Dude, I'm NOT getting a Dell!

[Psychobroker]

After MUCH shopping around and comparisons, I was finally able to order my new laptop/DTR, so I'll actually have a comp at home -- and on the road (first time laptop owner).I ended up ordering a Hypersonic Aviator AX6. Here's the spec sheet; it's about the best I could do with the $$ I alotted myself (under $2500):Quote » 1Year 9/5 Toll-Free Tech Support w/ DEPOT Service & Lifetime Support Hypersonic PC Everglide Giganta V-1 High-tech Mousing Surface Non-Operating System Setup (Blank HD). Only Testing and Burn-in Integrated V.92 56K Fax/Data Modem 60GB 5400rpm Ultra ATA Hard Drive Logitech Cordless MX Duo Keyboard and Mouse (Black/Silver) 2 x 512MB PC3200 DDR400 RAM SODIMM 15.1" SXGA+ High Contrast Active Matrix LCD Display (1400x1050) Guaranteed No Dead or Partially-Lit Pixels Aviator AX6 in Metallic Silver with Graphite Accents 3200+ AMD Athlon™ 64 DTR Processor w/ PowerNow!™ Tech. (800MHz FSB) VIA K8T800 + VT8235 Chipset Mobile Motherboard for AX6 Built-in Sound Blaster Compatible Audio (AX6) Integrated 10/100 Fast Ethernet Controller 2X DVD-R/W Drive w/ DVD Recording Software ATI Radeon Mobility 9600 Pro Turbo 128MB for AX6 (w/ TV Out) Internal 802.11b+g 54Mbps Wireless Mini PCI Network AdapterMy IT guy will hook me up w/ XP Pro, MS Office, Norton, etc, etc, so I opted for the burn-in only blank HD (72-hour burn in + deal pixel gaurantee = nice!!)I needed a laptop for business/travel purposes, and don't really have enough room atm for a full desk, etc. I also wanted a system I could *easily* game on, as well as a system that will LAST me a while w/o upgrades (>1GB RAM, AMD 64). Plus, I included an optical/wireless mouse and keyboard, which means that I should also be able to loaf on my bed/couch and surf/play/whatever through my HDTV via the ATI Radeon 9600's TV Out (albeit at a lower reso prolly...right?)Either way, I think the AX6 will fit like a glove.

[NSimkins]

Very nice! I can't see anything you wouldn't be able to do with this monster.

[Psychobroker]

Thanks Nick

[Keely]

Looks like a nice machine. I read a fairly positive review about that system recently, can't remember where though. My favorite part is the colour - I love red. Just remember that when you're going to use the TV out, the resolution on your screen is going to be pretty tough on your eyes when reading text and such. I had a similar system in place with the comparative desktop graphics card outputting on a 51" Toshiba, and it was hard to read too much or work on documents. Gaming was sweet though.

[Psychobroker]

Thanks for the info Keely, hopefully I won't go blind trying to read text on a 27" Samsung HDTV Was that 51" Toshiba a projection or one of the new plasmas? Do they even make a 51" plasma and/or LCD? ttalk about $$$ either way! Maybe enough to buy a used '03 Vibe LOL

[russ257]

that is a sweet system

[Keely]

Quote, originally posted by Psychobroker »Thanks for the info Keely, hopefully I won't go blind trying to read text on a 27" Samsung HDTV Was that 51" Toshiba a projection or one of the new plasmas? Do they even make a 51" plasma and/or LCD? Just your standard rear projection unit, hence the problems. It's a different story on plasmas because of their fixed resolution. I'll let you know in a couple of months when my plasma comes in (I know, I know, I'm a lucky little twerp - no tomatoes please!).

[AKLGT]

Quote, originally posted by Keely »Just your standard rear projection unit, hence the problems. It's a different story on plasmas because of their fixed resolution. I'll let you know in a couple of months when my plasma comes in (I know, I know, I'm a lucky little twerp - no tomatoes please!). oh... i HATE you! *mutters under breath*but, hey! very cool!

[Stang2Vibe]

I noticed the DVD RW drive was listed, but what about the CD RW? Or is it all in one drive? Might be hard to run most PC games that come on CD ROM's without a CD drive.Also, I'm not familiar with AMD processors, but 800 MHz seems kinda slow. I have a Pentium 4 that is 1.7 GHz and it is getting slow to run newer games, even though my memory is about 60% free. My graphics card is mediocre though, and I should upgrade it. Otherwise, everything works great. I could probably upgrade the RAM a bit too, I'm only running 256, should go up to 512. The 60 Gig hard drive on mine is handy, though. Not bad for it being about 3 1/2 years old now and never had to have anything fixed. I have a desktop, BTW.

