Searching for a good lap

Hello gente!

I come to ask for your point of view, I'm going to buy new Laptop, mostly for my job but I want to log in SL wherever I am to continue do stuff here and visit my friends, of course (and work in video edition and sound as well).

For my budget, I have 2 choices in the market in my country, these are:

Toshiba Satellite A215-S4697 15.4"
Windows Vista home premium
AMD Turion 64 x 2, 1.60 GHz
1600 mhz, level 2 cache - 2x 512 kb
1 GB RAM
HD 160 GB - 5400 rpm
ATI Radeon X1200 graphics and 319MB of shared video memory—drawn from system memory.

AND

Acer Aspire 7520-202G16Mi 17 Zoll WXGA+ Notebook
AMD Turion 64 X2 TL52 1,60 GHz
2GB RAM
160 GB
NVIDIA GeForce 7000M (not sure if this one is shared)
DVD+- RW DL, Vista Premium

I know... I do not like at all the Windows Vista thingy: I'm a FS9 flyer and the Directx10 version does not work with the FS 2004... In the other hand, those could let me log in SWG and WOW (just in case of very long trips) where I usually play too.

Any recomendations about this selection will be greatly appreciated.

Thx in advance and sorry for my bad english.

Regards,

Bert Jedburgh
From México, with Love.

P.S. I'm reall sorry to make you fall in confussion, "Lap" is how we call the laptops here... but thx for post and express your thoughts about, warmly welcome

Hi Bert! I can't answer your question, but I wanted to say welcome to the forums.

OHh I thot this was about sex!! Nevermind!!

lol, I was looking at it from the feline perspective. *looks for a good lap to curl up in*

Awhhh... my laps available, here kitty, kitty, kitty...

well, my HP has been in the shop for a month now for a friggin POWER JACK. Seems they soldered this thing onto the motherboard, which is a full size board, not a mobile board, and this thing gets reeeal hot and then the jack starts wiggling loose and VOILA ( he exclaims in French) the jack doesnt work anymore. This first happened under the three year extended warranty I took out, and they REPLACED THE WHOLE BOARD. Meaning my hard drive was wiped and I lost lots of stuff I had neglected to back up. But I guess it was easier for them to replace a 700 dollar part than to fix this jack. Fast forward a year or so later when the warrenty has expired and THE JACK MELTS LOOSE AGAIN. Now I dont want to spend 700 dollars for a new board, but two different repair facilities say, " DUDE, ITS REAL DIFFICULT TO SOLDER THESE THINGS BACK ON WITHOUT DAMAGING YOUR UNIT." WTF???? Why design the thing like that??? Thats like the bonehead engineer who designed the non functioning cupholders on my Bmw. So now I got my machine at the first place that said, " We can do it, but gotta SHIP IT OUT" Gone three weeks now. Where am I going with this? DONT BUY A HEWLITT PACKARD LAPTOP ( or any other brand for that matter) WITH THE POWER JACK WELDED TO THE MOTHER BOARD. Hope that helps your shopping research.

I cannot advise you on what to buy but I would advise to get a Laptop with an Nvidia GC if you are going to run Vista.

There are too many problems with the ATI cards and Vista when trying to Run SL.

Just do a search in the forums on "Vista".

I was going to offer my lap, then I read your post... *sighs*

You may want to check this thread in the technical forum:

/111/81/218828/1.html

Or search the tech forum. There have been quite a few threads on the subject.

Sorry, Sensual... But I'm very impressed that a celebrity like you posted, tyvm!

And thx for all of you, guys, any more information will be greatly appreciated it. Gracias

lol I am far from a celebrity

and pachuco eh?

But seriously, I been looking for a good lap top for awhile now... and everytime I think I find a good, one someone talks me out of it =/

I got an Acer Aspire 5684 about 6 or 7 months ago.
Its my second Acer. I love it. It came with an optional upgrade to Vista Home Premium, which I eventually took, and despite having an Nvidia graphics card its been fine.

