Dual core/Long battery life feasibility

velusip

velusip

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Jan 24, 2005
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When considering a laptop the first thing I looked into was GPU as most laptops I own have absolute crap for graphics. I'd like to actually run a cool accellerated interface. Next is battery life, and then small size/portability. I've made up my mind and went with a 15 inch size despite being a bit large for my liking in favour of the nice 256 X1600 by ATI released recently. If I could fine a 12 inch with the same card I'd go with that, but no go.

So now I have to consider battery life... the Pro Duo intel 1.6Ghz chips are becoming more popular and as with most newer dual core processors, seem to run cooler than previous single core competitors. So which do I go with?

That seems to be the only issue I'm facing with choosing a laptop (highlights are noted):

Alienware ($1360 CAD)
Intel® Pentium® M 730 1.6GHz 2MB L2 Cache 533MHz FSB
15.4 WSXGA+ (1680 x 1050) - Very nice screen.
256MB ATI Mobility™ Radeon® X1600 (type II)
512MiB mem - Will upgrade to 2GiB later
60GiB 5400RPM

vs

Acer ($1,581.44 CAD)
Core Duo T2300 1.66GHZ
15.4IN WXGA (probably 1280 x 800)
256MB ATI Mobility™ Radeon® X1600 (type II)
1GiB mem - Unsure if it can be upgraded.
100GiB 5400RPM

I'm much more prone to get the Acer considering it's ugly. I hate the pretty alienware shell.
Anyone else have a new Acer they could tell me a bit about?

The other option is to find a laptop that supports MXM type II and buy it then swap in all my own upgrades, but finding a standalone 256 X1600 M is killer. I haven't yet found one.
 
I have a firly new Acer. I bought it in September. The price was right for the specs (about 999$ for a 1.6 Ghz Turion 64, gig of ram, 100gig hard drive, and a DVD+- Dual layer dvd burner). My only complaint is the build quality. One of the touchpad buttons got stuck. I took the laptop apart and touchpad and it worked when i put it back together. Also the screen cracked on the hinges. As far as Im concerned this should NOT happen. It happened less than 2 months after i got it. Ignoring those facts I like it alot. Just seems like cheap build quality. The touchpad is nicer than my toshiba tablet (but the tablet his better touchpad buttons) and the screen is very nice and bright.
 
The Acer Aspire 5672WLMI.

I would like to get a beefier processor too, but that's the only I can find thus far.
 
Ok, that's the same machine i own, but the graphics don't match up, this thing has an x1400 fyi. I've got a T2600 in mine, well worth the upgrade too btw. Are you talking about the newer model that is coming out?

See the 5672 thread within this section (first page) for some of my thoughts. If you have any questions on it, feel free to ask. I don't feel like typing it all out again :D

Memory is upgradable. There are 2 slots. thus the 2 models. One with 2GB one with 1GB.
 
Actually, there is supposed to be a refresh of the 5672 w/ an 1600....They're talking about it over on notebookforums...
 
What do you consider long battery life? Neither of those machines provide particularly long battery times. The m5500 has a smallish 6-cell standard (2.5-3 hours most likely), and users report the 5672 with the weaker X1400 only getting around 3-3.5 hours on battery. The Acer will be even worse with the more power hungry X1600.

The Asus W3J is a 14" widescreen coming in real soon to Canada with a 256MB X1600. Initial reviews says it gets about 2.5-3 hours on battery. It's also more expensive than the ones you've listed, but it has the option to swap the optical drive with a secondary battery for 1.5-2 hours more battery life.
 
sharkapult said:
Actually, there is supposed to be a refresh of the 5672 w/ an 1600....They're talking about it over on notebookforums...
Click to expand...

Yeah, but i haven't seen it in retail channels yet? I also heard there's a 20GHz model coming out in 18 years :p
 
Yeah this Acer laptop is not quite in stores, but will be late this month. And thanks for all your comments folks. They're useful, which is strange for a forum.

Getting back to the point though, as far as battery performance, is it smarter to go with the newer Intel Duo or the older Pentium M?
 
Depending on what you consider to be good battery life, there are lots of 14" options which have decent discrete video options:

Asus W3J (X1600), A8JA (X1600), A8JM (Go7600)
Compal HGL30 (X1600)
ECS G420 (X1600)
 
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