Which notebook should I get?

[ThE BrIcK]

NVIDIA GeForce Go 7150M:

NVIDIA's(R) GeForce(R) Go 7150M combines with NVIDIA nForce(R) 630M to create a notebook motherboard GPU on a single chip. It is designed to support the graphic and audio capabilities of today's popular games and media on a single chip solution. NVIDIA has taken the two chips used in the older dv2000/dv6000/dv9000 products, combined them into one, and added some more memory buffering. This implementation makes it possible to see an improvement in performance and battery life. Included in this graphics solution are the following: NVIDIA(R) PureVideo(TM) technology which provides enhanced picture clarity and images will appear more life-like, NVIDIA DisplayCache technology which helps to manage graphics performance to extend typical battery life and NVIDIA(R) PowerMizer(TM) SX technology which helps you enjoy excellent HD audio, storage and communications performance without sacrificing battery life. DISCLAIMERS: System memory dedicated to video performance is not available for other use by other programs. Note - this disclaimer affects system memory and Graphics. Battery life will vary depending on the product model, configuration, loaded applications, features, and power management settings. The maximum capacity of the battery will decrease with time and usage.

So, it says its designed to support the graphic capabilities of today's games. This goes to the HP in my first post. So, this might be the one. Unless someone can persuade me enough to not get it.

[KillerGuru]

i reckon if you can. get a apple macbook or macbook pro and make sure u have moc os 10.5 (leopard). use bootcamp and install windows. and away u go. with atleast 6 hours of battery. and they are light as. i got mine on sat for chrisi. its fab and they are dual core. give it a try.

[ThE BrIcK]

i reckon if you can. get a apple macbook or macbook pro and make sure u have moc os 10.5 (leopard). use bootcamp and install windows. and away u go. with atleast 6 hours of battery. and they are light as. i got mine on sat for chrisi. its fab and they are dual core. give it a try.

I've been thinking about that. I'm not sure if I want to or not.

[Xenocide]

for the prosseser, with we seem we havent covered. I strongely recomend the Althon. beacuse of its quite and cool technology. It takes less volts to run and it stays much MUCH colder. My friends had an intell prosser of the same equivilance and his runs at 70-80c. i run at 20-30c. sorry for rant. Just voicing my point lol

The Intel ones have an equivalent technology, called speedstep i think, but its just as good if not better. Your friend most likely had a mobile P4, which were truly terrible, and were just slower versions of the desktop P4s, which also ran very hot at high clock speeds but were not particularly fast (remember, clock speed does not equal performance, nor does more cores).

I'm going to ask my mom again for a price range. If she ups it $100 then I can get dv6500z priced at $902.99

Your cost problem seems to be caused by you adding Microsoft office to it. Are you eligible for this?

seems a little underpower. dousent cost much less than the new ones. its up to you

I agree, my current laptop has a singe core at about that speed and i would want something a little faster if i were to upgrade. Main problem though is the graphics, far worse than the integrated ones in the new laptops, probably won't even run Vista, games are a definite no no. And its not such a good deal anyway...

Insert Quote
NVIDIA GeForce Go 7150M:

NVIDIA's(R) GeForce(R) Go 7150M combines with NVIDIA nForce(R) 630M to create a notebook motherboard GPU on a single chip. It is designed to support the graphic and audio capabilities of today's popular games and media on a single chip solution. NVIDIA has taken the two chips used in the older dv2000/dv6000/dv9000 products, combined them into one, and added some more memory buffering. This implementation makes it possible to see an improvement in performance and battery life. Included in this graphics solution are the following: NVIDIA(R) PureVideo(TM) technology which provides enhanced picture clarity and images will appear more life-like, NVIDIA DisplayCache technology which helps to manage graphics performance to extend typical battery life and NVIDIA(R) PowerMizer(TM) SX technology which helps you enjoy excellent HD audio, storage and communications performance without sacrificing battery life. DISCLAIMERS: System memory dedicated to video performance is not available for other use by other programs. Note - this disclaimer affects system memory and Graphics. Battery life will vary depending on the product model, configuration, loaded applications, features, and power management settings. The maximum capacity of the battery will decrease with time and usage.

So, it says its designed to support the graphic capabilities of today's games. This goes to the HP in my first post. So, this might be the one. Unless someone can persuade me enough to not get it.

That's complete marketing rubbish, to put it bluntly. It will not play today's popular games, no way. Let me show you why...

Have a look at this. They have tested most popular desktop graphics cards with some popular games, most of them a year or so old now. The Nvidia 7150M is not as good as the Nvidia 7300GS and ATI X1300HM that they tested, so if those cards can't play it a Laptop with a 7150M certainly can't.

For example, here they tested BF2142 on a resolution of 1280/1024, which is about the same as this laptop. They got 5fps and 6.6fps. A Playable framerate is 20fps+. See what i mean? Same story for most of the other games. The 8400M is probably a bit worse than the 8500GT that they tested, so that gives you a good way to make some comparisons.

i reckon if you can. get a apple macbook or macbook pro and make sure u have moc os 10.5 (leopard). use bootcamp and install windows. and away u go. with atleast 6 hours of battery. and they are light as. i got mine on sat for chrisi. its fab and they are dual core. give it a try.

