Hi all,
I've been doing quite a lot of reading, and researching, across these forums, and notebookreview and notebookforums, since I am preparing to buy my first laptop. I *think* I've learned enough to start asking some more educated questions - although no doubt I'll learn otherwise
To sketch my picture - I'm looking to use this laptop/notebook as my primary computer, possibly for the next 2 years. As such, I intend to use it for:
>Software development (Visual Studio 2005) and SQL Server 2000/2005
>Gaming (FPS all the way through to strategy games like Civ IV, and online gaming, especially NWN 2).
>portable computing, since I work in IT and may need to use it in my day-to-day job
>music and possible DVD watching
top priority probably even between working and gaming :?
portability quite important,
music and DVD especially DVD watching less so.
In addition to the above, I expect to be living in something like 3 (or more) countries over the next 3 years, so international support and warranty are pretty important.
After being quite enamored with real DTR's like the alienware m7700 and similar Sager systems, I've more-or-less decided that those are just too un-portable to justify (I've heard 45minutes battery life, or less), so I'm currently vacillating between:
Dell M170
Pentium M780 (2.26 Ghz, 2MB L2 Cache, 533 fsb)
Windows XP Pro SP2
2GB 533 Mhx ram (2x1024)
100GB 7200 rpm sata HDD
17" WUXGA (1920 x 1200)
256MB NVidia GeForce 7800 Go GTX (!! )
9cell whr80 Li-Ion battery
10/100/1000 gigabit ethernet nic
intel prowireless 2200 802.11 b/g mini PCI wireless lan card
Dell i9400
T2600 (2.16 Ghz, 667 fsb, 2MB L2 cache)
Windows XP Pro SP2
2GB 667Mhz DDR2 SDRAM (2x1024)
100 GB 7200 rpm SATA HDD
17" WUXGA (1920 x 1200)
256MB NVidia GeForce 7800 Go (<-- not a GTX :-( )
9cell whr80 Li-Ion battery
3945 (802.11 a/b/g 54 Mbps) internal wireless
10/100 NIC
Obviously, I'd love comments/advice from people who have the above systems, or else something they believe is better. From what I've seen, the Tom's hardware review LOVED the M170 under its old name of XPS2 - how does the i9400 stack up (and any idea when Tom's will do a review of one?). I've read of i9400 scoring +- 5500 on 3dMark05.
Other areas I'd like some advice are:
ExpressCard - The i9400 has it, the M170 doesn't. From what I've seen, there doesn't seem to be much out there that uses this - will it really be the way of the future, or another Rambus struggle that never (or at least for the next 3 years doesn't) take off?
Sound :
Do I go with something like a Creative® Sound Blaster Audigy2 ZS Notebook, or perhaps the "E-MU's new 1616M Laptop Digital Audio System"? Is there anything else thazt compete's with the Audigy2 ?
Creative tout the E-MU as "the most powerful and portable laptop audio system ever created, offering the same powerful DSP effects, zero-latency monitoring and mastering-grade 24-bit/192kHz A/D and D/A converters of E-MU's best selling PCI Digital Audio Systems". Reading the E-Mu spec, I found this nugget: "The ultimate portable system - for recording, editing, mixing and virtual instruments - use the E-MU 02 CardBus Card alone for its hardware-accelerated effects and premium stereo headphone/line output or together with the MicroDock M for complete analog and digital I/O flexibility " - sounds like you can use the card for moible sound, and plug into the "main board" when you're home, and want to use the whole sound for your home audio system.
Webcams for Notebooks:
I've seen the Logitech® QuickCam for Notebooks Pro reviews that love it. Then there's the WebCam Live! Ultra for Notebooks which did pretty well in the only notebook webcam review I could find.
More.... I plan to use external storage to supplement the notebook - I've seen vantec has a external storage housing that takes IDE or S-ATA, so I can have quite a bit of extra storage, and I *should* be able use that external storage in 3 years when I return to a full desktop, and use the notebook as (by then) a normal laptop and not my main computer.
From what I've read, the Logitech wireless headphone is good , but has a tendancy to break !? From one of the Tom's hardware reviews, a creative headset was rtated quite highly as a portable option - but are there any good, portable, wireless ones?
I know it’s a lot of questions – hopefully I can get some clarity as to how to proceed.
