Z70Va or Z71V

Hi... Guys...

Which one do you prefer? Z70Va or Z71V
z70Va ati x700 and z71V Nvidia 6600

I have been doing some research and it seems that 6600 performs bettern than x700 is this right?? which one does have longer battery life? (standard battery pack)

z70va model is much nice (i think) and it lighter (5.6lbs), z71v model is too plain and it 6.6Lbs. are these information i've gathered correct? and it seems that z71v barebone starting @ $765 and z70va @ $939.
I'm kinda confused here? should i go for z71v since it is cheaper and better in performance or should i go take the nicer and lighter z70va.

All advice will be greatly appriciated.
Thanks

 

I'd prefer the Z70va with the sturdier case.

 

I second Mr Lovitz's nomination. In fact, there's very few reason you should go for the Z71v other than price. the Z70Va is newer, lighter, sexier, better built, graphics card puts out higher 3d mark05 scores, and doesn't come with all that sparkley screen controversey the Z71v had.

 

Yeathe z70va would be better. I don't think the 6600 is better than x700.

 

The Geforce 6600 and Radeon X700 are almost equally matched... it really depends on what you use them for. However, you shouldn't use that are your decision maker..

The Z71v is a good notebook; sturdy and well built... but more of a budget model. Buy it if you're really tight on cash or if you want to really fully load the thing on a small budget. Overall, it's a nice system... that ALS feature is pretty neat.

The Z70Va is more of a business model... made out of sturdier materials, better design... but of course, you gotta pay more. If you can afford it with decent specs, then by all means go for the Z70Va...

However, keep in mind if power is a real issue, then you can fully load the Z71v for the price of a moderately spec'd Z70Va...

In terms of weight, they're not too far apart... the Z70Va's weight is more like 5.8-5.9 lbs, and the Z71v sits at around 6.5 lbs...about half a pound difference.
Battery life should be roughly equal... sitting at around 3.5-4 hours, depending on how you use them or what you put in them.

 

That last half pound is a lot..... and also keep in mind that it's a thicker unit as well.... both are great performing units, but the price difference between the two is certainly accounted for in the screen and also the build (in design, materials and quality)

 

Really the x700 is better but according to this
ATI Mobility Radeon X700:

* DirectX Level: DirectX 9b
* Pipelines: 8 Pipelines
* Memory Configurations: 128-bit; 64MB, 128MB

The X700 is mainstream on desktops, but its performance is nearly comparable to the Mobility Radeon 9800. It is only marginally slower, but is still a very impressive performer and is one of the most ideal GPUs on 15.4" notebooks. Its performance is comparable to a desktop Radeon X700 Pro.


nVidia GeForce Go 6600:

* DirectX Level: DirectX 9c
* Pipelines: 8 Pipelines
* Memory Configurations: 128-bit; 64MB, 128MB

The Go 6600's performance is comparable to a Mobility Radeon X700; the primary difference is the 6600 is more futureproof than the X700, supporting 9c as opposed to just 9b. As a result, some games, like Far Cry, will be able to turn on additional details as compared to the X700. For that reason, the 6600 is generally preferable. You can expect the 6600 to perform beautifully in all modern games, though you won't be able to run the extremely taxing games with antialiasing or anisotropic filtering at high resolutions. This is likely the most preferable GPU in the 15.4" range of notebooks.

Source: http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=2526

 

Also i read some thread regarding the z70va screen issue? what are this exactly? i dont really understand

 

I wouldn't worry at all about the screen issue... it appears that this has already been dealt with, although if I were you, I'd purchase from a reputable reseller just to be safe (proportable, geared2play, istnc, etc.)

 

If your biggest concerns are heat, fan noise, linux support, or price, get the Z71v. Otherwise, get the Z70va.

 

i heard that a drawback about z70va is a red ghosting problem, whereas, z71v is a battery problem. Anyone experience about these issue??

 

I wouldn't go that far... I think that's a very limited issue.... just as the z71's "battery problem" was only one shipment... and those got replaced, so it's hard to still call it a problem.

 

I would say these 2 units on paper are equal. The screen is subjective, but from all the forum threads about the z71v sparkle effect seems to tip the scale more towards the Z70Va.

