ZD8080 one month in Iraq

Well it has been a month and thus far I am very happy with my HP ZD8080US:

P4 3.4G HT
1G Ram
ATI x600 256M video
100 G HD
8X DVD+/-R DL
17 inch bright view screen.

I have been running a sever for CS:Source on it with 20 bots and me and one other person playing on the maxium settings with no problems. When I have 20 bots my FPS is only 30-40 depending on the map, this is good enough for me right now. I have been making DVD Iso's because DVD's goto crap quick here, and on DVD Movie takes about 25 mins to rip. The sound quality is great. I bought a targus USB Cooler hub that has dual fans under my laptop which helps to keep it cool, and I have an aluminum folding camping table. This laptop has been awesome, it is better then my desktop back home. I do have to use canned air every day and wipe the dust off the screen, but I mean this is Iraq lol. the dual TV tuner is almost worthless, it does however get FM radio, and I use my mini DVD player to watch certain burned movies that my comptuer won't read. Media center is cool if you use the remote with it. And the keypad/full size keyboard is awesome. I have a few minor gripes, like the fact the PCMCIA slow is on the right near the front, would interfere with the mouse if there was a card in there. They've had a few good upgrades tot he ZD8000 since i bought mine, like 2M Cache cpu's, but i'm happy with what I got. It looks as though it will last out here, i leave it running almost all day in my room and play alot of Counter Strike: source on it. I wouldn't call it the best gaming laptop, but for the money I paid out for it it's the best option I had next to buying a desktop. If I have any problems I will add to this post, but as for as I'm concerned it's a very durable laptop.

HP ZD8080
P4 3.4
1 Gig PC3200 ram
100 G 4200RPM HD
ATI X600 256M Video
WINXP MC 2005

 

Well as I round out my 5th month in Iraq my ZD8080 is on it's second. I have been taking it on a 1/4 mile hike everday to shift in a Targus XL backpack while wearing my body armor, was afraid at first of smashing it, but the back pack is great. The laptop is holding up well. We don't have much access to canned air so it gets dusty but I have a soft bristle brush, like a shaving cream one, and brush it off every day, the screen is getting dust spots and I don't have a real way to clean it, but it's holding up great. The 100 G HD only has 1.4 gig's left, I have about 15 DVD images on there along with some other stuff. The burner is doing great burned at least 50 CDR's and 10 DVD's with no problems. Good speeds to. Been playing CS every night, got a targus USB Cooler hub so it doesn't get that hot. I am glad I went with this laptop over the Dell XPS, my buddies XPS burned up all the usb ports a week after he bought it. Iraq is a real test on laptops lol.

HP ZD8080
P4 3.4
1 Gig PC3200 ram
100 G 4200RPM HD
ATI X600 256M Video
WINXP MC 2005

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by WolfSpring

 

Yeah to bad now my video card is crapping out at the three month mark, I think it's cause i got no canned air, reboot it's fine, but it locks up after a few hours of gaming.

HP ZD8080
P4 3.4
1 Gig PC3200 ram
100 G 4200RPM HD
ATI X600 256M Video
WINXP MC 2005

 

I don't suppose you have an authorized repair center in your neighborhood, do you? [ ]

Seems like some of your logistics people would have some canned air you could "borrow". Don't they have to do field repairs on all the electronic equipment?

Russ

HP ZV5000z
Athlon 64 3000+
768mb RAM
60gb 4200rpm HD
nVidia G0 440 64mb
DVD-RW/CD-RW
1394, 5-in-1 card reader
15.4" wide screen
802.11 b/g w/Speedbooster

 

ROFLMFAO OMG logistics people are silly little people out here, they are cool, but they call me when stuff breaks, I'm EMS(electronic maintenance shop) and all my stuff is at another base, we can sometimes buy canned air from the PX/BX, but they are not established here, I do have access to an air compressor, but am worried about the pressure that could put out.

HP ZD8080
P4 3.4
1 Gig PC3200 ram
100 G 4200RPM HD
ATI X600 256M Video
WINXP MC 2005

 

I'd be wary of the compressed air since it usually contains a little bit of oil that leaks in from the compressor. You might be able to rig up some sort of filter, though. See if you can put a couple of coffee filters or something similar over the nozzle, and then blow it on a clean sheet of paper. This will tell you several things - how hard the air blows, will the filters remain intact, do they help remove any contaminants, and is any contaminant reaching the clean sheet of paper. If all that works out, you might try blowing that through your keyboard.

I guess we could start an "Operation Canned Air" stateside to send all you computer jockeys station in Iraq and Afghanistan some canned air to keep the electronics humming along. I'd think your ability to relax and escape is a little more critical than that of the typical office monkey (like me).

Russ

HP ZV5000z
Athlon 64 3000+
768mb RAM
60gb 4200rpm HD
nVidia G0 440 64mb
DVD-RW/CD-RW
1394, 5-in-1 card reader
15.4" wide screen
802.11 b/g w/Speedbooster

 

I’m sorry but I have to say this,

You’re in Iraq, fighting in an illegal war and occupation, and the USA army has time to set up a cs server and play video games. So when you’re not killing and destroying real innocent lives, you guys don't miss a beat and keep it up with good old counter strike. Great job. Democracy kicks ass. It’s good to see you have your priority straight, lets test out my new laptop while people continue to suffer, right outside my front door. Give my kudos to Bush, your idiot president, just in case you didn't know who I was talking about.

