Posted on 01/30/2008 4:13:09 PM PST by Michael Barnes
check out the Sager NP5792, very reasonable with a great GPU and screen.
You could almost buy 2 of what you want for $2000 - I’m assuming you want some software.
Many thanks!
Interesting you mention about MS being shipped with it. I don’t want MS loaded at all. Do any of the vendors even support that these days?
check out Samsung models. Quality, technology and dependability.
Yes, but you have to use specialty retailers. Most big box places have deals with M$ or with makers who have deals with M$. With desktop, it is easy enough to put together a good system with name parts and use any O/S. Harder with laptop. I just wiped disk and started over.
Mel
OS: Windows VistaI don't know squat about any of this stuff, except to know the graphics card makes this rig almost impossible to find for less than $2K, if at all. Yes, it for a game (not a first person shooter, but a game nonetheless). I can load the Office-type software later.
CPU: Intel Pentium® IV 2 GHz or AMD XP 2000+ MHz
RAM: 2048 MB
HD space: 8.0 GB
Video: 256MB GeForce 7950 or higher, ATi Radeon X1900 or higher and Similar chips from other manufacturers
Network: Broadband Internet connection
Drivers: DirectX® 9.0c (included) and latest video drivers
Screen resolution: 1024x768.
Audio hardware must be Direct Sound compatible.
It’s only slightly more than your price ($2K) and you’d have to install Vista on it, but:
http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/wa/RSLID?nplm=FB075LL/A
If you want to go “cheap”, http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/vostronb_1500?c=us&cs=04&l=en&s=bsd&~tab=bundlestab
But you’ll have to up option everything and in the end it’ll be almost as much.
Apple actually has this nice thing called ‘boot camp’ that’s specifically designed to make it possible for your computer to run Mac OS X and whatever else you can install on an intel-based computer. OS X Leopard also has a nice system-backup application, and although it might be a little more on the expensive side everything runs so smoothly, I can’t ever remember having any hardware or software issues with my Macbook.
It came pre-loaded with WinVista. I played with it for a few hours today, what a totally convoluted OS. XP or 2000 is far more superior. Best I can tell, all Vista does is hog up resources trying to look pretty. ugh. Took about 2.5 hours to create the recovery disks (in case I ever decide to sell it). I got RHEL up and running on it very quickly..Only problem was with my installation number. So, gotta work on that..For the time being, it will be back to SuSE until I have all the functionality with RH.
All in all though, I am very impressed with this laptops capabilities. Price wise, I walked out the door (with accessories and extended warranty) a little over $1100.00
Thanks to everyone for their input!
Bill, I also need to purchase a laptop. I need one that will run windows, and essentially the xp suite as well as dictation software. I am putting my case files on line and want to do it with dictation. I read that Dragon needs up to four gig of RAM to run efficiently. The only thing I see out there are gamer laptops with more than I need. Any ideas?
bump
Macbook.
Skip the Redhat and Windows nonsense.
There are a lot of good models out there. I'm running a Dell Latitude at the office - Dell Small Business Site - which I like a lot. It's a reasonably priced, middle-of-the-road model that provides a benchmark for the others. At home I'm running a slightly pricier Sony Vaio which has been a workhorse for several years. A good friend swears by his Toshiba Satellite. I'd consider any one of them and there are a lot more out there that are probably even better that I haven't any direct experience with.
I mention Dell because right now you can still get XP with it, but you have to specify that when you buy it. You can also purchase it separately from half a dozen vendors. Don't be too put back by all the negative press on Vista - I'm running it on the Latitude and it runs just fine. If you do get it on your box and want to replace it with XP, slick the disk and do a fresh install from media is my advice.
I really like the new Mac laptops a lot. Dragon says it doesn't run on Mac computers, which is probably not entirely true anymore but takes a bit of kludging with XP as a guest OS. I'd leave that to hobbyists and geeks. If you had to call tech support and admit you'd levered it onto a Mac they might not be very helpful.
For your application I'd also recommend dropping a hunnert buckaroos or so on an external USB hard drive. Throw a copy of your case files on there and you have instant backup that you can attach to anything you want. You laptop gets ripped off or dropped from a roof at a wild all-night orgy, no problemo.
Well, I have to think about that stuff, anyhows... ;-)
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