Update === HOT Athlon 64 Notebooks & companies

[Detroit21]

Vote your favourite companies(availble only on login to this forum)


People are going for Athlon 64 laptops as they feel it will accomodate future 64 bit applications which has already started comming in the market(And probably the world will shift to 64 bit with Windows 64 to be launched, like what happened to 16 bit, 486 computers after 32 bit Windows 2.0 & Win95 was launched).
Otherwise for todays needs you have cheaper and better built, plenty of INTEL machines.

Take a look at the market of Athlon 64:
(This is just Athlon 64 bit market and not general notebook market)

1. You have high end Sager(NP4750-V,$2245 & mid level at $1900), ASUS L5,Voodoo Envy M:855,local
brands like CBW, Acer Ferrari(somewhat mid level with 4200 HDD speed, PC333 rams) etc
costing above $2000 with high end graphics cards like MR9700 and 128 or 256 mb graphics ram.

And mid range like,
Emachine 7405GX, emachine 6805/8/9/10/11, Gateway 7405GX
costing around $1400 to $1500 with good graphics card and discrete(separate) 64 mb graphics ram

And somewhat low end like
Acer Aspire 1522 costing around $1200 with integrated graphics card and shared 64 mb ram
HP/Compaq series at around $1400 to $1750( low end beacuse of outdated Geforce Go440 graphics
cards)
Averatec
Sharp Actius with low end processors


2.Look at what the affordable range companies offer. The problems associated with them are as below:

a)Emachines/Gateway are good machines but have cracking lid cases.Gateway also has the lid cracking
(as both share the same Arima design) and also another problem of feable speakers and weak LCD
case

b)Acers could have been better if they had not used Via Unichrome with shared ram, but would have
continued with discrete Geforce 5700 cards(or mobile Radeons 9600 or above with discrete 64mb
ram.)

c)HP would have been a market killer with their best designed external features & speakers.
Only they should start putting discrete MR Radeon 9700 which they put for Intel machines.
Athlon 64 Compaqs are ugly looking overpriced notebook with same outdated graphics cards.

Hope the designers and company marketing strategists listen to what customer wants and incorporate
neccesary changes to survive.

 

[MDE]

eMachines is admirably addressing the hinge cracking issue. They ship you a box and pay for all shipping (overnight each way). I got my M6805 back in four days.

EDIT: My M6805 doesn't have a weak screen casing, but the speakers are about on par for a laptop, they could be MUCH worse. The Gateway units DO NOT have the hinge crack issue, why would they continue to shoot themselves in the foot and replace covers on machines with a new revision? The eMachines rep I talked to said that the manufacturer of the faulty lids changed plastic "recipes" without letting eMachines know, and they obviously changed to a substandard formula. The hinge problem is done and over with once the machine goes back to eMachines, and newer units shouldn't even have this problem.

 

[Detroit21]

If you access to following forum please check link to see pics of cracked Gateway A64 model.
This shows not everything is at control at Gateway.The link...

http://notebookforums.com/atta....php?attachmentid=2961

Also above owner of Gateway had problems, getting his issue addressed as, Gateway people still dosent own the 7405GX....not in website & no support..You will be given a emachine number for help.

Also putting more than 1000 bucks customer dosent want to get into trouble. Servicing is a step later.

As far as Gateway speakers are concerned check it at BB at full volume and also check other laptops...you will know what I am telling.(I did this myself...and the bestbuy guy suggested me to buy a
$10 separate speaker to do the job). I am wondering I wouldnt mind paying $100 more than $1199(cost for 7504GX in the deal) if I get good thing.Also its only one slot(accesable) for ram turned me away.

Try moving finger with slight pressure on Gateway machine plastic lid...opp side of LCD... and see the corresponding pixels follow your finger.

You wont see similar results in other machines kept nearby.
This proves its weakness to slightest abuse(Sometimes Design has to accomodate some abuse). Your lappie may face some load over it during travel etc etc ..

Gateway/Emachine tried to bring best specs with good price..but they did it with lot of over value engineering

 

[Mook1e]

I won't argue the problems with Gateway/Emachines, but where do you get your prices?


$2000+ for the Sager A64?

I see it for $1700-$1900 with 17" display.

My M6809 (cracked hinges, dangit) has good sound. If you install the latest Ac'97 drivers, your sound is actually louder (or at least mine is)

Has anyone else found the same to be true?

 

[fbrdphreak]

I wouldn't buy a Gateway/eMachines without a good warranty, like BBY's. Great machines, but you do have a larger chance of problems than with most brands IMO. Still great machines tho

 

[ThaPerculator]

Compaq 64's are ugly? Man, mine looks a heck of a lot nicer than my buddy's emachines. Overpriced, yes. Ugly, no.

