Need help finding a notebook

I love the Sager 8790 options at PCTotorque.com. Unfortunately, there is no Althon 64 anywhere in there. Anyone know where I can find I notebook with these specs:

AMD Athlon 64 3400+
2GB DDR400 (PC3200) RAM
60 GB 7200RPM HD (second drive bay would be nice)
2x or more dvd burner
Internal 802.11g wireless (108Mbps would be nice)
Internal Bluetooth
Integrated TV tuner
256MB ATI radeon mobility 9700 (specific card not so important)

 

For those gaming-type rigs, you're really limited to Intel. Unless I'm forgetting something, none of the major companies offer AMD. I'm thinking Sager, Dell, Alien, Hyper, Voodoo, etc.

Editor in Chief http://www.bargainPDA.com and http://www.SPOTstop.com

 

The Voodoo M:860 and the Acer Ferrari 3200 are your two options for the next few weeks. Soon Clevo's 4750 will be available (with the same screen as the 8790). Hypersonic should sell it as the AX7, and Sager will call it the 4750 or some such.

-Joshua

 

You may want to look here for a fairly priced high end notebook.

http://www.ibuypower.com/mall/notebook.asp

 

Athlons tend to get very hot, so companies rarely put them in notebooks. Everything else you wrote could be found easily, but the only company I know of that sells athlon notebooks is emachines. My personal favorite for high-end notebooks is falcon northwest (www.falcon-nw.com). If you have the cash, you sacrifice no performance for portability. Your book would probably cost around 4000 dollars. I would go for a dathon pentium M 2 ghz, which is comparable to an athlon 64 3000+ in performance, just with 2mb cache and no 64 bit functionality (which currently isn't utilized anyway.) You could get Falcon Northwest's "Thin and light" book, which has a pentium m 2 ghz, 2x dvd +/- rw drive, 60 gig 7200 rpm hd, RADEON 9700 graphics, and very nice wireless. I've never heard of 256 mb graphics in a notebook, please tell me where you heard of that. 256 megs is very excessive, though, especially if you plan to buy with mxm. Sorry, no TV tuner, but you could get the ati usb 2.0 tv wonder to go with it. The specs you mentioned make one insane notebook, it'll probably weigh 12 pounds or so. good luck with your shopping.

Dell 8600
1.8 dothan SXGA+
128mb radeon 9600PRO TURBO
512mb RAM

 

For the record, here are the specs on the gaming laptops I'm considering: click here.

-Joshua

P.S. Andrew, I think you're right. The 8790 clocks in at about 12 pounds or so.

 

Andrew,

The Athlon 64-M actually runs like a Pentium-M; and I don't know of any heat issues on the current generation of Athlon 64 laptops.

The Sager 8790 / Hypersonic GX7 (both built on the Clevo D870P) have a 256 MB Radeon 9700. These notebooks are targeted at hardcore gamers who want the maximum power possible; and I would expect subsequent notebooks on that chassis to have the same.

-Joshua

 

You may want to look at the eMachine 6809 (or something, i still haven't looked up the model number) but it has a 64bit processor with the Radeon 9600 for a great price if thats what you interested in. There are many satisfied owners of this system that are on the forum under the eMachines category if you have questions about it.

zx5000 :: 2.4M :: 512 DDR :: 40gb 4200 RPM HD :: 15.4" :: Radeon 9600 Mobilty M10 :: Aquamark3 22,856

 

How much are you willing to pay, itwinter?

 

It sounds like the closet you're going to find today is the new Acer Ferarri 3200 (see mwave.com and newegg.com, both of them have the notebook in stock with MWave being cheaper, I highly recommend both stores). Low-voltage Athlon 64 2800+ (35W max), slot-loading DVD burner, 802.11g, Bluetooth, 128MB Radeon 9700, SXGA+ screen, then replace the RAM and HD on your own. I am sorely tempted but I need (well, want) a nVidia graphics chip for proper 64-bit Linux compatibility.

