New laptop advice |
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VanderGraafKommandöh
Prog Reviewer Joined: July 04 2005 Location: Malaria Status: Offline Points: 89372 |
Posted: April 23 2008 at 03:01 | |
The one I linked, is ideal. The card in that is a GeForce 8400M GS, which isn't on that benchmark test. The GT version is though. Edited by James - April 23 2008 at 03:04 |
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KoS
Forum Senior Member Joined: May 17 2005 Location: Los Angeles Status: Offline Points: 16310 |
Posted: April 23 2008 at 03:06 | |
So there you have it.
Although I'd ask around a bit more, do a little Google search, catch my drift? |
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VanderGraafKommandöh
Prog Reviewer Joined: July 04 2005 Location: Malaria Status: Offline Points: 89372 |
Posted: April 23 2008 at 03:09 | |
Well yes, I didn't say I was going to buy it from that particular company, that's just one of the sites I was looking at.
It's strange how the 8400M GS isn't on the benchmark testing though, is it newer than the GT model? I'm guessing it is. I'll Google it. It was on the list, even though I did look... Google found it. It's below a GT. Edited by James - April 23 2008 at 03:13 |
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KoS
Forum Senior Member Joined: May 17 2005 Location: Los Angeles Status: Offline Points: 16310 |
Posted: April 23 2008 at 03:22 | |
Well, unless you intend on spending more than you said,
you're probably not going to find any great performing graphics card on a laptop. |
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VanderGraafKommandöh
Prog Reviewer Joined: July 04 2005 Location: Malaria Status: Offline Points: 89372 |
Posted: April 23 2008 at 03:36 | |
Well I'm not a huge game player anyhow and the games I do have, or plan to have, should run fine anyhow.
Stangely, that laptop is in clearance, yet it seems the be one of the fastest HP laptops they sell... peculiar. |
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MikeEnRegalia
Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator Joined: April 22 2005 Location: Sweden Status: Offline Points: 21022 |
Posted: April 23 2008 at 04:46 | |
That doesn't make much sense to me. AMD on a laptop ... that's a bit experimental. Intel Core 2 Duo is the way to go IMO. |
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VanderGraafKommandöh
Prog Reviewer Joined: July 04 2005 Location: Malaria Status: Offline Points: 89372 |
Posted: April 23 2008 at 06:55 | |
That's what I'm going to go for (Intel Core 2 Duo), Mike. I've been convinced.
I've been reading about dual booting from a Vista pre-install and it's not straight forward at all! I might actually be better off sticking with an XP installation and avoiding Vista for ages. Dual booting is possible though, but it's fraught with issues, especially as early XP doesn't recognise SATA drives and my new laptop will likely have a SATA drive in it. There's also the issue with XP only being able to recognise a 150 gb partition. So I'm not sure what to do. I also have a sneaky suspicion the XP disc I have access to is an update disc, rather than a full install, so I might not be able to dual boot. Edited by James - April 23 2008 at 06:55 |
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Dean
Special Collaborator Retired Admin and Amateur Layabout Joined: May 13 2007 Location: Europe Status: Offline Points: 37575 |
Posted: April 23 2008 at 07:04 | |
^ the 150g partition issue with XP has been fixed - the Maxtor website has the patch.
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What?
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VanderGraafKommandöh
Prog Reviewer Joined: July 04 2005 Location: Malaria Status: Offline Points: 89372 |
Posted: April 23 2008 at 07:19 | |
Yes, but if I dual boot, when I'm installing XP, I won't have that fix to begin with, so it won't recognise the shrunken partition that Vista created... or so I've read. I also don't think the install disc I have (it may only be an update disc) has any updates on it. If it was an SP 2 install, it wouldn't be so bad.
More problems... the video card in the laptop I'm looking at, won't support XP and it's also Direct X 10, which also apparently isn't supported in XP updates. There is a workaround, but I am not sure if the card will function as fully as it would in Vista. Microsoft really know how to screw their customers. I'm slowly regretting my decision... if only I could find a decent spec XP laptop new. Edited by James - April 23 2008 at 07:43 |
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MikeEnRegalia
Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator Joined: April 22 2005 Location: Sweden Status: Offline Points: 21022 |
Posted: April 23 2008 at 10:57 | |
One thing you could do ist to use Vista 64 and 4GB of RAM. Then you can install VMWare Server (it's free) and install your old copy of WinXP in a virtual machine. It's relatively straight forward to set up and use. You can also run most apps in Vista if you configure the compatibility mode correctly. Edited by MikeEnRegalia - April 23 2008 at 11:00 |
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Padraic
Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator Joined: February 16 2006 Location: Pennsylvania Status: Offline Points: 31169 |
Posted: April 23 2008 at 13:07 | |
Cool - didn't know VMWare had a free product. I used their workstation long ago (not free) and ran a Windows VM on a Linux host....I'll have to check out server to see if I can do similar now (beats dual boot). |
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VanderGraafKommandöh
Prog Reviewer Joined: July 04 2005 Location: Malaria Status: Offline Points: 89372 |
Posted: April 23 2008 at 16:03 | |
I've read that not all apps work in VMWare though when using XP under Vista. A dual boot would be the best way of doing it.
