Goober Posted August 3, 2009 Share Posted August 3, 2009 Hi all, at present I an researching new parts for a new desktop pc that I want to build latter this year for myself, for my ultimate FS experience, my old rattle box is frustrating me to bits, I know all you guys will help with questions I have along the way with that, but what I was hoping for right now is some advice on a new laptops, as stated above it won’t be used for my ultimate FS experience that’s what the deck top will before, a good FS experience will do. To have the flexibilities and convenience of being able to use it anywhere no matter what circumstances that you may find your self in will suit me to a tee right now. What I won’t to use it for is. I just love design, and all things to do with it, I’m using Photoshop CS3 for my repainting, photographic work, Gmax , FSDS and Delfship for modelling things like whisplacer, FSX planner, Video editing, claymation and making animated and video .gif- I could go on but I think you get the picture. Some spec’s I would prefer is 15†screen and Nvidia graphic mainly because of the plug-in available for Nvidia for Photoshop CS3. Price, well nun of us want to send more than we have to, but I was thinking somewhere between $1600.00 and $2500.00 Australian dollars, hope I am not dreaming. Have heard good things about Dell, I’m certainly open to any advice you guys want to give, or recommendations, like just get the Dell #*(?!^# at this $? price with there’s spec’s you will just love it. Anyway hope you can help. Goober Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan Mason Posted August 3, 2009 Share Posted August 3, 2009 Dell XPS range is the way to go Goobs although you wont be able to afford what John uses to develop on your budget but there might just be something closer to what you want, try the dell factory seconds (scratch and dent type stuff) they are usually a lot cheaper and nothing wrong with them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Venema Posted August 3, 2009 Share Posted August 3, 2009 The new laptop KING reigneth!! http://www1.ap.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/laptop-alienware-m17x?c=au&l=en&s=dhs&cs=audhs1&~ck=mn This beast can go to quad-core, 2x GTX280m (2GB VRAM), 8GB DDR3 RAM and 3x Solid State Drives in RAID0/1. My god this laptop would give Uber2 a run for its money. Yours for about AU$10,000 And of course, I want one, but we can't afford it. BTW, in all honesty? I am peeved with Dell right now. My XPS M1730 has been out of action with a failed mobo/GPU for 2.5 weeks and this is after I paid AU$1060 to extend the warranty (again). They are claiming no replacement parts are available. Dell used to have awesome service, but lately their onboard video cards and mobos are failing every 6-12 months and their service teams stock no parts in Melbourne. Given their superb 15 years track record with me, the last 2 years has pretty much undone all that goodwill I'm afraid. Alienware are built in South Australia, but having been purchased by Dell, their production might have moved to Malaysia. Not sure, but hesitant to go Alienware at this stage until I hear some positive customer stories. For a reasonable FSX lappy then, I'd go to a large retailer (JB Hifi, Harvey Norman, the Good Guys) and pickup any decent Core2 2.xxGhz laptop with at least a 512MB dedicated GPU. Should cost about $1200-1600 and it will probably give you FPS in the low-mid teens for most things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goober Posted August 3, 2009 Author Share Posted August 3, 2009 Thanks for that AC, I know the Dell Studio XPS Laptops range, but there's some many deference in the spec's, then there's the Studio Laptops, I was hoping someone mite be able to say, this what you could get a way with at the basic end (eg.) 15" Studio Laptop with these spec's, or middle of the range at these spec's would be great. I think all the XPS start over $3000.00 which is to much I mite push the budget to $2800.00 if I had to. Once I know what spec's I need and type I can then look at your idea (scratch and dent type stuff) or there's alot of coupons around and special deals around aswell. thanks mate. Just realised what a busy day you all have with all the new down loads, sow just when some has some time, Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maurice_King Posted August 4, 2009 Share Posted August 4, 2009 Bang for buck in Oz at present you'd be hard pressed to do better than some from the Acer range. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Serge Posted August 4, 2009 Share Posted August 4, 2009 Not sure if this will be much help to you but I just recently purchased a Dell Studio 15. I pretty much spec'd it up as much as you could on the Dell website and got it for $1700. It was a good week for discounts as I got $150 off and also had a coupon for a further 15% off on top of that. Main spec's are P8700 2.53GHz, 4G DD2, 500GB HD (5400rpm), 15.6" Full HD WLED (1920 x 1080) Display, 512MB ATI 4570, Vista 64 with free upgrade to Win7. I haven't installed FSX on it yet so can't give you any performance feedback for that and to be honest as a mid range laptop I'm not expecting it to run FSX all that well, especially with the 5400rpm HD, but I have installed AutoCAD 2010 on it and the laptop runs it as well if not better than my office HP workstation. The screen and image quality is beautiful and overall I'm very pleased with the laptop's performance. If I get around to installing FSX on it