Laptop card?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Romanian
  • Start date Start date
I myself have an Asus A6Ja laptop (dual-core T2300, 1GB RAM, 80 GB, ATI
Mobility X1600 256MB) which actually isn't all that far from your
earlier feature list you'd like to have. A bit more expensive though
starting at about 1400€ (there are a couple of different models
available with a various cpu/ram/display configurations).

Specifications at:
http://www.asus.com/products4.aspx?modelmenu=2&model=1006&l1=5&l2=24&l3=134

Comes with a two year global hardware warranty too, so your good for a
while even with hardier use.

Romanian kirjoitti:
 
Wow. That looks amazing. Just what I wanted. Just two questions about
it. 1) Is there any way to actually specialize it, ie a little list and
you check the box if you want 2.16 GHz instead of 1.2? 2) What does it
mean to be Expandable to 2GB for memory? Does that mean that I
personally have to buy another 1GB mem card?

Thanks, very very much!!
 
Barry Watzman said:
$2000 is a LOT for a laptop. You can get a really good, high-end system
for about $1,200.

Generally, you can't buy the video card separately or retrofit one (there
are few exceptions to that, but VERY few).

I think you are putting WAY too much emphasis on the size of the video
memory. You can get some relatively high-end video systems in a $1,200
laptop. They may or may not have 512 megs of memory (probably won't) but
they will still be very capable.

However, don't expect ANY laptop at any price to have a video system
comparable to a desktop $350 to $500 video card. Power, cooling and
physical size all pretty much preclude that.
Click to expand...

Is it possible to plug anything to do with graphics into the PCI Express
slot?
 
Romanian said:
Woah woah woah.... Can you please show me how/where I can get something
high-end? And I want to run games like Battlefield 2 and Oblivion, both
which reccomend a 512mb graphics card. And yes, I *am* uneducated about
graphics card. No idea how they really work :-)

So... does anyone know where I can get something like:

-- 5.1+ Surround Sound
-- 2gb RAM
-- 256mb video card
--80gb drive, preferably 7200rpm
--2.16GHz+, Intel
for around $1200? :-)

One LAST question... does anyone know if there is a way to get
discounts on a computer if you buy an Intel processor, and you work for
Intel?


Many thanks!
Click to expand...

Check out the Acer Aspire 5672 WLMi. The version I got has 2GB of DDR3
(667MHz) SDRAM. 2MB Level 2 cache on a T2300 Dual Core Processor (1.7 GHz),
128 MB ATI Radeon X1400 graphics card with capability of 512MB using
hypermemory, 120 GB SATA 5400RPM HDD, Bluetooth ready, WiFi ready, DVI and
S-video out, 4 USB ports and a Firewire port (IEEE 1394), PC type 2 card
slot, Express card 34(?) slot, 5 way digital card reader slot (digital
camera cards), built-in web cam, and Soundblaster compatible Audio. All for
around $1250 USD. What more could you ask for?

Ron
 
1) I haven't looked into that because I bought mine from a retailer (not
internet).

2) Correct. If the model you find (on internet or from a retailer)
doesn't already have 2GB installed, you have to buy the necessary memory
upgrade.

Keep in mind though that the system is dual-core so you don't actually
have to get the 2.16GHz dual system (because it costs a lot more) to
match the performance of a similarly clocked single core system (this
varies with used software though, not all benefit from dual core). Mine
as said is the T2300 model which is effectively 2x1.67GHz. From the
reviews I've seen a generic benchmark (sysmark and the like) gives it a
rating close to an M760 laptop system (2.0 GHz single core). On some
applications a dual-core system is a lot faster (60-70% faster) though,
like video encoding or 3d rendering but that might not be important to you.

Romanian kirjoitti:
 
Considering this thread started off with someone who obviously wanted to
play games, I don't think the graphics card is going to cut it. For the
price, it might be as good as you can find, but it's not a high-end card.

For a little more money (if you decide that graphics card is good enough),
you can also look at the Dell E1505. The nice thing about the Dell is you
have more configuration options than you do with Acer. You can get it with
a 7200 rpm drive, different screen resolutions and processors, couple
different audio options...

Clint
 
And probably for twice the cost. How much does that Dell with your options
go for?

Ron
 
There are laptop 2.5" drives with 7200 rpm and capacities up to 160
gigabytes (I'm not sure that there is 7200rpm 160GB drive, but there are
100 and I think 120 GB 7200rpm drives). Expensive (about $200 for a
100GB 7200rpm) but available.
 
Re: "First, 128MB is usually more than enough for notebooks, even for
games ..."

You don't want anything less than 128MB, because the Aero interface of
Vista, due out next year, won't run on less than 128MB of video memory.

In my view, this is sufficient reason to reject ANY new laptop
considered for purchase with less than 128MB of video memory.
 
* Barry Watzman:
Re: "First, 128MB is usually more than enough for notebooks, even for
games ..."

You don't want anything less than 128MB, because the Aero interface of
Vista, due out next year, won't run on less than 128MB of video memory.
Click to expand...

That's nonsense. Aero requires a minimum of 64MB to run. The amount of
video RAM required for Aero is dependend on the resolution. And for the
resolutions of todays average notebooks 128MB usually is more than enough...
In my view, this is sufficient reason to reject ANY new laptop
considered for purchase with less than 128MB of video memory.
Click to expand...

