Compaq AMD Athlon 64 3500+ VS Gateway Mobile AMD Athlon 4000+

[Sarah82]

Hey guys n gals,

This is the first time for me buying a laptop (I'm sure you've heard this same old story before!)
I am looking for opinions on which one of these two you think is the better pick.
I am not very concerned about the price, as I am willing to pay either amount, depending on which model is more worthy of my cash.

Compaq AMD Athlon 64 3500 $1299 CAD
Gateway Mobile AMD Athlon 4000+ $1455 CAD

I was able to find quite a few reviews for the Gateway system, but not for the Compaq one. So if anyone has had experience with either, I'd greatly appreciate your comments.

I'll just list the specs here before I get onto the bulk of my questions:


Gateway Mobile AMD Athlon 4000+

Mfr. Part Number: MX7515
Processor Type Mobile AMD Athlon 64-Bit 4000+ Processor
Screen Size 15.4"
RAM (Preloaded / Maximum) 1024 MB (Exp. To 2GB)
Hard Drive 100 GB HDD (4200RPM)
Optical Drives DVD +/- RW Multi-Format Double Layer
Graphics ATI Mobility Radeon X600
Average Battery Life Over 3 Hours
Product Weight 3.40 kg
Audio Type AC '97 2.3 Compliant Audio
Battery Type 8-Cell Lithium-Ion
Cache 1MB L2
Fax/Modem 56K ITU V.92
Included In Box Power Supply, Battery, Manuals
Pointing Device Touchpad With Vertical Scroll Zone
Preloaded Operating System Windows XP Home Edition SP2
Processor Speed 2.6GHz
Product Dimensions 32.80(W) x 2.74(H) x 26.80(D) cm
Screen Type Widescreen Ultrabright WXGA TFT
Speakers AC'97 2.3 Complaint Audio Built-In
System Bus 1600MHz
Warranty 1 Year Parts & Labour

FEATURES:
I/O Ports: 4 x USB 2.0, 1 x VGA External Connector, 1 x IEEE 1394, 1 x RJ11, 1 x RJ45, Microphone In, Headphone/Audio Out, 1 x S-Video External Connector

Network Card: 802.11g Integrated Wireless (Up To 54Mbps), SecureEasySetup 125 High Speed Mode BroadRange Technologies, 10/100Mbps integrated Ethernet LAN

PC Card Slots: 1x Type I or Type II; Card Bus, 6-In-1 Digital Media Manager
Compact Flash, Micro Drive, Secure Digital, Memory Stick, Memory Stick-Pro, And MultimediaCard
-----------------------------------------------------------

Compaq AMD Athlon 64 3500

Mfr. Part Number: EC383UA#ABL
Processor Type AMD Athlon 64 Processor
Screen Size 15.4"
RAM (Preloaded / Maximum) 1024MB (1GB) DDR/ 2048MB (2GB)
Hard Drive 100GB 4200RPM
Optical Drives See The Features Section
Graphics ATI Radeon Xpress 200M IGP, 128MB DDR
Average Battery Life Info Not Available
Product Weight 3.56 kg
Audio Type Altec Lansing
Battery Type 8-Cell Lithium-Ion Battery
Cache Info Not Available
Fax/Modem 56K V.90
Included In Box Instructions, AC Adapter
PC Card Slots 1 x Expresscard/54, 1 x Type II Card Bus
Pointing Device Touchpad
Preloaded Operating System Windows XP Home Edition + Service Pack 2
Processor Speed 2.2GHz
Product Dimensions 36.20(W) x 4.57(H) x 28.40(D) cm
Removable Storage 6-In-1 Memory Card Reader, USB
Speakers Altec Lansing
System Bus Up To 2000MHz
Warranty 1 Year Parts & Labour

FEATURES:
Network Card: Built-in 802.11g Wireless LAN, Integrated 10/100BASE-T Ethernet LAN

I/O Ports: 4 x USB, 1 x VGA,1 x RJ-11 Modem, 1 x TV-Out, 1 x Expansion Port 2 Connector, 1 x IEEE 194 FireWire

Optical Drives: DVD+/- R/RW and CD-RW Combo Drive With Double Layer Support

Screen Type: 15.4" WXGA High-definition Brightview Widescreen

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Now, is an AMD 4000+ (2.6 GHz) too fast for a laptop? Will the processor be overheating on me? Does it mean that the battery consumption will be greater? And if I operate it via the AC adapter, will I have to shut the laptop off for a certain time due to overheating? I guess basically I'd like to know, depending on the speed of the processor, do I have to beware of leaving the system on too long so that it doesnt get too hot?

