Searching for a new laptop.

Ken C.

Ken C.

Jack of all trades, master of none.
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I am currently on the prowl for a new laptop. I currently have a Dell 5150 that is fully loaded but I need something a little better on the graphics end of the spectrum. With only 32MB of video RAM I am pretty much screwed when it comes to the newer games out today. The cost upgrading video cards is ridiculous as is the chance of finding on that is supported.

My top pick right now is the Acer Ferrari 4005. It pretty much has everything I'm looking for at a great price. I had the chance of test driving an Acer Ferrari 4000 and I really like the keyboard layout as well as the miltiple USB ports.

Next up is the Alienware Area 51m 7700. I haven't test driven one but it looks nice and seems to have everything I need as well.

If anyone has any opinions on these or has one I would appreciate some feedback.



http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicat...Sku=A180-1090&SRCCODE=WEBGOOAUT&CMP=KNC-GOOGL
 
I don't know about your budget but those are quite high end choices. Don't know much about the Acer but my cousin has an Alienware and it is a well made notebook. But, it is heavy. He's using the model under the 7700 i forgot which one. It's a huge beast of a laptop. I think the power supply has its own fan.

However i do know that Alienware beats the Acer Ferrari easily. Customer service with Alienware is probably better and it is a much more unique looking laptop. Unless you're a Ferrari fan. Also, the 7700 uses a full out P4 instead of an M so in terms of power usage it ain't that great. It does achieve quite long battery life 'cos of the big battery. I think it spans almost the whole width of the case. But i'd still rather go with a Pentium M.

If i were you i'd look at the Dell XPS systems. Although at $2650 it ain't cheap. But i've always had good experience with Dell. But it won't be up to spec as the Acer in terms of drive capacity and the DVD burner. But i think in other areas it's better. Overall Acer seems good value in terms of what is packed in there but i don't know about the overall quality and customer service for Acer. Although i think the Dell uses a 256MB graphics card instead of the 128MB in the acer. And it's the Nvidia 6800 as well.

For me i'd rank it

1) Dell XPS
2) Alienware
3) Acer


BTW, how come you've got Eddie as your avatar now? No more hot chicks?
 
Looked at the XPS and wasn't impressed with it's features, keyboard layout, and price tag. Weight is an issue with XPS as well.
 
I've got an Acer Ferrari 3400 and I'm very pleased with it, but that being said, the best screens I've seen on any laptop are the Dell Ultrasharp UXGA models. Customer service with Acer is frustrating, but IMO not as frustrating as Dell, which borders on impossible. No experience with Alienware, but I do admit that if price was no issue, I'd consider getting a system from Voodoo.
 
I've seen and handled the "Ferrari" (but haven't used it). Very slick.

My first cynical question would be: how much of the cost of *that* particular laptop is going towards licencing fees to Ferrari, the car company? I'd want ALL my money spent on the *bacon*, not the *sizzle*.
 
I am not 100% sure on this, but I don't think they pay anything for the branding - at least anything in terms of cash. They have a sponsorship deal with the Ferrari Formula 1 team where they provide the team with computers and servers for data analysis (which there is an awful lot of in modern F1) and in exchange they get their logo on the car, and I think they get the rights to market the Ferrari laptops.
 
BalefireX said:
I've got an Acer Ferrari 3400 and I'm very pleased with it, but that being said, the best screens I've seen on any laptop are the Dell Ultrasharp UXGA models. Customer service with Acer is frustrating, but IMO not as frustrating as Dell, which borders on impossible. No experience with Alienware, but I do admit that if price was no issue, I'd consider getting a system from Voodoo.
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I think the XPS systems from Dell have totally different customer service. They don't use the same as for the normal systems. You get special phone numbers and all that.

Anyway, since you're not too keen on the Dell go with Alienware. Although it won't really be a notebook and more of a desktop replacement. It'll use a desktop processor which will just suck the life of your battery. Just FYI the Alienware will weigh about 12.5lbs whilst the XPS is about 9.5lbs.

