Tell me what you think.

[H2SO4]

im looking to buy a laptop computer. I wanty a laptop becuase i like the portabilitly. Im probaly going to buy the DELL 600m notebook. Heres the link to the way ive custyomized it and stuff. Tell me what you think. http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?c=us&cs=19&l=en&oc=i600MS1&s=dhs#bottom_anchor

 

 

 

And i know theres going to be alot of people here telling me that dell sucks, but me and my family use a dell dimension 4600 and im very satisfied with the machine.

[Edward]

Looks like a nice deal I assume that you don't plan on doing any gaming but I would reccommend getting a system with good video the video cards included with dells are rarely any good for anything BUT web browsing from what I understand their laptops can lag while watching DVDs. Other than the video card I would reccommend upgrading the ram to 512 MB cause your going to want to eventually so may as well save the time it takes to order and install buy it now. Finnally buy an extra battery most laptop batterys wont last more than a year and by then you may be unable to get replacements new.

[H2SO4]

Well, i plan on getting the 756mb of RAM. What i will be using this system for is internet, some word documents (like school stuff) music, DVD, instant messaging, and many other things. I wont be doing any gaming. Should i upgrade to the 64mb video?

[H2SO4]

Oh, i just clicked on the link and noticed it showed the computer as the base model. Heres what i will preferably get:

 

Pentium®M Processor 745(1.80 GHz/400MHz FSB)14.1-in SXGA+ w/32MB Video

 

Microsoft® Windows® XP Home

 

1Yr Ltd Warranty, 1Yr At-Home Service, and 1Yr Technical Support

 

Add CompleteCare Accidental Damage Service to 1Yr Lim Warranty [add $79 or $2/month2]

 

768MB DDR SDRAM 2 Dimms

 

80GB Hard Drive

 

8x CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW) with double-layer write capability

 

intel® PRO/Wireless 2915 Internal Wireless (802.11 a/b/g, 54Mbps)

 

Dell™ TrueMobile™ 300 Bluetooth Internal Card [add $32 or $1/month2]

 

 

Im not getting the sony phone cardthing, or the wireless installation (I would never need to have someone instal a internet network for me:)) . I wont get any security prescriptions because i already have the norton software for the dimension desktop, and i wont get a wireless router ( i will, but not from DELL)

[H2SO4]

Im getting the bluetooth thing because i fiqure bluetooth will get even more popular as time goes on and it will be wise to get the internal card for only 30 more bucks.

 

When longhorn is realeased i will install it on this notebook. I kinda want to wait till it comes preloaded with longhorn, but thats (at the earliest) 9 months away. I hope this computer will run longhorn without a hitch because i hear longhorn will be pretty graphics intensive. Do you think the configuration im getting will run DVD's pretty good and multitask well?

[5614]

I have one prob with that computer.... you have a 1.8GHz processor! That is a tad slow and whilst it is not the cheapest of upgrdaes, I really would urge for a slightly faster one. Maybe even degrade to 512MB RAM and spend the money on the processor.

 

Re Longhorn: The Beta version is available at the moment and hearing what people have said about that and combined with the stuff released by MS the main difference between XP and Longhorn is the graphics. To run Longhorn you need a decent graphics card and even if you do have it, having the OS use up so much resources kinda seems a waste.

 

As programs get more and more advance they require more 'juice' from the computer, and even computers which can supply that 'juice' could spend it better than on the graphics of the OS! So unless there are some pretty significant features on Longhorn you require, I'd begin to recommend against it.

[Dave]

Why shouldn't he use Longhorn? The compositor in Longhorn should improve screen rendering times, since your graphics card is mainly unused unless you're bashing it out on HL2 or some other game. Even with this, I very much doubt that there'll be no option to turn off the graphics which require a fair amount of oomph to process, so there's no worries there.

 

In fact, once you've done that it'll be pretty much like running XP, since as far as I'm aware, that's about all we're going to get anyway.

[H2SO4]

I heard from a longhorn site that for all the graphics in longhorn, it doesnt take much to run them smoothly. Anyway, im never going to be playing games on it.

 

I did somne research and found that the "1.80" processor isnt bad for a laptop. Ive seen new laptops with 1.30's. The thing i found is that the faster the processor, the faster your battery's will drain.So im guessing this is why they make those pentium M processors that arent high performance. Anyway, if a computer desingned for windows 98 can run XP, then im sure a this computer will run longhorn fine.

[5614]

Dave: OK, so if the only new thing in Longhorn is the graphics which will begin to use up processing power (esp. so on an intergrated graphics card) unless you're really into graphics there's little advantage in upgrading (and this is excludes costs).

 

H2SO4: You're running with an intergrated graphics card, so if your processor is all busy displaying Longhorn graphics then when you need it [processor] to do other stuff it'll run slower.

I'm not saying you can't run Longhorn, but it will use up processing power that could be better used somewhere else.

 

So 1.8GHz ain't that bad, but still, 3.6GHz is the top of the range for desktop PCs, now I don't know values for laptops, but you can see that 1.8 is clearly nothing amazing, now if you don't feel the need to upgrade and what you say about the battery is true then that's interesting, but still, the title is "Tell me what you think"!

