The Laptop Guide - Post here for questions, deals, etc.

[mootsfox]

I have a question for those who bought dell vostro. Do you have them send it directly to you, but under your working company's name and telephone? Or send to the place where you guys work?


I'm thinking to buy it, but I am thinking that asking my friend who is work in some company to help me buy it, or I'm gonna to ask my professor to see if he can assist me so that I buy it under the name of the university (sincee I will be RA in a few weeks).

I had mine shipped to my home address under the company name "Mootsfox Inc.".

[Chreman]

Hey Moots, I'm looking at the first laptop listed in the OP and you mention a quick blurb about playing games. Any chance that laptop can run WoW? Obviously not at full settings, but an $800 SNES wow machine doesn't seem that bad.

[mootsfox]

Unless you need a laptop, I'd tell you to get a desktop for playing games.

But yes, it will have no trouble running WoW, FFXI, or emulators. I've only tried a N64 one, but it ran smoothly.

[Callisto]

Regarding that first Dell, definitely something I'm interested in, but was just curious...

How does FFXI actually look on it? I play on 360 currently, and don't play PC games, I need a solid laptop for work/school/internet and FFXI as the only game, but I'd like it to at least look as good as/better than the 360 w/o lagging.

I know nothing about computers so I won't pretend to lol, is this still solid enough to play on high settings?

[Osede]

I just got my dell vostro 1500 yesterday, still haven't installing FF yet, but i have done install and update wow. if any one want to know how great it is, it is close to 60fps in shattrah city, which is just almost same as the performance as my desktop. Where my old laptop which currently still on use is only able to get around 5-15fps in shattrah city.

my vostro spec is:
2.0ghz c2d 800mhz fsb
2gb ram
geforce 8600M GT
window xp home sp2
and some irrelavent spec...

[Livette]

Quick question guys and gals,

I've been playing FFXI on Sony S/SZ Laptops for a few years now (I'm on my third laptop now) and I've always had no issues running FFXI. The original Geforce Go 6800 and now Go 7400 have run FFXI perfectly. I'm going to be upgrading in the next few weeks again to a Sony SZ780 and this time it has a Geforce 8400M GS card in it and will ship with Windows Vista.

I've tried running Vista on my older laptops but always went back to XP due to crappy frame rates (like everyone else) in FFXI. When I get my new laptop I'm going to give Vista + Beta Nvidia drivers + FFXI a try and see how it goes.

My question is; If the Vista + Beta Nvidia drivers + FFXI combo fails, can I just downgrade to XP and run FFXI the same or better than what I'm used to on my old laptops?

If anyone needs more info the laptop, or something close as I'll be customizing the one I buy, is linked below:

http://www.sonystyle.ca/commerce/ser...n100299n100306

Thanks in advance!

[Cephius]

Quick question guys and gals,

I've been playing FFXI on Sony S/SZ Laptops for a few years now (I'm on my third laptop now) and I've always had no issues running FFXI. The original Geforce Go 6800 and now Go 7400 have run FFXI perfectly. I'm going to be upgrading in the next few weeks again to a Sony SZ780 and this time it has a Geforce 8400M GS card in it and will ship with Windows Vista.

I've tried running Vista on my older laptops but always went back to XP due to crappy frame rates (like everyone else) in FFXI. When I get my new laptop I'm going to give Vista + Beta Nvidia drivers + FFXI a try and see how it goes.

My question is; If the Vista + Beta Nvidia drivers + FFXI combo fails, can I just downgrade to XP and run FFXI the same or better than what I'm used to on my old laptops?

If anyone needs more info the laptop, or something close as I'll be customizing the one I buy, is linked below:

http://www.sonystyle.ca/commerce/ser...n100299n100306

Thanks in advance!

It should be fine on Vista, but if you are one of the unlucky ones that still has issues, downgrading to XP and running it on that should fix your problem for sure.

[Boyiee]

Ok, Decided.

Within the next month I'd like to have a laptop, which will be a portable desktop, and i want it to play WoW extremely well (maybe not full settings but i run about 25-30mb of addons). I will be bringing it to work, where I will have alot of downtime. So it needs to be a 2nd desktop pretty much. I'd like to play cod4 on it, but I don't expect full settings of this, but fooling around would be nice. Homework will be done on it too, I'll bring it to class blahblah the typical stuff. I doubt I'll be getting into any visual programs like photoshop or anything so that is moot, I have friends that do that stuff and my artistic side is not computer related.

Looking to spend probably around $2500 if I need to. Not interested in 17inch. Really interested in a macbook pro, but no idea how well I can trust those vid cards.

2gb ram is what I use on my desktop, so thats fine on a laptop for me I'd think. If I got vista, well I guess it would have to be ultimate right? With 4gb ram? I'd like it to not bog down and I'd like to get alot out of it.

