Hardware Guide for X3

[justingordon]

Hi everyone, I'm thinking about getting another laptop. I'm real partial to HPs for I've had real good luck with them running Chief. My current laptop runs X3 plenty good but I'm trying to think ahead. Here's a laptop I'm interested in buying but don't know any information about the processor or video card. Do any of you gurus see a problem with this laptop?
Thanks,

This end of quarter deal on a HP seems pretty compelling:

HP Pavilion dv7t Quad Edition customizable Notebook PC
XW899AV
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
2nd generation Intel(R) Quad Core(TM) i7-2720QM (2.2 GHz, 6MB L3 Cache) w/Turbo Boost up to 3.3 GHz
1GB Radeon(TM) HD 6770M GDDR5 Graphics [HDMI, VGA]
8GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm)
1TB 5400RPM Hard Drive with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection
No Additional Office Software
FREE Upgrade to Norton Internet Security(TM) 2011 - 15 Month Subscription (activation required)
One 6-Cell and One 9-Cell Lithium-Ion Battery
17.3" diagonal HD+ HP BrightView LED Display (1600 x 900)
Blu-ray writer & SuperMulti DVD burner
HP TrueVision HD Webcam with Integrated Digital Microphone and HP SimplePass Fingerprint Reader
Intel 802.11b/g/n WLAN
Standard Keyboard
HP Home & Home Office Store in-box envelope

With coupon:
Price: $1,714.99
Coupon: –$514.50
Price after savings: $1,200.49

Here's a some good overview of the new processors: http://www.anandtech.com/print/4084
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...le,2838-8.html

This HP laptop seems WAY faster than even many previous desktops.

So, would the above combination be quite sufficient for running Chief, especially if I hook up to an external monitor at home for higher resolution?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Justin

[lbuttery]

Justin:

1TB 5400RPM Hard Drive
look for a faster hard drive, get smaller if needed

(1600 x 900)
look for 1080P resolution
like 1920 x 1080 or 1920 x 1200
not mandatory but probably desirable

power supply in the 750W range

USB 3.0 ports

Lew

[Tommy Blair]

This end of quarter deal on a HP seems pretty compelling:

HP Pavilion dv7t Quad Edition customizable Notebook PC
XW899AV
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
2nd generation Intel(R) Quad Core(TM) i7-2720QM (2.2 GHz, 6MB L3 Cache) w/Turbo Boost up to 3.3 GHz
1GB Radeon(TM) HD 6770M GDDR5 Graphics [HDMI, VGA]
8GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm)
1TB 5400RPM Hard Drive with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection
No Additional Office Software
FREE Upgrade to Norton Internet Security(TM) 2011 - 15 Month Subscription (activation required)
One 6-Cell and One 9-Cell Lithium-Ion Battery
17.3" diagonal HD+ HP BrightView LED Display (1600 x 900)
Blu-ray writer & SuperMulti DVD burner
HP TrueVision HD Webcam with Integrated Digital Microphone and HP SimplePass Fingerprint Reader
Intel 802.11b/g/n WLAN
Standard Keyboard
HP Home & Home Office Store in-box envelope

With coupon:
Price: $1,714.99
Coupon: –$514.50
Price after savings: $1,200.49

Here's a some good overview of the new processors: http://www.anandtech.com/print/4084
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...le,2838-8.html

This HP laptop seems WAY faster than even many previous desktops.

So, would the above combination be quite sufficient for running Chief, especially if I hook up to an external monitor at home for higher resolution?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Justin

I saw that unit you're talking about and I was thinking about it but only with a slightly better processor (see my 1st post above). I decided to go with the Dv7 unit only with a 2 core porcessor and a faster drive. See my other post for my last decision. I'll look for that coupon you're talking about.

[lbuttery]

Tommy:

depending on your needs CA recommends as many cores as you can afford

Lew

[IRISH]

Tommy,

This one will work just fine. More than enough of what you'll need to do the job. The thing about the resolution will only come into play for you if you want to hook up a second monitor. You would have to find an older one to be able to match that number.

