C90 or S96S

The main trade-off I can see here is:

- Santa Rosa Platform vs. a Desktop CPU (aka Speed vs. Battery Life)
- 8600M GS (256mb) vs 8600M GT (512mb)
- WXGA vs. WSXGA

I would like to use my PC for gaming, but also bring it to class. I don't know if I can deal with 70 minutes battery life...

My question is this: How inferior is the S96S to the C90 in terms of gaming? What about the difference in screens? Will the 8600M GS still play all current games at high specs?

 

its is 20% weaker in 3dmark. respectively you should expect frames per second to be 20% weaker at least. some games may be cpu dependant. the gap is even wider in that case as a conoe is superior to a mobile

 

Supposing I wanted it to play older games like World of Warcraft or maybe Counterstrike: Source, would I encounter any problems?

Also, what kind of battery life does the S96S have, in comparison to the C90 on "battery-saving" mode? I hear you can pull 2-hours off it in "power-saving mode" by underclocking the CPU?

 

I have the s96s and it can play world of warcraft and source all high settings, very smooth. Max battery is around 2:30 hours I think with brightness on lowest. If you want the brightness higher then battery life will go for around 2 hours. The laptop looks much better than any pictures you've seen. It's a darker greyish gun metal type color and the screen is nice.

 

yes mD- is correct. I have been testing my battery it is around 2hrs w/ mid-low bright(still good)

 

C90 standard gets 1.5 hrs about for me. In power saving mode it gets about 1 hr 45 min to 50 min.

 

1) So the battery life isn't actually that big of a difference?

2) How does the overall build quality compare?

3) Which screen appears nicer? The WSXGA on the C90 or the WXGA on the S96S?

4) Where do most people buy them from? I'm looking at Gentech, nice pricing there.

5) Will the Santa Rosa severely outlast the Conroe? Or vice versa?

 

1) I dont know anything about the s96s.
2) Again like above but the c90 is great quality the screen is amazing and have found no real flaws in the structure.
3) I prefer higher resolution screens and the c90 has one of the best screens on the market.
4) Gentech and Btotech are both great. I bough mine from gentech.
5) Performance goes to the conroe while battery life goes to the santa rosa. Take your pick.

 

1) The battery life is comparable to the original S96j.. which is usually 3-4 hrs.

2) The build quality is exceptional, I have owned this notebook for over a year, and so far its has not even fallen apart or felt weak.

3) Depending on what you do, then the screen space will matter - 1280 x 800 is a great size (personally like it better than higher res screens)

4) Gentech for sure, exceptional service, wont let you down ,and a great vendor.

5) Conroe is the desktop version of C2D's and does have some upgradability, but since you stated you want to use your laptop in classes, busting out with the C90 and the turbines might make some people look at you. Your going to college and if you want to game all the time, then go for the C90. But for recommended portability, go with the S96S.

 

Haha thanks for the response, but turbines? Really? If so, that's a definite no-no.

Yet, still, I can't help but think that the video card and screen on the C90 is far superior. How is movie-watching on a WXGA compared to a WSXGA?

 

i take my s96s to class. On fully charge half brighness gives me about 2hrs of batterylife. It is thin and easy to carry around and runs cool! less heat(u can actually put the laptop on your lap comfortably for a long perriod of time). However, the right palm gets warm during normal and gets very warm-hot during gaming.the pics of s96s is crappy on the websites, it looks a lot better in person and everyone with a s96s will say that.The c90 is better for gaming and has fans sticking out. Also s96s price is cheaper by 200-250 and most probably will play all the old games u listed easily on high settings smoothly, i get 114fps on cs:source VST test(no ati alis) i got my from xotic pc...

these are based on my observations and experiences...

 

Depends what your watching. If you watch a ton of HD quality movies, then go for the higher resolution. If not, I would recommend using the lower res screen.

 

Thanks for the help guys, just one more question: Supposing I was configuring each laptop, which processor/ram/hd option should I get?

For the S96 I was considering: T7500/2GB/120gb 5400rpm
For the C90 I was considering: E6600/2GB/120gb 5400rpm

I'm wondering if this is the best way to go, or if I should cut back on the cpu and go for more ram (although the CPU was a cheaper upgrade from the T7300 to the T7500 or the E6420 to the E6600 than RAM is from 2GB to 3GB). I'm hesitant to get a 7200rpm hd because of heat issues on the hand rest, which people have brought up.

 

c90-heat in left palm , s96s heat in right palm. I don't think hard drive contributes this heat, it is the board itself. i would go w/ 7200rpm

 

WSXGA looks better because of higher resolution. But the WXGA is also nice and personally i don't think the slighty better lcd would make me sacrifice almost a hour of battery life. But the decision is yours. ;P

 

Don't know if you've decided on a system yet, and if you're still considering the Asus systems (it seems you've been looking at the IFL90/SagerNP2090 lately), you may want to hold off a while longer, as it looks like more 15.4" systems are moving to 8600M GT cards.

Two from Asus that are listed as going that way are the:

Asus V1s-A1 which has the higher res (1680x1050) screen, 8600M GT, and the Santa Rosa. Plus it has the following other items: Intel Robson Turbo Memory, support for up to 4GB, longer lasting battery (compared to the c90). Its also listed as being in the ~5.5 lbs area as opposed to the ~6.6-6.9lbs area of many of the other 15.4 systems out there right now. The drawback is it probably will not be graphics card upgradeable like the C90s (although I have seen one rumor), and it will not have the powerful CPU of the C90s.

Asus LAMBORGHINI VX2S is also slated to have the 8600M GT and Santa Rosa, but once again the drawback will be upgrade ability and CPU power compared to the C90. Like in the past the Lamborghini will probably be overly expensive.

Just a few things to consider.