Got a new machine

Topic: Got a new machine (Read 1110 times) previous topic - next topic

Got a new machine

March 06, 2008, 09:18:38 AM

Our Acer Travelmate 2428 recently bit the biscuit. We were using it for Autocad Architectural Desktop 2007, and had just recently made the transition from 2D to 3D plans for clients. Well, it was the motherboard that died (the shop said something about 'fragmented' and 'loose parts/bits'), and seeing how it was using integrated video on an Intel M board, I'm guessing the 3D Cad was what took it down.

It was going to cost us about $500 to have the MB replaced, so we started looking for new. We found an Asus A6 for $599 on clearance from The Source (Radio Shack) and grabbed it online. 1.83 Intel Centrino Duo, 1G Ram, 100G HD (the Acer had 30

), and an ATI Radeon X1600 256. It's also an upgrade from a 14" to a 15.4" and a high gloss screen. The graphics card is the big deal here, as I now know the unit can handle 3D Cad.

How can I be certain? :D I installed The Lord Of The Rings Online last night, and for the first time I can run the game on its highest settings (Ultra High) and it still moves smoother and quicker than my desktop PC on the lowest setting with an ATI Radeon X200 (and 512 ram, regrettably). Frigin' amazing, is all I have to say!

http://www.cdrinfo.com/Sections/Reviews/Specific.aspx?ArticleId=17374

This is a 1.6GHz version, but it's essentially the same machine.

Got a new machine

Reply #1 – March 06, 2008, 10:30:03 AM

that's a good price! Nice machine too, though half of the specs/things you said went right over my head...:hick:

Got a new machine

Reply #2 – March 06, 2008, 10:36:15 AM

Quote from: oldraven;207895

... It's also an upgrade from a 14" to a 15.4" and a high gloss screen. ...

Heh, my upgrades involve going from a 14" screen, to a 12" screen to a 8.9" screen. :D

Yep, decent laptops are so affordable these days that I'll be grabbing one for my 13 year old daughter. Ought to be able to get a decent used machine for $400.

Got a new machine

Reply #3 – March 06, 2008, 01:23:42 PM

At $400, you'd be throwing your money away to buy used. A basic Acer will run you under $500.

P71, think of it this way:

1.83GHz = How fast it can think (and with a dual core, it can do this twice :hick: )
1G RAM = How much it can think about at a time
100G Hard Drive = How much it can remember
Radeon x1600 256Mb = how many detailed objects it can show you at a time (yeah, that was a stretch)

I'm sure some technogeek will tell me how wrong I am here, but this is how I think of it when reading spec sheets. I'm also sure Eric will ask why I didn't buy a Macbook.

Got a new machine

Reply #4 – March 06, 2008, 02:00:48 PM

A buddy of mine has one of those tiny Asus "laptops" with the flash HD. I think that would make a PERFECT tuning laptop.

I just got a new desktop machine at home myself, just need to finish the swap of info, etc. (Core 2 Duo/2.33GHz, 2G RAM, 320G HD, 512 Mb vid)....

Got a new machine

Reply #5 – March 06, 2008, 02:17:05 PM

Quote

I'm also sure Eric will ask why I didn't buy a Macbook.

Hey...why didn't you just buy a Macbook? :hick:

Actually you got a pretty ed good deal with everything you got...nice score. I didn't realize that 3D apps were putting that much strain on the processor. A dual-core chip is perfect for that kind of application. Cool, sounds like the perfect solution. The Macbook would have been twice as much.

My litmus test for any computer is Photoshop---I use it every day of my life. If the computer can handle that much taxation on the hard drive (used as a scratch disk), RAM and processor, then it passes the test. My PC at work has a difficult time with Photoshop CS1 and...well, any other application open at the same time. We dumped 2GB of RAM in there, upgraded the motherboard and hard drive, and it's still fidgety under strain. Granted, it is over 4 years old. Still, all of the older Apple computers that I own (five) handle Photoshop CS1 perfectly, some with less RAM and slower processors. One of them will have its 9th birthday this fall (upgraded 500Mhz), another will turn 7 in June (867 Mhz). They STILL run PS faster than the PC. So that's why I use them. :)

Is the new laptop running Vista? Or did you roll back to XP?

Got a new machine

Reply #6 – March 06, 2008, 03:28:07 PM

Quote from: EricCoolCats;207926

Hey...why didn't you just buy a Macbook? :hick:

Quote

The Macbook would have been twice as much.

And that's exactly it. Ange and I were looking at the Macbook Air a few weeks back because it's such a nice looking (and from what I hear from Mac users, working) unit, but it's just too pricey.

Quote

Is the new laptop running Vista? Or did you roll back to XP?

XP here.

I think it's because it was a clearance item, but I'm glad it's got the 'downgraded' windows. Why is it that new Windows always equates to bad Windows?

Got a new machine

Reply #7 – March 06, 2008, 04:36:56 PM

I just bought 2 ACER Aspire 5920 for 700 each and i think its awesome. I dont do all the things you guys do but it works great for my purpose.

Got a new machine

Reply #8 – March 06, 2008, 07:56:25 PM

I went the other way. My AutoCAD Architecture laptop is a P4 (desktop chip) 3.0 GHz, 1GB RAM, ATI Radeon 9600 128MB machine that still gets the job done (although 2008 seems to take a bit longer to load than ADT 2005 did, and with the desktop chip battery life is almost no existant and the machine is hot enough to cook your eggs on), so I splurged on my desktop and bought a new 22" Acer LCD for it. I knew it was going to be big (upgrading from a 17" CRT) but it was big when it arrived, lol.

Here it is: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2430647&body=REBATES

Got a new machine

Reply #9 – March 06, 2008, 08:36:29 PM

I got a dual core laptop,...

It takes forever to load up. Vista sucks. And it doesn't support anything that I want to use it for. No dos games work.

I think that all has to do with vista though....

Got a new machine

Reply #10 – March 07, 2008, 07:22:22 AM

Quote from: Haystack;208003

I got a dual core laptop,...

It takes forever to load up. Vista sucks. And it doesn't support anything that I want to use it for. No dos games work.

I think that all has to do with vista though....

It sounds like everything else I've been hearing about Vista. A friend of mine got a brand new HP Entertainment laptop (no idea what model, but it was expensive), and when he installed NFS Carbon......... you may as well be playing Half Life on a 386.

I ran the game again last night from the time I got home to the time I went to bed (yes, I had supper at the table and played with my kids, I wasn't chained to it or anything) and although it did get very hot, it didn't skip a beat. It did out when I put it in windowed mode (the game, not the machine. The window just went black, even though I could hear all the ambient noise in the game still).