# Yes, another - "which laptop to buy" - but mines good :)



## ClientAlive

I see so many posts like this I wasn't sure I should make another one. I did check out some of the other posts but came to the conslusion => I have my own unique needs. So I figure I'll take my chances and see what people think.

First things first - I'm a Linux user and love it. Now that that's out of the way...

On to the second, so called, sacrelidge - No, I don't get into gaming, at all.

I'd be using the computer mostly for software develpment and networking. I do like to watch movies on my computer and would like to have decent performance on that end of things. I also tend to run several large downloads simultaneously from time to time and that tends to eat a lot of resources. I do tend to multitask a lot and I very frequently have half a dozen apps open at the same time. This old, 6 yr old, laptop I have now just doesn't cut it anymore. She was nice while she lasted but I think it's time to retire 'er.

I'd like to find something in the neighborhood of $600 - 650 but I'm not sure I could get what I need at that price so I'd be willing to go as far as, say, $900 max w/ tax, shipping, the works. If I spent the extra though I'd really want to be getting a hell of a deal.

That being said, here's a rough sketch of what I know I would want included. Really, it's what the best processor is that that confuses me.

So I'm thinking:

~ Brand: I'm open but I have had a lot of luck with HP (I don't mind them)
~ Size: Neighborhood of a 15" screen
~ RAM: (sure about this one) Minimum 6 GB DDR3 (FAST! 2100 if you can get it in a lap top)
~ Hard Drive: (sure about this one) Neighborhood of 750 GB and 7200 rpm
   not less than 7200 rpm)
~ CPU: (??) Questions here but I do lean heavily toward AMD and like the
           sound of a Quad core for some reason (though it's not based on
           much knowledge).
Graphics: (??) Questions here. The gist of it is I'd like to have high def for
              the movies I watch but it doesn't need to be top of the line in this
              area. Something upper side of mid way is fine.

It'll probably be a dual boot system with Linux and Windows btw. One concern would be that there's no peice of hardware that's known for being too big a pain with Linux - but I can ask about those things in other places too.

I was looking at a particular model (with a couple custom tweaks to the order) but the processor has me a little confused. I did some checking into it on the web and what I learned about it just seems odd to me.

The one I was looking at is the Pavilion dv6z Quad Editio. It lists the AMD Quad-Core A8-3500M Accelerated Processor (2.4GHz/1.5GHz, 4MB L2 Cache) as the processor. I was a little confused by the way the processor speed is listed "2.4/1.5" so I googled a little and found a review that talks a little more in depth about it Its $900 for the configuration I'm looking at and don't want to cut loose with that kind of cash without having a good grasp on the merits (or lack thereof) of this processor. The review I looked at is here: http://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc-...-965258/review and even lists some bechmarks (which I don't really understand) on about the third page.

 What I'm wondering is what this deal is with it having different processor speeds for the different cores. Apparently two of the cores can go up to 2.4 GHz but it's a 4 core processor. What about the other two? I suppose those are the ones that run at 1.5 GHz? And this thing about some kind of integrated video graphics. How does that impact things? Honestly, the whole thing souds kind of hoakey to me. As far as I knew (or thought I knew) processors, however many cores they have, were supposed to run at the same speed for all the cores - and that being the max speed. In other words, what happened to tapping these things out - peddal to the metal?

 What it makes me think of is something I heard about the processor market and how they do things. I've heard it said that they make processors of differing cores from the same die. That they are all whatever the highest number of cores for that series. What they say happens is not all of them that come off the line are at the highest standard/ performance. They test them and if, say, a six core processor tests deficient in a couple of it's cores they just lock those cores and sell it as a 4 core processor. So what I'm thinking is maybe this 3500m is something like that only even below the normal standard, where all the cores would run at the same speed. I mean, perhaps its not like they did that 3500m on purpose. Maybe it just tested as having a couple cores at one speed and a couple at another, so they marketed it that way.