Since there aren't much notebooks around that have less than 128MB video
RAM there isn't much to reject. On the other side not everyone wants to
use Aero, as most people will deactivate it even on faster notebooks
since Aero consumes system ressources which also leads to shorter
battery running time. So yes, if you're not gaming even less than 128MB
video RAM can be enough.

BTW: sending PMs to usenet discussions is considered rude, especially
when using a faked email address.

Benjamin
 
Well, since you are linking to YOUR shopping cart, no one but you can
see the products you linked to...

Any other links?

Romanian kirjoitti:
 
Heh, sorry about that. I'll just make a post with copy/paste.

Choice 1, $1934 USD

1. Display: 15.4 inch WSXGA+ (1680x1050) Glossy LCD w/ 1.3MP Webcam
2. Processor: 2.16GHz Intel® Core™ Duo T2600 w/2MB L2 Cache -
667FSB (+$150.00)
3. Thermal Paste: High Density Polysynthetic Silver CPU Thermal
Compound Paste (+$20.00)
4. Graphics & Video: ATI MR X1600 256MB Solid Video RAM
5. Memory: 2.0GB DDR2-667MHz Memory (2x1024MB-Dual Channel) (+$150.00)
6. Hard Drive: 100GB 7,200 rpm SATA/150 HDD (+$125.00)
7. DVD/CDRW Drive: Combo 8X DVD/24x10x24 CD-RW w/Software
8. Wireless LAN: Built-in Intel PRO/Wireless 3945 802.11 (a+b+g) LAN
w/ Bluetooth
9. Main Battery: Smart Li-ion Battery: 6-Cell 4.0+ hours
A. MS Windows: MS Windows XP Home w/SP2 CD (+$95.00)
B. MS Office: None.
C. Flash Memory Drive: None.
D. AC Adapter: AC Adapter - 110/240V 90W AC Adapter
E. Auto/Air Adapter: None.
F. Port Replicator: None.
G. Carrying Case: Free Deluxe Carrying Case from Asus
H. Gigabit LAN: Built-in 10/100/1000BaseT Ethernet LAN w/RJ-45 Jack
I. 1394 & Modem: Built-in IEEE 1394 (Firewire) and 56k V.90 Fax/Modem
J. Mouse: None.
K. Warranty: 2-Year Parts/Labor w/ 1 way paid shipping


Here's the actual PC
http://store.agearnotebooks.com/asusz96js.html


The other one is the same, only 128mb solid video RAM with 512mb total
HyperMemory. And it's more costly by $150... =/

So. Which one should I get? Again, I want to use it for school and
occasional awesome gaming (occasional being 4 days a week, 1-2 hour a
day), which can run Oblivion and BF2, etc.


Being on the topic of gaming, anyone know any good $10-20 games out
there, preferably shooting or RPG?


Thanks again guys.
 
Oh crap. Also, someone wrote that a dual core is more powerful. So
would 2.16GHz dual be about 2.5GHz single?

Thanks a million guys, all been a great help!
 
Approximately. Depends on application used. If a program is built in a
way that it cannot divide it's "functions" to two separate cpus it will
not benefit from dual-core. HOWEVER, other tasks running at the same
time (firewalls, antivirus programs and the like) can use the other core
thus improving the overall system performance.

On an application that is capable of using both cores, performance
increase can be quite huge. For instance, I occasionally do 3D
rendering. One particular scene took 49 minutes 24 seconds to render on
my (aging) AMD XP [email protected] desktop; the exaxt same scene with the
exact same settings rendered with my [email protected] laptop took only 27
minutes 9 seconds. Quite the difference...

Romanian kirjoitti:
 
So... with the old question. Would it be better to have 128mb Stable
memory with 512mb max shared, or 256mb max stable memory in an ATI
video card?
 
I'd go with 256mb. As mentioned earlier in several previous posts, the
amount of gfx ram isn't all that important especially in laptop gpu's
which aren't all the high end anyway.

And using system ram as gfx ram isn't particularly efficient either
(eats a lot of ram bandwidth). And the 256mb model might have the same
hypermemory option as the smaller one (my mobility x1600 does; I can run
it at 256 + 256 shared if I want to. I don't, 256 is plenty for the
native resolution on my laptop 1280x800).

Romanian kirjoitti:
 
* Romanian:
Hmm. Well, since I get paid $300 this week from taking care of people's
homes... I can go overboard. This is what I will choose:

http://order.store.yahoo.com/cgi-bi...elete-542463f92b9388a40c19ac588165c0d9=remove
Click to expand...

"Your shopping cart is empty"
It has up to 512mb video memory with HyperMemory. Where would it get
the 128mb un-stable memory? From the RAM?
Click to expand...

Yes, from the main memory. HyperMemory is slow and bad if you want to
game...
Thanks for everyone's great help! I am so excited! BF2, here I come!
And AP Physics too, of course... =)
Click to expand...

If 512MB is all you need to be happy then go for it. If some day you'll
wake up and realize that bigger is not always better maybe then you
realize how computer gfx really works and why your memory-fixation is
simply stupid.

Benjamin
 
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