TIA
I've been doing quite a lot of reading, and researching, across these forums, and notebookreview and notebookforums, since I am preparing to buy my first laptop. I *think* I've learned enough to start asking some more educated questions - although no doubt I'll learn otherwise
To sketch my picture - I'm looking to use this laptop/notebook as my primary computer, possibly for the next 2 years. As such, I intend to use it for:
>Software development (Visual Studio 2005) and SQL Server 2000/2005
>Gaming (FPS all the way through to strategy games like Civ IV, and online gaming, especially NWN 2).
>portable computing, since I work in IT and may need to use it in my day-to-day job
>music and possible DVD watching
top priority probably even between working and gaming :?
portability quite important,
music and DVD especially DVD watching less so.
In addition to the above, I expect to be living in something like 3 (or more) countries over the next 3 years, so international support and warranty are pretty important.
After being quite enamored with real DTR's like the alienware m7700 and similar Sager systems, I've more-or-less decided that those are just too un-portable to justify (I've heard 45minutes battery life, or less), so I'm currently vacillating between:
Dell M170
Pentium M780 (2.26 Ghz, 2MB L2 Cache, 533 fsb)
Windows XP Pro SP2
2GB 533 Mhx ram (2x1024)
100GB 7200 rpm sata HDD
17" WUXGA (1920 x 1200)
256MB NVidia GeForce 7800 Go GTX (!!
)9cell whr80 Li-Ion battery
10/100/1000 gigabit ethernet nic
intel prowireless 2200 802.11 b/g mini PCI wireless lan card
Dell i9400
T2600 (2.16 Ghz, 667 fsb, 2MB L2 cache)
Windows XP Pro SP2
2GB 667Mhz DDR2 SDRAM (2x1024)
100 GB 7200 rpm SATA HDD
17" WUXGA (1920 x 1200)
256MB NVidia GeForce 7800 Go (<-- not a GTX :-( )
9cell whr80 Li-Ion battery
3945 (802.11 a/b/g 54 Mbps) internal wireless
10/100 NIC
Obviously, I'd love comments/advice from people who have the above systems, or else something they believe is better. From what I've seen, the Tom's hardware review LOVED the M170 under its old name of XPS2 - how does the i9400 stack up (and any idea when Tom's will do a review of one?). I've read of i9400 scoring +- 5500 on 3dMark05.
Other areas I'd like some advice are:
ExpressCard - The i9400 has it, the M170 doesn't. From what I've seen, there doesn't seem to be much out there that uses this - will it really be the way of the future, or another Rambus struggle that never (or at least for the next 3 years doesn't) take off?
Sound :
Do I go with something like a Creative® Sound Blaster Audigy2 ZS Notebook, or perhaps the "E-MU's new 1616M Laptop Digital Audio System"? Is there anything else thazt compete's with the Audigy2 ?
Creative tout the E-MU as "the most powerful and portable laptop audio system ever created, offering the same powerful DSP effects, zero-latency monitoring and mastering-grade 24-bit/192kHz A/D and D/A converters of E-MU's best selling PCI Digital Audio Systems". Reading the E-Mu spec, I found this nugget: "The ultimate portable system - for recording, editing, mixing and virtual instruments - use the E-MU 02 CardBus Card alone for its hardware-accelerated effects and premium stereo headphone/line output or together with the MicroDock M for complete analog and digital I/O flexibility " - sounds like you can use the card for moible sound, and plug into the "main board" when you're home, and want to use the whole sound for your home audio system.
Webcams for Notebooks:
I've seen the Logitech® QuickCam for Notebooks Pro reviews that love it. Then there's the WebCam Live! Ultra for Notebooks which did pretty well in the only notebook webcam review I could find.
More.... I plan to use external storage to supplement the notebook - I've seen vantec has a external storage housing that takes IDE or S-ATA, so I can have quite a bit of extra storage, and I *should* be able use that external storage in 3 years when I return to a full desktop, and use the notebook as (by then) a normal laptop and not my main computer.
From what I've read, the Logitech wireless headphone is good , but has a tendancy to break !? From one of the Tom's hardware reviews, a creative headset was rtated quite highly as a portable option - but are there any good, portable, wireless ones?
I know it’s a lot of questions – hopefully I can get some clarity as to how to proceed.
TIA
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