NP5792: XP or Vista?

I'm thinking of purchasing a NP5792. It will be used mostly for gaming as I have an iMac and Macbook Pro for other tasks. What operating systems are you guys choosing? I do have some older titles I still would like to play like KoToR and I know there are issues with Vista and this game. Should I dual boot to get good DX9 performance for older games and DX10 performance for newer games?

 

yeah dual boot is good.

Check out www.pcmicroworks.com for bang for the buck and top specs.

 

Get XP. I see no reasons to go to Vista for any reason - it is a resource hog and decreases performance, especially 3D. XP is a more stable and better-performing operating system, and XP SP3 will only increase the performance gap between XP and Vista.

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=110755

checkout the link in that thread to find out what applications Vista hoses. I don't think I would mind Vista being such a system hog if it didn't hose so many older games. I'm sad to see that sometime down the road I won't be able to play some of my games anymore.

 

I suggest going with Vista x64. Since you`re getting the best DX10 GPU out there, and from my experience with my Sager an Vista x64, I can only say how pleased I am of the overall performance

 

Well I went for Vista x64 to use 4gb ram. I hear xp x64 has worse driver support than Vista, and thats saying a lot. If you want to use all 4gb, then I think Vista x64 is the best bet. I love xp, but I want to use 4gb ram. I will probably end up making my own dual boot, because I really do dislike vista. Its almost as bad as Mac OS X, though not as bad a Leopard. (trying to start ****).

 

Vista is not really that bad. It has a few quirks here and there but it has been stable for me. Sp1 should improve things a lot. I think my biggest complaint has networking and IE7. It is a resource hog but every windows product has been so there is nothing new on that front. I would suggest vista since you are going with the best DX10 cards as well. Worst case when you get it resize the partition and dual boot an old copy of XP. That way you can compare it directly.

 

Linux + Wine or Cedega.



In all seriousness, my vote goes for XP if you want to game. Don't even think about getting Vista for gaming until after SP1.

 

Im going with XP32 for the first 2-3 month.. when the driver will be optimised ill maybe try vista64... but to be honest with you ill probably stay with xp32

but ill try server2003 and maybe a tiger partition... customer always ask me for mac question but i cant anwser them... theres more and more macOS user

 

I so wish XP would use all 4gb of ram. I will end up setting up dual boot, I know it. I will give Vista another chance, even though the last time I used it, I flipped out, burned down my house, and sacrificed several neighborhood pets in hopes that Bill Gates would be punished. I have yet to receive on that one.


ok ok, you got me, it wasn't my house.

 

I wouldn't recommend trying XP x64 or Server 2003 x64 (I think that exists) because you won't have drivers for all of your components. Server 2003 32-bit should work though . . .

 

64 bit are scarce, even more scarce for XP than Vista.
But as a Vista 64 user, and that with the 7950GTX, I can only say that gaming is ok.I`m going to try dual boot in the future, since some people seem to get better results than me. Aside from the Creative and Sony Ericsson phone drivers(which do not exist) , everything else was ok.

 

Yeah the no creative drivers isssue for me is a worry for vista 64bit

-Coors916

 

The USB sound card works fine, it`s just that I can`t use the Equalizer that would come with it. But then again, I have kick arse speakers,so they compensate

 

I've made up my mind that if I decide to order the 5792, I am going to get it installed with XP. Thanks for the input guys. I am eagerly awaiting user reviews from those that have ordered the 5792.

 

im getting it with vista and then leech myself a stripped down version of xp.

 

Ok, I've changed my mind. I'm going to get it preinstalled with Vista and Dual Boot XP on it since I already have a XP disk. The only other question that I have is what does the turbo memory do? Is it worth getting? Since this is Vista only, what happens if I have it when I install XP?

 

The Turbo Memory will show up as a unknown cached device (in XP). You can keep it in and use it when utilizing Vista.

Here is a good explanation of it.

 

I read somewhere that the oldest OS had to be installed first. You may need to wipe vista, install XP, then Vista again.

Anyone else hear different?

 

You can do a dual boot with the newest OS installed first. It is a little complicated but it can be done. Do a google search for the steps.

 

Justin,

Does the driver cd contain drivers for Vista and XP?

 

With the Turbo Memory, keep in mind that you will need to disable it IN THE BIOS whenever you want to boot XP. The AHCI interface that controls the Intel Turbo Memory is totally incompatible with Windows XP, and XP will not see your hard drive, nor will it boot, if AHCI is enabled.

