Fujitsu Siemens Amilo XA 1526

Hello everyone. Brand new to laptops and been thinking of buying one for some time. For my money which is around £700 ( $1400 ) I've been recommended to buy a laptop with a Go 7600. I've done some research and this is the best deal I could find which has that. Could you please tell me if you think this Fujitsu will allow me to play Quake4, Prey, etc with reasonably high settings and not too much framerate drop? Is the AMD Turion 64 X2 good enough for gaming compared to the intel core 2 duo? Here is a link to it:

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/prod...9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=126844&_LOC=UK

Here's the specs:

Processor: AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-56 - 1.8GHz (x2), up to 1.6GHz FSB, 2x512KB L2 Cache
RAM: 2048MB DDR2-667MHz
Hard Drive: 120GB
Screen: 17" Widescreen TFT
Optical Drive: DVD±RW Dual Layer
Graphics: NVidia GeForce Go7600 256MB
Wireless LAN: 802.11a/b/g
Warranty: 1 Year
Operating System: Windows Vista Home Premium Edition
Sound Card Azalia codec 7.1 Channel
Audio Connections Line In /Line Out /Mic In
Network Card Yes
Bluetooth Yes
FireWire Yes
TV-Out Yes
S-Video Out Yes
VGA (D-sub) 1
DVI Outputs 1
USB Ports 3
PC Card Slot Yes
Memory Card Reader 4-in-1
Extra Software: Microsoft® Works Suite3Power DVD3 or Vista DVD Playback PackNero burning ROM3 or Nero 7 EssentialAdobe ReaderNorton Internet Security Suite or Norman Anti-VirusCountry specific Internet Service Providers

Battery Type Lithium Ion
Battery Time 2.0 hours

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My only other concern is hard drive speed. I don't know how fast it is. I read of another Fujitsu laptop where the hard drive only had 4,200 rpm. I would prefer 5,400 or 7,200, but if it does happen to be a slower speed, will it matter much? Thanks!

 

I can't speak for hardrive speed as I know little in that area. But for the video that card should run quake 4 reasonably high. Dunno about prey as I never got that one. If you get into Halflife 2 the card will make it look really good

 

Are you referring to the 200gb drive? 'cause 'til recently the 200 gb drives all were 4200 RPM. That drive is most likely a 5400 RPM drive. While a 1,8GHz Core 2 Duo does have better performance, it doesn't affect gaming, since the bottleneck is the GPU.

 

Please check this site: http://www.nice-pc.co.uk/acatalog/mid_range_laptops.html

They are selling the same laptop here, but with 160 GB and for 30 pounds less! You might want to order it there.

As for the videocard: the 7600Go can handle Oblivion at native resolution and medium settings, HL2 runs maxed out. You might want to check my Xi1526 review, same video card but somewhat different processor.

Here is the link: http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=3395&review=Fujitsu+Siemens+Amilo+1526

Your notebook should perform even better, because it has a faster processor and 2 GB of RAM, which makes a big difference.

Good luck!

 

Thanks for the info Vaath and fabarati, much appreciated! HL2 maxed out would be incredible. As a comparison, I'm happy to simply match my desktop performance which runs these games quite well on medium settings. It's only an athlon 2000+, 768 ram and ati 9800 pro. If I get smoother performance than that on a laptop, it's a big bonus.

Notebook Solutions, wow, what a find! I thought £709.94 was reasonable, but £663.92 is of course even better. Nice one. I owe you a beer

As it happens, since posting this thread, I checked out the fujitsu sub forum and saw your interesting 4 page thread on the amilo 1526 which gave me lots of confidence in the product. It sure does look nice in the pictures.

On the page you linked me to, they're also selling the Amilo Pi 1536 Core 2 Duo T5500 for a little more money. Less ram and smaller screen but the graphics card is the 128MB/512MB ATI Radeon X1400. Do you or anyone recommend I go with that or stick with the 1526? My feeling is that I'm happy to stick with the 1526, but since we're discussing it, curious how much benefit I'd gain for gaming with the X1400.

