bye bye Desktop computing

[Paddy]

I would never recommend buying a laptop to any of my colleagues as they always cost loads more than any half decent PC. However, in the intrest of reducing the computer's impact on the house I am strongly considering it.

I have made ~£450 on ebay selling my spare parts and I will probably sell the main rig as soon as I have something to replace it with.

The logic behind my madness is that I will have a server located in the garage which will host files/music/video/web. My XBOX is acting as a HTPC and streams beautifully from the server.

I will use the gigabit network for transfering large files and then the wireless connection for everything else (although I am never going to be far from a LAN port). Anyway, I am looking into laptops and they seem ****ing expensive, so can anyone recommend makes and models? I am probable going to get the best I can afford as it will be my main PC (must be able to play HL2 ).

I have seen a nice AlienWare laptop for £2400 + shipping...

What do you think?

[Rakido]

2400 pounds ?? uk pounds? that are approx. 3500 Euro.

I don't know any laptop that cost that much, even the HP; Qosmio is around 2500 Euro.


I would wait until the first Sonoma laptops are available (Sonoma being the successor of Centrino), they sound very promising. Saw a spec of one including a Radeon X700, with this one you can
play HL2 like a charm.


Rakido

[Fat Tone]

I sense a female influence in the background here...

Seriously though, the only complaint I have with my Acer Ferrari LM3000 is the poor viewing angle. They have updated the model somewhat - check out the 3200 and 3400:

http://www.acer.co.uk/acereuro/page3.do;jsessionid=ce36badabdfdabbb3afcdbe0bfd98aa6?dau7.oid=122&UserCtxParam=0&GroupCtxParam=0&dctx1=17&ctx1=UK&crc=1469313021

[Umfriend]

If it is really about envorinmental impact (as opposed to mobility), have you ever considered a SFF PC?

And how is the re-wiring job hangin'

[jms]

Agreeing with Fat Tone here. You should definitely have a look at the Acer Ferrari 3400 . (Yes, it is Ferrari red!) It has an AMD 64 bit CPU, 512 MB RAM, ATI 9700 graphichs, WLAN and much more. I've had one for 3 weeks and am quite happy with it. Gets a little hot perhaps, but the fan is silent enough. Dunno what it will set you back in the UK though.

[GT98]

My Old man has a Dell 8200 laptop with Centrino that he uses at "work" to game and watch movies on (long story) and he has no problems with it. Gets about 4 hours battery life out of it (can use the electric outlets where he is), though he told me Far Cry has killed his battery in about 2 1/2 hrs... LO

[Paddy]

cheers guys - checking the links now

Umfreind: I think a laptop really is the way to go - sorry.
FT: yeah, the wife's in on it (although I do get a new computer out of it! )

[Paddy]

so.... the Acer looks like a nice model. specs here, but i'd like something a tad more beefy for my money... Any other thoughts?

How about the AMD/Intel debate?

[James_D]

AMD for gaming.. Intel for Rendering

JD

[Paddy]

The AMD 64bit CPUs looks pretty heavy on the batteries!
I like the Alienware laptop, but i think the Ferrari 3400 is much better value. Are there any other models to consider?

[ZokesPro]

Is heat an issue with you?

Cause P4's and AMD 64bits get really hot, now centrino's and celeron M's, and especially transmeta cpu's don't produce as much heat. Sup to you.

[jms]

Originally posted by Paddy
The AMD 64bit CPUs looks pretty heavy on the batteries!
I like the Alienware laptop, but i think the Ferrari 3400 is much better value. Are there any other models to consider?

Yes it is a bit heavy on the batteries. I get about 2 - 2.5 hours max of Joint Ops. If battery-life is your main criteria you should prob. opt for a slower CPU like a Celery or something (and without the wonderful 9700 graphics).

[spadnos]

You might want to check out M-Tech. I have bought or recommended 3 laptops from there, and they're all still running great, even after being shipped and carried around the globe numerous times (since 1996, 1997, and 2001).

Because you're planning on using this at home, I'm assuming that you aren't really looking for extreme battery life - that performance and features are more the idea. If that's the case, then the three models at the top of their laptop list would be appropriate: AMD64, P4, and P4. The D900T can go to 2G RAM, dual hard drives, dual optical drives (though it comes with a DL DVD+/- RW drive), dual channel wireless LAN (108Mbps), etc. etc. I think they have two models of this one, because the "Future Models" page shows this unit, but with 4G max RAM, and Nvidia graphics.

They do ship out of the US, but there may be issues with using a credit card for non-US shipment. I'm sure that can be worked out.

- Steve

[Paddy]

cool! Do you get better mobile graphics chips, or is the 9700radeon-m the best i can hope for? Having 1GB of RAM is a must, two HDs would be nice, but if i stream everything from WiFi/Gigabit LAN then it should be a necesity. Battery life is not a chief concern as long as it is not ludicrously short. Heat output doesn't bother me either - as long as it doesn't translate into noise! Noise is a biggie.

I'd be using this with either headphones or my own speakers.

Essentially I want something to replace my desktop as closley as possible - i'll factor in the cost after that

[Wombat]

However, in the intrest of reducing the computer's impact on the house I am strongly considering it.

It won't. Don't do it. When a laptop becomes's someone's main machine, then you end up with a USB mouse, and probably keyboard. Plus, you have to have the laptop on the desk, and not under it. Plus charging.

A laptop as a main machine takes up at least as much space as a desktop machine, and often more. I think it would be a bad choice.