Help! New computer - how long will it last?

[Roman]

Originally posted by RalphTrickey

You also might see if Acer has a forum for owners of their notebooks. I know that Dell does, and I researched my notebook there to see what problems people were having before buying it.

I already checked on the Acer website and did not find one. Mind you, that doesn't mean one doesn't exist...

[Son of David]

Pfft. As long as it can run the next Civ what's there to worry about?

[cashman]

My notebook is a HP ZD7000, purchased in February of 2004, so it's almost two years old.

System specs are:

3.06 GHz Pentium 4 Processor with HT
512 MB RAM (upgradeable to 2 GB)
80 GB HD
2X DVDwriter
17" widescreen display
Nvidia Geforce FX Go5600 (64 MB RAM)
Win XP Pro

My only regret on the system was skimping on the video board - I could've opted for a 128 MB nvidia board, which was available at the time. Instead, I opted to save money a bit and thought that 64 MB would be enough,... hahaha!

But even today, the system runs great and I have no complaints. It runs Civ IV decently with the 1.09 patch, although I have disabled the wonder movies (which really aren't all that great anyways), and there is somewhat of a slowdown in late game. I can set the graphics to HIGH during the early game, but set them down to LOW during the endgame, which helps performance. I am also considering a RAM upgrade, which may help.

As with many notebooks, the system can get fairly hot, particularly when playing graphics-intensive games. To minimize this, I have found that propping the rear of the system up on a 1" thick textbook and propping the front up about 1/2" helps provide additional airflow and ventilation underneath, which keeps the system cool. Before I did this, I could get the system heating up considerably and unexpectedly crashing with no warning at all (the game AND windows just shuts down)! After doing this trick, I have been able to complete two full civ games (winning the game with a diplo victory and then with the space race) on large maps.

[Zoid]

Originally posted by Roman


Hmm, 2 years for new games... it is a considerable investment for 2 years, but the price is very good compared to other notebooks of similar specs in Malaysia. Would I be correct in assuming that it will be able to run pretty much all games even relatively long time after that, even though they will probably be slow (but at least will still run) or is it likely that after this time it will have problems even running new games?

Considering I could run Civ 4 on my old comp (P3 450 Mhz, 320 Mb RAM and 128 Mb GeForce4 MX 4000) I think it´s a safe bet to assume that you will be able to play some new games (albeit slow) on your laptop 2 years from now. But as always there´s no guarantees regarding the future use of computers. If it´s a good deal and you really can´t afford anything more expensive I say go for it!

[Enigma_Nova]

Ironic that a player named Cashman would be skimping.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Enigma_Nova
It's already outdated.
(Points to the 128 MB on the vidcard)

Not really, depends on the chip.

[Roman]

Alright, thanks for the advice everybody - I have decided to get the computer (though if somebody writes something damning about it before I carry out the purchase I will still reconsider). The price is $1,554.96 converted to US dollars, which at least in Malaysia, seems to be a good deal for such a notebook and I cannot really go above $1,600 anyway.

[Urban Ranger]

What's the graphics chip? Model number, etc.

[Zoid]

Hope it works out for you Roman

[Addled Platypus]

computers and cars

are outdated once they leave the show room floor

[-FC-Commando]

Originally posted by Platypus Rex
computers and cars

are outdated once they leave the show room floor

And nowadays cars tend to start rusting inside the factory!!

[Son of David]

Originally posted by Roman
Alright, thanks for the advice everybody - I have decided to get the computer (though if somebody writes something damning about it before I carry out the purchase I will still reconsider). The price is $1,554.96 converted to US dollars, which at least in Malaysia, seems to be a good deal for such a notebook and I cannot really go above $1,600 anyway.

Wow. Enjoy! There's nothing quite as exciting as getting a new computer, especially a laptop.

[Roman]

Originally posted by Urban Ranger
What's the graphics chip? Model number, etc.

The graphics card is ATI Mobility Radeon x700 (my previous post about it being x600 was wrong - but than again I don't know the difference between the two) with 128 MB of video RAM. I am not sure what graphics chip x700 contains, but I would sure welcome being enlightened on the matter.

[Roman]

Originally posted by Dr Zoidberg
Hope it works out for you Roman

Thanks a bunch!

BTW: You asked about the response time of the screen a few posts ago. I now found out it is 8 ms.

[Roman]

Originally posted by Son of David
Wow. Enjoy! There's nothing quite as exciting as getting a new computer, especially a laptop.

Thanks! It will arrive in about a week. I can't wait!