I'll report back with some performance information. Regards, Serge Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Venema Posted August 4, 2009 Share Posted August 4, 2009 Not sure if this will be much help to you but I just recently purchased a Dell Studio 15. I pretty much spec'd it up as much as you could on the Dell website and got it for $1700. It was a good week for discounts as I got $150 off and also had a coupon for a further 15% off on top of that. Main spec's are P8700 2.53GHz, 4G DD2, 500GB HD (5400rpm), 15.6" Full HD WLED (1920 x 1080) Display, 512MB ATI 4570, Vista 64 with free upgrade to Win7. I haven't installed FSX on it yet so can't give you any performance feedback for that and to be honest as a mid range laptop I'm not expecting it to run FSX all that well, especially with the 5400rpm HD, but I have installed AutoCAD 2010 on it and the laptop runs it as well if not better than my office HP workstation. The screen and image quality is beautiful and overall I'm very pleased with the laptop's performance. If I get around to installing FSX on it I'll report back with some performance information. Regards, Serge Please do Serge; I think you will be surprised at how well it will run FSX. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goober Posted August 4, 2009 Author Share Posted August 4, 2009 Thanks for that bit of info guys, given me something more to think about. John, I must have been writing AC reply when you posted this morning, because I didn't see it til just now. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan Mason Posted August 4, 2009 Share Posted August 4, 2009 I agree with what John said too Goobs, I cant justify going out and spending the extra 2000 for the Dell name so I have a gateway gaming laptop, I have upgraded it to its max capacity at 2.8 ghz T9700 4gb ram with an 8800 GTX and it runs FSX fluid at between 25-35 FPS everywhere, cant beat that, although I have about $3000 in it now witth upgrades, I think I will wait for the new generation laptops with specs like John mentioned to come down in price before another upgrade. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goober Posted August 4, 2009 Author Share Posted August 4, 2009 Thanks again AC It’s interesting what John said about the Dells, looks like he is not the only one, stumbled on this tread Yesterday buy Scratch2k at http://forums.overclockers.com.au/showthread.php?t=793003&page=8 It’s not a bad site, has treads on all sorts of things Tec. Overclockers Australia Forums http://forums.overclockers.com.au/index.php and thanks as well Serge, it would be good if you could report back with some performance information. One thing I do know for sure, it's FUN shopping for new toys Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goober Posted August 8, 2009 Author Share Posted August 8, 2009 Did you get around to installing FSX and Orbxon on it yet Serge ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goober Posted August 11, 2009 Author Share Posted August 11, 2009 For a reasonable FSX lappy then, I'd go to a large retailer (JB Hifi, Harvey Norman, the Good Guys) and pickup any decent Core2 2.xxGhz laptop with at least a 512MB dedicated GPU. Should cost about $1200-1600 and it will probably give you FPS in the low-mid teens for most things. Well had a bit of a look at the large retailer (JB Hifi, Harvey Norman, the Good Guys) and this is what has got my eye. Asus 15'4 notebook, Intel Core 2 Duo T9550 2.66GHz, 4GB ram, 500 Gb HDD and Nvidia G-Force 9650M GT 1GB, they said would do for $2000.00 it's their last one. It all looks good to me on paper, but the two main things I am not sure about are Asus as a brand and the Nvidia G-Force G/card. I know I wanted a Nvidia card, mainly because of the plug-in's, like converting Files to .dds and that kind of thing. But have my doubts now because sales person said most of the companies are going with ATI cards and HP took Nvidia to court last year, they said the G-Force cards were wrecking the laptops, sow I'm not sure. Any suggestions or advice would be appreciated. Goober Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Anderson Posted August 11, 2009 Share Posted August 11, 2009 Goobs, check this laptop out... http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ASUS-LAPTOP-G50VT-15-6-MAX-8GB-800GB-nVIDIA-9800GS-HD_W0QQitemZ360178189127QQcmdZViewItemQQptZAU_comp_laptop?hash=item53dc4b0347&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14 Gives me great performance in FSX, as well as photoshop and 3ds Max (both of which are hungry programs). Fairly cheap to for the stuff included too I reckon. Tom P.S. That model has 4GB of Ram and 480GB more hard drive space than mine, so imagine what it could do compared to mine Here's mine: http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ASUS-LAPTOP-15-6-4GB-nVIDIA-9800GS-DDR3-HDMI-CAM-G50Vt_W0QQitemZ360178429511QQcmdZViewItemQQptZAU_comp_laptop?hash=item53dc4eae47&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goober Posted August 11, 2009 Author Share Posted August 11, 2009 Wow! thanks Tom, they look all right, looks like ebay's where to get things cheaper. I did find the one in my post for $1900 but the HD is only 5200rpm, it seems most laptops HD are only 5200rpm not sure if that is good or bad, but I think 7200rpm would be better. Good to hear what other people think- whether that is something to worry about. Goobs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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