mine will hopefully ship friday.. it's like christmas in february..

*does a little dance*

ether,

dell, sony, ...???

hp pavilion

voodoo - u522

Damn! Voodoos are nice.

I am "putting together" a u532 for fun (didn't see u522). I noticed you have to have an Nvidia GeForce graphics card. Deal breaker. I HATE GeForce. I hope you were able to change this out on the u522. Alias doesn't recommend any GeFore. Here's why, and I am living proof: your 3d model disappears. No, not all of the time. Only when you really need it. I almost threw my Dell out the window. And by "threw out the window", I mean threw it out the window. I was soooooo pissed. Never again with GeForce.

I have had no problems with my Radeon, which was of a similar level of the GeForce. That is non-pro. Gamer stuff doesn't always mean pro.

The u538 offers the ATi Mobility Radeon x700. Major improvement.

[ i'm sure this thread comes around at least once a fortnight, and we have the same discussion ]

Voodoo ENVY Middleweight u:522 Notebook 1
Voodoo Allure Finish 1
Talladega Black Finish 1
Voodoo ENVY Middleweight u:522 Chassis 1
Envy Performance Motherboard 1
Intel Pentium M Processor 760 1
1 GiG Voodoo DDR2 533MHz SODIMM Memory 2
Seagate 80 gig 7200 1
ENVY 4-in-1 Internal Card Reader 1
8X ENVY DVD+-RW Dual Layer DVD & CD Writer 1
ATi Mobility Radeon x700 PCI Express GDDR 256 1
15.4" Wide Angle TFT UXGA 1900X1200 LCD 1
Voodoo ENVY Video Camera 1
Envy Immersive Theater Audio System 1
ENVY Gigabit High Speed Ethernet 1
Voodoo ENVY Multi-Wireless Card 1
ENVY 56K Modem and Blue Tooth Module 1
Windows XP Professional 1
VoodooDVD, by PowerDVD Version 6 - 6 Channel 1

I have an hp pavilion ze 4800. I only know this because I can read it on the little badge below the screen as I sit here typing. I've owned it for 10 months and it has been pretty trouble-free.

Oh except for the hard drive replacement that had to happen in October!!!!! Which I think was caused by a malfunctioning fan that I kept putting off fixing. It seemed to overheat and suddenly crash and then the guy at the computer store said I needed a new hard drive so I trusted him because I didn't know what else to do.

It seems heavy, but not overly so compared to my husband's Powerbook. And I beat pretty hard on this thing - throw it in the car, drop my bag on the floor with it inside, constantly bang into walls with it - and so far just a little rubbing at the corners is all the damage I have seen.

So basically a thumbs up. Although asking me for advice about computers is like asking a cat to teach you how to speak French.

I have hp Pavilion ze 5385. Have had it since April 2003. Going on three years and never a single problem!!! Also, it has the ATi Radeon. And I bought this at Fry's.

I have read that you have to be careful of the hp/Compaq joint designed laptops. Compaqs can overheat. For a while the Pavilion line remained entirely hp design. Not sure now.

Wow, ether. Nice machine!

someone tell me why anybody would pay close to 4000$ for a Voodoo laptop when you can get a better one, equally good looking, for less than half that price.
What a waste!

Well, if we ae talking about dropping some dough, for the best pro machine for your buck I would direct anyone to either of these:

Dell Precision Workstation (the ONLY available pro laptop from Dell. A couple models/prices available, some under $3k)

hp nw8000 series (ONLY the nw series. Not nx.)

I directed a friend to a refurbished Dell Precision. She paid less than $2k and couldn't be happier.

each to their own, ret.

i have a prostar 4794 and i am going to buy another one. i have had this one for 2.5 years. it is a p4 3.06 with 1 gig ram, 60 gig 7200 rpm hardrive, 64 mg ati graphics card, 17" monitor and a 99 key keyboard - having a number pad is great. battery life is measured in minutes so don't plan on using it unless you are near a power outlet. i got this computer for about $2600. the next one will be about $3500, but will be a p4 3.8, 3 gigs of ram, 2 60 gig 7200 rpm harddrives and a ati 256 mg card. the computer is made by clevo - the same company that makes alienware and voodoo systems - sorry no pretty paint jobs.

paid 1700 for a zd8000 comes with a MASSIVE 17" screen that sucks juice outta the battery. Renders quite quickly with its ATI. Running 512 atm going to 2 for my birthday - why not.

Now that a most manufacturers are shipping them, buying anything other than a core duo-based notebook is a serious error in judgement.

As I've posted before, laptop build quality across the board is on the decline. what this essentially means is: don't buy from a makers "budget" line, and get a warranty.

I still like Lenovo's IBM T serries. Very well designed and well made, and customer service is top notch. the t60p won't be shipping for a few weeks, but it looks like one killer workstation notebook. Remember if buying an IBM, go through an edu loophole, or find a way into EPP or shareholder discount. Doesn't take much effort and saves big $$. If buying dell, watch the deal sites (fatwallet, bensbargains) and wait for a good coupon deal.

Computer vendors overprice ram by a lot. if you have the option, minimize the ram and upgrade it yourself (it isn't hard). crucial.com has good ram and is usually pretty good in terms of prices.

and to clear up a few misconceptions that have been posted already...

Graphics cards have nothing to do with rendering.

There's nothing wrong with geforce cards. sometimes people get a bunk chip, or they screw up the drivers. same goes for any hardware.

of course ether...i
what was your criteria for choosing the voodoo though?..just curious..thats all.

small pc is out. only 64 mb ram though. but remember 64 mb was the king for a long time and it came in big towers. this one is 2" x 2".

link

new 19 in. alienware laptop...

DELL, or LENOVO

I've had my Dell laptop since 2002, and it's still a strong workhorse. I use it for everything... photoshopping, formZing, autocadding, Mayaing, rendering, editing videos, etc.

but alas, I need more render power.