Anyhow, I'm slowly going off the idea and I think I'll end up getting an XP machine. Only problem is, the ones I am looking at only have 120 Gb drives, which I guess is big enough for my requirements, but I'd prefer a 250 Gb. I will of course have an external drive (most likely 1 Tb -- if XP doesn't have issues with it, of course), but I don't want that plugged in all the time and of course, the main applications should be on the C: I'm also sure they have Intel GMA cards in and as I said, I'd rather an nVidia or an ATI. I don't think I have a full XP install anyhow. I'm completely frustrated now. I'm at a loss. Edited by James - April 23 2008 at 16:04 |
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Padraic
Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator Joined: February 16 2006 Location: Pennsylvania Status: Offline Points: 31169 |
Posted: April 23 2008 at 16:14 | |
hmm...a drive with pretty much apps only, 120 GB should be enough, if all your data will live on the external. you could always try to get the machine configured with the smallest drive they have and then buy another internal drive (>= 250 GB) from somewhere...they're not too expensive. |
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VanderGraafKommandöh
Prog Reviewer Joined: July 04 2005 Location: Malaria Status: Offline Points: 89372 |
Posted: April 23 2008 at 16:40 | |
I have a lot of applications as well as computer games that individually take up over a gigabyte without the expansions and other bits and bobs.
Neverwinter Nights is a huge game and I plan to get Neverwinter Nights 2 in the future, so I'm going to need internal space. I really don't fancy running software from an external drive. My current machine has: C: 28.6 Gb (only 2.03 Gb left, with Neverwinter Nights installed) D: 3.90 Gb (with 1.72 Gb left) - this is a partition of C: I think F: 17.1 Gb (with 2.01 Gb left) - this is a separate drive As you can see, this current setup pushes my system fully. A 120 Gb drive would be sufficient for all this software, but do bear in mind I've uninstalled a lot of stuff to make space. XP may well take up more space than 2000 too, so I think a 120 Gb. would be almost full.... I will need a bigger drive. |
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Padraic
Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator Joined: February 16 2006 Location: Pennsylvania Status: Offline Points: 31169 |
Posted: April 23 2008 at 17:22 | |
James:
http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/topics/segtopic.aspx/winxp_inspnnb?c=uk&cs=ukdhs1&l=en&s=dhs If you click on the "customize" button, you can select Windows XP for your OS, for another 50 quid. |
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VanderGraafKommandöh
Prog Reviewer Joined: July 04 2005 Location: Malaria Status: Offline Points: 89372 |
Posted: April 23 2008 at 18:32 | |
You're potentially a lifesaver! These look much better. Thanks!
I'm just hoping XP and SATA will work together, I'm sure they will. I'm still worried about a high specification machine like this running XP without issues.... I don't know if nVidia even do drivers for XP in that range, I guess they do, otherwise Dell wouldn't be offering it. I have a lot of choices too... hmm, a better graphics card would be nice, just in case I ever do decide to buy graphics intensive games |
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VanderGraafKommandöh
Prog Reviewer Joined: July 04 2005 Location: Malaria Status: Offline Points: 89372 |
Posted: April 23 2008 at 18:48 | |
Thanks.
I'm not a business customer, so I'll see what I can do... that machine you pointed me to looks lovely. It's pretty top spec, has XP option and the GeForce Go 7950 GTX is for DirectX 9, which is perfect and will run on XP. I get the best of all worlds and with all those options, I don't care that it's over a grand. I may definitely get this. I know Dell are a huge company, so I hope to not envisage any issues here. Any bad experiences? |
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KoS
Forum Senior Member Joined: May 17 2005 Location: Los Angeles Status: Offline Points: 16310 |
Posted: April 23 2008 at 18:54 | |
Those XPS' are really cool, one of my teachers has it.
The only problem, he says is battery life. |
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VanderGraafKommandöh
Prog Reviewer Joined: July 04 2005 Location: Malaria Status: Offline Points: 89372 |
Posted: April 23 2008 at 18:56 | |
Hmm, do I decide to get Office 97... I plan to use OpenOffice from now on, but can I justify not having Office?
It comes with Works, which is all integrated, but hmm... I hate decision making. |
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VanderGraafKommandöh
Prog Reviewer Joined: July 04 2005 Location: Malaria Status: Offline Points: 89372 |
Posted: April 23 2008 at 18:58 | |
That's not a huge issue for me, because I don't get out much. There's a few circumstances where I may require it though, such as at Family History Centres and such like. |
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