Powerful laptop

M

mgookin

Hi Folks:

I know traders like powerful machines.

I keep cars and computers 20 years so I like "more power" when I shop. It's actually cheaper in the long run because of the service life.

My HP laptop (circa 2002) won't run the latest, greatest Autocad 2010 and I need to be able to go to meetings with modern files (backwards compatibillity is a scam in this latest version).

I was thinking a dual core 2.6 would be better than a quad core 1.6 for this purpose. I have plenty of computers for heavy duty work but for this laptop I just need it to work well.

Assume I'll have a few browsers open, Autocad and probably Excel to do calculations.

Looking around at Dell, HP and Puget, I'm not happy with what I'm seeing. That doesn't mean they don't have great systems at a fair price; I just did not see anything in the few hours I went "window shopping".

So what's out there? Who has the deals? What should I look out for?

There is one prerequisite - I have a tendency to leave AC adapters in hotel rooms in foreign countries. I have to be able to get cheap AC adapters and spare batteries. I go places where power is not available or limited and I need to continue to work. I pay $75 for a HP OEM battery and $49 for my HP AC adapters. Puget wanted $150 each plus they were overpriced $1,000 on a decent laptop.

Perfect system (unless someone convinces me otherwise) 2.6 ghz dual core, 6-8 gb DDR3 ram, 17" 1920x1080 display and not some ten pound chunk of lead. The OS and software are moot - I'll wipe it or buy another HDD and set the OEM HDD aside anyway.

Thanks in advance.
 
Quote from killthesunshine:

Core i7-720QM, 8GB of DDR3 (in four slots!).
two 500GB 7200-RPM hard drives
a 2.1 speaker system built-in subwoofer
one of the fastest mobile GPUs on the market- the Mobility Radeon HD 5870.

http://www.provantage.com/asus-g73jh-a2~7ASUL0RM.htm
More...

I love Asus and I love that machine, except for the clock speed. Can someone convince me why a 1.6ghz quad core is faster than a 2.6 ghz dual core? I don't think it is.
 
Quote from LEAPup:

Now that's a laptop!

Ooh rah!!!!!
More...

But that clock speed is only half the clock speed on my best desktop. I load up all four cores on my desktop with AstroPhysics algorithms but I can't see using a laptop for data intenstive applications.

I'd much rather have a two core 2.6ghz than a four core 1.6ghz in a laptop.
 
I can tell you what I recently bought (May 2010):

HP dv8t 1100 laptop, i7-720Q Quad Core 1.6GHz, 4GB RAM, 500GB disk, 18.4" screen (just DVD RW, no Blu-Ray).

$1274 + tax

from HP direct.


What I like:

- Fast. It is among the top models for laptop that I can find. I need a faster speed CPU when I travel occasionally.
- 18.4" screen is awesome for a laptop. Resolution 1920 x 1080 is very nice.


Now what I don't like:

- Heavy. Heavier than most laptop. So this may not line up with your desire.
- Use a different, heavier power supply (compared to earlier HP laptop models). (I can't interchange the power supply or have a spare one - reusing what I have.)
- Some annoying manufacturer's defects:
1. The wireless button randomly goes off and on
2. The "treble/bass" soft control randomly comes on screen
(I like the laptop so decided not to return/exchange - which may still have the problem anyway. I just worked around them. Minor issue.)



I think the new lines of HP laptops (dv8 series) draws more power and thus they changed the battery and the power supply. As for spare power supply I tend to think you can get a higher-amp universal power supply off-the-shelve instead of getting it from HP.
 
Boli

Pretty much the same laptop – with the same issues

Here’s what I’ve done;


Deleted the HP sound package and reloaded it

Run the wireless solely from the HP wireless assistant

Run a registry cleaner every evening - then wipe the disc clean

Also went to best buy and purchased a cool stand (platform to sit your PC on with fans in it)


Pretty much eliminated all the “Bass” pop ups/ wireless turning on and off

I say pretty much for now it occurs maybe once a month – where as it was occurring multiple times a day



Searching the net – all I found was a blurb suggesting the temp runs hotter on these machines which causes the wireless/ Bass to go on/ off – but found no solution….


Still love the PC – especially the bigger screen

RN
 
I think that weight comes from the bigger screen and the power consumption comes from the high resolution. That's what I'm finding out.

I agree HP has some deals. I'm leaning towards a 2.6ghz dual core 6gb DDR3 laptop from HP with a coupon from techbargains.com bringing the price to $1k with free shipping.
 
Quote from mgookin:

I love Asus and I love that machine, except for the clock speed. Can someone convince me why a 1.6ghz quad core is faster than a 2.6 ghz dual core? I don't think it is.
More...
1.6GHz is just the idle frequency to save power.

i7-720QM will clock 2.4GHz with two cores on load, and 2.8GHz with one core on load.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Turbo_Boost

A new i7-720QM will be much faster than the old 2.6GHz Core 2 Duo, even at lower frequencies because the technology is superior. Go look up benchmarks i7 vs. C2D.
 
Quote from Redneck:


Deleted the HP sound package and reloaded it

Run the wireless solely from the HP wireless assistant
More...

Thanks for the tips RN.

I did that work around (first one). Actually I deleted it opted not to have it. I don't really need it. Playing 5.1 on my laptop is not my priority. Trading is. And I am using a NetGear USB wifi instead of the onboard one. I will try out your sugguestion on the second one to see if that works for me.
 
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