If you really wanted to choose between Alienware and Acer then it's easy. Alienware all the time. Customer service is way better and it is a cooler notebook although once you customise it, it'll be a lot more expensive.

There are other choices though like Voodoo and Sager.

Here in the UK, the priciest notebook i've seen are by Savrow . For the highest end laptop/desktop you can't just call up and buy. I think you have to make an appointment. And i heard they actually put a torchlight in your desktop with the manual. Plus it can be leather lined and all sorts of blingin' stuff.

They do have affordable notebooks though. Quite good specs and i heard superb customer service. Even have a new york customer service line so i guess they're available in the US as well.
 
Point44 said:
Anyway, since you're not too keen on the Dell go with Alienware. Although it won't really be a notebook and more of a desktop replacement. It'll use a desktop processor which will just suck the life of your battery. Just FYI the Alienware will weigh about 12.5lbs whilst the XPS is about 9.5lbs.
Click to expand...

I agree, desktop replacement would best describe this machine. But they do use big batteries to help compensate for all of the power they draw. At least this was the case when I looked at them a while ago.

The RAID option in the Alienware machine really has me drooling. I didn't even know RAID was an option with notebooks. It should be screaming fast. 7200 RPM disks are an option as well, but they'll draw more power no doubt.
 
Ken, with Samsung going hell for leather recently the perfomance solid state laptop can't be far away. It may be worth waiting a little for that. Performace will be fiendishly fast compared to HD based PC's.

Another question, is a Laptop the only option? 2K would buy you a lot of desktop horsepower if you built it yourself.
 
I dont have any experience but a buddy of mine who games on laptops was looking at Fragbooks. I guess theyre supposed to be pretty good but thats about all I can add.
 
You might want to check out Cyber Power Inc. I bought a desktop from them about 4-5 years ago and it was a great deal. They are comparable to Alienware computers with awesome case designs and excellent hardware but they are cheaper. They have also started offering laptops and they have specials running all the time on their website. Just check out their website and you'll see what I mean. They seem to offer unlimited configurations with a large amount case designs, hardware, and software. Everything is customizable which is a big plus in my book. They also offer pre-determined configurations if you're not sure what you want. Anyways, just my suggestion. Good luck with your PC purchase. I'm sure you'll be happy with what you get.
 
BalefireX said:
I am not 100% sure on this, but I don't think they pay anything for the branding - at least anything in terms of cash. They have a sponsorship deal with the Ferrari Formula 1 team where they provide the team with computers and servers for data analysis (which there is an awful lot of in modern F1) and in exchange they get their logo on the car, and I think they get the rights to market the Ferrari laptops.
Click to expand...

Good point. If that's true - and no cash changes hands - Acer definitely gets the better deal on this arrangement! :D

Maybe a bit off topic, but - what's the "BEST" laptop out there these days if money is no object? (I know *best* is subjective, but...) I just purchased a basic Toshiba to see me through the winter and in the spring I was going to splurge big-time. I'm seeing a few names posted here that I've never heard of. (I hope adding this question doesn't qualify as a hijack. If so, I'll delete my post.)
 
Ken, the Acer looks good to me, but I think you should see if they make a model that doesn't have integrated graphics. From all I've read and been told, a separate graphics card is always better.
 
cockroachfarm said:
Good point. If that's true - and no cash changes hands - Acer definitely gets the better deal on this arrangement! :D

Maybe a bit off topic, but - what's the "BEST" laptop out there these days if money is no object? (I know *best* is subjective, but...) I just purchased a basic Toshiba to see me through the winter and in the spring I was going to splurge big-time. I'm seeing a few names posted here that I've never heard of. (I hope adding this question doesn't qualify as a hijack. If so, I'll delete my post.)
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Best is like "best knife" as I'm sure you appreciate - a far better question is "what is the best laptop for my needs" and then you have to list your needs, which would probably be better served in a new thread :)

Danbo said:
Ken, the Acer looks good to me, but I think you should see if they make a model that doesn't have integrated graphics. From all I've read and been told, a separate graphics card is always better.
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Absolutely right, Danbo; Discrete (non-integrated) graphics solutions are far more powerful than their integrated brethren. The Acer Ferrari 4000 has an ATI Mobility Radeon X700 discrete card - giving it equivalent graphics power to a mid-range gaming desktop, more than enough for anything but the most demanding games at high quality.