The graphics are excellent, it runs SL better than my desk top and the only complaint I have about it also applies to almost every other laptop currently available -

<rant>
WHY DO THEY INSIST ON THE RIDICULOUS SCREEN ASPECT RATIO OF 1280x800?

Please laptop manufacturers, lots of us want the earlier 1280 x 1024 or equivalent, it was much more convenient, much easier to work with and when people send me files that were created on desktop computers, I'd really like to be able to see the bottom part of their work without having to find some way of scrolling (which in some of the programs I use, isn't possible).
</rant>

I'd say go with the Acer.

I vote for #2 as well.

Ok... I've come to realize that most of us are pervs hehe.. cuz i saw lap and my mind went straight in the gutter too lol

For me, neither the ATI 1200 nor the nVidia 7000 are good enough for SL.

At least an ATI 1600 or nVidia 7600.

Where are you in Mexico? Maybe someone will smuggle one in for you

1 GB is not enough to comfortably run SL, which rules out your first choice.

The video chip in your second choice seems underpowered. Nvidia claim it has direct X9 support, but they do not mention Open GL (which is what is needed for SL).


Personally I'd want to see a demonstration of SL running on that laptop before I would consider spending my own money on it.


I have used 2 different Toshiba laptops with SL. The first had the Nvidia NVS 110M. This was ok but gave some very funny texture effects regardless of what I settings I had. So I had the laptop changed to one with the NVS 130M which has been fine so far.

Luckily since both were bought for me by the company I work for, I can afford to be choosy. BTW if my company asks I needed the upgraded laptop to run Unigraphics

See if you can't get a computer smart buddy to convert your newly bought lap (hehe) over to Linux; it uses far less memory than Vista, and you can get a really good viewer from Nicholaz (Google "Nicholaz Second Life", he's the first 4 or 5 choices up there) for Linux. My friend runs SL easily on his laptop using Linux.

I am completely underwhelmed by the Toshiba I have here at work. It's got a stupid keyboard layout that's terrible for SL and there are several bizarre issues- for example if you put it to sleep its battery dies within 2 days, and if you want the sound muted you have to re-mute it every time the computer starts up.

My personal notebook is a Gateway NX860XL I think and I love it dearly.

Also, Intel's chipsets are better overall than AMDs, especially for notebooks. (You need ATI or NVidia video though. Intel video sucks.) Also, make sure you get a fast hard drive (nothing less than 7200RPM) and at least 2GB of memory.

LOL! Thats so true... But it is always good to receive the expertise POV from ppl with more knowledge so you can try to get the best option. In my case, I do not have too much options: the Laptop market is limited, asking for an american computer becomes mores expensive than many could think (and a possible lost in the border), and looking for a Dell with such characteristics double the price... and no... No Sony Vaio, plz...

I really appreaciate your comments, and help me alot for take decisions.

Gracias!

Bert Jedburgh

I have a Macbook Pro (2.33 Ghz version with 2 Gig of ram and an ATI X1600) and SL runs like a dream with the Nicholaz viewer.

...is much better suited to run SL.

any manufacturer who even sells a machine with 1GB of ram and vista is, to me, doing their customers a disservice. in fact to sell a machine with vista that doesnt have a DX10 compliant video chipset is also a disservice...


i am holding out on springing for a new laptop myself, my old amd xp3200 with 512mb and ati radeon 9600 still will run it when i need to, and the new desktop i have put together is sooooooo fast ...

but im going to be getting one of the high end asus ones when the time comes...

and they have less expensive models at newegg like:

ASUS F3 Series F3SV-B3 Intel Core 2 Duo T7500(2.20GHz) 15.4" Wide XGA+ 2GB 160GB DVD Super Multi NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GS NoteBook - Retail Your Price1,398.99

or a 17" model: ASUS A7 Series A7SV-A1 Intel Core 2 Duo T7500(2.20GHz) 17.0" Wide XGA+ 2GB 250GB DVD Super Multi NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GS NoteBook - Retail for Your Price1,509.00