Vamp
09-01-2007, 09:05 AM
Every four or so years I get a hellishly expensive system meant to keep me going for the next four without upgrades. My current system has held up beautifully since 2004 but now it's time for an upgrade and because I spend most of my life in front of a PC and would like to get out of my room, I'm thinking of a laptop.
I'm a DJ, performing Psytrance producer, video editor and gamer so I need something that's going to fulfil all those - on par with a desktop - but still give mobility I need. (Carrying a tower + monitor to a nightclub isn't fun.)
We don't have Alienware here in South Africa, but we have Dell (although not the XPS line.)
The system which seems to meet my needs the most is an M90 except I don't like the fact that it's got a Quadro card and small disk space on it. My dream system is a hybrid of Alienware and Dell that wont need any upgrades for the next few years - or very minimal ones, at least. I know upgrading laptop parts is tricky.
Even though I'm quite a gamer, I generally never really worry about hi-resolution and play at a decent 1024X768 with everything turned up. I'm playing Prey now on my current AMD3400+, gig of ram and Geforce6800 with those settings and it runs beautifully. I know that quadcore processors are available, but do I really need one? Will I ever really use it for what I do?
Anyways, the specs I'm looking at are as follows. There's no motherboard - I'm not too clued up on Laptop MoBos - which would you recommend? Should I get an SLI-able motherboard in case I decide to get a new card, or is SLI not possible with a lappy?
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T7700 (2.33GHz/667MHz/4MB)
512MB NVidia® GeForce™ 8700M GT (Does Rivatuner and Coolbits etc work with mobile graphics cards? Is the forceware for mobiles different at all from the one I'm used to on desktop?
2GB Dual Channel DDR2 SO-DIMM at 667MHz - 2 x 1024MB (Should I go for 4GB, or can I upgrade later if necessary?)
8x Dual Layer CD-RW/DVD±RW Burner w/ LightScribe Technology
400GB (200GB x 2) Serial ATA 1.5Gb/s 7,200 RPM w/ NCQ & 16MB Cache
Windows XP Pro SP2
17" WideUXGA 1920 x 1200 LCD with Clearview Technology (What is the 1024X768 equivalent of a widescreen monitor?)
Because I'd be getting the parts custom, I don't think I'd get a stylish Alienware design, so are there any laptop cases I should look at...If such things exist? Plain black might just be the thing so such a powerhouse doesn't draw attention to itself.
One thing I've never used before is WiFi. What hardware do I need? A WiFi card and modem at home, and then use the modems at WiFi Hotspots? Is WiFi hard to set up? Internet on the move is more important to me than a girlfriend. ;)
How do the specs look? Compared to a desktop PC with the same specs, would the laptop perform worse or the same? I take it custom laptops don't have self-contained drivers like Dell or something similar, so in the case of a format I'd need to reinstall everything myself?
Any advice is mucho appreciated! It's either a laptop or this prebuilt beast.
http://www.pryorcomp.co.za/index.php?categoryid=17 (which is about $2500)
I'm a DJ, performing Psytrance producer, video editor and gamer so I need something that's going to fulfil all those - on par with a desktop - but still give mobility I need. (Carrying a tower + monitor to a nightclub isn't fun.)
We don't have Alienware here in South Africa, but we have Dell (although not the XPS line.)
The system which seems to meet my needs the most is an M90 except I don't like the fact that it's got a Quadro card and small disk space on it. My dream system is a hybrid of Alienware and Dell that wont need any upgrades for the next few years - or very minimal ones, at least. I know upgrading laptop parts is tricky.
Even though I'm quite a gamer, I generally never really worry about hi-resolution and play at a decent 1024X768 with everything turned up. I'm playing Prey now on my current AMD3400+, gig of ram and Geforce6800 with those settings and it runs beautifully. I know that quadcore processors are available, but do I really need one? Will I ever really use it for what I do?
Anyways, the specs I'm looking at are as follows. There's no motherboard - I'm not too clued up on Laptop MoBos - which would you recommend? Should I get an SLI-able motherboard in case I decide to get a new card, or is SLI not possible with a lappy?
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T7700 (2.33GHz/667MHz/4MB)
512MB NVidia® GeForce™ 8700M GT (Does Rivatuner and Coolbits etc work with mobile graphics cards? Is the forceware for mobiles different at all from the one I'm used to on desktop?
2GB Dual Channel DDR2 SO-DIMM at 667MHz - 2 x 1024MB (Should I go for 4GB, or can I upgrade later if necessary?)
8x Dual Layer CD-RW/DVD±RW Burner w/ LightScribe Technology
400GB (200GB x 2) Serial ATA 1.5Gb/s 7,200 RPM w/ NCQ & 16MB Cache
Windows XP Pro SP2
17" WideUXGA 1920 x 1200 LCD with Clearview Technology (What is the 1024X768 equivalent of a widescreen monitor?)
Because I'd be getting the parts custom, I don't think I'd get a stylish Alienware design, so are there any laptop cases I should look at...If such things exist? Plain black might just be the thing so such a powerhouse doesn't draw attention to itself.
One thing I've never used before is WiFi. What hardware do I need? A WiFi card and modem at home, and then use the modems at WiFi Hotspots? Is WiFi hard to set up? Internet on the move is more important to me than a girlfriend. ;)
How do the specs look? Compared to a desktop PC with the same specs, would the laptop perform worse or the same? I take it custom laptops don't have self-contained drivers like Dell or something similar, so in the case of a format I'd need to reinstall everything myself?
Any advice is mucho appreciated! It's either a laptop or this prebuilt beast.
http://www.pryorcomp.co.za/index.php?categoryid=17 (which is about $2500)