Help me decide whether to buy M860TU(owners please help me)

This is the main config:
T9400
3GB DDR3
15.4" WXGA 1280x800
256MB 9600M GS
320GB 7200RPM HDD

I'm worried about:
-the LCD panel. Is it a good panel? Do they use good panels even for low resolutions?
-DPC latency. Can someone test their M860TU with this software and post a screenshot? http://www.thesycon.de/deu/latency_check.shtml
-CPU/GPU/MB/HDD temps. I've seen very high temps for HDDs, ~60C, which IMHO is very very bad. What about the rest of the temps? Can someone confirm low temps for the HDD?
-are they using a TI chip for Firewire, or a Ricoh one?
-can it boot from eSATA? Does it boot under WinXP too? On their website it says "1xeSATA VISTA only", what does it mean?
-is there a 4GB RAM limit, can't it handle more than 4Gbs?
-any other issues that this laptop has

Regards,
Nick

 

Used M860TU?

 

That is not an M860TU. And if it is, I seriously recommend getting a Compal KHLB2. But anyway.. just to answer a few questions:

-The rest of the temps are fine, so long as you dont put a QX9300 and a gtx 280 in it... and remember to clean the fans every few months.
-I think the limit is 6.8 gb...
-The HDD heat is so far the only significant problem.

 

It is a clevo. Same CPU/Video card. Check here http://www.clevo.com.tw/en/products/prodinfo_2.asp?productid=122
I can't get the Compal. It's only about this M860TU.

sabricaze, it will be brand new. 800euros.
What about the other issues i've stated in my first post?

 

I'm in a hurry, guys.

Should I buy it or wait for something else?

 

I hope you can read fast then because all of your questions have been brutally answered several times in this forum. Please use the search button.

 

lol +rep from me haha

 

There's nothing about the DPC latency. Nothing about the WXGA LCD panel.
Nothing about booting from eSATA. And so on...

 

be in the safe side and buy the monster Clevo M570TU.

 

M860TU with 9600M GS?
wow..thats a surprise..and also..T9400? instead of T9500...

 

devilcm3, see for yourself:
http://www.clevo.com.tw/en/products/...?productid=122
T9400 and 9600m GS

 

I've decided not to buy it. It has too many problems. Including a non-TI FW chip. That's a no-no for realtime audio.

icehell, the M570TU costs 2 times the price of M860TU, in my country. And it has a 260m GTX inside, which I don't need...it gives me lots of other problems: portability, autonomy, heat, noise, etc.
(The rest of the spec is similar: T9400, 3GB, 320GB, etc.)

 

Pretty bad idea to rush your research like that.. Take your time and thoroughly research the product before you part with that much money, pays off in the long term..

 

agree...
the selling point of M860ETU is the graphics , and quad core support...
there are lots of models you can actually consider if you're not into gaming.

also...you're expecting way to high audio quality from laptops....sorry , even though there are such things as dolby surround ,SRS or what...its just nothing since that the laptop speakers wont hover around you..

and also...whatever the laptop soundcard is....its not gonna give you more than mediocre sound quality

 

High quality audio from laptops can be achieved if the laptop has a good BIOS, good drivers, in order to keep DPC latency as low as possible, and a Texas Instruments Firewire chip.
One can use a Firewire soundcard to obtain that HQ audio.

But when a laptop has a JMicron Firewire chip, problems might appear when using soundcards/cameras/etc.

 

Good luck finding one.

 

Thanks, but I was hoping that you'd help me out on this one guys.

 

yeah, good luck finding a better 15" multimedia notebook than the m86x series.

 

Horus:

With all due respect, the reason everyone is busting your chops about the m860tu you want is because the majority of m860tus are straight-away 15" gaming machines with a gtx 260m and quad-core / highperformance dual-core ability. These are the selling points of the m860(e)tu, and those of us who own this model own it for its devastating performance. What is your rationale for going with the 9600m GS in the clevo? I'm just asking out of curiosity because of the consensus here (fast CPU / GTX 260m). If you want the T9400 and a 9600m GS, there are plenty of other laptops that will do the job in a 15" profile (in fact, where you're thinking is the mainstream of 15" models here in the USA).

WHy not look at the sager np2096 series with the 9600m GT? It's not a bad laptop in its own right, and as it's made by compal, it should be resold as another company in your country for a reasonable price. One other thing: even with the GTX 260m, my m860tu with a P9700, 8GB RAM, and the GTX card can get 3 hrs of battery life when kept in power saver.

Jason

 

Jason, how are you finding your screen? Is the glare pretty reflective or would you say its one of the best glossy screens out there, in the sense that you dont see too many reflections?

Horus, I do alot of audio recording and I'm thinking of getting the M860TU or M570TU to use with my Focusrite Saffire interface. I didnt know about the TI vs non TI thing, and I probably won't let this prevent me from getting a Clevo because these laptops are high-end and have much of all I want.

 

glossy, yet completely non-reflective. REALLY bright too. Best, glossy, screen, EVER! I love it.

 

Were you able to get 3 hours stock or did you have to downclock or do other things to the laptop to achieve that battery life

 

all I did was set the battery to "power saver" and surf the net (nbf, little wikipedia, fark, youtube, the onion, NYTimes, etc.) and do some AIM. Mind you, I have a P9700 and I followed Les's Vista Tweak guide and blackviper's tweak guide. No underclocking, no undervolting, nothing that cannot be done from within Windows that the average person with the right resources and knowledge couldn't do.

Links:
Les's Windows Vista Tweak Guide
BlackViper's Services Tweak Guide
BlackViper's Vista Supertweaks (64/32 bit compatible)
Kourash Ghazi's TweakGuide... Download .zip, extract as .pdf

If you'd like, I can cite each tweak I did to which page.

Jason