I just bought a laptop from them. A second one in the way. I ordered two - and was able to expedite one of them. The 2nd Sunburt Yellow (don't ask) one shipped on time. The first one was just the default color. They send it by fed ex, and you can track it - but only get the info after it ships, they seem to be unable to tell you how close it is for it to be ready to be shipped. I think that is because ibuypower.com aren't really the manufacturers - or they somehow own the actual manufacturers. Or maybe their AMD versions are made by someone else. I got a couple of peices of literature saying that the XP OS can only be on the American Future product. And in System Info - the manufacturer is listed as "americanfuture." American Megatrends comes up in the startup screen before windows begins to load.
I was waiting for the second laptop before I was going to post here, but since you asked....
First - it seems from everyone here that the AMD64 is a better gaming CPU. The Mobile AMD should be no different than the normal AMD64 except that its voltage should be chnaging with the demands of the chip to conserve battery power, if I recall correctly.
The 9700 mobile graphics cards can have up to 256Mb - but the Pro version ibuypower.com offers is 128Mb, 4 pipelines, and it comes with hydravision for a 2nd monitor support. From what I read, the GeForce 4 440 Go card will be pressed for a hot and heavy game of Solitaire.
What I have right now is this - the AMD64 - #2 selection - of the 3 15.4 inch screens, they are all the same - except for the options - they are just priced differently based on the starting options - I was told that is because of how much extra they have to doo for customization....
AMD64 3400+, 1Gig Ram, PC3200, 9700 128Mb, 80 gig drive (turns out to be really 74.52, but 80,015,491,072 bytes - so that is how they came up with 80 Gigs....)
With some Direct X setting tweaking on the ATI interface, I reached a 27.7 fps Aquamark 3 score. While running the Aquamark Score, you can post them to the website for public viewing, and where it separates the CPU and Graphics card scoring - and you will clearly see that graphics are much depending on the graphics card. My 3400+ was getting wiped out (32+ FPS) by some 2800+ and 3200+'s that were running 9700's with 256Mb (8 pipelines) - and half my RAM. Perhaps go to their site and search for your processors and the graphics card. In this case, stick with the former.
Everything is working on the laptop. Some drivers are out of date, because of some recent driver releases (definitely get the Intel Wireless LAN update - much better interface). Haven't tested the TV Out, a 2nd monitor, infrared port, firewire, or small slim card reader, or the audio out/in ports - but everythign works. Becareful - the physical Wireless on/off switch is right beside the power button. My only complaint is that on the left side of the chasis, the USB ports are located (the third is in the back), the were put in at a small angle, its a tighter fit for the one port - but IMHO - it'll just keep the cord there longer. My only other complaint it chasis related and is propably industry wide - the power cord goes right in beside the drive - so you have to make sure your cord is clear because opening or closing the drive. Its seems though that some functions marked on the keyboard are not available. There is a battery symbol on one keys and what looks like volume controls on other keys - the function key and pressing them doens't seem to do anything, but it will for screen brightness and sleep.
Some positives are that this chasis seems to go a good job of keeping the heat from the battery. The left side will build the heat, but the battery hardly gets much of it - which is located on the right, in front of the drive. Because of the power cord - I wish the locations of the drive and battery were switched. Also - the drive is removeable. And althought a rep told me there is no port of laptop locks - ther eis in fact one on mine. The chasis has two fans, that suck air up from uderneath, and push the air out of the back left side, and the left rear side. Seems to be two different air paths. The sound is great - at least for a laptop. A rep has told me to not upgrade to the Windows SP2 - as it has problems witht he mother board apparently - and to wait for the next service pack - but - SP3 was out earlier htis year I thought. Also - there is a mic on the top left of the monitor.
It was a good buy. Hopefully my second order (a 3200+, 512Mb ram) will be just as good - which is for a business partner. So far, I ma a happy customer of there's.
Facebook
Twitter