I just bought the Z70Va and coudn't be happier for the 1000000th time =D

So to answer your question...go try both out if you can~! The videocards are pretty equal, the Nvidia aimed more towards OpenGL, and Ati aimed more towards DirectX.

From what I have read, the Nvidia is more Linux friendly - greater support I guess.

I have a BFG 6800OC on my desktop - non-ultra - and it runs great, but IQ (image quality) wise you will notice a difference. Graphics are displayed quite differently on both brand of cards, so check 'em out on desktops and see which you like better.

Then take the plunge~! I'm sure you'll be happy with both units!
Cheers,
Mike

 

Forgot to mention, if you are worried about the red-ghosting issue on the Z70Va you can check out PacificNotebooks.com, as I'm guessing their new batch doesn't have any issues, as I just bought one off them last week =D

Don't FEAR THE RED GHOST~!!!!!! TAKE THE PLUNGE~!!!!!!

 

Honestly, all these machines are quite similar so to reply to miguelius, I would say whatever floats your boat buddy...whatever floats your boat

Cheers,
Mike

 

Just to let you know, I have the Z71V, and it sort of has the Red-ghost thing too. I was working in photoshop the other day, and I moved a solid black background away from a white, and I could see a tiny bit of red for a split second.

I would have gotten the Z70VA, but it was not released in time for me to have it in my hands by the time I returned to college.

However, I am still quite satisfied with my Z71V, since it does everything I need, but the Z70VA is 1 lb lighter, has a nicer case, and *slightly* faster gpu, mostly because of the higher clockspeed.

 

the z70va has the same case, is the same weight, has a bigger beefier power supply for quicker charging, the latest (later than z70v) revision of the north and south bridge, and a MUCH faster GPU and memory (we're talking 2-2.5x faster under typical conditions) while keeping the same longevity in terms of battery life.

 

the GPU is clocked much higher in the Z70va than the one in the Z71v, but 2-2.5 times faster seems excessive to me. That's like saying the ATI x700 runs equivalent to the Nvidia 6800 or ATI x800, which doesn't make sense.

 

DJ is right... 2 times faster? You and I (+everyone else) must have very different opinions on what constitutes "typical conditions".

I know some don't like to measure GPU strength by synthetic benchmarks (such as 3Dmark05), but I'm going to anyway (but will only be ball parking it).

My go6600 with default drivers scored an 1800 on 3D05. The x700 with default drivers scored approximately what... a 2300? That’s 2-2.5 times better how?

 

One thing I noticed while trying out Doom 3 on my Z70Va...it stinks...IN MY OPINION~!

Since I have an Nvidia card that plays Opengl games well on my desktop I just can't get over how bad Doom 3 playback is. I haven't tried any other Opengl games on my lappy yet, but if this is how they're going to play, I would suggest getting a laptop with an Nvidia based videocard.

Ati is catered to Directx games, so every other game looks great~! Maybe even better than my desktop's Geforce 6800 in some cases

So for Directx games I plug my monitor, keyboard, mouse into my laptop and play and for Opengl and other highly intensive Directx games I just use my desktop

Just wish this Z70Va had an Nvidia videocard still :/

Cheers,
Mike

 

AHH! My bad people. I misread and thought you said z70v not z71v!!

I've had both a z71v and i currently own a z70va. I can say they're both quite simular. With the latest drivers of both (well now nVidia has another set, but I had 78.01 which was hte best performers to date) the z71v gets 1805 3Dmarks at stock, and my z70va gets 2610 at stock. They both had the exact same components in them.

Tommorow I will try and do a quick review on both of them so you can really get a contrast of the two. Inspite of these 3Dmark, realize that in real applications that differences aren't THAT much. However, for DirectX and typical laptop computing, I think I prefer the x700. I will provide more details why in my quick review.

As for Doom3, the performance of the z71v is better than the z70va. This is mainly because Doom3 is geared for the nVidia. Shampoo, I dare you to now try Half Life 2 on your z70va and see how it plays compared to your desktop. Just happens to be company support. If you want to do opengl tests, you have to use several programs and they cannot be baised to one company or the other.

Also, as a note, knoppix booted up fine with my z70va (and z71v which was expected); some people were saying nVidia is more compatible due to it's better opengl, blah blah.