Finally ordered my Laptop xi 1554

Thanks a lot for your input ronkotus, I think I've just about made up my mind to go get the xi1554 even if I will only have the 1gig of ram for a while, I guess it would be a little foolhardy to go for the xi1546 just to save a few bucks and if I can get the dual boot right or even get rid of Vista altogether, then it would be a dream come true. (I've been wanting to play these games for soooooo long now...hehe)

I guess with the amount of disk space I'd be getting for the deal (2*120 gigs) there should be no problem creating a dual boot configuration...

Looking forward to it now. Haha...

 

Both the notebooks are very famous because of the screens used in them. I was very impressed when I first used the notebook, and was amazed by the screen. I am sure the WUXGA+ will be similar in quality and appearance. I suppose there will be a difference between the screens when gaming. More effort from the Mobility X1900 will be required to run games at the LCD's native resolution. It should have no trouble doing that, however.

Both the notebooks are very well future proofed. Both should be sold with Core 2 Duo processors, so that means that they can both handle 64-bit applications, when they do eventually release. At the moment, none are available on the consumer market. That should change with the 64-bit versions of Windows Vista, but it will take time.

If want to dual boot, then the procedure is quite simple. If Windows Vista is already installed, then you simply have to inset the Windows XP disc in and change the boot priority, so that the DVD drive is above the hard disk. From there, you should be able to access Windows XP setup, when prompted ("press anykey to boot from CD" should be displayed). When you get to the setup, and you go a few stages in, the setup will recognise that another version of Windows is installed on the hard disk, and from there it will gve yu the option of dual boot. sunjhoon will have more information of the actual procedure, because he carried it out. I am sure he will be kind enough to help yourself.

 

Well I see you have not ordered your notebook yet. What you also can do is wait for F&S Santa Rosa models. I am sure that they will also feature 2 hard drives and even a DX 10 card like 8600/8800.

That is what I am going to do. Wait for Santa Rosa and buy a good price/quality F&S notebook with 2 prependicular hard drives, 2 GB, DX 10 card and 17" screen.

But still the Xi1554 is a great notebook and will handle all those games fine. You can expect Oblivion to run at 1920*1200, Bloom on with 2x AA and 8x AF with good frame rates I think. That is under Windows XP of course, I heard that the game runs terrible under Vista, but that is a problem of Vista.

And yes, dual boot is possible and a great idea. Zero explained this beautifully in this topic (search around 3-4th pages.

 

I have got xp on it..It isnt as difficult as i first imagined. you jus need to put a little time into it and it will be fine

yeah i've read it is m59. I was just curious because if you go into the drivers (i downloaded them from FSC website and then went to c:\ATI\Support\ etc)

There you can check the graphics cards support and it had a line saying
"ATI mobility radeon x1900" = atim58.....etc

So it doesnt even look like the stock drivers are made for the mob x1900

Hey so far i've had no problems and even the little ones with the sound were jus me being stupid and not knowing what to do. If you need help installing xp i will be more than happy to write it in this forum

I take it you will want to game in XP and jus have vista becuase its vista ? just to let you know that the vista drivers don't support openGL...but as always there is a way around it (if you want help with that...again i will be more than happy to help)

The screen is beautiful i havent tried running games at native resolution yet.

Unfortunately zero me being the plebb that i am i jus clean installed xp...lol...after mucking around so much i decided that i didnt want vista for the time being...

 

Thanks for the replies sunjhoon, I'm prolly gonna go out and buy it tommorow but I would really appreciate any help I can get from you once I've got it...I'm not completely clueless when it comes to computers but we seem to have the same mindset wrt wanting xp on the xi1554 for gaming and getting the most out of it. And obviously, if I get any info on bettering the machine, you'll be the first to know.

I just hope that ATI haven't given up on the x1900 because of the new cards they're bringing out...cuz apparently the card should be able to do a lot better than its doing at the moment? And the drivers for it are a little outdated as far as I've heard.

 

Seeing as you guys seem to know a lot about ATI graphics cards, I'll ask this here...

I know nothing about graphics cards and how they're named...but this really confuses me...there is an ATI x2300 but apparently its only an upgraded x1400...?!? How does that work? I thought the x2300 was the latest card by ATI? Is the MRx1900 still the latest and greatest from ATI?

Ow...my head hurts..

