Notebook Showdown - 1/24/2004

[Khaeljin]

Greetings,

While I have seen brief reletive metions of this subject through prior anandtech articles I have yet to see this comparison. I would also include that I am new to the boards and as such apologize if this is the incorrect section for this post.

That said...it is my observation that there are 3 main manufacturers, all-be-it directly or indirectly, of high-performance/high-flash notebooks: Alienware, Voodoo, and Hypersonic.

To date I am having trouble finding a source that compares these three manufactuers as of 2004. I see them as offering essentially the same type of products targeted towards the same type of audience. Dell is not in this category (not sure why anandtech compared the Voodoo system to a dell in the first place)...Sager and Eurocom are close but do not "dress up" their systems (the same with the other main clevo odm manufacturers as far as I know).

The last article by anandtech states Voodoo as the only mobile amd provider. Hypersonic now produces one as well and their paint is pretty slick as well. Alienware is of course also in the mix but not with amd yet.

My questions:

1.) Is the amd "64 bit computing" really that much faster than all the pentium stuff out there, and for that matter will someone explain or direct me to a good location to learn what "64-bit computing" is compared to pentium m or centrino technology...what does it mean in lamens terms?

2.) With respect to these three companies: Vooodoo, Hypersonic, and Alienware...are there any major gaming performance showdowns?

3.) Which company offers the best gaming machine for the best value...curious to hear (as unbiased as possible) opinions from owners, manufactuers, anandtech etc...

4.) Are there plans to compare the Voodoo machines to these other companies by anandtech or other 3rd party organizations?

5.) Suggestions of best-value-best-performance notebooks?

I appreciate your responses regarding this subject...please no derogitory criticisms or questions as to why I am asking these questions. Just answer them if ya can if not don't bother replying.

Thanks is advance,
-Khaeljin

Usefull Links:
http://www.alienware.com
http://www.voodoopc.com
http://www.hypersonic-pc.com/2001/index.asp
http://www.sagernotebook.com/index.html
http://www.eurocom.ca/

 

[Khaeljin]

bump

 

[fhetw]

Sager, Hypersonic, some voodoo, go-L, and many other laptop resellers get their laptops (which component wise are identical) from the same manufacturer, Clevo.
I have a sager5680 and love it. Got it from pctorque.com. Since these laptops are basically identical, youre basically paying from a brand name if you go with hypersonic or something.
As far as gaming goes, my rig has no problems handling anything on the market now, but im worried about hl2 and d3. However, sager notebooks are easily upgradable and even come with their own upgrade plan (kind of like dell), which was the main reason I chose them over hypersonic. (not to mention price)
My current setup includes p4 2.8HT 800fsb, 512dual channel pc3200, 60gb 7200rpm, 128mb mobility radeon 9600pro. In a year or so, I plan on upgrading to 1g ram, 3.2-3.6EE/prescott, 256mb 9700/9800pro
The only problem with these computers (from all the brands you listed) is battery life. But then again, these are desktop replacements, if you want battery life and mobility look elsewhere.
1)correct me if im wrong, but 64bit processing isnt really used right now, besides, prescotts should be coming out soon (these laptops use desktop processors)
2)since theyre all basically the exact same system, there probably isnt a noticible difference between them. score ~11000-12000 3d2001, 3-4000 3d2003
3)cost wise, a sager reseller will be cheapest, though you may want to take a look at www.abspc.com

 

[Khaeljin]

great reply thanks for the help. I am going to look up a few web sites ya mentioned and keep researching for now. I guess I am looking for that magic deal just under 2k US with all the bells and whistles. Maybe that's impossible but I'm not giving up hehe.

...im looking forward to hearing from more users...anyone else out there?