So, Is a macbook pro a good idea? Can I trust their vid cards and all that? Will it do what I'm looking for? A mobile desktop basically? Or should I stick to an ibuypower, dell xps, or something else?

Edit: I do multitask somewhat; I run aim/msn in the backround 99% of the time when online, and I like to browse web while playing.

[mootsfox]

I'd highly suggest AGAINST getting a macbook. They are generally overpriced by 10-50% and you'll still need to buy Vista if you want to play games other than WoW.

http://www.alienware.com/Configurator_P ... KU-DEFAULT


15.4" WideXGA+ 1440 x 900 LCD (720p) with Clearview Technology [-$150]
15.4" WideUXGA 1920 x 1200 LCD (1200p)


256MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 8600M GT [-$500]
512MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 8700M GT [-$350]
512MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 8800M GTX

Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T8100 2.1GHz (3MB Cache 800MHz FSB) [-$150]
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T8300 2.4GHz (3MB Cache 800MHz FSB)
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T9300 2.5GHz (6MB Cache 800MHz FSB) [+$100 or $3/mo.]
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T9500 2.6GHz (6MB Cache 800MHz FSB) [+$375 or $12/mo.]
Intel® Core™ 2 Extreme X9000 2.8GHz (6MB Cache 800MHz FSB) [+$750 or $23/mo.]

Total from Alienware: $2,299

Remember I only listed the stuff to change.

You'll need to replace the harddrive with either:
Speed : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6822145160
Space : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6822136197

And the memory/RAM as well:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820227251

Total will be around $2,500.

To answer your 4gb and Vista questions... A 32bit OS can only address 4GB worth of RAM. This is for all system RAM, so your graphics card counts here too. You will have 3.5GB of your 4GB actual if you go with the above laptop. It's fine to fine like that, but you do lose an 1/8 of your RAM, thought you probably won't notice the difference. If you want to go 64bit, you can, but you really don't need to.

[Boyiee]

I've never replaced ram or hd or anything in laptop before lol, should be fun.

Why will i Need to replace those things?

Edit: Also, that system has the option of Xp, vista, or vista business - Is XP still better then vista home or whatever? Cause I would like to keep running xp.

[Callisto]

Ok now that I have a second account I'm much more spurred to pick up a new laptop ASAP...I know dick all about computers, I basically have $1000~ to spend and just need something that can run FFXI at a decent FPS while still looking good and running the internet and maybe a media player at the same time without huge slowdown(I'm not sure how hard this is to get, my only laptop experiences so far are with very shitty ThinkPads). I don't really need an insane gaming computer or anything, I don't intend to use it for any games outside of FFXI.

Any recommendations would be appreciated.

[mootsfox]

I've never replaced ram or hd or anything in laptop before lol, should be fun.

Why will i Need to replace those things?

Edit: Also, that system has the option of Xp, vista, or vista business - Is XP still better then vista home or whatever? Cause I would like to keep running xp.

You'll get Home Premium with that laptop, which is better than XP.

You will be replacing the harddrive anyways, so you can load whatever OS you want.

I suggest buying the RAM and Harddrive from newegg because it's $500 less than buying the same stuff from alienware.

[Boyiee]

How much better is the newegg harddrive? I know it's fast, but is that really gonna make a noticeable performance increase? I don't need the space, but the 1.5gb/s is amazing on the one. For the extra money I'm just curious as to how much i'll actually feel it and notice it.

[mootsfox]

How much better is the newegg harddrive? I know it's fast, but is that really gonna make a noticeable performance increase? I don't need the space, but the 1.5gb/s is amazing on the one. For the extra money I'm just curious as to how much i'll actually feel it and notice it.

It's quite a bit faster. You'll notice the difference I'd say.

You say you don't need space, but I dunno if you understand how little 120GB is.

Currently I have a 160GB harddrive in my laptop and after two games, a few movies and a couple songs, I'm done to 60GB free. Vista alone is about 15-20GB, you lose about 8-9% in formatting, and it's good to keep about 10%+ free on your harddrive, although with 4gb of RAM, that's not really an issue.

I'd go with the Space personally. But the Speed one will feel faster. The Space one will feel faster as well because of the higher data density, and therefore higher transfer rates.

The 1.5Gb/s is just the max bandwidth of the SATA port. Your drive will likely transfer at about 45-60MB/s max (.36-.48gb/s)

[Boyiee]

I've never used more than 80gb in my life, I know how much space I need. I don't sit here and torrent movies music and programs all day long. I think i only have 3 movies on my pc now, and i'll probably delete them soon since I only watch most things once. In fact, the pc I'm on now only has an 80gb drive. Typically if i notice it getting too full, I look around and notice there is about 10-20gb of stuff i haven't touched in a month or more, or, I just reformat.