[Tommy Blair]

Thanks Gary. I have an opportunity once again to get another laptop but I'm real nervous about the work load to some degree. I'll need to sell my current laptop. I'm thinking around $550.00. Man, I paid almost $1900.00 for it when X2 came out. My current laptop runs X3 just fine and I do some pretty complex plans. I just want more system RAM and a better video card with more RAM. Here's the specs for my curent laptop.

HP dv7t customized notebook:

Gold color

Vista Home Premium w/service pack 1 (64 bit)

Intel Core Duo2 T9600 processor (2.80 GHz)

17.0 WSXGA+ high definition HP brightview widescreen(1680x1050)

4GB DDR2 system memory (2 Dimm)

512 (dedicated) NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT video

250GB 5400RPM SATA hard drive w/ HP ProtectSmart hard drive protection

Lightscribe SuperMulti 8x DVD+/- RW with double layer support

[IRISH]

Yea, I see what you mean. Have you checked with a computer shop to see if you can do something with the video card? Perhaps even the system RAM? Might be worth checking into before spending the money- especially if you are nervous about it.

Another thing you might want to check is to CALL the HP business product section to see what they have. A lot of their stuff isn't shown on-line and they can have some very good deals. Anyway, a couple more options for you. Hope this helps.

[Tommy Blair]

Yea, I see what you mean. Have you checked with a computer shop to see if you can do something with the video card? Perhaps even the system RAM? Might be worth checking into before spending the money- especially if you are nervous about it.

Another thing you might want to check is to CALL the HP business product section to see what they have. A lot of their stuff isn't shown on-line and they can have some very good deals. Anyway, a couple more options for you. Hope this helps.

You mean upgrading my current laptop? I know I can upgrade the system RAM to 8 Gigs but I doubt I can do anything with the Nvidia card. It's a laptop, but I can check. There is a shop here in town that ONLY works on HP products.

[IRISH]

You mean upgrading my current laptop? I know I can upgrade the system RAM to 8 Gigs but I doubt I can do anything with the Nvidia card. It's a laptop, but I can check. There is a shop here in town that ONLY works on HP products.

Yep. That's exactly what I mean. The quick answer a lot of companies will give you is that you can't do it. I have since found out for myself that isn't always the case. Its worth a conversation with them.

[PTV]

Good choice from what is available from HP.

Lew:
I would like to see the specs of your 750W Notebook, would you care to share?

[Larry Kumpost]

(1600 x 900)
look for 1080P resolution
like 1920 x 1080 or 1920 x 1200
not mandatory but probably desirable

Lew: You seem to be talking about a desktop here. From what I have seen 1600 x 900 is high end for a notebook. Keep in mind they are talking about a 17" screen.

Oops, correction, Asus does have a number of their gaming notebooks with 1920x1080 resolution. forgot about that. Sorry about that.

As a side note, when I use my notebook at home I plug in a larger monitor (25") and turn off the notebook display most of the time thinking that might extend the life of the notebook screen. When you do that you can run at the highest resolution the plug-in monitor can do.

power supply in the 750W range

Here again this is for a desktop. Only power options on notebooks are type of battery (number of cells) and that normally depends on the model.

[PTV]

I wonder if Dual Core @ 2.53 - 2.8GHz would run X3 better than Quad Core @ 2.0 - 2.9GHz ... ?

[Larry Kumpost]

Justin:

at $1,200.00 I would say that is very good bang for the buck. I would also look at a faster HD but, overall that looks like a good deal.

I am waiting a bit for options that include a SSD - HD combo but custom notebook models that have that are a bit pricey right now.

Has anyone tried the new "smart" hybrid drives that include some built-in SSD for improved performance? Has any seen a hybrid as an option for a notebook?

[PTV]

The Seagate Momentus XT ST95005620AS 500GB drive available for ~$100 is a 2.5" drive. I do not have any experience using one or know how well a system or OS takes advantage of it.

[lbuttery]

Larry:

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2361266,00.asp

1920 x 1080 (1080P) is available on laptops
but the price is a bit more but still reasonable for a power laptop

I was off on the power supply for laptops, they run in the 80 - 100 W range
I've never focused on power supply much but lately I have been reading that it's important to have enough

but I didn't realize that laptops used that much less than desktops

Lew