The HP zv5000z and similar Compaq R3000z offer the Athlon 64 3400+ CPU, DVD+RW burners, 802.11g and Bluetooth, 1680x1050 and 1920x1200 res 15.4" widescreen options... and the geniuses put a GeForce 440 Go in it, so it's not a gaming notebook but great for getting work done. 64-bit Fedora Core 2 Linux runs on it (except wireless because they used a Linux-hostile Broadcom card and rigged the BIOS to reject non-HP wireless miniPCI cards). I have a zv5000z and replaced the RAM and HD with Crucial/Micron sticks (it's picky about memory, likes Micron and not much else) and Hitachi 60GB 7200RPM drive. You can find a few R3000z configurations at retail (Best Buy, etc).

The eMachines M6805/M6809 represent the best bang for the buck for 64-bit gaming notebooks. $1250 for a M6805 after rebates at Best Buy. Can't beat that. 64MB Radeon 9600.

Even the DTR Athlon 64 burns 81W max, less than the P4's, and the Athlon 64 line has MUCH better power management (800MHz to max in 200MHz increments, drops the core voltage substantially). There's also a Mobile line that's 62W max (up to 3200+) and those low-voltage 35W chips (2700+ and 2800+, you want the latter). Newegg.com sells them all (wish they had barebones notebooks to go with them). I have been unable to overheat my DTR 3200+. AMD chips haven't been hotter than Intel's since the transition to 130nm fabs a few years ago. Expect things to get even better when the 90nm chips are buyable (desktop chips are a few months away, no word on notebooks), AMD is promising much improved power consumption.

If you lived overseas there'd be more options, but many notebook OEMs are too gutless to risk Intel's wrath by selling proper AMD machines here in America. ASUS comes to mind.

You want the Athlon 64's low-latency memory access (thanks to its integrated memory controller) for gaming. Intel chips can have higher memory streaming rates, which looks good on benchmarks, but in real world use you're usually better off with the AMD chip. Plus there's the NX bit (No eXecute) that blocks the buffer overrun attacks favored by Windows worms; WinXP Service Pack 2 (July?) enables support for that (or try SP2 RC1 now, which I'm running, bugs and all). 64-bit Windows XP should be out by the end of the year, now that Bill Gates laid down the law at the last WinHEC (Windows Hardware Engineering Conference) and told hardware vendors to get their 64-bit drivers written Right Now because the "64-bit transition is going to happen faster than you think". Figure a 20-30% performence boost on games when it comes out (says the UT2004 developers, for starters).

The Clevo D470K notebooks (sold by various folks) ought to be very nice machines when they become available and probably closest (if not exactly) what you want (17" screen!), but there's a note on M-Techlaptops that says it's been delayed? Sigh. Way heavier than that Ferarri though.

 

I too am patiently awaiting a similarly spec'd out notebook. I was dismayed last month to find only P-IV notebooks with 17" screens and 128MB (even 256MB) radeon 9700 cards. I'm very happy that the new Clevo-base AMD notebooks will arrive soon, but it seems like they will still only have the 128MB 9700 video card. I'm not sure if we could upgrade the card in the future (like some of the latest notebooks out) so the choices the companies provide for the video card is very important to me.

Does anyone have any idea about when any company will either a) have an Athlon 64 notebook with a video card better than the 128MB radeon 9700, or b) have such a notebook in which the video card can be easily upgraded? We may have to wait a few more months for it, but I think I may wait it out anyway.

-DMer

 

I have to say that at Hypersonic they were always very polite, and never hesitated to apologize for their endless mistakes and disconnected calls.
It wouldn't be as bad if their tech support paid any attention to the customer. I've owned an AX7 for 5 months, and SINCE DAY ONE, this computer did not work properly. They made me wait till the refund period was over so that I couldn't send it back, and today, five months later no progress has been made. I had to wait for a wireless card for 2 months, and it took many calls to get it shipped; and when it finally arrived, it didn’t work.
To summarize: If your computer works you will be lucky, if not, then welcome to the club. I am retiring a very expensive computer that never worked, and I have no support at all from the weak warrantee that comes with the system. And believe it or not, they will tell you on the phone that they are proud about their “Industry leading Warranty”. BUYER BEWARE

Battery life: 45 min.
IT DOES GET HOT!
LOUDEST EVER