I've been temped by this too, but the premium you pay for an apple product is obscene, you compare the specs with Dell and HP and usually find you can get the same thing without the apple badge for $200 less.  The other problem is, getting a macbook with a gpu that can play games is probably even harder than an HP or Dell.

[ThE BrIcK]

• 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
• 2GB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM - 2x1GB
• 80GB Serial ATA Drive @ 5400 rpm
• Combo Drive (DVD-ROM/CD-RW)
• Keyboard/Mac OS - U.S. English
• iWork '08 preinstalled
• AirPort Extreme Card & Bluetooth
• Intel GMA X3100 graphics processor with 144MB of DDR2 SDRAM shared with main memory
• Apple Remote

$1328.00
Just gotta get the final "OK".

[Xenocide]

Wow, that's a serious increase in budget... having never used OSX i shouldn't really comment, all I'll say is you're getting almost the same specs as the two you looked at earlier, which means you're looking at near $500 extra for OSX and an Apple badge. That's a lot to swallow imo.

Bear in mind the Intel GMA X3100 is going to be as bad at gaming as the 7150M, I imagine it'll play Halo but that's about the limit.
Great productivity laptop if you like working in the OSX environment, but its not a gaming laptop which is what you said you wanted...

[Ediseye]

Geez. If you have that much money, might as well look into a better laptop with Windows.

Dell Inspiron 1520

- Intel Core 2 Duo T7250 (2.0GHz/800Mhz FSB/2MB cache)
- Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium Edition
- 256MB NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT
- 2GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 at 667MHz
- 120GB SATA Hard Drive (7200RPM)
- CD writer / DVD player (Combo Drive)
- 1Yr Ltd Warranty and Mail-In Service

Price: $1,254

Bam, now that's a computer for a good price. Lol.

[ThE BrIcK]

Wow, that's a serious increase in budget... having never used OSX i shouldn't really comment, all I'll say is you're getting almost the same specs as the two you looked at earlier, which means you're looking at near $500 extra for OSX and an Apple badge. That's a lot to swallow imo.

Bear in mind the Intel GMA X3100 is going to be as bad at gaming as the 7150M, I imagine it'll play Halo but that's about the limit.
Great productivity laptop if you like working in the OSX environment, but its not a gaming laptop which is what you said you wanted...

Geez. If you have that much money, might as well look into a better laptop with Windows.

Dell Inspiron 1520

- Intel Core 2 Duo T7250 (2.0GHz/800Mhz FSB/2MB cache)
- Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium Edition
- 256MB NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT
- 2GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 at 667MHz
- 120GB SATA Hard Drive (7200RPM)
- CD writer / DVD player (Combo Drive)
- 1Yr Ltd Warranty and Mail-In Service

Price: $1,254

Bam, now that's a computer for a good price. Lol.

As I was posting the specs, I was thinking the same thing Xenocide. That was a big price increase. So I was looking at the Dell, te same one that you posted Ediseye.

**EDIT**

SYSTEM COLOR   Jet Black   
PROCESSOR   Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T5250 (1.5GHz/667Mhz FSB/2MB cache)   
OPERATING SYSTEM   Genuine Windows Vista® Home Basic Edition   
DISPLAY   Glossy, widescreen 15.4 inch display (1280x800)   
VIDEO CARD   256MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 8600M GT   
MEMORY   2GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 at 667MHz   
HARD DRIVE   80GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM)   
INTERNAL OPTICAL DRIVE   CD writer / DVD player (Combo Drive)   
WIRELESS NETWORK CARDS   Dell Wireless 1390 802.11g Mini-Card   
INTEGRATED WEBCAMIntegrated 2.0M Pixel Webcam   
BATTERY OPTIONS   56Whr Lithium Ion Battery (6 cell)   
SOUND OPTIONS   High Definition Audio 2.0

$1198

[Xenocide]

As I was posting the specs, I was thinking the same thing Xenocide. That was a big price increase. So I was looking at the Dell, te same one that you posted Ediseye.

Ediseye's one has the 7200rpm harddisk, which i recommend, and which the HP ones don't offer which puts Dell in front imo. Otherwise that's a fantastic looking laptop.

The upgrade of the graphics is very significant, from 7150M to 8400M you get about an extra 10fps, 8400M to 8600M GT gets you about 40 extra frames per second, which is massive. Its a very capable card, will play almost anything, and worth the extra money.

Again, we can compare them to the desktop ones, here. Look how high up the 8600 gts is vs the 8400 and the 7300 (roughly equivalent to the 7150M).



Your bigger budget means you can look at the XPS now, which is smaller and lighter and nicer looking than the Inspiron i believe.

