Intervention - stop me buying a Gateway laptop

[Pradeep]

Yes, that's right.

http://www.amazon.com/Gateway-NV75S02u-17-3-Inch-Laptop-Ebony/dp/B0051OLCTS/

The one thing I know is missing is USB 3. Ideally I would be able to get a 1600*900 screen, BD combo drive, plus switchable discrete graphics. But this seems to be a decent one for the $599.

Thoughts?

 

[Pradeep]

Ok, looks like I'm ok.

Best Buy has the HP dv-6 6135dx for $699 with switching graphics, BD and USB 3.

 

[Mercutio]

Wow. Gateway/Acer or HP. Especially in that heavy and completely impractical 17" form factor. Really? That's like choosing whether you want pustulent warts on your dick or on your asshole.

You could just, you know, buy neither. Sure, you'd have to make do without a shitty laptop and/or pustulent warts. But on the plus side, you wouldn't have a shitty laptop or pustulent warts.

 

[time]

You didn't want the big screen after all?

I take it you want the graphics power more than CPU speed?

 

[CougTek]

I don't know if you've repaired laptops, but I do on a regular basis and I'm with Merc ; just buy neither. Since Gateway's been bought by Acer, their quality has felt down the drain. Hp Pavilion have always been horrible. You've basicly wrote that you hesitate between the two worst laptop brands currently available.

Look at MSI or Asus laptops instead. You might pay an extra 100$, but it'll have a better chance to last.

 

[Pradeep]

You didn't want the big screen after all?

I take it you want the graphics power more than CPU speed?

I can take the screen size trade off, I'm moving from my Inspiron with 1600*1200 in 15". I was previously looking at the E-350 based machines but wanted more grunt.

Yes, I wanted it to be graphics heavy versus ultimate top end CPU as available from Intel. It should be good enough for midrange lapop graphics.

Lenovo have the Z575 line but no USB 3 there.

 

[Mercutio]

Why are you doing this graphics heavy work on a laptop in the first place?

 

[Pradeep]

So its getting its initial charge.

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/...foCategory&cc=us&dlc=en&lc=en&product=5118737

Merc, its not that I'm doing heavy graphics editing etc, but for a given sum of money, I see more use out of a balanced APU where I can run games etc, and have snappy response. I could easily have gone for some i7 based device but chances are it would be strapped to the slothy Intel 3000 integrated graphics. If I need to encode h.264 I can do that on a desktop machine, for other use cases the extended battery life is appreciated.

I'll see how she goes with the Folding shortly.

 

[Mercutio]

We are your friends and we love you and you need to take that thing back and leave it where you found it.

COME TOWARD THE LIGHT
COME TOWARD THE LIGHT

 

[CougTek]

You do not run the F@h client on a laptop. Period. A laptop is only cooled by a puny tiny cheapo fan. You simply can't expect a laptop to last while doing a task using almost all the CPU ressources for hours and/or days in a row. It is not meant to be working that hard. Unless you despise HP so much that you bought one of their product only to make it cram.

 

[Santilli]

Cons:
Touchpad sensitivity is inconsistent and is located in an off-center, slightly awkward position (Not used for gaming so this didn't matter to me)
Low stock clock speed on the APU (1.5ghz but overclocks itself to 2.4ghz as needed)
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[Pradeep]

You do not run the F@h client on a laptop. Period. A laptop is only cooled by a puny tiny cheapo fan. You simply can't expect a laptop to last while doing a task using almost all the CPU ressources for hours and/or days in a row. It is not meant to be working that hard. Unless you despise HP so much that you bought one of their product only to make it cram.

I ran Folding on my P4-M 1.6 GHz, going to start off with an easy single unit, then give it the smp version to see how she handles. Prob wont make the deadline. Perhaps the gpu client? If the HP is going to die I want it to die early on. I"m not too concerned with a 35W processor.

 

[LunarMist]

Why such a huge notebook computer with an AMD CPU?

 

[Pradeep]

Why such a huge notebook computer with an AMD CPU?

It's lighter than my Inspiron 8200. That thing can get heavy in a backpack at 7.6 lbs. The dv6 is a relative lightweight at 5.7 lbs, and provides good battery life/performance per watt, whilst still delivering solid 3D performance when needed:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4444/amd-llano-notebook-review-a-series-fusion-apu-a8-3500m/7

Now if we were talking about the previous generation of AMD mobile CPUs I would share your concern.

Going to swap out the 640GB drive for a Micron M4 and should be good to go. Hard to find the c300 anymore.

 

[Pradeep]

Cons:
Touchpad sensitivity is inconsistent and is located in an off-center, slightly awkward position (Not used for gaming so this didn't matter to me)
Low stock clock speed on the APU (1.5ghz but overclocks itself to 2.4ghz as needed)

No issues with the touchpad yet, the pad is centered on the alphanumeric keyboard, there is a full 10 key numpad further to the right so visually the pad location looks off, it actually falls perfectly to hand whilst it is sitting on the lap. Might not be the best setup for left handers though.

 

[Striker]

http://consumerist.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-search.cgi?blog_id=1&tag=hp&limit=20
Good luck

 

[Will Rickards]

To counter those horror stories, we bought a HP dv6-2157us for about $530 a little over a year ago. It died just a few months out of warranty as in motherboard needed to be replaced. HP charged $348.74. But they never charged my credit card. When I called them up about it they offered to just waive the fee. I said no as I was getting reimbursed from Amex which effectively extends the warranty to two years. They ended up not just replacing the motherboard but most of the laptop including hard drive, touchpad, hinges. We were very happy with the quality and quickness of the repair. Reported May 3rd, shipped maybe the 5th? Returned around the 11th.

Yes it can be argued it shouldn't have died in the first place. But the experience dealing with them for support was more than pleasant, even if they did keep me on the phone longer than was necessary.

 

[Will Rickards]

-

 

[LunarMist]

It's lighter than my Inspiron 8200. That thing can get heavy in a backpack at 7.6 lbs. The dv6 is a relative lightweight at 5.7 lbs, and provides good battery life/performance per watt, whilst still delivering solid 3D performance when needed:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4444/amd-llano-notebook-review-a-series-fusion-apu-a8-3500m/7

Now if we were talking about the previous generation of AMD mobile CPUs I would share your concern.

Going to swap out the 640GB drive for a Micron M4 and should be good to go. Hard to find the c300 anymore.

I was looking at it from the old paradigm that a large machine should have a powerful CPU and other components. Otherwise, why haul it around unless you are a kid? A ~15" machine is usually the most economical, weighs 506 lbs. and has decent performance and upgradability.

 

[Pradeep]

I ran Folding on my P4-M 1.6 GHz, going to start off with an easy single unit, then give it the smp version to see how she handles. Prob wont make the deadline. Perhaps the gpu client? If the HP is going to die I want it to die early on. I"m not too concerned with a 35W processor.

So no luck with the gpu client, but four instances of console 6.23 are producing approx 1800 points per day in total. Fan stays at the medium setting.

 

[CougTek]

A ~15" machine is usually the most economical, weighs 506 lbs. and has decent performance and upgradability.

Don't get me wrong ; I am no wuss. But I wouldn't call a 506lbs computer "portable".

 

[LunarMist]

Is that you, Woody Nutpicker? 5-6 lbs.

 

[CougTek]

You think I'm picking on nut people?

 

[LunarMist]

Maybe it was Woodrow Nitpecker or Nitpicker or whatever.