for making PO2, and going over 2 years of service now I said screw it I can afford uber.... no super uber after all

thanks go out to Flambo and the buzzman for straitening out were the more important specs are, my new philosiphy from now on is to always uber on everything, it saves ya from having to get uber later which ultamatly costs more money
You're not your character class
You're not how much gil you have in the bank
You're not the airship you fly
You're not the contents of your item screen
You're not your fuggin' armor
You are the all fightin' all spellcasting heros of the world
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