On 11/27/2011 2:49 PM, Paul wrote:
> Terry Pinnell wrote:
> What I'm doubting, is you could ever have enough horsepower in
> the laptop, to keep you satisfied.

Oh no! Really Paul? Back in the 80's and 90's this was very easy to say
as it was absolutely true. Even through the early '00's true too. But
heat pipes really changed all of this a lot. As a well designed heat
pipe can handle all of the heat you want to throw at it.

For example I have five Alienware laptops (Alienware calls them desktop
replacements, ok I get that). As they are basically desktop chipsets
crammed into a laptop case.

And heat? They are amazing! A lot of underpowered laptops can get really
hot. You know the keyboard and everything. And I guess that is okay as
long as the critical parts doesn't get too hot. Most of them never get
close to critical.

But these overpowered laptops (ok desktop replacements) are really cool
to the touch, keyboard, etc. Except were the exhaust is. Which is
generally out of the back end. Here I think you can bake some cookies if
you wanted too. But the rest of the system is extremely cool.

> In a desktop, you could have this 2600K for a lot less money.

Well on the lower end, the line between desktop and laptops prices are
so small that it is pretty evenly matched nowadays. Only the upper end
are the laptops vastly more costly.

So what are you getting by paying more for a high powered laptop? I can
think of zillions of reasons. Well maybe more than a few anyway. They
have most of all of the basic things like a screen, keyboard, and
pointing device. But you can use external ones too. They also sport
their own UPS. They are much smaller. They are far more portable. And
when you have as many as I do, stackable. And most desks you can have
more than one laptop running at a time. And I better stop now before I
end up writing a book. ;-)

Are there reasons to buy a desktop instead? Yes, although the reasons
are getting smaller and smaller all of the time.

--
Bill
Gateway M465e ('06 era) - Thunderbird v3.0
Centrino Core2 Duo 2GHz - 1.5GB - Windows 7

BillW50 <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>On 11/27/2011 11:31 AM, Stefan Patric wrote:
>> On Sun, 27 Nov 2011 11:36:28 +0000, Terry Pinnell wrote:
>>
>> First, forget any type of netbook. They are not designed for, nor do
>> they have the specs, to do what you want to do. I would consider
>> researching notebooks designed for gamers as games overall are the most
>> demanding of hardware. Do Internet searches for "best" gaming computers,
>> notebooks, laptops, etc. reviews. Also, see what the computer gaming
>> magazines have to say. Just be prepared to pay through the nose. That
>> type of performance doesn't come cheap.
>>
>> As far as the mouse: a small USB one designed for a notebook works quite
>> well.
>>
>> Stef
>
>Are you too in the belief that one all purpose computer which does it
>all is the way to go? Maybe it is just me, but that would be so limiting
>to me. As I don't want to wait for reboots after an update or anything.
>So the more computers the better is my motto.
>
>So what do you single computers users do when the OS becomes corrupt? Or
>the motherboard fails? Or the hard drive refuses to spin up? Or the
>power supply fails? The monitor stops working? So what do you guys do?
>
>And if that isn't bad enough, I have one laptop running in another room
>recording all of the Star Wars episodes right now. It is also converting
>in real time storing it in WMV format which hits the CPU pretty hard. No
>problem if it isn't doing anything else, but would be if I was also
>playing games on it too. Also being in WMV format, I can stream it to
>any other computer while it is in the process of recording at the same time.
>
>I also like having at least two of each model. This makes it very easy
>to troubleshoot if it is software or hardware. Plus you have spare parts
>if it hardware. So you can just swap parts until it is working again and
>you don't have to buy part after part until you find the right one.
>
>Like these Gateway M465 models. I actually have six of them. I have
>three docking stations for them and popping one in the docking station
>is virtually as easy as changing a DVD disc or something. Plus they work
>independently if needed too. These things used are dirt cheap on eBay
>and way too many to meet the demand since they are flooding the market
>for years since they have been coming off of corporate leases. Some of
>them look like they were never used too.
>
>Those M465 don't work too well as a gaming machine though. But I have
>five Alienware machines for those tasks. Yup dups here too. While they
>are good for virtually any task you want to throw at them. I don't use
>them for any task. As they are not cheap and generally only have a
>finite lifespan. And wasting it on tasks that other computers and even
>my netbooks can do too just doesn't make a lot of sense to me.
>
>I am not sure I would steer Terry to focus on a gaming machine. Sure
>gaming machines have tons of power to do virtually anything. Although if
>they have a weak spot, as they are generally heavy on the GPU power and
>the CPU power is secondary. Although what Terry is doing, needs more CPU
>power and the GPU is secondary. Which actually would actually save Terry
>a few bucks.

Excellent feedback, thanks all. Much to study, but reckon I'll enjoy it!