[Psychobroker]

Quote »I have a Pentium 4 that is 1.7 GHz and it is getting slow to run newer games, even though my memory is about 60% free. My graphics card is mediocre though, and I should upgrade it. Otherwise, everything works great. I could probably upgrade the RAM a bit too, I'm only running 256, should go up to 512. The 60 Gig hard drive on mine is handy, though. Not bad for it being about 3 1/2 years old now and never had to have anything fixed. I have a desktop, BTWYour processor is just fine. What will speed up all applications, especially games, is additional RAM. I think I remember reading in another thread that your video card has 32 MBs of ram, which is also causing slow down on any newer games you might be playing. You could buy a 64 MB DDR card for under $100 now (nVIDIA geForce 4 440), and 128 MB for under $150 (geForce 4 ti?). To put it in perspective, my OLD desktop (before separation, the system I built and my ex seems to think she's holding for ransom LOL) was a PIII 500 (mhz - lol), with 512 MB of SDRAM (not DDR), a geForce 3 ti video card (64 MB DDR onboard ram), and cable modem. Even with the old PIII processor, I had very little problems running Everquest (with all expansions), a graphically intense online MMORPG game. I'm sure it would be able to run games like Planetside and Quake II, but I never tried. Sure, it would be slower than others, but it should be fine.As for the optical drive on the new laptop, it's a DVD RW/CD RW combo drive, which means you can burn/playback both forms of media on one drive. The AMD Athlon 64 processor is clocked at 3200+ MHz (3.2+ghz) and the 800 "FSB" you see is the front side/system bus. 800MHz is as fast as the fastest P4 HT systems (including the "extreme edition" processors). Had I gone with an AMD 64 processor w/ HyperTransport technology, I would have had a system bus speed of 1600MHz. My battery would have also probably died after 45 mins LOL.I can't wait

[millster]

Nice specs man. Except for the Athlon 64 and the DVD burner, looks pretty similar to my Gateway got a couple months ago. I'm sure you'll love it!

[Mr. Poopypants]

What was the total on that, that sounds like a decent computer. I usually just build my own, I'm a dork like that.

[Psychobroker]

I'd have built it myself had I gone for a desktop, but it's a laptop/DTR. I paid just under $2500 (my budget).

[Mr. Poopypants]

good deal!

[Stang2Vibe]

Thanks for the info, Psychobroker! I know a bit about computers, but not much in great detail. I'll be looking into those upgrades. They were available at the time I ordered this system, but were ridiculously expensive. With the way technology progresses and prices come down, I figured that this was plenty fast enough at that time and I could upgrade easily much cheaper in the future. Well the future has come!I do have the GeForce 2 card with 32 MB RAM. Looks like I'll be upgrading that. Do you think that I should also update my system RAM from 256 to 512 also? I forget which type it is, but I know it was the newer type at the time I bought the system that was faster and cost a bit more.Your optical drive and processor sound like they are rockin'! Cool stuff!

[Vibe Rater]

Quote, originally posted by Stang2Vibe »I noticed the DVD RW drive was listed, but what about the CD RW? Or is it all in one drive? Might be hard to run most PC games that come on CD ROM's without a CD drive.A DVD Rom/Writer will do everything a CD Rom/Writer will do.

[Stang2Vibe]

Yeah, Psychobroker went over that with me above. I get it now. Sorry, I'm not completely up to date on computer stuff.

[Psychobroker]

No prob Stang! I had to brush up on my current techno info before and during my month-long shopping/evaluation/comparison period. I would definitely upgrate to 512. It should help on all your applications. Suprisingly, an even cheaper upgrade is a GeForce 4 MX4000 video card. How can you beat $45.99 + $14.99 s/h for a 128 MB DDR card? I bought my old GeForce 3 ti from eBay (Chaintech was the manufacturer), and had no problems with this, so I would do it again.The GeForce 4 Ti 4600 is a better card, but also more $$. Then again, I'm pretty sure ATI's Radeon 9800 outperforms NVIDIA's GeForce 4 Ti in almost all benchmarks.

[Stang2Vibe]

$45.99 is a good price considering it was about $50 to upgrade to a 64 MB card when I bought the computer and I think that was the highest one offered at the time.So I'm a little confused here--the GeForce 4600 is the better card and costs a bit more, yet the Radeon 9800 outperforms it? Then why is the Nvidia card better? Less probs with it or something? Also, since my computer came with the GeForce card from the factory, would I have any probs with changing to a Radeon card?

[Psychobroker]

Sorry for the confusion. I only recommended the nVidia MX4000 because of it's dirt-cheap price. The ATI 9800 is hands-down a better card, but will also cost you close to $200 USD.In this order of both performance and price (generally speaking):ATI 9800 > nVidia geForce 4ti > geForce MX4000-Christian

[Stang2Vibe]

and any problems i might expect with changing brands?

[Psychobroker]

Nope, UNLESS the ATI card your system has is soldered onto the motherboard, then you'll have to disconnect it. Other than that, as long as it's an AGP card, which I think it is, you just remove it and replace with the nVidia, then install the nVidia drivers supplied with the card on CD-rom. I would then recommend you go to nVidia's webasite and download their most recent driver updates. Also go back and remove the old ATI drivers using Add/Remove Programs under Control Panel, just in case (prevents any potential conflicts).EDIT: To anyone else with more knowledge on this subject, PLEASE feel free to correct me if I am wrong. I don't like misinforming anyone LOL, even though that's exactly what I did with my old desktop (replaced an OLD ATI Rage 16 card with an nVidia geForce 3 ti 64 mb card)