Here's an XPS M1530:

SYSTEM COLOR   Tuxedo Black   edit
PROCESSOR   Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T5250 (2MB cache/1.5GHz/667Mhz FSB)   edit
OPERATING SYSTEM   Genuine Windows® Vista Home Premium Edition   edit
LCD AND CAMERA   Glossy, widescreen 15.4 inch LCD (1280x800) & 2.0 MP Camera   edit
MEMORY   2GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz (2 Dimms)   edit
HARD DRIVE   Speed: 120GB 7200rpm SATA Hard Drive   edit
INTERNAL OPTICAL DRIVE   Slot Load DVD+/-RW (DVD/CD read/write)   edit
VIDEO CARD   256MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 8600M GT   edit
WIRELESS CARDS   Dell Wireless 1490 802.11a/g Mini Card   edit
BATTERY OPTIONS   56 WHr 6-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery   edit
SOUND OPTIONS   High Definition Audio 2.0
$1,324

You seem to pay a bit of a premium for the XPS though, so here's an Inspiron 1520:

My Components
SYSTEM COLOR   Jet Black   edit
PROCESSOR   Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T5250 (1.5GHz/667Mhz FSB/2MB cache)   edit
OPERATING SYSTEM   Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium Edition   edit
DISPLAY   High Resolution, glossy widescreen 15.4 inch display (1440x900)   edit
VIDEO CARD   256MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 8600M GT   edit
MEMORY   2GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 at 667MHz   edit
HARD DRIVE   Speed: 120GB SATA Hard Drive (7200RPM)   edit
INTERNAL OPTICAL DRIVE   CD / DVD writer (DVD+/-RW Drive)   edit
WIRELESS NETWORK CARDS   Dell Wireless 1390 802.11g Mini-Card   edit
INTEGRATED WEBCAM   No Webcam Option   edit
BATTERY OPTIONS   56Whr Lithium Ion Battery (6 cell)   edit
SOUND OPTIONS   High Definition Audio 2.0   edit
$1,199

With both of these, i recommend a small processor upgrade to the Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T5450 (1.66GHz/667Mhz FSB/2MB cache) for $50 if your budget allows. Depends whether you want XPS or if you're fine with the ordinary inspiron. Personally i'd probably have the inspiron with a small processor upgrade to bring it up to $1,250 - $1,300 depending on what you can afford.

I added a higher resolution display to the inspiron as that seems like a good option to me, but you could always drop it in favour of a bigger processor upgrade or a lower price.

They will both beat the Macbooks hands down, and they will both play halo on full settings, because I had a 6600GT which is somewhat slower than the 8600 GT and it played halo on full settings fine. They'll run most other games on high settings fine too.

Are the prices of these too low or too high? Set a maximum budget and i'll spec one up to fit if you like.

[Ediseye]

Brick, you want to go with a fast processor than what you got listed on your edit. At least upgrade one or two models. Lol. Also, go with the 7,200RPM hard drive if you can. Makes a difference when accessing music and games that are stores on the hard drive, as well as boot times. Take away the webcam if you need some more money to work with. It isn't all that needed and it might help save some cash for faster hardware.

[ThE BrIcK]

Webcam is only and extra $25

[Ediseye]

Upgrade the processor with that money. Lolz.

[ThE BrIcK]

I didn't feel like typing in all the specs so, you can view and edit it there.

*EDIT*

Doesn't work, I'll post later.

[Wízzßĺng]

FYI, with regards to hard drive speed, it's not just the RPM speed that matters, but a combination of speed and size.

Since the physical platters are the same size in the 2.5" drives, that means that a larger HD has MORE data packed into the same physical space on the drives.  Therefore, with a larger capacity drive, it doesn't NEED to spin as fast to read the same amount of data in the same time.

So, if you go to the first example, of an 80G 7200 RPM drive and a 120GB 5400 RPM drive, the 120G will probably read the data just as fast as the 80G.

If you are comparing a 120GB 5400 and 120GB 7200, then the data size is the same, and then the RPM speed does make a difference.

If you really want to compare hard drives, you have to look at the manufacturer specs for the read/write/seek speeds for each drive and compare that way.

[Xenocide]

You're absolutely right, however often the larger drives are just multi-platter versions of the smaller drives, so you can end up with an 80gb drive with the same data density as a 160gb drive.
Also, while an increased data density and lower rpm drive may equal the read speed of a higher rpm drive with lesser density, your higher rpm drive would still have a better seek time, because it takes less time for a given sector to reach the head because its spinning faster.

Looking at the options available for the Dells, you can have a 160gb 5200rpm for +$75, a 250gb 5200rpm for +$150, or a 120gb 7200rpm for +$100.
My primary system is my desktop so i find my laptop with 40gb is more than enough, so i'd have a higher rpm one with less space... which drive is better may depend on whether Brick wants more than 120gb of storage space or not?


Dell probably use a mixture of OEMs for their drives but lets assume they use seagate. Looking at the seagate 7200rpm drives the 120gb one has 2 disks and 3 heads which looks like 40gb per platter to me. They spec a sustained write of about 59MB/s, seek of 11ms.
Looking at the 5400rpm drives the 250gb is 60gb per platter, transfer rate of 58, seek of 12. Nothing in it, or so they say. The 160gb 5400rpm drive with a data density of about 54 apparently has the same specs... not sure if i believe that. I wonder if the 160 also uses 60gb platters with a bit wasted? In which case, apart from the seek time that might make a good option.
Problem is, dell could be using an older 160gb drive with 4 40gb platters, and i bet its impossible to find out.