kgsan Posted December 30, 2004 Share Posted December 30, 2004 I am thinking about plunking down for a laptop. While I would like to get a real desktop replacement such as the high end Alienware laptop, I just don't feel I can justify the cost. So anyway, I'm now looking at a Dell Inspiron 9200 which comes with an Intel Pentium M 725 processor, 17" widescreen XGA+ display and a 128MB ATI Mobility Radeon 9600. I know about the lack of fog with the Radeon card, which I can live with, but was wondering if there might be any other known issues with such a set up while trying to play everyone's favorite game? Also, (this is my first laptop purchase so my apologies for the stupid question) but would using a widescreen laptop display create any distortions when viewing CM or other games? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schrullenhaft Posted December 30, 2004 Share Posted December 30, 2004 The ATI Radeons also have a problem with some text in CM. However there is a workaround mentioned in the Support portion of the website (replacing some text bitmaps). There are also some performance issues with the 'Z Mask' that requires it to be turned off with a third party tweaker utility. As for the widescreen display... CM uses a limited number of resolutions that are approximate to a 4:3 ratio (800x600, 1024x768, 1280x1024, some other resolutions between 1024x768 and 1280x1024 and on up to 1600x1200) instead of a 16:9 ratio or whatever ratio is native to the widescreen laptop. At best the laptop may 'block' the sides of the screen (usually black bars on the left and right of the display) to display the resolutions that CM will run at, which preserves the aspect ratio and may also somewhat preserve the native resolution (horizontally). However there is the likelihood that the laptop may attempt to 'stretch' the pixels across the entire LCD, distorting the resolution horizontally (and vertically). This could make everything look a little 'flatter' than it should and quite possibly more 'fuzzy' or 'pixelated' (since the individual pixels will be larger and more rectangular). Here's one review about the Inspirion 9200 from the UK (which might be slightly different from what you're buying): MacUser Dell Inspirion 9200 Review Here's a forum talking about widescreen displays and what you may run into: ABXzone forum discussion of widescreen and non-native LCD resolutions So, despite how nice it may seem, unless you run at the native resolution of the display (which is quite high for this particular Dell) the image may look subpar. For DVDs widescreen may be great, but unless you're running at the native LCD resolution and can handle the smaller size of text and graphics (for those programs that won't/can't scale their graphics and text) it could a very bad tradeoff. If you have a large computer store around, you may want to check out the widescreen laptops on display and see if a salesperson will let you change the resolution temporarily. If the screen is always filled up no matter what resolution you select, then it is stretching the pixels and you can expect similar results with the Inspirion 9200. [ December 30, 2004, 08:30 AM: Message edited by: Schrullenhaft ] 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redwolf Posted December 30, 2004 Share Posted December 30, 2004 ATI sucks way more than not having fog. Just for starters you have to rely on laptop vendor's new drivers, ATI does not provide "central" drivers. This is a huge deal, drivers for 3D cards are critical and laptop vendors usually don't care. And check out the broken 2D hardware acceleration causing ATF not to run without disabling it. You can get many Inspiron models with GeForce 5200 or 5700, do yourself a favor and do that. An upgrade to a Latidude model might be in order, too. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kgsan Posted December 31, 2004 Author Share Posted December 31, 2004 Thanks for the replies. In light of your advice I won't be ordering that configuration and will see if I an reach a better balance of hardware and price. With regard to the monitor issue, it seems strange that as the screen gets bigger, and there is less need to shrink what is on the screen in order to fit, the native resolution gets smaller and smaller. Oh well, the ironies and marketing pressures of life. Thanks again for the quick and informative response, don’t you guys ever rest 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tooz Posted December 31, 2004 Share Posted December 31, 2004 I bought a Dell Inspiron 8200 laptop from Dell (China)two years ago--almost to the day and have not experienced any difficulties with the LCD. I have the 17" but it is not the widescreen. Also, as mentioned in another tech thread Dell replaced my ATI with a nVidia graphics card and I am finally enjoying fog and dust. I recommend highly Dell laptops for CM play, just make sure you get one without the ATI graphics card. Then again, there is a new ATI "Pro" card offered by Dell that MAY be worthwhile. Make certain you lay out the extra cash for an extended warranty. I have one more year (out of three years) and Dell sends someone to your home (even here in China) to fix whatever went wrong. I was lucky, my ATI graphics card went down, and they replaced it with a brand new nVidia GeForce FX Go5200 AGP. Outstanding service. AND I now have a better graphics card--no extra charge. One caveat, I was told by the Dell repairman NOT to run the laptop for more than three hours at a time (let the Laptop "rest" a bit). This is a bit of a downer but it pleases the wife to know I have a time limit--otherwise I'd be on the laptop playing CM 'til dawn. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kgsan Posted December 31, 2004 Author Share Posted December 31, 2004 Thanks for the info Tooz. I think I'm going to look for a laptop with the Pentium "M" Centrino processor. From what I've read it sounds like it is pretty powerful but runs much cooler than the Pentium 4s. Now I just have to find a dealer selling one with the right configuration. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redwolf Posted December 31, 2004 Share Posted December 31, 2004 Originally posted by tooz: One caveat, I was told by the Dell repairman NOT to run the laptop for more than three hours at a time (let the Laptop "rest" a bit).Uh? That pretty big bull**** as long as it doesn't specify whether it is idle or not during the 3 hours. The heat produced by a laptop under CPU load, not to mention CPU + GPU load is an order of magnitude more than an idle laptop waiting for the next keystroke coming in. Generally, there is no reason to get a notebook based on a Pentium-4 mobile anymore, much less a real Pentium-4. Get a Centrino one, either with a Pentium-M or a Celeron-M. Besides heat and battery life, these chips also rock performance-wise, for must usages. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TufenHuden Posted January 2, 2005 Share Posted January 2, 2005 Tooz, Buy one of those labtop fans that fit under or will sit in or elevate the labtop so it won't overheat-ever take a blowdryer and cover the front of it and it overheats-same principle but labtop won't overheat that fast but in time it will-that's a suggestion. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redwolf Posted January 2, 2005 Share Posted January 2, 2005 If you get a centrino one with a mid-range graphics chip cooling shouldn't be an issue. I just got a Centrino thinkpad and I actually miss my hand warmer that my P-III is That think is just cool as if it's turned off. (Note: that's a Linux-exclusive notebook, it has an older ATI chip that has OpenSource drivers. I wouldn't recommend it for CM) 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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