Jesus Built My Hotrod Notebook

I guess it's my turn to bring this topic up: I'm looking to buy a top-end notebook computer for SL. I've looked at Sager, Alienware, Widow -- the sweet-spot pricing appears to be ~$4300US for

- AMD Athlon FX-57 or AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+ Dual Core
- 2GB RAM
- 17" 1920 x 1200 display
- 120GB performance RAID
- nVidia GeForce 6800 Ultra

I won't lie: I have a friend w/ an Alienware Aurora 7700 who runs with local lighting and all the other 5 checkboxes on at draw distance 256 and pretty much everything else maxed out -- I wanna do that too.

Questions I have:

- FX-57 or Dual Core? Torley says "SL isn't yet coded for multithreading" -- I say "'yet'?"

- Are there systems I'm missing / better alternatives out there?

- General thoughts?

- And: is this a good time to buy? I know there's always something new / better / cheaper on the horizon (like: next quarter AMD launches Socket AM2) but will I feel the pain of a stubbed toe or the pain of a major organ extraction?

- Does anyone know where I can get a retrofit keyboard with a trackpoint mouse? I hate those stupid touchpads.

Thanks all!

Jessica

Dual core is the way of the future. All PC processors are slowly making the move, get one.

However, make sure to get a sager. They use the exact same parts as alienware, and used to be made in the same factory. Not to mention they are far cheaper for an equally priced notebook.

Dont got for a FX, dual core will take over eventually as the software catches up, sure SL dont use dual core (yet) , benefit of having dual is running lots of programs same time without chocking , huge diffrence then a single.

Amd cpu's are also way cooler , they dont act like huge heaters.

Cough.. nicely overpriced tho, eh guess thats how notebooks work.

Keep in mind, with those specs you are getting an overpriced mini desktop as you will have almost no portability. Other than no battery life you will have a rocking system. Might look for those new duel graphics laptops that have both a cheezy Intel and a 6800, use the Intel for spreadsheets and the 6800 for games, that way you can get some battery life.

On the other hand, if you realize that you are going to be umbilicaled to a wall socket anyway and placing this on your lap will cause 2nd and 3rd degree burns, you might consider going portable instead of laptop and save mucho mucho dollars.

X2 is the way to go plus with pricing the way it is an X2 duel 4600+ is about the same price as an FX 53, the same speed and you get an extra cpu. Then again you can wait a few months and get an FX-60 duel core when they get a moble version and smoke everything and burn a hole in your desk.

I said "yet" not as a factual prelude, but I am hopeful. =^_^= I personally haven't learned anything yet about how SL will be on dual-core, 64-bit processors and whatnot, but one sticking point for me is that you can get a lot of benefit out of dual-core technology today if you do Second Life and multitask. It's not one of those mysterious "future features" that's promised but never unlocked.

If you do many things on a computer at once, from my experiences already, I cannot highly recommend going AMD dual-core enough. it's wonderful!

Sounds like you will have a really badass notebook in any case tho, Jessica!

As an asside: If anyone looking at buying new hardware is also considering doing machinima - a dual core processor is heavenly. SL runs happily at it's best, while FRAPS tools along doing is thing.

Not sure if Dual Core will catch on for some things- such as games. I read an article not too long ago about how Games (and therefore SL) will have issues with being programmed to take advantage of Dual Core.

I'll post the link to the article if anyone wants to read it, but I gotta warn ya- it is really technical thru most of it.

*** AH-HAH! ***

Found it:

Threading 3D Game Basics

Cool article! After reading, it would appear that his conclusion doesn't say dual-core games won't catch on -- because, in fact, they have to because that's where the hardware is going -- but that it would just be tedious and complicated, two words that go hand in hand with programming. I really liked the author's conclusion:



Emphasis is mine. It seems a new game engine pops up every 2-3 years anyway, so I would guess its just a matter of time before the first dual-core-aware game engine hits, and if I had to make a guess, I'd say either id or ... name slips me ... the people who make Half-Life will hit it first.

Come to think of it, isn't the XBox 360 dual-core? I've played a few hours on one and the graphics and physics realism have surpassed what most computers can do in real-time.

True, but the XBox 360 is just a souped-up video card, thats all consoles are. It only plays games (DVDs too) but thats all it does. It's not taking care of several dozen other processes while running the game. And if it was so great, wouldn't you be posting on forums thru it? I've seen great physics in PC games as well, just depends on what game it is, what yer running it on, etc. Half-Life 2 is a great example. The phsics in that game are sweet! If you haven't tried it, get Gary's Mod!! I love messing with the physics in it!!

