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Author Topic: Laptop PC Recommendations? Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 10-05-2004 10:31 PM                     I love high rez screens, but I'm used to viewing that "rez" on a big monitor (such as the 21" Viewsonic I'm using right now). Notebook computers are another breed. I have yet to come across a notebook computer in a retail store featuring a 15.4" widescreen running WUXGA resolution. But I did see a large HP laptop at Sam's Club the other day boasting a 17" screen and WSXGA+ resolution. Even at 1600 X 1050 the icons were starting to look pretty small on that monitor. That experience scared me a bit about getting a WUXGA native rez on a smaller 15.4" laptop screen. Sure it will display all the pixels of a native 1080HD video image. But I don't want to suffer eye-strain and headaches having to look at pixels quite that tiny. And that issue is actually another thing making me opt for the Dell 9100 over the XPS laptop. The XPS unit only comes with the WUXGA setting. The 9100 offers more choices, including the highest WUXGA setting, along with the cheaper price. Here's another question I have about laptops. Is there any importance in buying a special Dell branded car power outlet adapter, or is it perfectly fine to buy an after-market adapter that costs a lot less? Dell wants $99 freaking dollars for a car adapter. I could buy one at Wal-Mart for $30.  |  IP: Logged Dean Kollet Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 591 From: Florida State University Registered: Jul 2003 posted 10-05-2004 10:38 PM                     I have a cheap Airplane/Auto charger for my dell and it works fine. Works on my father's computer as well, no problems (he has a Dell Lattitude). I always say go APC, and I know they are at least $10-15 cheaper than Dell's. APC also has a DC-AC converter for like 30 bucks...check out APC's site.  |  IP: Logged Daryl C. W. O'Shea Film God Posts: 3977 From: Midland Ontario Canada (where Panavision & IMAX lenses come from) Registered: Jun 2002 posted 10-05-2004 11:43 PM                        As long as the adapter meets the power requirements of the portable, it doesn't really matter who you buy it from. In the case you ever have a problem with the machine though, deny using any non-Dell power accessories. I've never bothered purchasing one for myself (and only recall buying a few for company use -- from Dell out of convenience and warranty concerns) since I usually drive myself around (can't use it then and can plug it in where ever I end up) and have found that my 6 hour and 3 hour batteries outlast most any flight I end up on since I generally only write code or read PDFs while travelling. Of course that's only if I'm not reading NTSB or TSB reports / newsletters while trying to scare fellow passengers.  |  IP: Logged David Buckley Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 525 From: Oxford, N. Canterbury, New Zealand Registered: Aug 2004 posted 10-09-2004 05:06 AM                        Speaking of Dell power supplies, its time for Dell to add their name to the rollcall of recalled power supplies.... http://www.computerworld.com/hardwaretopics/hardware/story/0,10801,96515,00.html Dell recalls laptop power supplies The move comes after seven reports of the adapters overheating News Story by Peter Sayer OCTOBER 08, 2004 (IDG NEWS SERVICE) - Dell Inc. is recalling about 990,000 electrical adapters manufactured in China by Taipei, Taiwan-based Delta Electronics Inc. and sold for use with Dell notebook computers, following seven reports of the adapters overheating. The adapters pose a risk of fire or electrical shock, according to Dell. So far, there have been no reports of injury, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), which is also publicizing the recall. The CPSC is the federal agency charged with protecting U.S. consumers from unreasonable risk of serious injury or death from consumer products. The adapters affected by the recall were sold between September 1998 and February 2002 for use with some of Dell's Latitude, Precision and Inspiron notebooks and are marked with the name "Dell" and the part numbers "P/N 9364U," P/N 7832D" or "P/N 4983D," according to the CPSC. Not all such adapters are being recalled, according to Dell. Owners should contact the company to find out whether their adapter is affected. If it is, the company advises them to stop using the device and send it back for a free replacement. The company offers more information, and an online tool to find out whether a particular adapter is affected by the recall, at www.delladapterprogram.com. As I write this, the enquiry website is rodgered...  |  IP: Logged John Pytlak Film God Posts: 9987 From: Rochester, NY 14650-1922 Registered: Jan 2000 posted 10-11-2004 10:28 PM                        I have one of the Dell P/N 9364U power supplies, but fortunately it is not one of the ones from Thailand being recalled. About two years ago, there was a recall on the battery, but again, my laptop did not use the particular vendor with the problem. Other than that, my Inspiron 5000 has served well for four years.  