By the way, the slot load DVD Super Multi double-layer (yes, that is it's real name) drive is awesome - probably the best optical drive on any laptop.
 
BalefireX said:
Best is like "best knife" as I'm sure you appreciate - a far better question is "what is the best laptop for my needs" and then you have to list your needs, which would probably be better served in a new thread :)
Click to expand...

I have to disagree a little with that. If cost and weight is no issue the best PC is the fastest and most powerful PC. Unlike a knife where maybe a shorter knife is preferred for skinning, a PC with the latest processor and the most RAM will most definitely beat a lower specced PC in almost everything.

Cockroachfarm:
Have a look at Savrow. They have been winning a lot of the PC Magazine Awards. But they're more of a Bentley type thing. Designer laptops with performance to back it up. You can even choose car paints for your notebook and they'll even do up your company logo on it.

They splurge on stuff like using 99.9% silver thermal paste for cooling. If price is no issue the Katana notebooks are awesome. Comparable and maybe even better than Alienware.

http://www.savrow.com/nsite/reviews.html
 
Point44 said:
I have to disagree a little with that. If cost and weight is no issue the best PC is the fastest and most powerful PC. Unlike a knife where maybe a shorter knife is preferred for skinning, a PC with the latest processor and the most RAM will most definitely beat a lower specced PC in almost everything.

Cockroachfarm:
Have a look at Savrow. They have been winning a lot of the PC Magazine Awards. But they're more of a Bentley type thing. Designer laptops with performance to back it up. You can even choose car paints for your notebook and they'll even do up your company logo on it.

They splurge on stuff like using 99.9% silver thermal paste for cooling. If price is no issue the Katana notebooks are awesome. Comparable and maybe even better than Alienware.

http://www.savrow.com/nsite/reviews.html
Click to expand...

A somewhat simplistic approach to the situation.

If cost and weight are no issue; well, for most people, especially laptop buyers, cost and weight are issues. You also neglect one of the biggest issues that people have with laptops; battery life.

But let's move beyond that, into the many grey areas that surround this sort of thing.

Screens: The quality of a laptop screen varies from maker to maker, depending on who they source their panels from, and which panels they use. When you buy a laptop, the screen is important, as you can't change it out without buying a whole new laptop. One company's 14.1" TFT might be a crisp 1600x1200, another's might be a blurry 1024x768. Even in screens with apparently equal specifications; color reproduction, viewing angles, brightness, contrast, response rate, etc. vary, and as there are few official standards for measuring such specifications, different companies measure them different ways!

Processors: Ideally, the processor would be simple - get the fastest one and you're set. However, because of the way processors are designed, certain architectures (designs) are better at certain things. The different top end architectures most familiar to consumers are Pentium 4, Pentium M (often called "Centrino") Athlon 64, Turino, and PowerPC (Mac). They are optimized for running different types of programs, and for different levels of power consumption, and as a result the "fastest" processor depends on which application you're using! A processor that is fastest in Office Applications might not be the fastest in Games, and might eat batteries twice as fast as a processor only 5% slower in both games and office applications.

I could go on, the same applies to Video Cards, Hard Drives, etc.

Computer manufactuers know the specs that people look for (fast processor, lots of ram) and spend there while cutting corners other places - they want the best advertising bang for their buck.

By the way, that 99% Silver Paste is Arctic Silver 5:
http://www.arcticsilver.com/as5.htm
and it costs about $8 for a tube good for 20 or so applications.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835100007
 
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