Great time to buy a Laptop? Info about new technologies: nForce, Athlon 4, GeForce2 Go

[kingz]

I've been looking for a Laptop for college. I took a look at Dell's Inspiron 8000 and I'm very impressed to say the least. For $2434 you get:

Intel Pentium III 1GHz / 700MHz
15.0&quot; UltraXGA 1600x1200 TFT <--I heard its beautiful
128MB PC100 SDRAM (2 DIMMs)
32MB DDR NVIDIA GeForce2 Go
32GB Ultra ATA 5400RPM
Modular Floppy Drive
Microsoft Windows Millennium <--I have a copy of W2K
Mini-PCI 10/100 NIC + 56K V.90 Modem
8X Max Variable DVD-ROM
Microsoft Works Suite 2001 + Money 2001 <--I have a copy of Office 2K
Norton Antivirus 2001
3 Yr Ltd. Warranty + 3 Yr Mail-in Service + lifetime Phone Support
6 Month DellNet by MSN
Image Expert 2000 Dell Edition
Four QuickSnap Color Palm Rest

Sell the SODIMMs and get them from Crucial. Its much cheaper that way. 384MB should be more than enough.

Here is what I want to know:

Should I just go for the Laptop now? I will need one by August, so will new technology such as the Athlon 4 be out (paired with the GeForce2 Go) by August? What about the nForce chipset? Will that be implemented into Laptops by that time? I hear Laptop prices normally dont fall like they do on desktops. Waiting 2 months to save $100 isnt worth it in my opinion. I dont really need it now, but it would be great to have it now so I could get used to it. Ive never used a TFT before, and I hear its a lot different than a CRT. I would love a Laptop equiped with nForce, but I have a feeling that wont be for a long time. Same with a Athlon 4 paired with a GeForce2 Go. Anyone have any inside info?

 

[erub]

i doubt Dell will be rushing to put Athlon 4's in their notebooks...

 

[kingz]

Yea, in the past. But the demand for Athlon 4's has beeng great. Surely dell can pick up on that. I hope they are big enough to withstand Intel's strongarm. By August is asking too much? I know laptops move very slow because people dont demand speed on a Laptop. But I for one would like to play some CS on it baby!

 

[MWink]

I got my Dell Inspiron 8000 a few weeks ago and for the most part I LOVE it. There are however some major problems I have found (I don't know if everyone has them or just a few people but some are mentioned a lot on Dell's forums). First off I can't get the Infrared port to Hotsync with my Palm IIIc. The HD is also making some worrisome sounds. And the biggest problem is the LCD flashes (like off for a second) when displaying certain patterns or shades of blue. Other than that it is an excellent machine. Games run great on it. I can't tell the difference between it and my desktop when it comes to performance. A piece of advice if you get one from Dell, don't let them upgrade anything you can upgrade yourself (RAM, or HD) because their prices are outrageous!

 

[kingz]

Yea, their RAM prices are horrible:
you add $325 to your total for 256MB PC100 (2x SODIMMs) upgrading from 128MB PC100 (2x SODIMMs)

Their hard drive prices arent that bad though. $300 more to upgrade a 10GB 4200RPM drive to 32GB 5400RPM (IBM Travelstar 32GH I believe). the Travelstar sells for about $330. The 10GB sells for about $60 on ebay. its about a $90 difference. Then subtract the ebay fees, shipping fees, + the hassle.

 

[kingz]

bump

 

[pulpp]

in two months from now, you can expect two major upgrades notebook wise, the new .13 mobile P3 at 1.13 ghz will be availiable with 512kb L2 unlike the desktop version which will come with 256kb L2 and will run cooler and eat up less power, plus it will have a 133mhz FSB instead of the 100 FSB current mobile p3`s are running at. also by then the Mobile Radeon might be availiable from Dell as well. which is supposed to eat less power than the geforce2go, plus ATI is no new comer to mobile video, so you can expect better display quality from it if not higher performance than the geforce2go. i doubt IBM will come up with anything larger than the 48gb currently availiable in the next two months though. the Mobile Radeon 2 wont be availiable until late this year or early next year.

 

[kingz]

when will the .13u P3 be shippin in notebooks?

 

[pulpp]

kingz, i heard July

 

[kingz]

pulpp, thanks, i guess ill wait till then. do you know anything about dell and the Athlon 4?

 

[ElFenix]

to play CS you don't need the gf2go, the standard rage mobility will work just fine, and probably eat less power. of course they're almost the same price so if you don't mind the slightly worse battery life you might as well have the gf2go. the tualatin p3s should be a big leap for mobile performance. currently the p3 GHz clock throttles even while on AC power because it can get hot enough to cause damage to other notebook parts. rumor has it the new p3s are so cool you don't even need a fan.