If you want to dual boot, I'd say just ignore Turbo Memory, since you'll have to disable it half the time, anyway.

 

Yes it does. (Along with 32 & 64 Vista)

 

It seems that it doesn't make that much of a difference in performance from things I have read and no difference in games, correct?

 

Thanks for the info!

 

Correct. After several weeks of use, Turbo Memory can speed up loading Vista, and it can speed up loading your most commonly used programs, but that's all that it does, and the effect of the Turbo Memory is less and less noticeable the more RAM you have (and RAM is beneficial in a lot more areas than just loading times).

 

So if I'm using this notebook strictly for gaming I would see no benefit to this component. I have 2 Mac's that I use for everyday tasks so all I would use the 5792 for is pc gaming.

 

Well, your favorite games would load a few seconds faster, but that's about it . In your case, I say save the cash and don't get Turbo Memory.

 

Thanks Eleison for the info!

 

I'm also looking at an NP5792 with 4 gigs of ram. But I'd really rather have XP than Vista, in which case I'd drop to 2 gigs and save a bit of cash. But if I ever decide that I want to switch to Vista at a later date, can that +2 gigs be added easily later?

 

Yes the Ram can be added later. The system fully supports 4GB now or later.

 

CruelKnave,

Currently for 50 bucks more, you can get 4GB!!! I could not pass that up.

 

Ha! Now you know how us old farts from the DOS era feel!! Ahhh, Wing Commander, how I miss thee!

 

Command.com
copy c:*.* c:\new
640K of ram

Ahhhh the old days

 

are we allowed to order a laptop with 4gb ram and xp? i know xp wont recognize all 4gb so i'd just remove one sodimm plus, i figure the 2gb sodimm would be nice to have around for when i opt to upgrade to vista. $50 for a 2gig sodimm is nice. =)

 

You can order with 4GB and XP and take advantage of the current memory promotion. XP will see right about 3GB of Ram.

 

Sorry to resurrect an old thread but I was going through and had a couple of more questions. I have compared the 5792 and 9262. The 9262 is just a little rich for my blood budget wise. I have also looked at the XPS m1730 only because my wife gets a nice EPP discount. I just keep coming back to the 5792. My question is since I am looking for a gaming notebook to last me 3 years, is this one it for the price and performance it has? Also, will the 5792 sit on the Zalman nc1000 cooler that I already have and use?

 

I was reading that you can get dx10 to work on XP. It thats true then is vista still the best option? 32bit 3gig XP vs 64bit 4gig Vista who wins for gaming?

 

I would say that, as long as you don't mind running at medium settings in a couple of years (because, let's face it, nothing will last for three years at high settings), this notebook should definitely last you for three years. I've got a three year old computer with a GeForce 6600 that can still play most games, provided I tweak them a bit, and the 8800 is the top end, rather than the mid-range, so it will handle much better over time. Considering you can get the Penryn processors, too, this is about as much power as you can get without going with something like the NP9262's desktop processors.

As far as the Zalman NC1000 cooler, it looks like it is a little too short in the width, so the NP5792 will hang off either side by about 1.25" (the cooler is 13" wide, and the notebook is 15.6" wide), but the depth of the notebook will fit on the cooler (12.1" on the cooler, and 11.5" on the notebook), so it should still work.

 

@roboMonkey:

DX10 in XP is still buggy at best. If they can ever get it working properly, it might be worth it, though.

 

I'm just torn on the issue. Since I own several flavors of xp and vista I guess i can just install them one at a time run my test and go with what ever works best for the NP5792. At least I'll have something to do over the weekend.

 

I did not know that they came out with the Zalman NC-2000 cooler. I guess that solves that problem of the overhang.

 

I am planning on ordering the np5792/3 without an OS (Cheap OS from College FTW) and intall XP on it. My question is: can I just use the cd I have to install XP right now if I just disable AHCI in the bios? Or do I have to slipstream some SATA drivers using nLite first

 

As long as your CD has Service Pack 2, all you have to do is disable AHCI in the BIOS.

 

Regarding that 4 GB of ram, I would say wait until they official release the final version of the SP1 pack for Vista cause that is suppose to fix that problem.

http://www.techarp.com/showarticle.aspx?artno=492&pgno=0