Specs as I would tweak them=>

~ Color: dark umber
~ Operating system: Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
~ Processor: AMD Quad-Core A8-3500M Accelerated Processor (2.4GHz/1.5GHz, 4MB L2 Cache)
~ Graphics card: 1GB GDDR5 Radeon(TM) HD 6750M Graphics [HDMI, VGA]
~ Memory: 8GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm) [One thing I changed]
~ Hard drive: 750GB 7200 rpm Hard Drive with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection
~ Office software: No Additional Office Software
~ Security software:No additional security software
~ Primary battery: 9 Cell Lithium Ion Battery [The other thing I changed]
~ Display: 15.6" High Def LED HP Brightview (1366x768)
~ Primary optical drive: FREE UPGRADE to Blu-ray player & SuperMulti DVD burner
~ Personalization: HP TrueVision HD Webcam with Integrated Digital Microphone and HP SimplePass Fingerprint Reader
~ Networking: 802.11b/g/n WLAN and Bluetooth(R)
~ Keyboard: Standard Keyboard with numeric keypad



Anyone here with a little more experience could help me get my bearings straight? I'd sure appreciate it.


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## claptonman

This is indeed a special case and a lot of info to decipher. I'm not gonna be the greatest help, but I will point out a few things.

1. Did you know you can buy laptops without operating systems on them? I know Dell does this but I do not have any links to them. This may benefit you for cost, but since you said you want to dual-boot, you may just want a regular laptop with win7 on it.

2. HP. It's decided on the forum that pretty much, they are the devil. Not that some of them work fine (As in your experience) but the general consensus is that their support is terrible and their products are sub par. See this thread for example:

http://www.computerforum.com/203838-hp-warranty-repair-hell-story-pics.html

3. The fastest RAM I've seen in a laptop is 1333mhz. There may be some with faster, but I haven't seen any.

4. Onboard video can output HD video easily. The APUs from AMD are more for a budget gamer, because of the lower power and heat output. For HD, you'll want 1980x1080 resolution, and on newegg, the cheapest one with that resolution is $900, so you may have to go up to your max, I'm sorry to say. Unless you find another retailer with cheaper prices.

Here's some examples:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220997
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834127575
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834127576

I hope that helps a little.


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## ClientAlive

claptonman said:


> This is indeed a special case and a lot of info to decipher. I'm not gonna be the greatest help, but I will point out a few things.
> 
> 1. Did you know you can buy laptops without operating systems on them? I know Dell does this but I do not have any links to them. This may benefit you for cost, but since you said you want to dual-boot, you may just want a regular laptop with win7 on it.
> 
> 2. HP. It's decided on the forum that pretty much, they are the devil. Not that some of them work fine (As in your experience) but the general consensus is that their support is terrible and their products are sub par. See this thread for example:
> 
> http://www.computerforum.com/203838-hp-warranty-repair-hell-story-pics.html
> 
> 3. The fastest RAM I've seen in a laptop is 1333mhz. There may be some with faster, but I haven't seen any.
> 
> 4. Onboard video can output HD video easily. The APUs from AMD are more for a budget gamer, because of the lower power and heat output. For HD, you'll want 1980x1080 resolution, and on newegg, the cheapest one with that resolution is $900, so you may have to go up to your max, I'm sorry to say. Unless you find another retailer with cheaper prices.
> 
> Here's some examples:
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220997
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834127575
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834127576
> 
> I hope that helps a little.




Wow thanks! This phrase "sub par" is exactly what my greatest worry is. For someone who doesn't know a whole lot about the hardware side of things it seems it would be easy to find one's self in that position (stuck w/ sub par and paying through the nose for it). Thanks for the help. I know it was a huge post and I hope it doesn't scare people off (I do need the help). Just wanted to make sure I gave as much info as I could - you know?


