PlaneShift
Fan Area => The Hydlaa Plaza => Topic started by: 1Samildanach on August 27, 2005, 12:25:17 pm
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My parents have agreed to give me $2500 Australian (aprox. 1530 Euros/$1890US) to spend on a laptop. Your probably thinking that I would be far better off if I spent it on a desktop because laptops are less upgrade-able, you spend more for <= the same amount of power, etcetera. But for my circumstances, a desktop would not be viable.
Why is as follows:
When my parents were building a house (about 20 years ago), they found that it would be far too expensive to get mains power brought in, so they bought a few solar panels and used them + a car battery to power the lights and a few other things.
A few years ago they separated, but they get along well enough that although I live with my mother (in the house they built) I spend quite a bit of time at my father\'s house (it\'s about 15 minutes drive away too).
Recently-ish my mother bought a new solar panel (I think its a 60watt, but I\'m not sure) and a big battery (I think it can store about 200 amp hours), so there should be enough electricity to power a laptop for a while.
Some of the things I\'d like too use it for are:
Schoolwork (for which I would use OpenOffice, which is hardly demanding)
Blender 3d (3d modelling/animation/other stuff, needs CPU and ram the most)
Games, including Planeshift, Deus Ex (othe first one), GTA 3, and various small/2d ones. It would be good if I could play Oblivion with it, but if I can\'t, I\'m sure I\'ll cope
Also, I would like to run Linux on it (probably dual boot with windows)
I was thinking along the lines of:
3000+ CPU, doesn\'t have to be AMD (although I think I might prefer it to be), just has to be that sort of speed
1 gig of ram, plenty for games I might be able to use more with Blender, but 1 gig should be enough
GeForce Go 6600, 128mb
battery life, at least about 4 with text editing/web browsing type things
Assembling it my self would not be a problem (I could probably do it my self, but if I could\'t, my father probably could) and I think it might even be preferable if it costs about the same (and more definitely if it costs less)
If I have to I could probably spend a little more, but keep in mind that my parents are, although not particularly poor, not rich and it would be good if I could give them some money back.
Other forums where I have asked for help:
http://www.elderscrolls.com/forums/index.php?act=ST&f=18&t=150404&st=0#entry2568220
http://www.elysiun.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=468472#468472
Advice and recommendations are welcome, telling me I should get a desktop instead will cause a great deal of annoyance and possibly flaming.
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thanks for making this thread, i was planning on something similar. except self making? on a laptop?
so what are you peoples opinions on the laptops around...
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I have an ACER Travelmate for work although it\'s not to your specs it only cost ?600 sterling \'bout a 1000 aussie dollars, but do run it completely on suse 9.3 which installed with no fuss everything including wifi just worked :) Battery life is about 3 1/2 hours on a full charge but if bought at the same time a spare is only ?60 which would give you 7 hours of planeshift.
regards
John
Happy to be M$ free
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Thank you both for responding.
I\'m thinking I might wait for NVIDIA\'s next lot of notebook GPUs to come out, but I can\'t find any information as to when that will be.
You might like to look at the responses I got over at Elysiun (http://www.elysiun.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=49861).
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I don\'t know, for those specs I think you\'ll need to cash in at least 3000USD.. :(
Laptops are expensive. And not so powerful..
And assemble a laptop..? Yourself?! I don\'t think you can buy laptop cases, let alone finding instructions in putting em together..
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the hardest bit i see about them is the graphics cardy thing, and if you want 1 gig ram you might want to like buy a second 512 seperate and then whack it in yourself i think its cheaper though proly not much.. just something i noticed clicking round some sites some sites were wanting like another ?150+ to do that.
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Home-building a laptop isn\'t possible AFAICS. What you can do is put in a harddisk and memory by yourself, maybe even the CPU, but everything else is integrated on the mainboard, which is also custom-made to fit the case, just as everything else save the disk. The memory may also be using a nonstandard connector, so make sure you purchase the correct sticks. Other than that, I can\'t offer help because I haven\'t looked into laptops.
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i might buy this on friday, any thoughst?
clicky (https://sslrelay.com/s77548008.oneandoneshop.co.uk/sess/utn;jsessionid=154312215383ec4/shopdata/0130_Notebooks/0033_Aspire/0060_Aspire+1690/product_details.shopscript?article=0032_Aspire%2B1693WLMi%2B%3D28LX%3D252EA5405%3D252E063%3D29)
the link was super long i used my magic on it \\o/
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Oohh.. that\'s pretty nice for the price :D.
1Samildanach, I\'s sorry to say this but I now am assured that you will never be able to buy a laptop with those specs for under 3000 USD. 1 gig of ram.. 3gig CPU.. Geforce.. Ye thats a pretty tidy DESKTOP, let alone a laptop.. :(
And I see now I was right also about not being able to make laptops yourself. Unless you make it from SCRATCH :P
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I remember an alienware comp that could change graphics cards.
