

Alienware m9750  (Source: Alienware)
Alienware embraces solid-state disks for its notebooks





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RE: Faster, But Costly
By TomZ on 7/24/2007 10:37:49 PM , Rating: 1
I agree. The new laptop I described above is an Inspiron 1720, 17" display, 1920x1200, dual HDDs, dual monitor support. I'm considering pitching my desktop machine, especially since the laptop performs as well as my 955EE desktop (!). It could easily replace my desktop, even for the engineering-type apps I typically run. It would be nice to just have one main computer and not have to synchonize gigabytes of data files.

RE: Faster, But Costly
By InternetGeek on 7/24/2007 11:31:10 PM , Rating: 2
Well, I can tell you it is indeed very convenient. Travelling around might be a bit of a hassle, unless you know you're arriving to a hotel or somewhere to place the PC (can't really call desktop replacements 'laptops' can we?).

In my case I have a Toshiba P105-S921. You might remember it because it was used to launch the GeForce Go 7900GS. Only drawback is the HDD which might be a little bit faster. Otherwise I can run Oblivion full-out on Vista. The rest of the apps I use are Office, VS.NET, Photoshop, etc. Unless, I'm travelling I don't really think about a smaller laptop. Which is when the wife's comes in handy.

Since I have it, I stopped seeing desktop-oriented parts at all. And the next 'PC' will be another desktop replacement. Hopefully, I will be able to configure it in more depth (a-la-desktop).

RE: Faster, But Costly
By aos007 on 7/25/2007 12:03:02 PM , Rating: 2
That's fine guys, but those desktop replacements are BIG. It doesn't make sense to use flash drive instead of HDD just yet. Right now it makes sense for either for portability or performance and neither applies to a desktop replacement. I can't see buying a $500 drive to speed up by a little bit a machine that is not otherwise decked-out CPU and graphics-wise as a smart decision, especially since as a primary machine you would be definitely writing on that disk (which is slow), not just reading from it.

I'm not saying that there's not an element of insanity present in an enthusiast - I spent a lot of money on 150G WD Raptor myself, and I don't think it was wise. Still, I'd say it is a bit early to buy into this.

RE: Faster, But Costly
By TomZ on 7/25/2007 5:16:48 PM , Rating: 2
I understand what you're saying, but I think you are underestimating the performance of top-end desktop replacements. I also think you are overstating their size - there is no reason you can't put a 17" laptop into a bag and travel wherever you want.


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