cooling for portable computer

[dedeboach]

I am planning to buy a portable computer. But my friend told me that I cannot use portable computer to watch DVD movie as the cooling system of portable computer is not good. Is he right?

 

[bigal40]

I have an emachines m6805 laptop and i can play dvd movies just fine, the only thing that limits me is battery life. I have even overclocked my video card and still don't have any overheating problems.

 

[akira34]

Your friend is blowing smoke there. I've watched movies on several different laptops without any problem. If the laptop is of a decent design, you won't have any problem. Of course, you won't want to watch the movie with the laptop on a bed or anything that will block the air holes or impair the cooling functions of the laptop. That's just being smart about your use.

Which laptop are you looking to get?

 

[dedeboach]

Not decided yet.
Any suggestion???

My budget is lower than US$1,300.00

 

[akira34]

What do you want to do with the laptop?? For that little, don't expect to get a laptop that will play all the current games and those coming out for the next 6-12 months (forget about beyond that). Do you need to run windows on it?

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: akira34
What do you want to do with the laptop?? For that little, don't expect to get a laptop that will play all the current games and those coming out for the next 6-12 months (forget about beyond that). Do you need to run windows on it?

If you want to play games, you might need to spend more money, as graphics on a laptop aren't as important (at least profit-wise) as they are on a desktop. But games need a good 3d accelerator - if you want to watch DVD's, this won't be important. A decent software encoder will do the job fine - something like PowerDVD.

Check the Hot Deals forum - Dell sometimes runs deals for like $700 with maybe a 2GHz proc. You might want to upgrade the RAM though.

Just checking Dell's site now - $719 gets you an Inspiron 1000 with:
- 2.2GHz Celeron
- WinXP Home
- 256MB RAM
- 30GB HDD
- 24x CD-RW/DVD combo drive

This probably only has Intel Extreme graphics though, so you won't be doing much 3d gaming at all. And it takes up some of the system RAM - if the laptop has another DIMM slot, you can buy another stick somewhere and have 512MB+.
But that'll easily let you watch a DVD. You just will want a pad or board or something to set it on - if you set it on your lap, you'll get toasted. I've got a Compaq laptop, and the CPU and optical drive areas both get fairly hot.

Doesn't look like this laptop has a floppy drive though.
Shop around though. My Presario 1510 works just fine, and it's got an integrated floppy drive. Paid $950 for it on the forums several months ago.
Either way, if watching DVD's is the most CPU/video intensive thing you'll be doing on a laptop, you probably would only really need a 1GHz processor. I had a 700MHz P3 laptop, and it was slightly jumpy with DVD's.

 

[bigal40]

Originally posted by: akira34
What do you want to do with the laptop?? For that little, don't expect to get a laptop that will play all the current games and those coming out for the next 6-12 months (forget about beyond that). Do you need to run windows on it?

for 1300 you can get an emachines m68xx. they have either a amd 64 300,3200, or 3400 and a cd-rw or dvd-rw depending on which model. They all have a radeon 9600 mobility 512mbs of ram built in 802.11g wireless, and a 60 gig hd. I highly recommend it as I own one and have had a very good expirence. i get 2.5-3 hours of battery life and i have no problem running doom 3 at 1024x768 medium quality with freames of 30-40.(with shadows turn on i only get about 20-25) At high quality 1024X 768 i get 20-25 fps(about 15 with shadows on). I play UT 2004 and Americas army with no problems either. I have the video card overclocked to 350/217 from 300/200. even without oc it will run the games but i have read of people oc'ing the cards to 400/235 so i figed i'd try and squeeze out a little extra performance. It has a 15.4 in widescreen which makes it great for watching movies. i recommend you look into

 

[febuld]

My recommendation is that you get a Dell Inspiron 600m. They are pretty cheap. But you also kinda get what you paid for. For example, my 600m used to freeze very frequently while running Panicware pop-up blocker. Since I stopped using it, things have gotten better, but slight incompatabilites do exist, be it due to the Pentium M processor or the Dell BIOS or Motherboard...Oh, and the left side of the laptop can get a little hot due to the passive cooling on the hard drive...Search cnet.com for a descent review on this...

And you could have gotten it for about a thousand or less on Dell's last deal...

 

[Mik3y]

Originally posted by: akira34
What do you want to do with the laptop?? For that little, don't expect to get a laptop that will play all the current games and those coming out for the next 6-12 months (forget about beyond that). Do you need to run windows on it?

i have 3 laptops and i've yet to see one that can handle a game as well as a PC. a mobile 3700+ along wtih a mobility 9800 and a gig of ram will still suck at games like doom 3 and such. playing games increases the temp of the laptop far more then just watching a movie on it and high temps = lag. note taht a desktop 9800 pro runs about 60-70C at full load. imagine a mobilty radeon running 50C at load. i find it a waste to consider any laptop out there a true "gamer's computer". of course they are fast and great, but for gaming, the heat will make the system lag like no other.

 

[dedeboach]

There is no need for my computer to have superpower on graphics.
Is US$1,300 sufficient to buy a portable computer if I don't need this superpower?

Thanks to all of you for the valuable information.