Laptop advice

[MUKid]

I'm looking to buy a laptop as my second PC. Ugh, they're so expensive compared to what you get. I am new to the process and could use some advice from those of you who have one.

First of all, what is the difference between XGA, XGA+, and Ultra XGA+?

Second, is the extra price and limited selection of latops using the GeForce2Go video card worth it? I plan on continuing to use my main computer for most games, but I'd like to be able to play some stuff (no Wolfenstein or AvP2, just maybe Civ3, Kohan, Roller Coaster Tycoon, that sort of thing). Does the standard old S3 laptop 3d video card handle these sorts of "lite games" well?

Third, what is the reliability of the various brands like? I am currently considering between a Dell or an HP. I realize the Dell has a better reputation, but does anyone have any solid experience, good or bad, with either Dell or HP? What about other laptops?

Any and all advice, relevent threads, good websites, links to reviews, and so forth would be appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[Nystral]

XGA, XGA+, and UXGA+ basiclly mean good, better, best in that order. I have a Uxga laptop in front of me and it's crisp and bright and the difference to a CRT is very noticible.

I have an HP with a trident cyberblade! XP and it works fine for Civ III and I don;t see why any other style game wouldn't work just as well. These aren't FPS havey games. Howver in one test by C-net or another Ziff Davis website had the geforce2go powered Dell 8100 clocking in at 30+ fps in Q3, where the cyberblade was pushing out a massive 4fps in the same demo. These aren't top of the line vid cards by any means.

I too was looking at a Dell 8100 and various HP laptops, however what sold me was the price. I have an xh575 from HP that we bought at sam's. They're only at warehouse clubs, but you might be able to pick up the 575 from HP's website I think I saw something like that last time I was there.

I did my homework and scoured for all the rebates I could and here's what I came up with:

512 MB of RAM
30 GB HD
8 MB video card
Built in 10/100 Ethernet
15" Ultra XGA active matric display
1.1 ghz Athlon Processor
Final price: $1850 from Sams


Dell couldn't match that, however it did have the very very nice GF2go which, if Linux is an issue with you is a huge boost because there no GOOD drivers for the cyberblade XP and Linux I have seen.

Cost became the deciding factor for me. I hope I helped.

 

[Derango]

Dell has the newest ATI chip now in their Insipron 8100 line, 64MB ATI Mobile radeon (can't remember the exact numbers). Its aparantly, 2-3x faster than the nVidia chip right now.

The difference between XGA, SXGA, SXGA+ and UltraSXGA+ (I belive those are the correct terms) is the native resoulution. XGA is the smallest (800x600 I think), SXGA is 1024x768, SXGA+ is 1400x1050, and UltraSXGA+ is 1600x1400. I woulden't reccomend UltraSXGA+...considering you're viewin that res on a 15" LCD...(Tiny, tiny, tiny fonts ) Plus, In my experience, you have the largest chance of getting a dead pixle with them.

 

[dabuman]

I am right now typing this message to you on a Toshiba Satellite 2805-S401 with a 15" XGA screen. If you get a XGA+ or a UXGA you will pay more for it, so if you don't want to spend a lot of money don't bother with a XGA+ or UXGA. I haven't compared my XGA to a XGA+ or UXGA side-by-side, but my screen is nice and bright and easy to read text on. I have a built in S3 Savage/IX Toshiba graphics card with 8MB of graphics memory (not shared from system memory as it is with some systems) and I can play Unreal Tournament, Empire Earth (with some graphic quality lowered, but it still looks awesome!). I also have a 20GB hard drive, 128MB RAM, DVD, etc. I am really happy with my Toshiba and enjoy it very much.

 

[dabuman]

I forgot, I don't have a XGA, but a SXGA since my native resolution is 1024X768.