--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK

BillW50 wrote:
> On 11/27/2011 11:31 AM, Stefan Patric wrote:
>> On Sun, 27 Nov 2011 11:36:28 +0000, Terry Pinnell wrote:
>>
>> First, forget any type of netbook. They are not designed for, nor do
>> they have the specs, to do what you want to do. I would consider
>> researching notebooks designed for gamers as games overall are the most
>> demanding of hardware. Do Internet searches for "best" gaming computers,
>> notebooks, laptops, etc. reviews. Also, see what the computer gaming
>> magazines have to say. Just be prepared to pay through the nose. That
>> type of performance doesn't come cheap.
>>
>> As far as the mouse: a small USB one designed for a notebook works quite
>> well.
>>
>> Stef
>
> Are you too in the belief that one all purpose computer which does it
> all is the way to go? Maybe it is just me, but that would be so limiting
> to me. As I don't want to wait for reboots after an update or anything.
> So the more computers the better is my motto.
>
> So what do you single computers users do when the OS becomes corrupt? Or
> the motherboard fails? Or the hard drive refuses to spin up? Or the
> power supply fails? The monitor stops working? So what do you guys do?
>
> And if that isn't bad enough, I have one laptop running in another room
> recording all of the Star Wars episodes right now. It is also converting
> in real time storing it in WMV format which hits the CPU pretty hard. No
> problem if it isn't doing anything else, but would be if I was also
> playing games on it too. Also being in WMV format, I can stream it to
> any other computer while it is in the process of recording at the same
> time.
>
> I also like having at least two of each model. This makes it very easy
> to troubleshoot if it is software or hardware. Plus you have spare parts
> if it hardware. So you can just swap parts until it is working again and
> you don't have to buy part after part until you find the right one.
>
> Like these Gateway M465 models. I actually have six of them. I have
> three docking stations for them and popping one in the docking station
> is virtually as easy as changing a DVD disc or something. Plus they work
> independently if needed too. These things used are dirt cheap on eBay
> and way too many to meet the demand since they are flooding the market
> for years since they have been coming off of corporate leases. Some of
> them look like they were never used too.
>
> Those M465 don't work too well as a gaming machine though. But I have
> five Alienware machines for those tasks. Yup dups here too. While they
> are good for virtually any task you want to throw at them. I don't use
> them for any task. As they are not cheap and generally only have a
> finite lifespan. And wasting it on tasks that other computers and even
> my netbooks can do too just doesn't make a lot of sense to me.
>
> I am not sure I would steer Terry to focus on a gaming machine. Sure
> gaming machines have tons of power to do virtually anything. Although if
> they have a weak spot, as they are generally heavy on the GPU power and
> the CPU power is secondary. Although what Terry is doing, needs more CPU
> power and the GPU is secondary. Which actually would actually save Terry
> a few bucks.
>

I'm trying to find ways, to get a high end processor, without
high end graphics, so most of the capabilities go into computing.
The Mobile Workstation was one way. The Alienware (boutique) laptop
or Eurocom (customizable) were other ways. But I haven't been
able to find one with a weak GPU to save power (or perhaps,
leave room for a battery).

The Mobile Workstation ones, have a build option to replace the
DVD drive, with a second hard drive. And then, an SSD could be
used for the primary drive, while a larger regular laptop hard
drive is used for the video files.

*******

Another way to do it, would be to strap a Z68 based mini-itx, to
the back of a big LCD monitor. It's not a laptop, and it still needs
a separate keyboard and mouse. All such a scheme would save, is
on having a tower. (I saw such a concept at the service desk at
my local hardware store the other day. Only the processor in that
one, had horrible performance.)

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/hardwar...s-to-ship-in/1

Example of a mini-itx in a box, strapped to the back of a monitor
using VESA holes.

http://resources.mini-box.com/online...closure-b6.jpg

It's a bit silly, and a laptop is a much better option. But it's
another way to put a 2600K in a relatively small footprint. To
be that small, storage would probably be in a laptop drive form
factor.

Word of warning - home building tiny systems will try your
patience. You can waste a good deal of money, returning stuff
because it won't fit.

Paul

On Sun, 27 Nov 2011 13:42:31 -0600, BillW50 wrote:

> On 11/27/2011 11:31 AM, Stefan Patric wrote:
>> On Sun, 27 Nov 2011 11:36:28 +0000, Terry Pinnell wrote:
>>
>> First, forget any type of netbook. They are not designed for, nor do
>> they have the specs, to do what you want to do. I would consider
>> researching notebooks designed for gamers as games overall are the most
>> demanding of hardware. Do Internet searches for "best" gaming
>> computers, notebooks, laptops, etc. reviews. Also, see what the
>> computer gaming magazines have to say. Just be prepared to pay through
>> the nose. That type of performance doesn't come cheap.
>>
>> As far as the mouse: a small USB one designed for a notebook works
>> quite well.
>>
>> Stef
>
> Are you too in the belief that one all purpose computer which does it
> all is the way to go? Maybe it is just me, but that would be so limiting
> to me. As I don't want to wait for reboots after an update or anything.
> So the more computers the better is my motto.

Not me. I'm a great believer in redundancy.

>
> [big snip]
>
> I am not sure I would steer Terry to focus on a gaming machine. Sure
> gaming machines have tons of power to do virtually anything. Although if
> they have a weak spot, as they are generally heavy on the GPU power and
> the CPU power is secondary. Although what Terry is doing, needs more CPU
> power and the GPU is secondary. Which actually would actually save Terry
> a few bucks.

It's a good place to start.

Stef