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## FuryRosewood

the smallish sony vaios can game pretty well...and have good battery life to boot, they cost around 1000 bucks, and have good airflow, if you want a smallish/lightish laptop that can game and has a good screen, heres what i suggest:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834127584

friend had this...looked pretty solid, plus you can get a extended life battery that nestles into the bottom of the chassis...its pretty nifty


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## ClientAlive

That is a nice Vaio. One of the machines I saw looks pretty packed w/ goodies but the type of optical drive it has is something I've never seen before. They call it "SMDL, S-ATA". I took a quick glance at google "what is SMDL, S-ATA" but just got product advertisements where they have that in them - so far.
-------------------
Edit:

And what do they mean when they say the video memory is "shared memory"?

And what about these weird, off brands I see sometimes? Like, what about getting a Mitsubishi or a Samsung laptop - some weird Japanese brand you never see.


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## Des_Zac

ClientAlive said:


> That is a nice Vaio. One of the machines I saw looks pretty packed w/ goodies but the type of optical drive it has is something I've never seen before. They call it "SMDL, S-ATA". I took a quick glance at google "what is SMDL, S-ATA" but just got product advertisements where they have that in them - so far.
> -------------------
> Edit:
> 
> And what do they mean when they say the video memory is "shared memory"?
> 
> And what about these weird, off brands I see sometimes? Like, what about getting a Mitsubishi or a Samsung laptop - some weird Japanese brand you never see.


I don't know where you're from but Samsung is one of the largest companies in the electronics industry  And Misubishi is an extremely large company too.


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## FuryRosewood

i have a panasonic toughbook cf-t4, no thrills or frills, but it gets the job done  kinda hard to get it outside of secondhand or ebay...


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## Dngrsone

The DV series HP laptops seem to be the biggest failures; I have a G72 with a 17.1" screen which runs Ubuntu 10.04 well, but the screen isn't very well stiffened, so you gotta be careful with that.

Keep in mind that Linux does not support fingerprint readers very well-- if you can get it to work (and I have), the metric is so picky about the swipe on those type readers as to be pretty much useless.

I dual-boot Win 7 but never use it, to be honest-- last time I booted to Win was to strip some data off a cell phone that I couldn't find a Linux interface for, and that was almost a year ago.


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## wolfeking

Memory speed: not really important, but if you want much over 1333, then look at System 76, Sager, Cyberpower, Asus, or the like. 

http://www.sagernotebook.com/index.php?page=product_customed&model_name=NP3250 is a nice one near your budget, but only 1333MHz. 
http://www.system76.com/laptops/model/pangolin
close to your budget, again 1333 MHz ram. 
http://www.system76.com/laptops/model/gazelle
Configured with a 2670QM, GTX560m, and 1866 MHz Ram comes to $1305, pretty close to double your budget.


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## paulcheung

ClientAlive said:


> And what do they mean when they say the video memory is "shared memory"?
> 
> And what about these weird, off brands I see sometimes? Like, what about getting a Mitsubishi or a Samsung laptop - some weird Japanese brand you never see.



The Shared memory mean it use the main memory as video memory, dedicated cards use dedicated video memory, they don't share the main memory.

Cheers.


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## wolfeking

not 100% true. Shared memory is RAM used by the GPU for video memory, but some dedicated cards used what's called "turbo cache" which is RAM allotted by to the dedicated GPU. mostly in low end cards. The Quattro NVS135 in my D630 uses Turbo cache (128 MB of dedicated and 384 MB of Turbo cache memory).


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## paulcheung

That is what you said, your dedicated card use 128mb dedicated video memory but also shared the main Ram for the 384mb allocated as video memory.
Cheers.


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## wolfeking

basically making it a 512 MB card. 
But if you OC the RAM on a turbo cache card, it will only OC the gDDR3 not the comnputres DDR2. 

Basically, the card has some, but it uses RAM. Shared RAM is not always all of the GPUs RAM. Even a HD4200 integrated has 256 MB of DDR2 dedicated when installed in a HP G61 and Acer 5552. Then both share up to 1.5 GB of DDR2/DDR3 system ram.


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