Desktop replacement thin-and-light?

aurelianis · n00b Joined: 28 May 2003 Posts: 15 Location: Ann Arbor, MI

While this may be a bit premature, I'll be graduating from college next summer and probably doing a whole lot of travelling. So I'm thinking that my next computer will almost definitely be a notebook, what with the insane advances in notebook tech lately. I would like to completely replace my desktop with a mobile machine - solid performance, strong graphics, lots of options for input/output/storage - but at the same time I want abilities usually reserved for often-impotent ultraportables, like low weight (~4 lbs.) and long battery life (~3.5 hrs.). I play a fair number of games, probably the most demanding being UT2k3. Based on the horror stories I've read about the 855GM chipset on these forums, I'm leaning towards a Radeon M9. My desktop now is an Athlon XP 2200+, and I'd be quite happy with performance around that level.

Problem is, most notebook reviews I read assume that the notebook is a secondary device, with a desktop system for "real" work. Especially with thin-and-light notebooks. I'd like something smallish and highly portable that can be the one computer in my life. Is what I'm looking for even possible yet? Any suggestions on brands/models to look into? I'm starting to like the Dell 600m, but I look forward to hearing about companies I might've overlooked.

puggy · Posted: Sun Jul 13, 2003 8:14 am Post subject:

If you don't need windows powerbooks are very sweet. They feel more durable then other laptops and look sweet. They're pretty powerful and manage to pack a lot of features into a very tiny space.

Puggy
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/usr/Bananaman · n00b Joined: 03 Nov 2002 Posts: 26

My Compaq Presario is perfect for what I need, but the ATI video card is pretty sluggish for games - anything else I need this for works beautifully!

RaceMouse · n00b Joined: 13 Jul 2003 Posts: 31 Location: DK

Hi aurelianis,

About 1½ years ago I decided to put my T-bird 1400 in the server room of an other dorm and use only my laptop as my "main" computer. There are pretty ok network connections to the other dorm (1Gb most of the way and 100Mb the rest) so the T-bird is now working as file server using Samba. This means that my laptop has immidiate access to ~180GB storage so disk space is now not an issue for me. This solution works perfectly for me as the laptop is quite powerfull (ASUS L3800C). The main O/S is ofcourse Gentoo (is there any other way ?) and the secondary O/S is W2K. I need to have Win installed on the machine because that is the only way (yet) to use the TV-Out feature :cry:

Apart from that I like this solution because I can take my 'puter with me when ever I want and yet I have more than adequate perfomance for my use. GlxGears indicate 1160 fps which made it possible to play RTCW.

I think the IBM T40 series are quite nice AND robust. I like the Dell's too but would _NEVER_ buy one because I cannot buy it without Win installed. (At least not in DK but I think it's a worldwide thing...)

Anyways: That's my experience

aurelianis · n00b Joined: 28 May 2003 Posts: 15 Location: Ann Arbor, MI

I spent a lot of time looking into the Powerbooks. Sleek and light with nice features...my only problem would be what to do with the mounds of Windows games I have lying around. I could probably do without most of them, but that's still ~4 games I already own that I have to buy brand-new Macintosh versions of. And while the PPC is definitely a more streamlined and efficient processor than x86, it still lags behind considerably (at least for G4). One informal benchmark I read had G4 performing at the same level as an equivalent-speed P3.

If the new G5's ever lead to a price drop on G4 powerbooks, maybe I'll be more interested, but as it stands there are much better deals for the money on the x86 side, IMHO. Maybe when Dothan comes out the PM's will go down too.

RaceMouse, gotta agree with you on the T40, but ~$3100 is out of my price range - unless I can get my parents to chip in for part of it as a graduation gift

About the "MSFT tax", IBM requires you to purchase Windows as well.

puggy · Posted: Sun Jul 13, 2003 8:35 pm Post subject:

wilburpan · l33t Joined: 21 Jan 2003 Posts: 977

puggy · Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2003 7:25 am Post subject:

aurelianis · n00b Joined: 28 May 2003 Posts: 15 Location: Ann Arbor, MI

Something new caught my eye...

Velocity Micro just put out a new notebook called the B50. Pentium-M, up to 1GB DDR333, 60GB 7200RPM HD, 15" SXGA+ and Radeon 9000 64MB graphics, with 5 hours of battery life and NO WINDOWS! Sells for around $2500, which is not bad at all.

Notebooks just look better and better every week.

mpsii · l33t Joined: 11 Mar 2003 Posts: 658 Location: Jackson, TN

Sony has new notebooks with the GeForce FX Go cards in them. That or go for one with an ATI 9000 card.

Since you are an avid gamer, I would stay away from the Mac Powerbooks, since the newer ones have nVidia cards which currently do not have 3D Acceleration on PPC platforms. You could go for the TiBook with the ATI 9000, but I think you may be better off on the x86 market with a Sony, Alienware, or Dell.

--Personal Opinion -> Compaq... Comcrap... just a thought after spending the last 4 years working with them. Especially for gaming... geez
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Michael

zhenlin · Veteran Joined: 09 Nov 2002 Posts: 1361

mpsii · l33t Joined: 11 Mar 2003 Posts: 658 Location: Jackson, TN

Ummm... this is the Gentoo forum... right? Not apple?

Just asking (I must be in a bad mood...)
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Michael

aurelianis · n00b Joined: 28 May 2003 Posts: 15 Location: Ann Arbor, MI

mpsii's right, this is the Gentoo forum. While I would definitely keep OSX installed and mess around with it now and then, my main intention is to run Gentoo on whatever laptop I decide on. Thanks for the info though.