Turion 64 X2 1.8GHz/2GB ram/Go 7600/
v
Core 2 Duo T5500 1.66GHz/1GB ram/ATI X1400

Thanks again.

 

The Xa 1526 will blow that Pi1536 away. The 7600Go is much better then the X1400. 3dmark06 of the 7600Go = 2200 while the X1400 scores around 1200 max.
And the 17" is much better for gaming in my opinion. And the 2 GB of RAM is better, and you get a little faster processor if you go for the Xa1526.

Actually that link was from another thread So thank the guy that gave us that link.

Good luck.

 

yea the go7600 is much better for gaming.

Here is a link to the the Asus F3JP with a Core 2 Duo, 2GB RAM + x1700 for £692.

the x1700 is better than the go7600, see here.

 

Hehe, I remember that comparison thread. Sad thing is, ATi's drivers haven't improved one iota since then.

 

^^What they said.

@lysander. You a Eureka Seven fan?

 

The ASUS is better here, but if you want a 17" I think that the Xa1526 is your best call. So it is all up to you.

 

Thanks radditz. I had just made my mind up to buy the Amilo 1526, then you went and dangled a tasty asus carrot in front of me Hmm, interesting comments on the ati x1700.

Notebook Solutions, in some ways, a 15" screen suits me as it's a little more compact than 17". Tbh though, I'll probably still go for the Go 7600 machine as it will obviously do what I want well enough and a lot of folks say nvidia is better than ati. Also, I believe I get a basic carrying case included with the 1526, and the whole package is a bit cheaper.

There is one more thing to check out. A local shop in my high street told me they can build a laptop to my specs, and they mentioned using asus. I'll see what prices they come up with. Otherwise, I think it's the Fujitsu for me.

 

Actually, the X1700 is better than the go7600.

 

Hey, just been reading over this, as ive been having some major problems with a recently bought laptop from Novatech. The problem being that the GPU overheated in the laptop (94c under load) causing games to pretty much become unplayable, and basically Novatech said it was "Normal". So ive got a refund and am now looking elsewhere for a laptop.

I then came across the Amilo XA 1526, which is perfectly in my price range, with pretty much exactly what i wanted inside (Dual Core Proccesor, 2 Gb Memory and a solid graphics card, the 7600GO).

Im just checking up on it before i purchase really, have any owners had any problems with it overheating/game getting sluggish etc because of it ? Please let me know !

 

Thought I'd post something since this thread has been revived. A friend said to me " go for the 17 only if you don't mind lugging around the extra weight! " That got me thinking. I didn't realise how much heavier and generally more cumbersome a 17" laptop is until I checked out a 17" versus a 15" in a shop today. I didn't like the 17" much. I really think I want a 15" laptop, it's a much nicer, more compact size and weight for carrying around. I'm sure it'll be ok for gaming, albeit I'm used to a larger desktop monitor. So I'm leaning more towards the Asus FJ3p now. My dilemma is that I like the idea of a glass fronted screen which the fujitsu has, plus it's overall a bit cheaper. But I believe the asus batteries last much longer, about 4 hours apparently. I don't know which to buy anymore. Since the x1700 is meant to be better, batteries last longer and the intel core 2 duo is meant to be better, the asus does sound like my better choice, right? Do many others here game with 15" screens?

edit: oh, I think the asus also has a glossy screen. That's it then, asus for me.

 

Dont worry about gaming on a 15" screen - the most popular gaming laptop from Asus the G1 has a 15" and people love it.

You made a good choice, Asus FTW!!!

 

Thanks for linking me to it in the first place! I found it even cheaper at £685 plus free delivery at techfever, but they're out of stock. http://www.techfever.co.uk/products.asp?partno=211480
I've emailed them to inform me if they know when they might get some more. Otherwise, I'll still buy from laptopsdirect. I'm really excited, I want my new toy now! Gonna have to wait a bit longer though