another 'is this a good laptop' thread

[dmacfour]

Ya you must have the 8600m GT, there isn't any high GT besides that.

 

[69camaroSS]

Yeah, if you are going for mainly gaming, you need to find at least an 8600GT card. It still isn't optimal, but will do the trick. If you can order a machine with XP on it, it will fix alot of issues that you will contend with and will require less RAM. I only recommend this for laptops, because DX10 really isn't going to matter for a long time.

We are kinda in a weird bump with graphics cards, and it might be wise to wait it out. The 8600 series is really weak

I have an ASUS G1s that does well with most games, but I had to load XP on it to work with some of my older Games.

Extra cell battery is very useful, and the size never really bothers me. you are talking huge laptop anyway. It doubles my battery life, which for me is huge because I'm always in class and plugging up can be a pain.

Have you considerd a good desktop and with the extra money an EeePC or cheap laptop for class notes. There are many new cheap options for basic laptops and the trend is growing. MSI is coming out with a very promising option soon. These are small, easy to carry, and don't swallow up your desk. That is unless you want to game in class Unfortunately, this is almost always the best option for gamers.

 

[swotavator]

all, you have almost convinced me of getting the 6860, but I have ONE more question. if I were to increase my price point, what is the cheapest I could get something that still has an 8800 card yet actualyl has a 1920x1200 screen?

 

[lostandwandering]

There is a version of the Gateway with the WUXGA screen, but the price jumps to about 2K. At that point you can actually get a Sager laptop that has an 8800mGTX in it for about 2300. Besides these two, the Dell XPS M1730 and an Alienware, I haven't seen too much else out there with 8800 cards in them. I do agree though that the screen res of the Gateway is one of its few flaws. I'll keep looking and see if I can find anything else for you.

 

[swotavator]

thanks so much. i called gateway and looked at their 172x yesterday. 2.4 GHZ, and still the 8800, but that was also around 2000. And it still has a 1440 X whatever just like the 6860. They were willing to haggle down to 1750 which i though was nice, but i love that high res.

nice cat, too

 

[lostandwandering]

nice cat, too

Hehe, thanks. I love my avatar.
😀

 

[Enginerd]

Hey swotavator,

Look at the deal I just got on the P-172X FX.
http/www.tomshardware.com/forum/50432-35-laptop-college
its about $400 off the price of the original quote.
Don't know if you want as much warranty as I got, but in my case its "better safe than sorry".
I talked to quite a few people at gateway before I ordered. If you want I can give you the number of the person I talked to.
Also a tip when you talk to gateway, go to them with a price you want.
Tell them that your budget is, lets say $1650. Then they will be able to haggle with you for a great price. On my order I originally told them that my budget was $2100. So in the end they gave me a $2600 lappy for $2200. Good deal I think.

 

[swotavator]

oh man thats sweet. the fx i talked to the guy about retails at 2000, and he said 1750, but had me down for the 160$ and 100$ warranty and accidental damaging. you opted to go without those? if i went back and talked him down to 1700$ and then got rid of those, that might work i wonder. What of the gateway warranties do people find valuable?

 

[frozenlead]

A lot of people don't seem to remember there are two versions of the 8600M GT...a DDR2 and 3. The DDR3 version, as far as I know only offered by ASUS's G line, does much better than the DDR2, which is what everyone else sells.

 

[lostandwandering]

A lot of people don't seem to remember there are two versions of the 8600M GT...a DDR2 and 3. The DDR3 version, as far as I know only offered by ASUS's G line, does much better than the DDR2, which is what everyone else sells.

Actually from what I've noticed, the VRAM type tends to relate to the amount the card has. The DDR2 ones seem to mostly be the 512mb versions of the card (non shared memory versions), while the DDR3 are the 256mb ones. This isn't necessarily a rule, just something I noticed. IMO, I still wouldn't use an 8600GT for gaming.

 

[frozenlead]

I never noticed that...wow, good call. I still wouldn't use it, either, but if given the choice I'll take the lesser of two evils.

 

[d2ark]

Duuude, you're gettin' a Gateway! 😀

If you don't, you must love throwing around tons of cash for the same stuff, because I just picked one of these P-6860 FX buggers from BestBuy for $1250 + tax a couple days ago, and I am quite overwhelmingly impressed!

1) A graphics card that came in 5th in testing of nVidia cards (6th overall), just under the 8800M GTX (single & SLi configs), and SLi configs of the 7950Go and 7900Go video cards source:
http/www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Graphics-Cards-Benchmark-List.844.0.html

2) A decent (albeit weaker compared to other speed offerings) Core 2 Duo 1.83GHz CPU

3) 4GB of dual-channeled RAM - MAX RAM BY DEFAULT!!!

4) 320GB hard drive (largest available), even if it is 5400 RPM (and it is DUAL-DRIVE capable for two independent drives or RAID 0 or RAID 1)

5) HDMI and VGA outputs

6) Modem, Realtek Gb ethernet, eSATA port, Wireless a/b/g/n, SD/XD card reader, 3 USB ports, 1 ExpressCard 54 slot

7) Multi-format DVD-RW drive

In addition, it has the ability to be EASILY upgraded to a better CPU (Socket P), allowing the installation of 2.5GHz (so far as I know) C2D's, possibly Quads if they come out for that socket....

So what you have is a VERY capable gaming laptop / desktop replacement machine with the foreseeable upgrade-ability of a desktop (better processor, 2nd hard drive). After all, as long as the drives are SATA and the processor Socket P, you could conceivably upgrade, especially since those items, and more, are EASILY accessible via two bottom panels.

In my case, it DID replace my power-sucking desktop rig:

Pentium-D 3.4GHz 2MB (LGA775)
2GB Dual-channeled DDR2 (2x 1GB)
GeForce 7950GT 512MB (PCI-E)
1.32 TB storage: 1x 320GB SATA2, 2x 500GB SATA2 hard drives
DVD-RW multi-format burner drive
600W Antec Power Supply
19" Widescreen Viewsonic VA1912wb LCD Monitor

Except the actual amount of internal storage and rotational speeds, in terms of actual performance, it is well beyond what my desktop rig contained.

Also, one modification I did after a mere two hours of it being in my possession: wiped the drive clean of Vista 64 Home Premium and upgraded to XP Pro SP2 (SP3 now). I went from having 1.1GB of my RAM in use to run just the OS (Vista) to a small 236MB to run the OS in use at any time (XP Pro). It took some doing, but a nice forum was good enough to show me how to do it, and all I can say is WOW!

A similarly-built rig on any other manufacturer is easily twice the price (or more) than this little wonder.

GET - ONE - NOW!!!