Need laptop advice

[GEWB]

Originally Posted By: chad8
If you sell laptops then why would you ever buy one with an amd.
We both know that their failure rate is higher and they run slower than a comparable intel. just one mans opinion.
By the way , I am running 4 desktops and 3 laptops currently in my home and guess what processors they all are? Most of the desktops are 5-8 years old and the laptops are fairly new. Guess how many processors have died? How about 0. My one and only amd is gone and buried.


I'll take serious issue with this reply.

I have owned desktop and laptops since 1985 and have had multiple computers (from two to seven) at any given time.

Last year I purchased an Intel chip, the first I've owned since I had a 386SX (when was that - around 1988 or 1989?) - I have owned AMD all this time. I upgrade every two or three years and currently have six operating computers: five AMD and one Intel.

In that time I have NEVER had a CPU go out and I overclock all of the desktop units (not my two laptops). AMD makes a good affordable product.

Go with the Lenovo and don't worry about the AMD CPU.

Regards,
GEWB

 

[Nick R]

Got the lenovo today, typing this on it now as a matter of fact, it's great so far. Nice and solid, fast once you get the McAfee Junk off of it initially. More RAM is ordered.

 

[Triple_Se7en]

I like McAfee.

What's your issues with it?

 

[greenaccord02]

It's useless if you have the windows security suite installed.

Don't worry, I remembered to wear my flame suit.

 

[Triple_Se7en]

Originally Posted By: greenaccord02
It's useless if you have the windows security suite installed.

Don't worry, I remembered to wear my flame suit.


I googled it and it's not liked on the first search page I read. It appears to be a spyware / malware program and I use McAfee as an Anti-Virus application.

http://www.google.com/search?q=windows+s...lient=firefox-a

I'll investigate it more this weekend.

 

[Triple_Se7en]

I use this for malware control.

http://www.malwarebytes.org/

I use this for spyware control.

http://www.superantispyware.com/

 

[greenaccord02]

http://www.microsoft.com/security/pc-security/mse.aspx

 

[Nick R]

I love Trend Micro, and Kaspersky. The problem I have with McAfee (And Norton as well) is that they slow the system down immensely. the difference in boot time, as well as pretty much everything from application load speed to general feeling of speediness improved greatly when I removed McAfee and put my free Trend Micro Maximum Security suite on it. (Got it free from our Trend Micro rep at work).

It really is quite speedy, even with just 3GB of RAM. The fast processor really is quite good, the keyboard and trackpad feel are great, and something I hadn't noticed before, the speakers are actually quite excellent as far as laptop speakers go anyway.

 

[greenaccord02]

Not to beat it into the ground too much, but you should give the windows thing a try by itself. It has daily updates that come down with your regular windows updates and is completely integrated, as you might expect. It's caught several things that have slipped by our enterprise symantec. Really high quality, and it does all of the virus/spyware/malware in one program. It's a better program than you would expect from Microsoft, to be honest.

 

[Nick R]

I've used MSSE in the past and was fond of it, but didn't think it was at the time perfect. Actually there is only one complaint I have about this laptop at the moment. The screen is bright and crisp, but looking at pictures there is a weird texture to it in smoe places, but is so hard to see I almost wonder if it isn't my own imagination playing tricks.

 

[Nick R]

Quite pleased so far. The one concern I have is temps. Running prime95, CPU temps jump to about 75 degrees celsius. This seems a little high to me. Granted the GPU in my desktop hits 85 on occasion, but still. HDD hits about 47 which also seems a little higher. Are these temps alarming, or are they still in the "ok" zone?

 

[Colt45ws]

They will run hot due to the limited space for cooling components. Thats sounds normal for a laptop under full load. My Core2Duo T5450 in my Dell laptop is running 74C full load 24/7. Laptop chips are typically rated for higher temperatures than their desktop counter parts. For example I have a Socket A Athlon XP-M Barton 2400+ which based off its model number is rated to 100C. A standard Athlon XP is rated to 80C, IIRC.
HDD temperature is also within tolerance. Typically they are rated to 55C.

 

[greenaccord02]

That's pretty alarming to me... Anything above ~70C is too warm in my book.

Look up AMDs specs to see what they say. Intel has a figure called T-Junction listed on their product data sheets, which is the temperature at which throttling kicks in to avoid damage to the chip. Usually the temp is around 70C but in some cases (like the new Atom chips) it is as high as 100C. I wouldn't let it run any hotter than ~90% of whatever AMDs analogous figure is.

Edit: Colt's right, I wasn't thinking laptop. It's almost 1 AM here and I'm tired. Still, look up the figure to be sure. HDD is fine for a laptop.

 

[Nick R]

Well, the only reason I ask is because the gateway was much cooler. CPU was around 55 under full load, and HDD never went over 37. That must be because it was only 2.1Ghz, not 3.0 lol.

 

[Colt45ws]

Yes, different chips, different cooling design. Also, the GPU usually shares cooling with the CPU in laptops. What GPU was in your Gateway?

 

[Nick R]

4250, slightly lower clocked version of the integrated chip I have. 500mhz vs 590 in the 4270.