 

[Detroit21]

Everything is perspective. But see the modern design trends and you will see the light.I have seen some very beautiful Centrino notebooks from Compaq(small & very light - weight). Wish they had A64 machines of similar kind.

Does anyone know of any upcomming Athlon 64 models this month ?


Quoting from another forum (Interesting Read from October)


Which notebook will kill the market ? Study

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

Notebook having following config will be the leader for next 6 months starting
November(Most nerds dream of today and would love to buy)

(Price Range $1000 to $1200)==> (Center of Bell shape of probability)

Manufacturers can afford this with good quality mass manufacturing and very good brand support.

1)90 nm/130nm Athlon 64 bit processor 3400 or higher with wireless chip bundled People would prefer 1mb cache rather than 512K and should be low power consumption chip
2)80 gb HDD or higher with 5400 speed or higher
3)DVD RW (+,-,dual) optical drive
4)128 Graphics memory(with equal to Radeon 9700 or higher)(with or without
PCI express support)(Add on media reader)
5)1 gb ram with empty slot for future upgradability
6)Better pitch keyboard for good ergonomics
7)15 inch SXGA(good resolution) LCD monitor

All those aiming with lower specs and higher price will not sell, unless for agressive marketing stunts and herd mentality.

 

[mdahc]

So has Acer officially abandoned using the Geforce 5700 Go with the Aspire 1520 (along with the 15.4" widescreen display)? What gives? Their global website states that it's supposed to be available with both, but I've only seen the one with the 15" display and Unichrome graphics for sale.

 

[Detroit21]

Yes Companies in thier effort to bring down cost, Gain profit and become popular....
use one of the method of eye glittering specs, but low quality or downgrade the graphics card to 3-4 yrs old etc etc

It dosent make even 100$ difference but companies undestimate US customers( and dont do proper market study; Their marketing strategists should be fired)

As above, HP with with Geforce 440
Acer with integrated Unichrome and 15'(changing their existing ones)
Gateway with their already (Emachine) failed Case-hinge design/mfg process(still failing; check forums)
Sharp with ouddated specs
aLL SO called high end (Only high in price as other vendors gives at half the price with similar specs)


These companies dont understand the ATHLON 64 market.
They just want to be(ALSO RAN TYPE) in A64 segment.

ATHLON 64 shoppers are people who are looking for MORE
and what they are getting is poor choice laden with companies having poor build quality, low specs or high price....

The market is big, but above concerns are steering away the customers.
(Otherwise Intel would have stopped selling or sold only LOW END; Market is full of technical study that latest (or same speed) A64 are having better design, better performance than available Intels and it cost less too)

WILL their be a company with the RIGHT MARKET VISION and customer satisfaction in mind ????

 

[mdahc]

It doesn't look like it.

 

[Detroit21]

A)You should know that all new technology development are happening around AMD Athlon 64 platform.
For instance check the graphics industry:
ATI & NVIDIA are launching new fast PCI Express products, first on A64 rather than INTEL

http://www.hardwarezone.com/ne...hp?cid=10&id=19340
http://www.hardwarezone.com/ne...hp?cid=10&id=19353

B) Bill Gates heralds 64-bit computing as the way forward for IT (no suprise there!) saying that the final
testing stages of a 64-bit Windows were underway and that internally it is already being widely used.

http://www.techspot.com/story16302.html

C) Averatec seems to be a true innovative company having some market vision and making right steps
towards future profitability:

Their innovations:
1)First step with their around $1350 convertibles( Notebook cum tablet PC) 6300 series
2)2nd step with their $1400 6200 series(Notebook cum DVD/MP3 player).
Can watch & control movies/songs with PC off.

and many more....

They seems to be moving in right direction..Showing the way forward for others to follow.....

www.averatec.com

 

[Detroit21]

Gateway also seems to follow aggresively the A64 market.
Its deal for Gateway 7410GX(Athlon 64 with 9600 Radeon) for $899 was fantabulous.(was available for 3 days at CompUSA)

It is good value engineering from Gateway 7405(at BB).... removing DVD writer, media reader,
lowering spec for processor(3 GHz) & HDD(60 Gb) & ram(256) was well thought of.
Wish they had put 1 X 512 in the unaccesable slot, and kept one memory slot empty.
(Curently for 6410GX they have 2 X 128)

Only problem is, they are following the same weak Arima Case design.
Gateway people treat items sold at retailers as step children and hence we may have a service
problem if you go direct. That means u have to cough off around $300 more for retailers warranty.

 

[gweilo8888]

Just a confirmation that I have experienced the Gateway 7405GX hinge cracking problem on a laptop that's about three weeks old, and has been treated like gold dust.