I was thinking of 'upgrading' my laptop to something that can handle games and such:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16834220216

What do you guys think? Asus is a pretty rock solid brand. The only caveat is that it runs Vista instead of XP. I haven't really read (or found out) if you can 'downgrade' to XP (does Asus provide XP drivers for this laptop? Etc..)

I was looking at one of those new 15" Alienware notebooks that are coming out:

http://www.alienware.com/product_detail_pa...ode=SKU-DEFAULT

Sure looks nice.. but I think the hardware is almost comparable... and a helluva lot less cheaper then the Alienware.

Anyone have the Asus G1S notebook or the Alienware?

Thoughts? Opinions?

I've had 5 or 6 Asus mobos in a row and they have always lived up to and exceeded my expectations. The caveat being I haven't had any of their recent products. I have spoken to "Jerry" who lives in the same apartment block as I do. Jerry works full time at a big comp store. He is a straight shooter and when I last (within the past six months) checked with him about building a new box he said that he and most of his fellow staff agree that Asus is a top flight product. They do carry mobos other than ASUS, such as Gigabyte, Asrock, ECS, EVGA and XFX. The reason why I like ASUS products so much is that they are rock solid and I have never had a failure of any one. That may not be other peoples experience but I can only speak for myself.

I am pretty sure you would be able to find XP drivers. It seems that most hardware companies are seeing that vista is not the answer and are making drivers for xp still. I have messed with a couple newer laptops and installed xp with no problems.

As a matter of fact...

http://support.asus.com/download/download....s&model=G1S

They do have XP drivers.

Yes they do, but the Audio, Chipset, LAN and etc... are for Vista.

Bummer.

Then I would go with something else. I had to work with Vista on a friend's computer and it SUCKS!!!!

I've been looking around and unfortunately, M$ is shoving Vista down everyone's throat!! I can't find any with XP onit....except a Dell and I am NOT going there again. LoL

Jeez Louise Coz. Get a laptop and have the shop strip off Vista and install Xp Pro as part of the purchase agreement. Have them write in the support for Xp Pro also. That shouldn't be all that difficult.

The Asus mobo's are a really nice choice if you're into overclocking. A good combination would be EXXXX + Asus or QXXXX + Asus/MSI. Great for gaming.

Sounds' easy...doesn't it? But it is not. I just checked both with Asus and Alienware... VISTA only... vista support, only. *Sigh*.

Can't be 100% true, as Bull said, I also installed Xp on a "Vista-only" lappy with no problems at all... Believe me Coz, there are always ways...

I was looking around but there are 'un-official' drivers out there and everyone says that installed XP on the machine and used the drivers, the machine took a bigger hit then it did when it had Vista on it.

So, it's either.... play Zoo Tycoon from the early 90s on this laptop and stick w/ XP or play Crysis on a Vista machine. LoL

Play 'em both. lol

Well I managed to snag the Asus G1S over at BestBuy. They had it on sale for $700 less then what NewEgg wanted for it. I then decided to haggle with the salesman.. I walked out of BestBuy with the laptop "in hand" for $800.

I practically stole the freaking thing.

I spent all day yesterday wiping out the Vista install and installing Vista Ultimate. Vista isn't THAT bad...once you spend about 5 hours cleaning up all the crap that runs with it. I am not done 'tinkering' with the install yet. I still have a lot more research to do on what you can disable and stuff... but the laptop is awesome!!! On my flight home today I gamed the whole trip..... it flew by!

I am happy!

Cool beans man. It's true Vista isn't "that bad", but you have to spend alot of time turning off shit. You can in fact make it look and act almost like XP.

WHAT??? You're happy. Hey everyone! The Coz we know and love has been abducted by aliens. They have left a happy Coz in his place. LOL.

Mike: Go to Windows resource page.

Here: ---> Win Doze also.

And here: ------> Black Viper page, this is excellent for turning off non neccessary services.