I'd like to use my laptop for gaming, watching movies, downloading a lot of audio files, graphics editing, and internet surfing. (I guess that sums it all up!)

Which graphix card is better? ATI Radeon Xpress 200M IGP, 128MB DDR or ATI Mobility Radeon X600? And are either of these components shared?

I am also concerned about Mobility. Which of these systems has the better mobility? And how do I know if they have WIFI or Bluetooth? --especially WIFI.

I/O ports & PC Card slots: Which system is better? Does gateway have a TV out port?

Can someone also explain to me difference between the two Network Cards? Is the gateway one better?

Will I be able to use a memory stick with the compaq model? It doesn't seem to list that.

How important is the System BUS?

I guess that is all for now. I'd appreciate any and all replies. And if anyone has a link for customer reviews for either of these models (Especially the Compaq), I would be deeply indebted to u.

Happy holidays! =)

 

[slackwarelinux]

I can answer some of these.

Which graphic card is better? ATI Radeon Xpress 200M IGP, 128MB DDR or ATI Mobility Radeon X600? And are either of these components shared?

The ATI Xpress 200M is shared, thats what the Intergrated Graphics Processor is. It is roughly equivalent to the X300, which is notably worse then the X600. The 200M should be fine for casual gaming, but I would not use it for any 3d game made in the past few years.

Can someone also explain to me difference between the two Network Cards? Is the gateway one better?

They both look the same to me.

Does gateway have a TV out port?

Yup, its here: 1 x S-Video External Connector in the specs.

I am also concerned about Mobility. Which of these systems has the better mobility? And how do I know if they have WIFI or Bluetooth? --especially WIFI.

They both have "WIFI", that is what the 802.11g means. They don't have bluetooth though, not many notebooks have that "feature". As for mobility, they both appear to be within .16 kg of each other, so I don't think weight is an issue. As for battery life, both are most likely pretty power hungry, the Compaq is even using a desktop chip, I would expect the gateway to get better battery life as it is using a mobile processor, and they both have similar 8 cell batteries.

 

[HomeAppraiser]

Is this laptop intended to be a desktop replacement or primarily used while traveling? If you have a home PC already you may consider one of the lighter 14" WXGA AMD Turion64 models out there for better mobility (size, weight & battery time). What graphics editing programs will you be using?

Aftermarket RAM is easy to upgrade and cheaper than paying the builders markup. Order with a minimum 256MB or 512MB on one stick and pop a 512MB or 1GB in the second slot yourself. USB Bluetooth adapters are widely available these days so that?s no big deal.

 

[Sarah82]

I would just like to thank you guys so much for your comments. They were very helpful.
I made the plunge and bought the compaq machine - it's fast, sleek & powerful.

The only question I have now is about existing programs that come preloaded with the machine which I don't want.
As you have probably gathered, I am not a computer buff.
So what I am wondering is....would it be possible to just "ADD/REMOVE" or "Uninstall" a program and not worry about any junk left behind?
There are certain trial versions on there (Like Nortons & MS OFFICE) which I want to get rid of because I have the full versions to install.

I am afraid to wipe out my hard drive because I don't know enough about how to do that and whether or not I will encounter any problems.
So will I be okay in just uninstalling? Will any crap be left over in the registry from the programs I do uninstall or remove via the control panel? Will some fragments still be lurking and taking up memory?

Thanks again. You guys are great.

 

[linuxconvert]

If you do it through the windows uninstaller, there might be some stuff left behind, like folders in the start menu (occasionally), somethimes icons are left on the desktop, and there are always registry values left in the registry. The first two are easy to take care of, the third is more complicated, but not that hard.