I think it's a waste to pay so much for all that space I'll never use, and I feel bad for people who pay a lot for a laptop with bad specs but a 300gb drive (lol bestbuy models). But thats me, everyone is different. If I don't understand how little it is, than in comparison you don't understand how MUCH it is. Like I said, everyone is different, that's why that 120gb drive is very appealing to me, I can't imagine using the entire thing.

Not to mention, you say the vista takes up a lot of space, and yeah I used to have it so I remember that much, however I'll probably be upgrading to XP anyway. I'd like at least a 7200rpm drive, so maybe I'll find something in between the 2 or just go with the one from alienware.

However thank you for the recommendation, I'm pretty sure I'll be going with that model. Typically I stay away from alienware but with how much I'm willing to spend this time around, it's not too bad of an idea to go with one.

[mootsfox]

In the end it's completely up to you. I just try to advise you down the best future for present and future. If you don't want 320GB, that's fine, and personally I don't see the need for that in a laptop. However, I do think 120GB is going to be cramping. The 200GB 7200RPM does combine the best of both worlds, and you will notice an increase in performance over the 5400RPM model.

But it's all up to you.

You will need the 4GB of RAM though, and there is no reason not to buy it when it's less then 1/4 the cost of what Alienware makes you pay. Also I think they stock their notebooks with DDR2-667, which is fine, but DDR2-800 will offer about 15% more bandwidth.

[Tormentormike]

Hey Moots, thanks for all you advice so far. The Vostro 1500 looks very appealing as well, and reading up on it, everyone who has purchased one has given a good review on it.

Just one little thing, when following the recommended setup you posted in the OP, I was customizing it to how you specified but when I got to the graphics card, there wasn't an option for the 8600, only 8400. Will that be a noticeable difference? I'm not computer savvy in the slightest with all the technical mumbo jumbo. Thanks!

[Eohuo]

Ok, So I read through this thread in its entirety after almost hitting my head against a desk for weeks trying to figure out what laptop to get. I need to find something that can hold up with gaming and also manage excel books, word, video, etc. I kinda liked the Vostro 1500 because of its simplicity and made a quick run through of the site to get an idea about pricing.

I had one question, below is the build that I put in on my first run through. Could you comment if it would suit my purposes? Also, if you have any ideas about cost cutting, I am completely open to that.

My System Details
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T9300 (2.5GHz/800Mhz FSB/6MB cache)
Genuine Windows® XP Professional
2 Year Basic Limited Warranty and 2 Year NBD On-Site Service
15.4 in Wide Screen SXGA+LCD Display w/TrueLife™
2GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz, 2 DIMM
8X CD/DVD Burner w/ double-layer DVD+R write capability, w/ Roxio Creator
128MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ 8400M GS
160GB 5400RPM Hard Drive
Dell Exclusive MediaDirect™ Instant Play Software Application
Intel 4965AGN Wireless-N Internal-card
Dell Wireless 355 Bluetooth Internal (2.0 + Enhanced Data Rate), WinXP
No Webcam Option
My Accessories
85 WHr 9-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
Belkin Laptop Cooling Stand with Fan
My Software
Microsoft Office 2007 Basic
Norton Internet Security 2008 15-Month Subscription
Free Microsoft Office Live Small Business
Norton 360 2.0 All-in-One Security
Adobe® Acrobat® Reader
My Services & Warranties
No Online Data Back Up Installed
1 Year Dell Automated PC Tuneup
Dell Network Assistant
No Onsite System Setup
Support Reforestation: Plant a Tree for Me
Purchase is not intended for resale.
Also Included
High Definition Audio 2.0
Integrated 10/100 Network Card and Modem
Windows XP™
Intel Centrino Core Duo Processor

The whole thing came to $1,661.00 and shipping was free, thankfully. My budget is under 2,000 - closer to 1700 is what I am shooting for. I would appreciate any help with this because I really don't know what I am doing. I want a good system and don't want to pay for something in the range of alienware.

[Cephius]

Just remember that a 128MB laptop video card will not run the latest games at high settings. Everything else should be fine for what you want to use it for though. I also wouldn't pay for Office 2007 unless you really need it. You can get it cheaper elsewhere, or just use Open Office which is free.

[Eohuo]

Just remember that a 128MB laptop video card will not run the latest games at high settings. Everything else should be fine for what you want to use it for though. I also wouldn't pay for Office 2007 unless you really need it. You can get it cheaper elsewhere, or just use Open Office which is free.

Ok, so I have a question. The 128 vid card was the only option. Is there a cheap alternative to upgrading by myself or is there another comprable computer package? Also, what is Open Office? Pardon my stupidity, I just really want to make the XP deadline because it is fast approaching.