 

The X2300 is a big big disappointment I think. We all expected the X2k series to be DirectX 10, but it isn't.
Like you said, the X11400 is an upgrade of X1400. I think it will perform as good as an X700...

The X1900 however is much much better then the X2300, around 3x better I think. So X1900 is the best card of ATI.

-Notebook Solutions

 

Thanks for clearing that up for me...wierd...

Now that you mention it... will DX10 games still be playable with DX9 cards? Like the x1900? I always thought DX was just a program you install on your pc that enhances performance...are there any DX10 games out already or coming soon? Is Crysis gonna be DX10?

Does anyone know of a forum that explains this?

I feel more and more like a noob everytime I post here...but I guess I am one...haha.

 

No, DX10 games are not playable with DX9 cards. So you can't play DX10 games with X1900. But don't worry, there are currently no DX10 games available and most upcoming games will be available in two versions, one for DX10 cards and one for DX9 cards. Crysis will be one of these games.

And about DirectX in general. No, it's not a program that increases performance. It's needed to make software/games run that are made by using it's APIs.. Read more about it here.

And about X2300 comparison to X1900. I don't think they should be even mentioned in the same sentence (shame on me ). X2300 sucks so bad, hopefully no one has to see it in his/her notebook.

 

Yeah when you get it and need help. Jus send a msg on this forum or PM and i'll tell you what is needed to be done I dont think they will not forget the x1900 because it is a brand new graphics card. From what i've read drivers improve a graphics card performance a lot as the drivers mature.

 

I thought that you could play DX 10 games with a DX 9 videocard, but you would miss all the features of DX 10. So Crysis is playable with the X1900, but you wont have the features of a DX 10 8800GTX or similar.

I am going to wait for an upgrade. Planning to do one with DX 10 coming out and Vista's first Service Pack.

 

That seems like a very good idea. It may take a while before Fujitsu Siemens get a Santa Rosa notebook to market, and also manage to package a DX10 card with it. I don't think Fujitsu Siemens will go all out for an nVidia Go 8800, but they may go for a Go 8600, which will still be quite a card. If they are quick with all the changes, then they can offer quite a good range. I remember, when I was looking ariund for a sutible notebook for myself, I wanted a 17" one, and I looked at the M3438G. The only other 17" notebook was the M4438G, but now theres alot of 17" Fujitsu Siemens based on Intel processors. There were two then, and now's theres four choose from. So, I'm sure that there will be quite a range of features incorporated into the newer Santa Rosa notebooks.

 

Hey, I might as well hit this thread again...seeing as I've also got one now.

Haha...and it rocks! Aside from Vista...although it still plays Call of Duty 2 at 1280*1024 in Vista with pretty much all the settings tuned to max...and its the best graphics I've ever seen up until now. The screen is amazing but mines got a bit of light leakage along the bottom, not enough to take it back...but its there. Otherwise, really good for gaming and anything else I guess, haven't tried a dvd yet but the sample dvd clips that came with vista are crystal clear and the colour is perfect and vivid.

Other than that, I've only messed around today and played CoD but I really wanna get Xp on ASAP cuz vista is just p*issing me right off at the moment and I've only got the 1gig of ram so the less resources the OS hogs, the better...i think.

So thanks to all the guys that helped me decide to get it in this forum. I'm pretty stoked with the machine! Its impressive, to say the least.

Anyway...got to sleep now...too much widescreen for me today...got a little headache...

ciao

 

Submitted the review..now you jus gotta wait

 

woooooooooooot

You the man sunjhoon. (hopes they get it up tonight)

 

No that will still take a few days I am afraid. I hope it will be posted this weekend.

 

yeah will be up within the the next 1-2 weeks (i've been told)...

 

Review is posted. Good job Sunny

One question: how is the AKASA notebook cooler? Does it cool the notebook well? Can you post some temps?

