m860 for college

here's the spec I have, is there anything that needs changing / improving to make it school-worthy?

Sager NP8662 (Built on Clevo M860TU) Sager NP8662 (Built on Clevo M860TU)
- 15.4" WSXGA+ "Glare Type" Super Clear Ultra Bright Glossy Screen (1680x1050)
- Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound
- Standard Dead Pixel Policy
- ~Intel® P9600 45nm "Montevina" Core™2 Duo 2.66GHz w/6MB L2 On-die cache - 1066MHz FSB 25 watt
- nVidia GeForce GTX 260M 1,024MB PCI-Express DDR3 DX10 (User Upgradeable)
- No Video Adapter
- ~ 6,144MB DDR3 1066MHz (2 SODIMMS) Dual Channel Memory (Requires Vista 64-Bit to utilize 4GB+)
- None Standard--
- Standard Finish
- ~Combo 8x8x6x4x Dual Layer DVD +/-R/RW 5x DVD-RAM 24x CD-R/RW Drive w/Softwares
- ~ 320GB 7200RPM (Serial-ATA II 300 - 16MB Cache)
- No Back Up Hard Drive
- No Floppy Drive
- Internal 7-in-1 Card Reader (MS/MS Pro/MS Duo/MS Pro Duo/SD/Mini-SD/MMC/RS)
- Internal Bluetooth + EDR
- Built-in Intel® PRO/Wireless 5300 802.11 a/g/n Wi-Fi Link
- No Network Accessory
- Built in 2.0 Megapixel Camera
- No TV Tuner
- Sound Blaster Compatible 3D Audio - Included
- Basic Black Business Case - Included
- Smart Li-ion Battery (8-Cell)
- No Car Adapter
- None Standard*
- No Dock/Hub/Adapter
- Integrated Fingerprint Reader
- No External Keyboard or Mouse
- No Notebook Cooler
- ~Windows Vista Home Premium 64-Bit Installed (64&32-Bit CD Included) w/ Drivers & Utilities CD's
- No Office Software
- No Software Bundle
- 3 Year Labor* 1 Year Parts Warranty Lifetime 24/7 DOMESTIC Based Toll Free Telephone Tech Support (Labor Warranty through Xotic PC)

Any feedback would be appreciated

Jason

 

those specs are very top notch... no doubt.

maybe you can go quad-core CPU if you want (for heavy number crunching tasks like media converting/editing/rendering/mising), but you dont have to.

 

i'm going to be a polisci major, what am i going to do with converting / rendering / mising? I also don't do much media work, the extent is converting flac to mp3, that's about it.

 

I spec'd mine similar to yours. The only difference is that I chose not to go for 6GB of RAM. The way I see it, with the price of a kit of 8GB DDR2 already down to $300, 8GB of RAM will become what 4GB is today in probably a year or so.

 

yea, like i said it's just a basepoint... i want 8 someday so i can keep it future ready. I was thinking to go q9100 or qx9300, but it'd kill the laptop, and q9000 doesn't have the full 3mb / core cache i want. 8GB would be nice though with vista, it'd make it run a lot better I think

 

you can put the Q9100 or qx9300 in there.... at your own discretion of course.

a number of people have done it.

no issues with Q9100 or QX9200

QX9300 works but at max load will be pretty hot.... so you must undervolt it.

 

hmm, what about the p9700 (when it comes out) and how can you get a q9100 or q9200 (preferably in the states) and a place that will use the diamond cooling solution?

 

you can buy the Q9100 and QX9300 at almost any online store that sells computer parts... or ebay.

but they are quite overpriced for the time being.

I would wait until the prices drop on them.

 

so stick with the p9600?

Also, what is battery life like with a p9600 in it, does the 10w less energy consumption help positively the battery life? And as for 6gb vs. 8gb, wait for prices to come down some more?

 

I have used my M860 in university for about 9mounths now..

i do alot of Design/image/cad/video work on it.

i do alotmore . gaming/fps/rts/mmo/ (i play basicaly every pc game)


my advise is prob go balls out on CPU... try and get a 2.4 quad imo...

im stuck on a 2.4 duel atm.. and would kill for a quadcore in my laptop and will prob be forced to within a year or 2..

but yer... u prob could go with a duelcore... but if you never want to take your laptap apart and fiddle with it for its entire life.. i would seriously get a quadcore.

 

what's the extension of batt. life with a p9600 vs. a t9550 or t9800 in the np8662?

 

Actually, I was incorrect. 8GB of DDR2 can be had for as low as around $120. I'd recommend saving the $500+ of the 6GB and stick with 4GB for now until DDR3 prices drop as well.

 

yeah... thats a good suggestion.

DDR3 prices are going down pretty fast.

4GB is plenty for all work and gaming.