Maybe buy a cheaper model of those and stick in a new card later?
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ALIENWARE ROCKS!! :D Yeah that would be a good solution, the chapest laptop they have is 1000 some USD :D
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the cheapest they have is ?1100 or so :/ i dont want to spend that much i need lots of money still to spend on random crap... like shoes, franz ferdinand tickets, food, kebabs \\o/ any other stuff that it is that i buy.
... i never put that icon there.
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Originally posted by Neryam
And assemble a laptop..? Yourself?! I don\'t think you can buy laptop cases, let alone finding instructions in putting em together..
- Building Your Dream Notebook (http://www.tomshardware.com/howto/20050504/index.html)
- Notebook DIY (http://www.abspc.com/diy/notebookdiy.asp)
Building a notebook by yourself apparently does not really come cheaper than buying one in a shop though.
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I\'ve come across one that looks very likely, Digital Star\'s PowerNote Z71VP (http://www.digitalstar.com.au/_PowerNote_Z71VP_SPEC.aspx).
CPU
. INTEL? Pentium? M Sonoma Processor 1.7~2.1GHz 2MB L2 Cache.
uFC-PGA Packaging, 533MHz FSB
Memory
. Dual Channel DDR2 RAM
. Expandable Memory up to 2048MB,
based on 128/256/512/1024MB SODIMM Module
Dsiplay
. 15.4\" WXGA TFT, resolution max 1680 x 1050 pixels
Video controller
. nVidia GeForce 6600 Go PCI-Express MEP43 128MB VRAM
. Dual view support
Sound System
. Built-in AC\'7 compliant audio chip, with 3D effect & full duplex
. Built-in stereo speakers and microphone
Storage
. HDD type: 2.5\" EIDE HDD Ultra DMA 66/ 100
. Or SATA HDD up to 120G
. Built-in Dual Layer DVD-/+RW Drive
. Optional External USB Floppy Drive
PCMCIA
. ENE CB1410 Cardbus controller, One Type II socket
Communication
. Built-in 56K MDC Modem with V.90 and V.92 compliant
. Built-in 10/100/1000 Base-T LAN module
. Wireless LAN 802.11b+g with Mini-PCI interface
I/O Ports
. 1x ALS (Ambient Light Sensor)
. 5x USB 2.0 Ports
. 1x 1394 port
. 1x Card Reader port (MS-Por, MMC & SD)
. 1x Cardbus type-II slot x 1
. 1x Line in / mic in jack
. 1x Line-Out jack
. 1x Parallel port
. 1x RJ-11 jack for Modem
. 1x RJ-45 jack for 10/100/1000 BaseT LAN
. 1x S-Video TV-Out
. 1x VGA port for the second display (CRT, TFT or projector)
. 1x One Speaker / Headphone-out jack (SPDIF)
. 1x Kensington Lock Slot
Power Management
. ALS (Ambient Light Sensor) Screen Brightness Adjust
. Auto switch 110/240V 50-60Hz AC Adapter, 19V~3.42A 65W DC Output
. 8-cell LI-ION Battery
. up to 5.5 Hours
Keyboard
. 85 keys support with 101/102 Key emulation
. Support Windows key, Application keys
. Built-in Touchpad with scrolling function
Accessories
. Auto switch 110/220V AC Adapter with power cord
. user\'s manual, utility CD
Warranty
. 2 year limited warranty ( Return to Base, Optional On Site Warranty Available )
Dimension
. Dimension: 356 (W) x 275 (D) x 34(H)mm
. Weight: 2.9kg with battery
and within my price range too. :) :D
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The only things I found wrong with my Acer are a slightly delicate keyboard (a key came off) and it comes with windows pre-loaded :)
and the key came off after i dropped my phone on it a little bit of superglue and everything was hunky dorey.
I did think it was a bit delicate when I first got it (5 months ago) but considering I lug it about between 3-4 sites a week has stood up very well. Hooks up to the wireless lans (NT4, SBS and Red Hat) with no probs
Haven\'t installed PS on it as I really need to work occasionally and the 64mb shared graphics sucks, all in all am impressed with what you get for the price.
regards
John
*p.s.
took advantage of a special offer and upgraded to 1 gig ram spare battery and warranty upgrade all for an extra ?150
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Look in every shops, I found an athlon 2000+, 512MB RAM, 80GB HDD, crappy video card, for 350EURs. It\'s not a known brand at all, and the plastics arent really nice, but if you just want the specs, you can find very cheap stuff.
Have you thought of those little comps, I\'m not sure of the name, might be barebone or shuttle, they are very small so you can easily move them, you can use low power components in it (it costs more money than normal components, but approximately as much as laptops) and it\'s fully upgradable
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hmm, after speaking with my dad ive decided not to get a laptop
...yet, it will have to wait a year before they pack me off to uni.
so this money has to go somehwere :D i think i shall make a new computer *goes mother board hunting*