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 10-19-2004 07:37 PM                     While continuing to read reviews and search prices (such as those wildly fluctuating prices on the Dell website), I noticed the one laptop I was most likely to buy (the Dell Inspiron 9100) is strangely no longer available on their website. At least that is the case as of this writing. I can kind of understand why Dell would discontinue their 9100 model. That model encourages people not to buy their top of the line XPS laptop. You can equip the 9100 with nearly all the same hardware as a much more expensive XPS laptop, including that 256MB Radeon9800XT video card. The only things lacking from the 9100 versus the XPS is gigabit ethernet (as opposed to standard ethernet) and a .2GHz faster processor. Oh, and you can choose between various 15.4" screen resolutions on the 9100. The XPS sticks you only with the WUXGA 1920 X 1200 resolution. That may be great for looking at some high def pictures, but you'll need a microscope to read text, or be able to type entries into the dialog boxes of numerous graphics programs. Dear Dell, suck my balls. I won't pay $3000 for a laptop. Here's a suggestion. Price that XPS thing down to where the 9100 was. And provide more options on screen resolution. The WSXGA+ 1680 X 1050 setting seems more acceptable for high rez on a 15.4" screen. Overall, the constant shifting of prices, shifting of features and all that other shit has me ready to give up and not buy anything at all. My complaints aren't directed just at Dell. HP, Compaq, Sony, Toshiba and other laptop lines I have examined all have their various short-comings. If I actually do buy any kind of laptop in the near future, I'll more likely buy something with the bare minimum of specs I need to be productive, at a minimum of cost. I don't know. I'll probably just hang onto my money and put that toward a new desktop unit. The whole "dual core" thing hyped to happen sometime in 2005 may make the desktop scene a little more interesting.  |  IP: Logged David Stambaugh Film God Posts: 4021 From: Eugene, Oregon Registered: Jan 2002 posted 10-19-2004 09:08 PM                        Dell's prices go up and down all the time, same for offers like 15% off and free shipping. Also, if you compare similar/same system configs on their home, small business, and med/lg business stores, you'll often find significant price differences and/or different options. If I remember correctly, Dell changes their online "deals" every Weds at midnight their time (or maybe it's Tuesday at midnight, I can't remember). So if you check on Tuesday and see a screaming deal on something you're interested in, don't wait cause it may be gone the next day. (Looks like the Inspiron XPS is 15% off right now. The Inspiron 9100 is also listed, also 15% off: $2231 with 80GB drive, WSXGA+, XP Pro, a gig of RAM and the Radeon 9800XT, but no Office or other crap. If it was me I'd pay a few bucks extra for the faster 60GB 7200 RPM drive instead of the standard larger but slower 80GB drive. The 9100 has 800MHz front side bus and 400MHz Dual Channel DDR SDRAM. Fast by any standard.)  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 03-08-2005 12:35 AM                     Thought I would bump this with an update. I just ordered a new notebook computer (finally). After examining lots of other notebook models in various price brackets, I picked a Dell. The Inspiron 6000d model specifically. A few things helped finalize the deal, not the least of which was a 30 percent overall discount and other big price drops on key components. I got the following configuration: OS: WindowsXP Professional SP2 CPU: Pentium M 750, 1.86GHz 2MB L2 Cache RAM: 1GB DDR2 533MHz SDRAM, 2 DIMMs HDD: 60GB 7200RPM Hitachi Hard Disc Optical Disc: 8X DVD+/-RW dual layer burner Screen: 15.4" WSXGA+ 1680 X 1050 resolution Video Card: ATI Radeon X300 128MB PCI-X Battery: 9 Cell 80WHr Lithium Ion Battery WLAN: Intel PRO/Wireless 2915 a/b/g Bluetooth: Dell 350 Wireless Bluetooth 2.0 card Other Crap: Dell Nylon Carrying Case Mediterranean Blue Quicksnap Cover MS Works (Word 2002, Streets & Trips 2004) 2 Year At Home Service Warranty Total price for the deal: $1977. That included over $150 in sales tax. Arrgh! Oh well, list price for that configuration (including tax) would have been $2700. That's also what prevented me from opting for the new Inspiron 9300 model. Just a little too pricey (not to mention a tad bit too heavy). Still need to have enough money left over to buy that next version of the Adobe Studio Creative Suite when it hits the stores. [ 03-08-2005, 07:46 AM: Message edited by: Bobby Henderson ]  |  IP: Logged Monte L Fullmer Film God Posts: 8367 From: Nampa, Idaho, USA Registered: Nov 2004 posted 03-09-2005 01:37 AM                     Good choice. ... and good luck with your projects - Monte  |  IP: Logged Phil Hill I love my cootie bug Posts: 7595 From: Hollywood, CA USA Registered: Mar 2000 posted 03-09-2005 01:57 AM                  I agree, Monte...Bobby, good choice. I just bought a full-blown Dell Inspiron XPS and it is fast, Fast, FAST! You'll love that HD! (Screw you Joe and your pussy-ass Mac!)  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 03-09-2005 07:59 AM                     I agree with the Dell purchase too. We just got one for our sales guy. It really rocks! Mark  |  IP: Logged David Stambaugh Film God Posts: 4021 From: Eugene, Oregon Registered: Jan 2002 posted 03-09-2005 10:57 AM                        Bobby, congrats on your purchase. That's gonna rock. One comment though (hope this doesn't freak you out). I work for a game developer, and we found that the Radeon X300 PCI-Express card is not a very good performer when it comes to frame rates. The X800 is like an order of magnitude faster. We were doing a very graphics-intense training simulation for the US Army and the X300 couldn't sustain even 2 frames per second. The X800 had no problem sustaining 20-25 fps. Your mileage may vary of course. (The best ATI performer for us turned out to be the Radeon 9800 XT, which is AGP, not PCI-Express)  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 03-09-2005 06:34 PM                     I'm not too worried about the gaming performance limits of the Mobility Radeon X300 card. This notebook won't be used for playing Doom III. It will mainly be used for graphics tasks. The X300 certainly isn't as fast as cards like the X800 or the monster Dell is putting into the new XPS Gen2 laptop (the new GeForce Go 6800 Ultra). However, the X300 doesn't have the big wattage draw of those cards either, thus conserving battery power. The i6000d can run 4 to 6 hours on the 9-cell battery. I may get another desktop machine in several months or perhaps early next year. At that time, I'll definitely load that machine with some pretty serious video card muscle.  |  IP: Logged

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