 

Hey i will do hopefully this weekend was gonna do a review of it aswell..er as for temps i only checked out the cpu temp (NHC didnt read my HD temp so i will use hd tune to read that) so far on minimal use such as web browsing whilst listening to music.. temp without were around 54-56 and with it 49...so its ok i guess its ok on idle..will have to check the hd temps and also under stress (OH MAN LOOKS LIKE I'LL HAVE TO PLAY SOME GAMES )..i can also say that one of the fans sits directly under the fan for the graphics card so i believe it will help there the most.. and it fit the laptop perfectly both width and depth...it is running at 1800rpm so its a case of whether want something that loud...but it is durable (IMHO it doesnt annoy me but it may annoy others)

 

Very good review, Sunny. A very good read, also. Did you check any temperatures for the graphics card. A few people on the forum were always interested in the temperature of the graphics card, but the Mobilty X1800 wasn't fitted with a temperature diode, so we could nhever tell. Is the same true for the Mobility X1900?

 

well using nhc it didnt pick up the temp...i will download ati tools later on and check but it doesnt seem like they have...

 

NHC doesn't pick up the temperature because you have it running in RAID. I couldn't measure the HD temp. with the Xa1526 laptop, but HDTune can measure the temp.

Check out HDTune. Good luck!

 

Hi again, fujitsu dudes!

I think i told you guys already but i got the xi1554...and i am reasonably chuffed with it. Theres just a few things that are worrying me a little.

I havent posted for a while mainly cuz ive only been pm'ing (?) sunjhoon and he's been helping me out a lot seeing as he's got the same rig.

But i need a little advice again. Concerning overheating...
There are a couple of threads on the subject but nothing that really helps me out and you guys were really helpful when i last posted here so...anyway....here goes.

I'm really worried about the heat generated under the machine after playing a game for a while. I've been playing hl2 a lot and it runs beautifully at native (1900*1220) with everything maxed out but after 2/3 hours i actually smell the underneath of the laptop cooking...you all know that smell rite?
And then when i feel underneath its bloody scary how hot it is!

I know its a big powerful notebook but is it normal for it too get so uncomfortably hot like that underneath??!

If i download the programs mentioned (like nhc and hdtune) in this thread will they tell me if its heating up too much? And can anyone tell me what too hot is? Or is that notebook/component specific??

Obviously, the thing is brand spanking new so i shouldnt have to clean it just yet...and i have read the guide to cooling laptops...several times...but i didnt think a cooler would be an absolute must have for this machine??!

Ok. Now im asking too much all at once so ill ask one last q.
Would it help to make a tray where the laptop is raised on the sides so there is more airflow underneath? Cuz i dont really want to fork out for a cooling pad as well at the moment. Im a little skint after buying this baby...hehe

So thats about all thats bugging me right now...any replies would be well appreciated.

afterthought: Is there a chance that its because im playing in vista (im not sure the drivers for the card really run it properly, especially in vista...cuz theyre pretty old so they must've been configured to run the x1900....i think), and im not overclocking...yet...by the way.

Thanks

 

There certainly shouldn't be any smell! That sounds bad.. If you use the laptop on flat and clean surface there shouldn't be problems with overheating. I don't think a cooler should be a must have with any new laptop which is working properly. I used books under the laptop which raised the backside a bit since I wanted to overclock the x1800. Then I decided to buy a cooler because... I needed the books.

So what kind of temps you get after hours of gaming?

 

I wouln't worry about the smell just yet. If the notebooks is only a few days old, then there normally is a faint smell. Its just something that happens when you buy new components. Its difficult to describe, but if the smell is somewhat metalic, then I wouldn't worry about it. If you use your ntoebook for a few weeks after that, you should notice that the smell dissapears. The smell should also emit itself almost all the time, so leave the notebook off overnight, and smell the underside in the morning, without turning it on. If it smells the same, then it is likely nothing is wrong with it.

If you can smell a burning smell, then that may be something to be concerned about. At that point, trun the ntoebook off. You should check your temperatures, however, some of the higher end ATI Mobility graphics cards don't have temperature sensors, so you may not be able to get a reading of the graphics card. None the less, check the processor and hard disk temperature, and post back. Using something to lift the rear of the notebook a few centimeters of the ground is a good idea, and it does improve air flow under the notebook.

 

hey you guys...wanted to ask a question...what sound drivers and software are you using?for some reason it doesnt seem to pick up my microphone?its not the mic cos vista picks it up...just wondering what you guys or those with an xi series/xa are using...thanks!

 

hey guys

the Amilo Xi 1554 finally arrived in Romania (3 weeks ago) and I'm pretty happy about it
Yesterday I ordered my baby for around 1830 euro / $2470. It's a lot of money for me (employed student ) but i sure hope it will worth the coming weeks without a drop of booze

I expect it to arrive on Saturday or Tuesday and i will post my first impressions then.


