Laptop rant...

[ak_47_boy]

My 4 years old laptop broke. I am looking for a new one...

I can't believe how little laptop technology has advanced in 4 years. The screens are mostly all still XGA/WXGA! What kind of stone age technology is this? My god, XGA was crap 4 years ago :down: They all have HORRENDOUS graphics too short of buying a $2000 35lb sager. CPU's are decent thanks to Core2. Then we have the built in webcam, oh boy i can't take the value.

I was considering buying the IdeaPad Y710 with the 1920x1200 and HD2600XT 512mb for $1500. Looked good, but then i saw it has surround sound...surround sound...surround :banana::banana::banana::banana: sound...and a bloody SUBWOOFER. Upon further research i find Lenovo is now Chinese. So there it goes, no more quality laptops. I can't take the cheap plastic, i will smash the whole works and flush it down the toilet too.

bhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

[STEvil]

Yeah, cant agree more.

New tech coming down the barrel (ATi Lasso) but doubt it will be adopted very well... nobody took advantage of the similar function that Sony's VIAO line provided anyways.

[m0da]

i'm on a vaio atm... little over 4 years old! the vid card on this... 16mb mobility radeon (7500, i think). I can't run linux effects cause the drivers don't work with this darn card. i can't overclock it with setfsb or clockgen is it... the touchpad doesn't work at all sometimes :( bluetooth doesn't work now either :(

i look at new laptops from time to time.. what i hate is that, 15 and 17" laptops have a lot of goodies, but 13,14" laptops are treated like crap! I think 14" is the perfect laptop size, but they get almost no goodies (eg gfx card) :(

dell m1330's have a nice price/perf ratio though.

more power to you bud! we need better laptops!!!!!

[RPA]

Laptops have come a long way in the last couple of years GPU wise. You can get a 15" UXGA with 8800 GTX GPU at only 7lbs (Alienware m15x). Sager is supposed to be coming out with a 15" with 8800 GTX GPU pretty soon as well. I agree with you on the subs though. That's just ridicules in a laptop.

The reason why 14" laptops don't have high end GPU's is because the physical dimensions aren't large enough to deal with the heat. As I said earlier they are just now getting them in 15" laptops in which to me is a perfect size. 17" is just to much for a laptop. You can get an 8600GT GPU in a 14" notebook though and that's a pretty good card. It has enough power to play every game so far.

[LagunaX]

Here's an interesting link for you:
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=193954&highlight=puma

[STEvil]

Here's an interesting link for you:
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=193954&highlight=puma

Does not support Lasso.

[Omastar]

i'm on a vaio atm... little over 4 years old! the vid card on this... 16mb mobility radeon (7500, i think). I can't run linux effects cause the drivers don't work with this darn card. i can't overclock it with setfsb or clockgen is it... the touchpad doesn't work at all sometimes :( bluetooth doesn't work now either :(

i look at new laptops from time to time.. what i hate is that, 15 and 17" laptops have a lot of goodies, but 13,14" laptops are treated like crap! I think 14" is the perfect laptop size, but they get almost no goodies (eg gfx card) :(

dell m1330's have a nice price/perf ratio though.

more power to you bud! we need better laptops!!!!!

15.4" laptops are where it's at.

[Lestat]

go to the dell refurb site and pick out a Inspiron 1520 or better.

i got one that didnt have a single scuff, mark or anything for under $1100, but i got this back in november.

2.2ghz T7500
1gb ram (upgraded to 2gb (2x1gb OCZ ram) for like 60 bucks i=off the internet but its cheaper now)
nvidia 8600M GT
80gb 7200rpm sata II drive - larger would have been better but i have a 2.5" usb drive that i store anything large on)
15" 1440x900 (which is the perfect resolution for 15" IMHO ) w/ webcam
dvd d/l burner
wifi (no N on it though as i thought i wouldn't be switching to N but ended up getting a sweet N router so now i need to upgrade)
windows vista basic, which instantly got dumped and i dual boot with XP, and rarely use vista

this laptop is all i could have asked for. its cheaper now too. you can get them for 800-ish.

dont fear the refurb site, i have never gotten a raw deal from there and i have bought a few systems and even more for work machines at the office.

dell's always running coupons for 15% off refurb inspiron desktops and laptops.

dell refurb is the Dell Outlet so you'll see plenty of Dell Outlet coupons floating around.

i was playing medal of honor airborne on this too in case you were wondering.
the video card has plenty of power. and its CUDA certified for when more CUDA ap's come out.

[ZOMGVTEK]

I find my MacBook Pro to be a decent laptop. Screen looks good (after you calibrate it) and the wireless n is about as fast as wired, decent battery life, graphics are good enough, but it is a little low on cpu power with only 2 cores at 2.6, but it gets the job done.

[Entity_Razer]

I was looking at a Macbook myself, when the hardware gets refreshed (estimated to happen in august)

but I don't know yet, 13" is a bit small I reckon, comming from a 15 inch.

I can get a good HP one, but its a bit to costly for my taste at 1700 euro's. Defenitly worth it, but... a bit to much for what I WANT to spend (I CAN spend it but then i'd have to drop some stuff I'd really want as well again)