Question For Qualified Computer Person

[SKITTLES]

yeah when you use say a Dell XPS or Alienware laptop with a RAID and SLI video cards, which has a max battery life of 47 minutes and weighs 10kg with bag and accessories, you start to wonder what's the point of it!

Or Acers new range which has an i7 processor, dedicated GPU, 4GB RAM and an LED monitor, that can run for 9hrs...

Btw, the build quality is actually enough to satisfy me, and I'm a Macfag.

You'd be an idiot to run your system on max without AC, the point of docking stations and peripherals is to sit it on a desktop, with power, and do your gaming. Sitting at maccas and playing BC2 is ridiculous.

I'm sure your friend is pretty good at making desktop computers, but he's just a little nieve to the new market coming up. With the demographic showing a LOT of focus going into education, and keeping education up to date with technology, we'll be seeing many high-powered notebooks coming out to appeal to the youngens, whilst developed technology is gradually introduced to help these mini-beasts operate a whole day at school.

All you have to do is disable the GPU when you're not using it and there's an instant gain in time.

SSDs too, those things are amazing.

[Kinkstaah]

mmm don't kinda agree with that part of what you said

Better RAM, CPU and HDD quality (RPM, performance) can actually make a PC feel quite snappy as opposed to cheaper/generic stuff.

As with added features like RAID and so on that cheaper/generic mobo's often do not include... unlocking/overclocking and so on are also other area's generic style PC's don't allow you to engage in.

And totally agree Jacob with the m-ITX and so on. You can have a gaming machine almost now that weighs the same as a laptop - only issue is you need a screen

Yes, but the real differences here for general use in windows etc are seconds, or fractions of a second.. if he's going to be looking at things like RAID or Overclocking I'm not entirely sure he would have made this thread

[bozodos]

latops are fine, from my experiences, go a Toshiba or Dell. I have a HP on it's 3rd HDD and ACER computers are just cheaply made shit no matter what you get.

If you want to game, expect to fork out over $3k for an XPS/Alienware or build a kick arse desktop.

sif bother with RAID 5 in a home application unless you plan to use Deskstar (Deathstar lol) hard disks! If you really want to get anal, buy some drives rated 24x7 or look at network attached storage.

SKITTLES: you're a macfag, 'nuff said. I work on a site with 800 pc's plus about 100 odd laptops, the shit soon floats to the surface. Even the majority of people's home computers that grace our workbench are ACER made pieces of shit.

You should also pry open your Imac some time to have a look at how it's put together (glue, tinfoil and laptop components LOLZ).

I also think you mean NETBOOKS, and yes I have a mate who works in IT in a school, they are absolutely the bane of his existence. Please tell me when you see a netbook with the performace of an i5 with the same amount of RAM, I'd love to see it

thankfully the only experience I've seen with netbooks is a limited number of Dell Latitude 2100 ones, and despite their advantages for using of asset control, network diagnostics etc, waiting 10 minutes for them to finally boot into Windows 7 was enough for me. I also think that you should look at how expensive SSD's are reletive to a netbook cost LOL.

I was also pointing out the inevitable drawbacks of gaming laptops, that the battery life is shithouse when using 2x hard disks, 2x video cards and a 17" screen, even when just surfing the net etc.

Edited July 17, 2010 by bozodos

[MSTRshenanigans]

I've noticed some of the new ones coming out are looking the shit. I use my laptop when I am not near my TV so its essential I have one with some grunt (got toshiba). I just think he's a bit narrow minded about laptops as some kind of disease on the computer world...

[DivHunter]

Or Acers new range which has an i7 processor, dedicated GPU, 4GB RAM and an LED monitor, that can run for 9hrs...

Btw, the build quality is actually enough to satisfy me, and I'm a Macfag.

You'd be an idiot to run your system on max without AC, the point of docking stations and peripherals is to sit it on a desktop, with power, and do your gaming. Sitting at maccas and playing BC2 is ridiculous.

I'm sure your friend is pretty good at making desktop computers, but he's just a little nieve to the new market coming up. With the demographic showing a LOT of focus going into education, and keeping education up to date with technology, we'll be seeing many high-powered notebooks coming out to appeal to the youngens, whilst developed technology is gradually introduced to help these mini-beasts operate a whole day at school.

All you have to do is disable the GPU when you're not using it and there's an instant gain in time.

SSDs too, those things are amazing.

Which Acer? I see the best one on thier site, the Aspire 8943, has a mid range graphics card and 3 hours battery life.