Laptops

[Futterman]

So here's the deal:

I'm stuck with a $1400 BestBuy credit to put towards a laptop for college, and I'm looking for the most power and capacity I can get in a (relatively) lightweight body.

I've been told AMD processors are the way to go, and BestBuy has three Athlon64 laptops that seem to be pretty capable of handling thousands of photos and a sophisticated flight sim. And they're each about 8 pounds.

Gateway 7150GX
HP zv6131us
Compaq R4125US

I read some reviews on these but they're all so hypocritical. "So I got this and the power was OBSCENE, I love it! But I hate it when it takes forever to access the hard disk."

Gee, thanks.

I know some of you guys (Eric, the Mikes, etc.) are pretty keen on these things, so I'm hoping you can point me in the right direction. Is AMD the way to go? What do you guys have?

Like I mentioned, I want it to be able to handle Flight Sim and my photos...essentially making it a portable desktop that DOESN'T weigh 10 ponds. It has to be something available at BestBuy, too, and I can't wait a year as this credit expires in a few weeks.

Thanks,
Brian

[PhilDernerJr]

Sony Vaio. Only way to go.

[cancidas]

i used to have a sony vaio, loved the damn thing. i upgraded to a new toshiba satelite tablet pc about a month ago and will never ever go back to anything buta tablet... to be able to use jeppview software inflight is amazing!!

[lijk604]

Sony Vaio is what I run....and I have Flt Sim 2004 on there, & plenty of power for editing photos.

[Futterman]

What's so special about Sony Vaio? I'm not too familiar with the laptop, and the specifications for the machines in my price range don't really stand out as anything special. Convince me. :)

Sony Vaio is what I run....and I have Flt Sim 2004 on there, & plenty of power for editing photos.

What model do you have? How does FS run? Tell me more.

______

About AMD processors, I'm a little confused between Athlon, Turion, and Sempron...what's the difference? I'm also interested to know what you guys think of the three laptops I mentioned in the first post.

Thanks,
Brian

[jakbar]

About AMD processors, I'm a little confused between Athlon, Turion, and Sempron...what's the difference? I'm also interested to know what you guys think of the three laptops I mentioned in the first post.

I'd also be interested in hearing an explanation of the differences. Which one is the top of the line?

[Matt Molnar]

I have a Sony Vaio running a Pentium M 1.6GHz, 512MB RAM, a Radeon 9200 128MB video card and it runs FS 2004 and PS 7 only a little bit slower than my Dell Pentium 4 3.06GHz/1GB RAM desktop, i.e. perfectly fine. Plus it weighs only 7lbs and the battery lasts 3+ hours on the darkest display setting.

[Futterman]

Wow, that seems a lot faster than I expected. I'm a bit of a frame-rate freak with FS, so gimme a number and I'll be able to gauge performance. :)

The whole relationship between processors like Pentium M, P4, AMD 64, etc is really confusing me, though. I would never have imagined a 1.6GHz Pentium M would perform like a 3.06GHz P4, so I'm completely baffled. I'm so used to it being as simple as "higher number=faster". Help?

Brian

[Matt Molnar]

I'm not sure what the best frame rate I've gotten is. Of course I cannot run FS at the maximum quality settings as I do on my desktop, but they're up there.

I'm confused about the speed ratings of chips too. I remember reading that a 1.6GHz Pentium M is equivalent to a 2.somethingGHz Pentium 4.