wanna buy new laptop, money doesnt matter

grassapa

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what laptop is the most ultimate for 3d modeling, games, etc. money doesnt matter. maybe alienware laptop?

also, is there a big difference between radeon 9600 and radeon 9000 both with 128 megs for gaming and 3d modeling?

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My computer is so fast it proves the theory of relativity wrong... :eek: <P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by grassapa on 08/26/03 05:29 PM.</EM></FONT></P>
 

RaPTuRe

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No, if you want to do 3D Modeling, then I assure you that the route to go is the Dell Precision M60 with the Quadro 4Go 700 'workstation' graphics card. It is specifically designed for use with 3D Modelling, and is great with games. And as you said, money doesn't matter.

RaPTuRe

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grassapa

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yea ive looked at it, but wont the pentium 4 with hyper threading at 3ghz will be better than a pentium m at 1.7ghz, i know you cant compare directly the speed but the procesor's performance has been decreased to improve battery consumption? the voodoo m600 looks nice with 1 gig ram, 3ghz p4 and radeon 9600 with 128mb, too bad it takes 30 days and i need it fast. what do yall think?

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My computer is so fast it proves the theory of relativity wrong... :eek:
 

RaPTuRe

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Well if you are using very sophisticated modelling programs, they will be influenced more by the graphics card than the processor. Besides this, HyperThreading in most cases causes lower performance in 3D modelling situations compared to an equally clocked Pentium 4 without HyperThreading as is demonstrated in Tom's benchmarks http://www.tomshardware.com/cpu/20021114/p4_306ht-20.html.

Furthermore, the Pentium 4 (especially mobile models) is reaching the end of its life, whereas a Banias-based notebook has a much higher probability of being upgraded. And lets not forget that the Voodoo most likely does not have an upgradable graphics card.

If you were to directly compare a Pentium-M 1.7GHz to a Pentium 4, you would find that it performs somewhere, just under the 2.8GHz range, not only this, but at this speed, it runs cooler and requires less power all-the-while giving you high performance. From my point of view, why get a notebook if it is so hot and heavy that it becomes a burden to take it from place to place?

Also, in the past when I have compared Alienware/Sager/Eurocom/Clevo notebooks to other notebooks (namely Dell and Compaq), I have found that the performance of the almost identically spec'd computers is more often than not lower with the Alienware/Sager/Eurocom/Clevo than with the other notebook. For instance, my old Inpiron 8200 (P4-m 1.7GHz, ATI Mobility Radeon 9000) scored the same 3DMarks as a 2.4GHz Alienware with the same graphics card.

In addition to this, 3D Modelling can often utilize the Hard Disk quite extensively and as far as I know, the Voodoo m600 doesn't ship with a 7200rpm 80GB HDD. I believe the Voodoo m600 system also has a maximum memory amount of 1GB, compared to a Pentium-M's 2GB maximum memory -surely if you want the best performance regardless of cost, you would want as much RAM as possible, especially if you need your notebook for 3D Modelling.

Don't take this post personally, I am just presenting you with alternative ideas, so that you know that when you purchase your notebook, it is the right notebook for you and it covers all your needs.

RaPTuRe

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jmddon

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Well I just bought the Toshiba Satelite 5100 and I do a lot of 3D Solid Modeling using Inventor and Solid Edge with no problems at all.
 

grassapa

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thanks for that extensive comment rapture, here are my humble thoughts:
i might not be very well informed about the pentium m but i just feel its not as powerful as a pentium 4 with HT and at 3 or 3.2 ghz. the dell's graphics card is a plus for dell but the radeon 9600 with 128 megs isnt bad, and 1 gig ram is my limit (i kinda do have a money limit of around 3500 give or take) so 2 gigs of memory is out of range. i dont care much about weight and battery. another plus for voodoo is that their memory is ddr400 and compaqs i think its just ddr333. and since my money actually limits me, a 7200 rpm hd is out of hand, a 5400rpm is good. 16 inch 1240x1024 display for voodoo is another plus. also, the dell is more expensive than voodoo's by quite a bit, around 300 bucks i think (if i choose the 3ghz version with 1024mb of ram) compared to dell's 1.7ghz with 2 dimm 1 gig memory modules. oh and upgreability, doesnt matter to me, i'd rather use whatever i bought the first time and save up to buy a completely new system next time.

thanks, i need more comments

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My computer is so fast it proves the theory of relativity wrong... :eek:
 

jmddon

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What kind of 3d modeling do you do?