 

Wolfspring, maybe if you backed up the coffee filters with some sort of cloth to give it some more strength you could get a good filtered air effect.

-edit- Also, keep the entire "filter" wrapped tight around the nozzle or you'll probably diffuse the air stream too much to do you any good.

Let us know how it works out.

Russ

HP ZV5000z
Athlon 64 3000+
768mb RAM
60gb 4200rpm HD
nVidia G0 440 64mb
DVD-RW/CD-RW
1394, 5-in-1 card reader
15.4" wide screen
802.11 b/g w/Speedbooster

 

Hey Wolfspring, keep up the good work man. I'm glad you guys over there have something like gaming to take your mind off the mayhem goin on around you. I work at a fire station in Oregon, my working conditions are way way less stressfull than yours (not even comparable really) and most people just don't understand that we need to do something like play some xbox or something to detach from the stuff we do when we go on 911 calls. I imagine it might be similar for you guys.

When it comes down to it, i live in a country where i enjoy all the freedoms i need or want because guys like you are willing to go fight to keep it that way. Keep on rockin dude.

prayin you get home safe to your family soon, Benji O.

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by switcher_001

 

Woah now, let's not get a flame war started here. This forum is not a place for politics or any personal matter where people will only get angry. switcher_001 is entitled to his opinion, but switcher_001, this is not the place to post your opinion on the war.

 

dude, cs is for entertainment. completely different from real life. if you're going to be so negative about it, why don't you join the army. it's courageous what he's doing and it's stupid of you to criticize him for what he does on his free time. i guess everyone who plays fps should feel sick of themselves, huh? don't be such an as$hole and disrespect our troops. this is a notebook forum, not a forum on moralities and political positions.

saying nothing more.

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by bOOm

 

Yeah I'm not about to respond on all of that stupidty, but I will say this, I'm a signal guy. I provide phone lines and internet(not normal internet, secure. And we have alot of down time because once we are set up it takes minimal manning in our shelters to do our job. Me personally I fix stuff when it breaks, luckily not much has been breaking, so I have alot of free time out here. When we get our 4-6 hours personal time a day there is not alot to do so alot of us veg out to deal with being away from our families. Which is the reason I am out here, to provide for my family and defend our way of life. I could care less anyones opinions on this war, war is bad, it is ALWAYS BAD, but sometimes we have to fight to get what is needed. Peace has never solved anything, all it did was get some great civilizations wiped out, so go check your history before you start preaching to people here. ANYWAY

I fixed the problem with my computer, by reformating, aparently I downloaded something that screwed my registry up pretty bad and was causing lock ups, but it works great again. Three others have bought this same laptop and enjoy it out here very much, everyone who has bough a dell XPS or 91/9200 have crashed already,everything from powersupply's to usb ports and one video card. My dell inspiron 2600 is still going though in fact using it now, because i'm in mosul and my HP is at another base while i get my stuff.


HP ZD8080
P4 3.4
1 Gig PC3200 ram
100 G 4200RPM HD
ATI X600 256M Video
WINXP MC 2005

 

No, almost all of the highjackers were from Saudi Arabia, where Osama bin Laden is from, he is the head of Al Queda. That terrorist organization was sheltered by the Taliban goverment in Afghanistan.
So far, it looks as if Iraq never had weapons of mass destruction or supported any terrorist activity.

 

How did Iraq get a bunch of innocent ppl. killed over here? weren't the hijackers from Afganastan? is this something we here at home dont know or aren't allowed to know[?]

But hey your doing what your told to do and for us to question that its stupid.
Im glad you guys have something to do to take your mind off the fighting and so your not constantly worried about your families.
that would have to be the real kicker is having to be that far away from family and friends.

Im glad you got your notebook working right again (stop DL porn) and it will wirk fine (just kidding)

Stay safe over there and I hope you all come home safely.

 

lets talk about notebooks and not about the war [8D]

goodluck wolf

 

The idea is that if we help Iraq become a functioning democracy, they'll teach the rest of the region how it's done. It will give the Iranian dissidents (fellow Shias) enough of a push to bring their dictatorship down. Once those two countries become democratic, the rest of the dominos will fall. WMD's was just the one issue that the coalition could agree on since quite a few thought the notion of Arab self-government was wishful thinking.

There are two problems. One, the remaining dictatorships know this and some of them are pouring resources into destabilizing Iraq (Iran first and foremost). Two, we didn't expect the former Soviet useful idiots to team up with the Islamic fascists with such sickening enthusiasm. If Iraq and Afghanistan have to go up in flames to bring the Republican Party down, Newsweek and CBS News (for starters) are OK with that.

It looks like the Iraqis are going to pull it off, but it's been much more lengthy and bloody than it would have been if the FSUI's hadn't kept sabotaging the home team.

 

Well another month down, I'm back in baghdad for a few weeks and havn't been using it much, but I used it for four hours today to make southpark episodes into 320X240 files for my IPAQ and it worked flawlessly.

HP ZD8080
P4 3.4
1 Gig PC3200 ram
100 G 4200RPM HD
ATI X600 256M Video
WINXP MC 2005

 

Heh i also use for work at my EMS Shop . Powersupply wire breaking though cuz i carry it back and forth.