Also, what are your general impressions of Fujitsu-Siemens notebooks? till the day i ordered it, i was totally in for HPs...the move was kind of sudden and i haven't had the chance to gather any feedback yet.

cheers!

 

Congratulations on the new system, mantis. I hop you enjoy it.

I think that many people who have Fujitsu Siemens really like their notebooks. When I bought mine, I wanted it because of the good specifrications and good graphics card it had, and also because it had a good price to performance ratio. It came with no dead pixels, and whilst I had to send it in for repair a couple of weeks after I bought it, I have had no problems since then. It has worked splendid for me.

 

zero does your mic work in xp? and what drivers are you using?

cheers

Sunny

 

Sorry, I remember you posted the question in the thread, forgot to respond. Yes, I'm using Realtek drivers, version 5.10.00.5224. I'm using Windows XP.

 

cheers...downloaded the lastes ones off of the realtek website including the software itself...heres what the realtek hd audio manager says

Audio Driver Version 5.10.0.5377
Audio controller: HD Audio
Audio Codec ALC885

when double i click the realtek software it comes up like below...doesnt seem to pick up the microphone at all...any ideas zero what it could be?or anyone else...could it be to do with the software?

Thanks!

 

I can see the same thing as you, in that Realtek screenshot. Does the microphone get detected in Window's Volume Control?

 

hey dude your a genius being a plebb ah cant believe it....it was a setting in the volume control...its working now cheers..YOU THE MAN

 

Not a problem Sunny.

 

hey guys

it's confirmed...tomorrow morning i'll have my precious xi1554...i can hardly work...i just want to go to bed as soon as i can (it's 5 pm now here ) and wake up with my toy at the door...suddenly i feel like 5 years old )

cheers!

 

nice... i felt like that too when i got mine...was anxiously waiting for it

 

The shop where I bought it promised next day delivery for mine, so I got up at about 8 and waited for it. It was a very anxious wait for me too, and it didn't get to the house until about 5. I had to go somewhere for the weekend, so I could only open the box and start it up for a small time. But, yes, waiting and opening the machine for the first time, is certainly very anxious.

 

Now, let's talk about anxious waiting...

The webshop where I ordered had five days delivery time. It didn't arrive after this time so I called to the shop. It was out of stock and I was now queuing my laptop with other customers before me. The next estimated time they would have the laptop in stock was over month away. I decided to cancel my order and try to find another shop. Almost all shops had their Xi 1546 out of stock. But I managed to find a shop which had one single Xi 1546 left and promised to deliver my laptop the very same day. The promises were kept and I got my laptop about 8 pm.

I opened the package, read the manual and put everything ready for the first boot... It was DOA - unending booting with black screen. The salesman got my laptop back, sent it to repair service and promised a new laptop when they next would have them in stock, which is as earlier mentioned, estimated over month away. God dammit!

Finally after three weeks of this the salesman called and told the laptop was repaired before new shipment of Xi 1546 would arrive to Finland and asked if I wanted to wait or take the repaired one. I didn't want to wait anymore so I got it and then had to decide if I wanted to keep it. According to the repair report motherboard was defective and was replaced. I ran extensive set of tests with different benchmarking and system analysis tools to the laptop, just to make sure. Everything worked fine so I decided to keep it...

The only thing that I have wondered a bit lately: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=111451

 

I had a similar problem with my notebook. After a few weeks of having it, something went wrong with it, and when i tryed to start, it would wouldn't go. The lights came on, but it didn't enter the POST screen, or bring any details up on startup. I sent it for repair, and Fujitsu Siemens ended up replacing everything. I'm fairly sure that it was something to do with the motherboard, as quite a few of early Xi units had this problem.

