Laptop:

[Mithrandir]

• Intel® Pentium® processor T4400
(2,2 GHz, 1 MB L2 Cache, FSB 800 MHz)
• NVIDIA GeForce GT230M, 1 GB
• 500 GB hd
• 4 GB DDR2 SDRAM
18,4" 1680 x 945 pixels screen
windows 7

1. is it worth the e700,- (USD 980,-) they want?
2. Would this be fast enogh for really fast video editing and running photoshop CS4 really fast?


any downsides?

[pevergreen]

I don't like the CPU.

Apart from that, seems fine.

Hope you don't plan on carrying it around, that sucka will be heavy with that size screen.

[Mithrandir]

What's wrong with the cpu?

[pevergreen]

I'm not an expert, but T4400 screams bad to me.

My CPU from 20 months ago is a T9400 and that was just above standard for the 15.4" i was getting.

[caravel]

It looks like an Intel Pentium Dual Core or worse. They are second rate Core/Core 2 or something of the sort IIRC.

Do you have the link to the thing?

-Edit: I can't find much info on the T4400.

[Mithrandir]

It's in Dutch:

http://www.medion.com/ms/aldi/md98110/nl/

[Mithrandir]

But again, what is bad about the processor?

Is it slow... or ... that's my only guess. I'm not much of a techy when it comes to hardware...

[pevergreen]

Yeah, its gunna be slow.

You really want a Core2Duo for anything beyond basic stuff. (web browsing, IM programs etc)

[caravel]

But again, what is bad about the processor?

Is it slow... or ... that's my only guess. I'm not much of a techy when it comes to hardware...
As pever' said it's going to be slow... like a three legged camel with haemorrhoids...

:2cents:

[Tellos Athenaios]

It's a weird combination:

For a laptop the screen is big (if you want to carry it around with you this is not a good thing -- not because screens consume more power than just about any other component, and not because it's big and heavy and clunky). The resolution is simply *odd*. Yeah I know it's fashionable these days to use 16:9; but come on: 1680x945? Claims about HD content aside: you aren't going to get more than 720p; which as you might imagine involves a vertical resolution of 720 pixels (lines). The next HD mode is 1080i/1080p which is well beyond your monitor. So you can expect some pretty large black bars if you do want to use the laptop for video playback.

The hard disk is kind of standard I expect, perhaps a touch towards the higher end. Without make & model there isn't anything much to say about it.

The processor is not much to write home about: Pentium processors are kind of slow-ish especially by modern standards (it's basically 2 generations old technology; we've seen the Core2Duo and now the Core-i's as well). It wouldn't be so bad if it was a Core2Duo @1.8Ghz; or something (comparable performance at lower temperature and power draw). Equally if you were looking for portability, a Pentium dual core @1.5Ghz would definitely feel nicer on your lap...

The amount of memory is kind of misleading (oh it probably will be ~4GB but your Windows 7 features a 32bit not-PAE-enabled kernel eh?).

And the graphics card is another odd choice. Especially in combination with the RAM. (1GB + 4GB - 3.5GB = 1.5GB of spare unaddressable memory.) You'd do better with the HD 4530 (a 512MB DDR2 card) on a laptop ...

The real problem for you, arguably, is that applications such a photoshop do not (directly) leverage any graphics card much. To top it off, for it to run Vista+1 you are looking at a fairly heavy load already... So you have a graphics card which is a bit overkill; a monitor that is out to lunch, a CPU that can't keep up, and memory you can't use. All for €700,- though.:smash:

On the other hand €700,- is kind of budget anyways. Good Core2Duo stuff _starts_ there if you are lucky but the combination of interesting CPU & GPU with a bit of RAM and decent networking gets you a notch under €1000,- fast.

[Fragony]

Pay a hundred more and you can buy the latest macbook, which is basicly last years macbook-pro. That is a steal, no integrated graphics this time this one eats Crysis for breakfast

[Mithrandir]

a macbook for €800,- ?

Where? And this would mean getting Mac applications as well...

Ps: thanks for the input so far, I decided to pass on the offer seeing how you were all critical about the memory..

[Fragony]

If you have a week I can get you a macbook for 6/7, and yeah legally, with receipt. That useless husband of my sister works at a selling point and gets discounts.

[Furunculus]

don't buy a laptop now.

straight after xmas Intel introduce their 32nm Arrandale processors based of the i7 architecture with two hyperthreaded cores.

going to make everything else obsolescent at current prices.

better still, wait till feb and get an ATI DX11 gpu in it too.

[Fragony]

Bought the new Macbook myself, it's 900 not 800, but it's much better than my previous one, I am very pleased with it. Especially since I hate the metallic look of the pro's and slims, love that capsule-look of this baby. If only they would have thought of adding some anti-slip pads on it this one has a lot more to fear from gravity.

[rory_20_uk]

Retailers know that screen size and "HD ready" are things people look out for along with low cost. The GPU and CPU are usually casualties to get the other numbers looking better.

A few years back one chap I knew had a blisteringly fast CPU (for the day) but 256 MB of RAM and a monitor like a gold fish bowl. Playing a RPG he even knew which roads not to cross else it shoud down for a few minutes whilst it cached the new information.

I'm sure the advert screamed out the CPU speed as the main selling point, not that the machine was so poorly balanced the CPU was bottlenecked almost all of the time.

For a laptop scour for an online or magazine review of a cohort of laptops that do sort of what you want for the price point you want. At the same price point some want a light 8 hour lightweight, others want a (barely) portable desktop replacement. Horses for courses.

~:smoking:

[Beskar]

I love how they always say "12 hours battery life!" and it is always a scam. Having your laptop online + browsing youtube is only 3 hours life. Having the computer sat there idle = 12 hours battery life.

[Skullheadhq]

Windows 7 and EB also doesn´t seem to like eachother very much as well, I you want W7 and EB, I suggest taking something above Home Premium as well.

[Judge]

I love how they always say "12 hours battery life!" and it is always a scam. Having your laptop online + browsing youtube is only 3 hours life. Having the computer sat there idle = 12 hours battery life.




too ture lol:furious3:

[Fragony]

I get 6 or 7 active hours out of it. Great battery in the new Macbook, if it's getting worse put it in the freezer for a night, completely resets it.