[Ollie]

That's not a bad processor. Pentium M's use a very different architecture to the desktop chips (I believe that over the next couple of generations Intel's going to put the netburst architecture and replace it with some version of Pentium M [i forget it's code name]). Anyhoo, a couple of months ago motherboard manufacturers started to put Pentium M slots into desktop motherboards. The benchmarks came in and were very surprising. Pentium M's, with their much lower clocks and power consumption, compare *very* well to desktop processors. In fact, desktop gaming systems are being built around them. So the low clock speed is absolutely nothing to worry about.

 

RE the graphics, as long as the chipset is fairly recent there should be no problems there either. I can't see on the page who the manufacturer is, but mobile graphics have caught up with desktop graphics (even Intel's own chips), but I'd recommend the 64Mb version.

 

Oh, and I'd lose the after-sales care package, they're a big waste of money. Just treat the laptop right and it'll be fine.

[Aeternus]

Read a little about the centrino/Pentium M when i was looking to buy my laptop. From what i have read as Ollie mentioned, it's an awesome processor, often easily outperforming other processors at the same clock speed and even at slightly higher clock speeds. In alot of reviews comparisons are made between a Pentium M 1.3ghz and a Pentium 4 2.4ghz etc and with the Dothan Pentium M's making it up to 2.13ghz they can easily compete with the normal more desktop-esk processors while still maintaining a much lower power consumption due to the changes in the architecture.

 

So 1.8ghz Pentium M/Centrino is a damn good laptop processor in terms of performance and portability (power consumption etc) as the battery lifes quoted for Pentium M laptops are often close to double that of other processor laptops. Good buy in my opinion

 

Article on Pentium M/Centrino

[H2SO4]

Oh, and I'd lose the after-sales care package, they're a big waste of money. Just treat the laptop right and it'll be fine.

 

 

I was thinking about that, and figuered it has a ninety day (our dimension had a deffective cd-rom/dvd-rom drive the first day, and they fixed it promptly). I realy want the warranty agains drops, spills ect, but then i need to get the one above, so thats how they get you. Im usualy very good with keeping my things of value in good shape.

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for the article on the pentium M. I was wondering, how does a sempron compare to a pentium M. Im going to buy a dell, but my dads friend has an 800$ dollar avertec (which i realy dislike, for some unknown reason) which has a sempron 1.3 The thing is kind of slow, but its alright. The neat thing about it is it has integrated wireless.

 

 

Would it be wise to get that bluetooth upgrade? Its only 30 more dollars and it will help if i get a wireless bluetooth mouse or something.

[Ollie]

I have a feeling bluetooth devices have a high power consumption, so with a bluetooth mouse you'd probably end up spending a lot of money on batteries. Just use the money for a USB mouse instead and you could probably get a much more comfortable/button-covered mouse. I can't think of any other bluetooth devices many people use. You've already decided against the cell phone connection, so that's phone's out.

 

Just remembered RE insurance, if you have household contents insurance then a laptop might be covered by that outside of the house (some schemes do, some don't). Probably worth checking.

[H2SO4]

no, we dont have household contents insurance. Since the upgrade is only 30$ more dollars why not.

[H2SO4]

IF there highpower consumption, then whyu are they so popular. What makes them so supposedly "superior" to other wireless devices?

[5614]

There are no wires

 

On a desktop PC such little power consumption is irrelevant.

 

For laptops most people aren't that worried!

 

We're not talking massive power consumption differeneces.

[H2SO4]

so what is the rave about bluetooth devices. Wireless devices have been around for awhile now. Are they faster, more reliable?

[H2SO4]

Im looking at getting the 1.8g processor, but must choose between the 64mb XGA video or the 64mb SXGA video. The SXGA cost another hundred bucks, so is it worth the upgrade? Is there a noticable difference? How do i tell if the computer im using now computer has SXGA or XGA video?

[Edward]

no just a standard

[H2SO4]

the XGA is standard?

[Ollie]

XGA and SXGA describe the maximum resolutions your monitor is capable of displaying. They're standards (like Firewire, Bluetooth, SCSI, whatever), which means that manufacturers can say "This screen conforms to SXGA standards", which translates to "This screen has a maximum resolution of 1280x1024, vs. 1024x768 for vanilla XGA. I think those are the resolutions anyway.

[H2SO4]

ok, i see now. I was wondering, with wireless inernet, do things like cell phones and other cordless devices affect the internet signal your recieving and make it cout out or something?

[Ollie]

They shouldn't do. Wireless protocols are designated unique bands in the em-spectrum to minimise interference. If mobiles did interfere with various wireless protocols then bluetooth phones wouldn't work and it would be nigh-on impossible to set up a wireless network in cities.

[Dave]

I don't think I've ever had an experience where interference has played up with my internet/ethernet connections, especially wireless et al. As Ollie said, the wireless connections are generally set up in a band where they're not likely to receive interference from other signals (such as cellphones).

[H2SO4]

dave, do you have a laptop?