 

[Maverick]

<< Microsoft Windows Millennium <--I have a copy of W2K >>



I dunno if you've read this yet, but since its a Dell I thought I'd mention this thread

 

[pulpp]

kingz, i heard alot of romours on comp.sys.laptops and alt.sys.pc-clone.dell newsgroups about Dell annoucing they will use the Athlon 4 moible in the Inspiron notebook line, there was even a register/inquirer article about it based one someone claiming they talked to a sales agent in Dell that told him they will indeed be using the Athlon 4 Mobile chips.

but, consider that Dell never used an AMD CPU ever, and that they have a very exclusive contract with intel, thats how they always get thier chips early and much cheaper. so personally i will only believe it if Dell actually annouce it on thier website, although i am doubtfull they ever will, with the new mobile .13 p3`s offering great performance and the new UltraLow Voltage mobile p3`s getting up to 700mhz, they dont need AMD as much.

 

[CrackRabbit]

i wouldnt worry about dell with an athlon anytime soon,
face it, dell is intel's b!tch, and will probably be the last company to consider an athlon in anything.
They make Damn Fine intel notebooks though, i have a 5000e and im quite happy with it.

MWink: I would be worried about the hdd, Especialy if its and IBM travelstar drive i belive they have the same problems as the 75gpx series. keep an eye on it, run a thurough scandisk on it every so often, and most of all DONT TRUST THE FECKING DELL DIAGNOSTICS, they are the most useless piles of krap ever. And dont let a tech (if you have to talk to one) convince you to use them.
I had a hdd go bad on mine, i ran the dell diagnostics hoping to make the tech happy so i could rma it, the drive would barely read anything and the diagnosics said it was A OK.
i finaly had to call another tech and have him listen to it on the phone beefore i could.. rather annoying...

ok rants done

 

[pulpp]

rabbit, dunno if this is good news or not, but all the drives Dell uses in thier notebooks are made by ibm, actually i think even all thier desktop drives are made by ibm, the TFT screens are made by IBM too, you might say that dell is IBM b!tch as well

but they do make damn great notebooks, i own an inspiron and planning on getting another one this fall if i could save enough

 

[MWink]

Dell does use IBM hard disks in their laptops but not in their desktops. My friend has a Dell desktop and it has a good Maxtor drive in it. I am very worried about the HD since it is a Travelstar. I was stupid enough to go buy another one to upgrade so I now have 2 Travelstars. It is the new one that is making the noise.

 

[kingz]

Yea, ive heard about the 1GHz chips running at 900MHz most of the time on AC power because it got to hot. Hopefully, newer technology like the Athlon 4, or more likely, Tualatin will be shipped in dell's Inspiron 8000 line with the GeForce 2 Go by August.

 

[kingz]

I would like the laptop to last me through 4 years of college hopefully. Thats why I want the GeForce 2 Go. Hopefully it will last that long. I stuck with my 200mmx for four years

 

[kingz]

the 32GB hard drive dell uses is in fact a ibm 32GH. Its nortorious for dying, with that infamous &quot;clicking sound&quot;. I would stay away form it, but @ 5400rpm, how could I? hell, Dells good at replacing stuff.

 

[Subversal]

That Inspiron you configured looks sweet. But its got too much for me. Hard enough with all the games I play on my main PC but to have that much power in a laptop I'd probably never get anything done. Why I'm getting a an Inspriron 4000 with a lot less frills

 

[kingz]

haha, i was kinda thinking the same thing. im sure my GPA would be higher if I dont get the 8000. I think my g/f will be getting the 4000. I'd hate to see her carrying around a 10lbs laptop

 

[KevinH]

Just to chime in with my two cents but experience has taught me NEVER to make a computer purchase until you need it. It's the same old story, price drop, price drop, price drop. I know when u're thinking iin terms of percentages, a 10% drop isn't much, but look at the absolute savings. If you save 200 bucks, that's money for clothes, going out 4-5 times on the town, etc.

 

[johnny1111]

I got a Dell I8000, I really like it. It came with Windows ME which I switched to 2000 right away. If you want to get it with Win 2K pre installed, just order it thought the small business section of their web site. I also got the minimum amount of ram they required (on one dimm) and then just bought more from Crucial.
If you don't need it yet, wait, the same configuration will be cheaper in no time, or you will be able to get more features for what you would be spending now.
BTW I got mine with the 20 gig HD, which is made by Hitachi, not IBM. I wish I ordered the 32 because it is faster (5400 rpm). That is going to be my next upgrade. -john

 

[kingz]

Thats jonny. Do you know of any websites that focuses on the i8000 (Other than dell of course)? It seems like a very popular model. Did you have any problems switching to W2K? Dont worry too much about the 32GH Model hard drive. Many people on Dell|Talk also post about the hard drive dying. the 48GB is 5400rpm also, so if you upgrade, get that. You can get that here:
http://www.goldsource.com/bare.asp its $699 though That place has the 32GH for $330, and outpost.com has it for $380. Dell charges $300 to upgrade form a 10GB to the 32GH.

I know I should wait, but the damn thing just stares at me