 

hey guys

got my notebook today and i've been playing around with it for the last 6-7 hours.

i will get into details tomorrow or the day after, but right now two things worry me:

1. sound: [same problem as sunjhoon still searching the thread and testing]
2. heavy display leakage: i get a bright almost rectangular band of approx two fingers thick from below. anyone of you have this problem? is it "normal"?

the sound problem scares me more however...any help would brighten my evening

cheers!

p.s. this baby DOES get pretty hot indeed
p.p.s mine came with vista home premium

 

the sound all you have to do is go to device manager...go to each hard drive...then to policies and set the hard drives to enhanced performance...
i do have screen leakage but it is minimal...i got a notebook cooler to be on the safe side...for the heat although it wont be so bad jus with normal use however if gaming a lot for long periods it is worth considering getting one

 

hey sunny

yup, thanks, i did what you said and it works now...weird tho'

could please walk me through how you managed to force the x1900 drivers? i wasn't that lucky i tried each step you described and still wasn't able to get it done.
i'm using vista, maybe it's something i'm doing wrong?
i uninstalled the driver, i downloaded the radeon latest version, used the ModTool, apparently worked. i added the lines in the inf file.
but when i try to manually update the driver i only get the "generic vga" it doesn't find the card. so i'm stuck with the stock drivers...

thanks in advance

cheers!

 

stupid question (apologises if i offended you) but you did err download the vista version ones?

if you did it the way i did could be one of two things (the inf file could be done wrong) or maybe its to do with the way you tried for it manually update?

If its the second one heres what i did

device manager->display adapters-> update drivers->browse my computer for driver software-> let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer->have disk-> select where the inf file you modded is...

and go from there

if its the first then i will give you my .inf file tommorow and follow the procedure above to update the driver

 

hey

i finally did it! i forced the mobility X1800 drivers on my card. i did notice performance boost in 3dmark 2006 of about 300 points i just image what real drivers would do

can you tell me about your battery's life? so far i charged it twice, and although i noticed improvement each time, i can't get to 2hrs not even with all to min. i noticed there's a tight relation between charge-time and battery life. first time it took 30 minutes to charge to 100%, 2nd time was only 1hour and now i hit 3hours...hopefully i can get to the 2hours mark

cheers!

 

hello to all..i have the same laptop!I cant find the enhanced performance option in options...(only 2 other which i cant change).i use vista home premium 32bit!i try raid0 and sound has lags and also it is working all time and all other application stuck!also ati have no new drivers!

 

I think ATI lies about specifications of Mobility Radeon x1900!
I used program TechPowerUp GPU-Z 0.0.6 and become this:

GPU: M68 ????!!!!! (it should be M59)

Shaders: 12 Pixel / 5 Vertex (DirectX9.0c) ??????!!!!!!!!!!!!
What a F...!!!

This card has Pixel and Vertex Shaders like ATI Mobility RADEON x1700 !!!

ATI Mobility RADEON x1900 should have 36 Pixel and 8 Vertex Shaders....

My notebook is Fujitsu-Siemens Xi1554. Can anyone try this program on Alienware m5790 with x1900?

Has anybody expirience with unlocking pipes on this card? Is it posible somehow? There may be still a potential in this card, if it's not only a big FAKE from ATI or Fujitsu-Siemens..... That's an absolute swindle!

However I didn't buy card with those specs. I want to have 36/8 Shaders!

It should be a case on a court law! And maybe it will be!

 

hehe..you're not the only one to have a grudge against this fujitsu-ati thing...

I contacted ATI 4 months ago and asked them about "no drivers for mob X1900" (and till this very day, there are NO drivers)...

that's their freakin automated answer...they don't give a dead rat's ass about this...
Fujitsu released a somewhat "updated" version of their drivers, but it's still X1800 hacked drivers...there will be no mob x1900 drivers...ever

there are many other things wrong tho', hope you guys don't run into them as i did

 

in windows vista home premium i cant run 3dmark 05! Can you?
edit: by the way all other problems are fixed!!!

 

Hi everybody !
I'm a greenhorn here so please be gently
First of all I want to say BIG thanks for that topic:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=111960

That was what I REALLY needed to make my Xi 1554 ready to work
But... now I have one more problem (could'n find solution here until now ?)
Sounds.

Drivers which I've dowloaded from Futjitsu-Siemens site simple...doesn't work
Of course drivers from CD also doesn't work (probably they are only for Vista regardles that one folder have XP name...)

So can anybody tell me fro where I can dowload properly drivers for WinXP and Xi 1554 sound card ?

BR
Kargan

p.s. sorry for my english - want to assure my polish is much better

 

http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads...=24&Level=4&Conn=3&DownTypeID=3&GetDown=false

There's also latest sound drivers for Vista.