now that i have waited so freaking long to buy a...

[skorpios]

now that i have waited so freaking long to buy a next generation laptop worth a serious investment what are the real options the next few months will bring

For me I have wanted to buy both a desktop and a laptop for nearly 2 years. Finally its starting to look like a buying a top end system is worth the wait versus investment. On the desktop side, I will wait until 3-6 months post Vista (yes, that might be 2008). On the laptop side things are looking good for a go real soon...

I'm talking a pimped out gaming, desktop-replacement, laptop that will hold me over on the desktop until that fateful day and provide me a kickass mobile platform for 3 years+.

I don't really care much about gaming on the go. I'm gonna dock this baby at home with a disk array on a firewire 1394b series of hubs, various 1394a devices, various bluetooth devices, 2 20' lcds, and alternately a 50" 1080i plasma and optical sound connection to the home theatre system. External USB keyboards and mouse.

On the go, I will be conducting business and using the internet and occasionally gaming with friends. Battery use will be average. Heavy mobile usage will find an ac outlet or a power converter.

i am concerned about heat. i can utilize (insert recommended cooling method here) at home/office, so maybe heat isn't so much a concern for long 6-10 hours stretches of usage. It will be in use 6-12 hours daily till the new desktop day dawns.

So say I want to buy this by Xmas, I'll even charge it on the wife's cc and send myself a card

rubbing the magic lantern now and asking the KN oracle (and any others)

What do I have to look forward to under the xmas tree this year? Or the labor day weekend? :?:

os
- currently all boxes xp pro 32, is 64 ready for primetime?
- will upgrade to vista at some point

17' wuxga or ?
- could 19' could be a better choice?

video
- dual dvi (or #2 being rgb) out for 2 monitors setup
- bestest baddest card(s)
- not planning on upgrading or should I?

cpu
- fastest without wasting $ available, what?
- upgradable to ?Merom? really worth considering?

ram
- fastest matched to rest of build
- 4G minimum, 8G worth it? more???

flash ram drive
- how big?
- how much $
- is it really worth it?

hd
- 7200(+?) single or RAID 0 ?
- 100G sufficent, more is gravy

dvd/cd
- standard dl capable high performance
- forget hd, i'll just plug one in someday, maybe

wireless
- no need for internal, will use card

connectivity needed (other than the usual for the high end)
- 1394a/b firewire, can punt to 1394a only but don't want to
- internal bluetooth

what did any self respecting pimp forget?

and most importantly when it it time to quit worrying about it and be happy with what i am ordering not saying to myself, oh sh*t, 1 more month and i coulda got xxx...

thanks for your consideration!

 

[killernotebooks]

By this Christmas...
I would hope the hybrid FLASH RAM & conventional hard drives will be available.
That DX10 cards will be here (and available, looks like a November launch on the desktop versions).

XP Pro 64... I have given up on it. After 2 attempts with dismal results, i think MS has forgotten all about this step-child and is focusing on Vista 64 bit. I would maybe try to get your hands on a Vista activation code and use that until June '07 and upgrade like you said.

17" WUXGA... Don't do it! Way too small. Insanely small. I try to talk everyone out of it.

Go with the 7900 GTX 512 MB (or better if out) like a 7950 Dual GPU [drool], will be dual monitor capable for the big 30" DELL and Apple display if you ever get one.

CPU: I can get Core 2 Duo T7400's 2.16 GHz right now, so you could possibly be looking at the 2.9 Ghz models by then.

I don't think you are going to be able to get 8 gigs in a laptop. If the 2 GB chips come down I could see 4 Gigs by Christmas.

Flash RAM drive, well worth it. Saves batteries, heat doesn't wear out & break down and about twice as fast. Right now 64 Gig's are out and WAY too much, but by Christmas who knows. A nice 64 GB Flash RAM and a second 120 GB 7,200 (if released by then would be a sweet set up)

HD, depends if you are going FLASH & regular HD or not. Problem with RAID0 is, your second HD usually would fit in your media bay. unless you have a dedicated external CD/DVD or use a networked CD you could be severaly limiting yourself with a RAID array.

Pimp rig, needs pimp bling. Don't forget the laser etching!

 

[skorpios]

Thanks for your answers.

It sounds like a lot of my wish list is here or very nearly so.

video
- nvidia 7950 now or 4+ months for dx10 cards

and I hear ya on the 17" sxga+

cpu
- Core 2 Duo T7400 now
- Core 2 Duo T7600 2.33 real soon?

ram
- 2g now
- 4g not available until ?
- upgrade from 2g to 4g not a waste of $ down the road ?


flash ram drive
- pardon my ignorance, when talking flash ram drives we are talking about something like this?
http://www.adtron.com/products/A25fb-SerialATAFlashDisk.html
or
http://www.dpie.com/storage/sa2580.html

and ballpark co$t of one of these? and would it eat the media bay or hide somewhere out of the way?

or would be using a bootable external flash drive such as http://www.kanguru.com/flashdrive_max.html be a good way to go? that way i could just wait until a good cost/capacity price point happens. Todays $2800 64g will be next quarters $500 bargain...


hd
- 7200 100G is ok


how about the 1394b port?


laser etching or something from someone like these guys http://www.smoothcreations.com/index.html


this is starting to sound like the beginings of an order 8)

 

[killernotebooks]

Well the 7950 in notebooks isn't here yet, but we are dreaming.

Well, the cost of the 2 GB RAM chips now is so absolutely ridiculous you're damned if you do damned if you don't.

The flash RAM drive is the hard drive style you were looking at. It would take the place of an internal regular hard drive. The regualr hard drive for media and data would go in the media bay and be removable.

A RAM drive right now for 64 GB is about $900, by the end of the year probably a lot cheaper, let's say $400.

There is a 1394 port, but I will have to look up which variety.

 

[skorpios]

Well the 7950 in notebooks isn't here yet, but we are dreaming.

ah, but the dreaming is starting to get real, and as I said I have been waiting a long time.

as soon as we got the 7950 and 2G chips at a price you are proud to sell and maybe the T7600 will be out. I think we need to move to the planning a config stage.

maybe an august delivery? or am i still dreaming?

I, of course am expecting the good forum buddy discount

I'll contact you through your site and we can take this to email.

thanks.

 

[killernotebooks]

I don't think the Core 2 Duo will be out in any variety for notebooks until Sept. I may be wrong, but that's my feeling.

I haven't heard rumors of the 7950 being ported to the mobile platforms yet, so I think that one is real premature.

The price on the FLASH RAM drives and the 2 GB RAM is still going to be astonomical then also. I think you are looking like you said at December before we can start seriously even dreaming.

 

[skorpios]

I don't think the Core 2 Duo will be out in any variety for notebooks until Sept. I may be wrong, but that's my feeling.

I haven't heard rumors of the 7950 being ported to the mobile platforms yet, so I think that one is real premature.

The price on the FLASH RAM drives and the 2 GB RAM is still going to be astonomical then also. I think you are looking like you said at December before we can start seriously even dreaming.

thanks again. you have earned a customer with your unvarnished look at the future. several times i was opening myself to going ahead and doing something soon, but you listened to what I wanted (and been waiting forever for) and gave me the right advice on how to get there instead of trying to sell me something now.

thats the kind of company that earns serious respect and repeat business.

your sensei would nod and think, i did something right with that boy...

back to hurry up and wait

 

[killernotebooks]

Well thanks to you and several other sreaming banshees Mobility Guru is going to review a K/N Executioner [Place XPS's head here].