My laptop has a 1.8 gig with 512 megs of ram 64 meg Navidia 15 inch screen that can get 1600x1200 with out the screen floating and I installed XP Pro for better stability and memory managment and it has done some fair size solids with out a problem. It runs 3d max perfict.

The max ram you need is one gig after that your throwing your money away. To need 1 gig of ram means your doing one mother of a 3d solid.
 

grassapa

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yea, im a little power hungry cuz i use maya, and as we all know, maya is a greedy little bastard, power sucking piece of software. i also want it for games too

oh and rapture, although Hyper threading might not be good for all apps, apps that take advantage of dual cpus will definately like HT, like maya and other 3d software. even photoshop.

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My computer is so fast it proves the theory of relativity wrong... :eek:
 

RaPTuRe

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Well, you seem to know what you want, and I agree with many of your choices. But contrary to popular belief the HyperThreading Pentium 4 often performs worse than the non-HT Pentium 4 (i.e. is turned off), EVEN in multi-CPU systems. My own independant testing of a 3GHz P4 with and without HT has produced the following results: to apply a rendering to a 20MB jpeg in Adobe Photoshop 7 takes a P4 3GHz HT 48sec; P4 3GHz w/o HT 46sec; Pentium-M 1.6GHz 53sec. This is ofcourse, just a minor detail and undoubtedly inconsequential since you would have the option of switching off HT.

I've taken a look at the m600, and i've discovered that it uses the same chassis as some of the Sagers. I have had hands on experience with a Eurocom notebook using the same chassis, and i was horrified. If I lifted up the notebook from just one corner or even one side, the whole thing would creak and visibly bend under it's own weight! (which is not very low to say the least). The construction was ok, but nothing great, but the fact that it creaked if you didn't pick it up with two hands put me off ever even thinking of buying that notebook again, i mean can you imagine if you dropped it even a couple of centimetres?! something would have to break.

But I don't want to put you off your purchase, if 'portability' is not a key concern of yours and you only wish to have the ability of picking up your notebook and moving it from place to place (not too far of course), then the power of that notebook should suit your needs. Even though the Mobility Radeon 9600 might not exactly be designed for use in 3d Modelling, it should still get the job done, just needs to rely more on the CPU which should negate any differences.

I hope that my posts may have been in some ways helpful to you during this critical stage of your purchase.

RaPTuRe

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grassapa

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you know what made me think about HT and its advantages? the THG video on HT. check it out if u havent seen it, it says it works well on programs that support 2 cpus

also about the noises and creaking you hear its maybe because since eurocom its an upgradeable laptop, its parts are not as tightly packed toghether as a OEM one.

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My computer is so fast it proves the theory of relativity wrong... :eek: <P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by grassapa on 08/27/03 08:00 PM.</EM></FONT></P>
 

grassapa

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in all cases , you can just deactivate HT anytime.

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My computer is so fast it proves the theory of relativity wrong... :eek:
 

RaPTuRe

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I have seen the video, but that was "in general" or so to speak.

<<<also about the noises and creaking you hear its maybe because since eurocom its an upgradeable laptop, its parts are not as tightly packed toghether as a OEM one>>>

It is built identically to that of the voodoo, the Eurocom notebook did not have any user upgradable parts other than the CPU, HDD or RAM, same as the voodoo. The notebooks are identical save for the colour.

<<<in all cases , you can just deactivate HT anytime.>>>

...as I stated in my previous post.

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argyle

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u might wanna try the dell 8600 that is out now. it has a 128 mb nvidia fx 5600 or 5650 card. i'm confused between the two. in any case the video card is upgradeable. it has the p-m 1.7 and other cool features. check it out. i ordered one, although i must say dell support absolutely sucks.
 

RaPTuRe

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Have you ever experience Dell support? Fair enough they are nothing to boast about, but they are a damn sight better than most other companies, among them Toshiba and Compaq. Dell Support has always been very quick and helpful to me; that being said, I do know a great many people who have not been so lucky.

It pretty much boils down to luck.

RaPTuRe

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grassapa

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i think im deciding on a HYpersonic laptop, an aviator gx6 or gx8. what do yall think? they are cheap and have highest end parts. including a p4 3.2ghz with HT, ddr400 1 gig, 128 radeon 9600 pro, 16 inch monitor, 60 gig 7200 rpm HD all for around 3000 bucks.

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My computer is so fast it proves the theory of relativity wrong... :eek:
 

blah

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well, if you don't mind to have an "oven range" on yer laps, go for it.

..this is very useful and helpful place for information...