Lenovo Z60m 2529EFU

anybody running with this beastie?
pent-m 2.0ghz
1.5gb ram
15.4" 1280x800 tft
128MB ATI Mobility RADEON x600

i suspect not, as they just delayed a month to fix graphics issues, but i hadda ask.

so, can someone predict if i will be happy with this beastie?

note: i do not use desktops, only laptops. so SL has me stuck in a pretty narrow band, i am having to dump my thinkpad with an ati mobility fire gl 9000 due to lack of support for SL. .

mahalo

ok, that was a dud. how about the dell E1705 with 5"26MB DDR NVIDIA GeForce Go 7800?"

or the Dell Inspiron XPS M170 with 256MB NVIDIA GeForce Go 7800 GTX

i dont like dell but thats me
e 1705
dual cores? does this really help SL, not that im aware of

for 1700+ usd you get

dual core 1.83ghz
1gb SHARED (as in with the video card which is slow for the video card) ram
100gb disk space
24x cd burner
wlan (802.11g 54mbs)

oh heres a reason i hate dell, optional nvidia go card, but when i go to customise it my options are

Integrated Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 950 (aka total crap) or
256MB ATI MOBILITY™ RADEON® X1400 HyperMemory [add $143 or $4/month3]

where is my nvidia option on the powerhouse you flase advertising pile of crap,
there is none.

or for 1,712 @ibuypower.com you can get an Asus Z81-SP (asus being known for their faster tham most mainboard products and probally the choice of hardcore gamers)

that has a 3ghz pentium 4 (you can get upto a 3.8ghz if you wanna)
1gb of non shared ram
a UPGRADEABLE nvidia 6800 w/ 256mb of its own memory
100gb hard disk
8x dvd burner / cd burner

bout the only thing you loose it that it has only a wired ethernet connection vs a wireless

but even that wire connction goes up to a gb per sec (goin for that hard core no lag gamer market)

and barley 1 inch off of the widescreen (but its a better brighter clearer screen)

yes, i hit that truth in advert issue with the e1705. i am not a big dell fan.

otoh, i was able to configure the XPS M170 with the 256MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ Go 7800 GTX. but i could not see if it was shared memory or not. as you say, one fears with dell. and, of course, the price changes every time you go back to the web site. i really would rather not do business with dell.

so i followed your recco, and wandered over to ibuypower.com. the Z81-SP (do i want a power-hungry p4 for SL?) and Z71V (128m geoforce 6800 as opposed to the Z81's 256m) look reasonable. the lack of 802.11 is retro, to say the least, my life is wireless. but when i go to the asus web site to try and understand geometry, weight, warranty, etc, i can not find these units. and i can not sort out which of the notebooks on the asus web site will do for SL.

been doing computers for over four decades, but this pee cee stuff makes me crazy!

thanks for the pointers.

yes asus's site could use some more work

as far as power consumption the asus notebook claims

http://usa.asus.com/products4.aspx?modelmenu=2&model=621&l1=5&l2=70&l3=0
71Wh battery pack
battery run-time- 2.0 ~ 2.5 hrs

dell claims
53 WHr 6-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
battery run-time- 2.0 ~ 2.5 hrs

so theres not that big of a deal, the asus packs a bigger battery for a reason

the asus's footprint is

14” x 11.3” x 1.65” (WxDxH)
9.0lbs

the dell is

Dimensions: 15.5" x 11.3" x 1.6" (Width x Depth x Height)
Weight: 8.1 lbs

so you shed a less than a pound

on the lower end model asus here is the sheet for it (almost 4 hours of battery life not bad)
http://usa.asus.com/products4.aspx?modelmenu=2&model=609&l1=5&l2=70&l3=0
all the other models use ATI cards, which i assume you want to avoid due to issues

warrenty
asus has a 1 year standard (3 year if you want it) plan
dell has a 3 year standard plan...

so overview

if SL still isnt multithreaded (like i think) your dell is stuck @ 1.8ghz vs asus 2-3.8ghz

the asus Z81-SP weighs >1 pound more (due to the extra battery power)

dell has a better warrenty (altho youll probally need it more)

the asus doesnt include wireless (due to its lan party market) dell does

the dell doesnt support PCMCIA (which would suck for me) but does have a memory card reader

the asus models do have a PCMCIA slot(which you then can add a wlan card) but no memory card reader

both have the standard issue hot keys

the asus models come with a free case

the dell has a slightly larger screen with slightly higher rez
ive seen the asus screens in RL they look like a wet dream

the asus also has biult in Svideo output the dell its an option (i know thats a deal breaker)

good luck and keep at it

ps one last thing the upgradable video cards in the asus Z81-SP isnt a propritary thing, its a new standard so 3 years from now you can slap a geforce 9800 in that bad boy (or whatever they will call them in 3 years)
http://www.nvidia.com/object/IO_13289.html

one last thing, heres a list of every notbook maker that offers nvidia video cards

http://www.nvidia.com/object/wtb_notebooks.html

i havent priced any of them latley but heres the brands ive had really good luck with

asus
gateway
samsung
sony
Aopen
Falcon (they were in 3d mark 2000 as the recomended system at that time)
MSI
Toshibia

and i was wrong there are more asus options with nvidia, jeez they need to get their site clearer, its almost as bad as this one

i have had good experiences with asus mobos and their little portable wireless ap. i have had bvery bad support experience with sony.

so asus seems not to give me a configurator. reputable retailer that options?

again, thanks!

well asus and msi both wont let you buy direct from them, just like if you wanted to purchace a mobo you would have to goto a retailer *shrug* i run into this alot with ppl that make parts

and the 1 sony i have owned was a desktop so i didnt have to deal with their support

if i use a configurator at an asus retailer, i can configure wireless. as i travel way too much, this is important to me.

the asus z71v is looking tastier than the z81sp which has the p4 power hog, is heavier and larger, ... for SL, does one really need the cpu?

No you wont with SL. ATi's Window Drivers and SL do not like eatchother much. You will get a lot of bugs and errors. The intersting thig is it is only with Windows drivers thier MacOS ones run SL great.

So look for something with an nVidia card, a Go6600 or Go6800 will be plenty for SL, if you want to spend the big bucks go for a Go7800.

I alos know what you mean about not using a desktop. I keep an iMac at home (Just got one of the new Intel based ones) and use it when I am home but I travel a lot and take my PowerBook G4 everywhere, and it plays SL just fine with a Mobility Radeon 9700 at 1400x960 any how hope that helps.

hmmm. for SL, am i going to regret that the asus z71v's "PCI Express NVIDIA 6600-128MB" is only 128mb?

i have a 6600GT 128mb in my desktop, runs like a bat out of hell

i do get alittle bit more texture fuzz in bling-o-rama laggy club #8 than my roomates 6600 256mb card

well, i just ordered the Z71V. thanks for the very useful advice!

No not at all 128Mb is fine for SL, and the 6600 should run it very smooth.