Still, the day Dual Cores do catch on for games will be a great day!

As far as running SL or other games on a laptop, meh... For the money you'd spend on one to get it to run acceptable you could spend less & have desktop that Screams.

Thanks to everyone who responded.

FWIW, I'm going dual-core, if for no other reason that because it really *does* seem to be the thing of the future and even now, as Jillian alludes, it can be exploited with SL in certain ways.

The Sagers appear to be significantly better values for the money, plus they offer the 7800 GTX. Not as sexy looking as the Alienware, but -- not the theft-magnet either, maybe.

Re games and parallelism: I'm with Aaron: it's all a matter of writing code. That article was interesting, but I didn't see a whole lot that didn't also apply to parallelizing any other kind of computing problem (although games are real-time, yes). With SL, I wonder about them handing local lighting off to the second processor? Hell, I've not seen the code, I don't know.

BTW, I believe the XBox 360 is triple core. w00t! I'm waiting for the chips to get taller than they are wide.

Re the cost of a notebook: yeah, it's expensive, but I'm addicted to the portability. Even if I'm tethered by a power cable, there's a lot of open WiFi here in Austin, plus I travel for business. Even if it weighs 10lbs, it'll be easier to get a Sager through airport security than a desktop system.

The burn thing is a problem. How many people out there have some kind of 'heat scar' on their leg that doesn't look like it's going to go away. I know I do.

Again, thanks everyone!

Jess

At least you're going with a decent video card. I love those things!

If you want to see what to expect from your PC graphics when the DirectX 10 capable video cards come out later this year, then watch this video: Crysis Demo from Crytek, makers of FarCry

Now I wish I had waited to build the new system!!!

Thats In-Game footage too, not prerendered.

BTW- I am gonna check out Sager notebooks. I like to keep an eye on who has what for what price.

I own an older Sager, an 8890-V (the first and only *true* 16" LCD notebook).

Made and aquired in Oct 2003, it still does quite well with just about everything, even SL. This is before the upgradable graphics card though, so I'm stuck with an ATI 9600 Pro Mobile, but the only issues I have with SL today on it are the lack of available features (like the ripple water).

This machine - a P4 3.2 HT - can still play games like Far Cry and Doom 3 in mid-level settings, or Morrowind/Uru in full settings with no issues. Plus it also handles the semi-demanding issues related to having X (UNIX) traffic sent to it via Reflections X.

I take this to hotels elsewhere in the state during conventions and such, and it becomes a true mobile extention of both my home and work environment. Which is why I got it.

The only downsides today: 1) weight; 12.5 lbs including the power supply. 2) battery; yes its short, perhaps 1.5 hours average, and I consider it more a UPS. and 3) the rarity of that now-unique LCD, though is only specific to my model I do love it and it has flicker issues now and again.

These have prompted a new notebook purchase - an HP AMD Turion (the L2000 'Livestrong') which is light, cool, quiet, and designed with work primarily in mind. It *has* SL on it, but runs just well enough for casual chat/visit - I would not want to spend a lot of time on it. The Sager is still around, but it now has become more focused toward remote work - in particular for a remote site at work which I have trouble finding a workstation that's not locked or configured 'correctly' for my needs.

Pics of the two here: http://sungak.net/pics/desktop/both_notebooks.jpg

Jessica, if you are still looking into this and at the research phase - visit the NoteBook Forums ASAP. I was a regular there for quite a while before SL, and can assure you that its a very useful place for gamers. Many there have asked the same questions, and its quite informative.

Happy searching,

Buy a fan. A big fan. I have such a laptop, altough not so deliciously specced and the biggest problem I am facing now is that I have to actually speed down the processor or else SL is not stable, it's just generating too much heat.

The solutoion, a big fan. Really, I point it to the lower side of the notebook, putting it on CD cases to raise it up and it works like a charm.

I've got SL setup on my lil' Dell Inspiron 1150 Laptop: Celeron 2.4, 512 MB RAM, and 64 MB video. Mostly I use the laptop for troubleshooting other people's PC's (spyware, viruses, etc). It can get choppy in some areas, and takes a lil' bit longer for textures, but I can still run SL at an acceptable rate.

Usually I have it running beside me so I can chat with people on Yahoo or surf the web while I'm running SL on the Desktop.

Yeah, I believe ya. A few years ago through my work I got a patent on a laptop cooler tray thingie that did much the same thing. I understand that somebody actually makes such a thing now (although I don't believe my company is enforcing the patent -- I know I'm not collecting any royalties off of it).

Jess