Thanks for the BlackViper link... but those of us in the 'know' already 'know' about BlackViper. Someone like yourself should know that I am in the 'know' and you just wasted valuable keyboard time typing out an un-neccesary link!

I will have a look at the windoze site though! Thanks for that. LoL

A thousand pardons Mem Sahib. LOL.

Question; So I went and ordered some memory for the laptop. It came with 2gb of memory so I opted for 4gb of memory (yes I know, Vista won't detect anything over 3gb). I ordered some "G.Skill" memory with a latency of 4.

I figured I would re-run that Windows Vista Experience index. Before, with 2gb of memory and whatever 'budget memory' they put into the laptop I had a memory rating of 4.8

Now with the new lower latency memory and more of it... I get a Vista Experience ranking of....... 4.8?!?!!?

What gives with that?

Several questions Coz:
1.) Is it a 64bit Version of Vista?
2.) Did you opt for the new memory as a 2 + 2 GB setup and both of them the new lower latency ram?
3.) If it is 2GB of old and 2GB of new, it will only run/perform as well as the older/slower ram, right?
4.) Did you tweak you BIOS settings if it is all new ram in the laptop and thereby take advantage of the new RAMs capabilities?
5.) Was there some place within/at the beginnning of the test to note/show that you had the new hardware?

1.) Is it a 64bit Version of Vista? Nope. I know the 32Bit will only detect/display 3GB of ram.

2.) Did you opt for the new memory as a 2 + 2 GB setup and both of them the new lower latency ram? Yup, it's a 2gb x 2 module(s)

3.) If it is 2GB of old and 2GB of new, it will only run/perform as well as the older/slower ram, right? Both of them are matched. I took out the old 2x 1GB sticks and swapped them out with the new 2x2GB sticks. If I had left the older stick in there, you are correct, it would only run as fast as the slowest stick of RAM was capable of.

4.) Did you tweak you BIOS settings if it is all new ram in the laptop and thereby take advantage of the new RAMs capabilities? There is nothing in the BIOS for that kind of "tweaking" I looked. You figured Asus would have a pretty "Tweakable" BIOS considering the MoBo's BIOSes.. but you really can't change anything on the laptop.

5.) Was there some place within/at the beginning of the test to note/show that you had the new hardware? Yup, said "New Hardware found. Click Here to re-run Windows Vista Experience test.

My guess it that there is something with your laptop FSB or the test itself not being able to adequately/properly read the results (aka possible bottleneck of some sort.) Sorry Mike, just as baffled as you. I'm sure you've already tried heading to either the Asustek site or a laptop forum to discuss this, right?

Nope...cause none of them are as knowledgeable as you are Burner. If you can't figure out ... what is some Tech at Asus going to be able to do!?

Jeez Louise, Mike. Now you're flat out shitting me. Nice try though. <Wise arse. LOL.>

The Windows® Experience Index is a new feature built into Windows Vista™. It is designed to help consumers understand how well Windows Vista and the software running on it will perform on a specific PC. The index achieves this by assessing the capability of the PC and assigning a score to it. Higher scores indicate a better Vista experience on your PC.

The overall PC performance is represented by the base score. The base score is derived from 5 subscores for each of the following 5 attributes:

• Processor
Calculations per second

• Memory
Operations per second

• Graphics
Desktop performance for Windows Aero graphics

• Gaming graphics
3D graphics performance. Useful for gaming and 3D business applications

• Primary hard disk
The data transfer rate of the primary hard disk

The scale of the Windows Experience Index ranges from 1 to 5.9. The higher the score for a particular component area, the better experience you can expect from that area.

Base Score Level
Applications and Scenarios
Description

1.0 – 1.9
Basic performance. Productivity applications, IM, web, email, simple games - like Solitaire, educational games.
Minimum specification needed to run Windows Vista™.

2.0 – 2.9
Improved responsiveness. Same applications as a base score of 1.0 – 1.9.
PCs will run Windows Vista but in most cases will not be Aero capable.

3.0-3.9
Aero graphics, Media Center with standard definition TV, basic graphical games, basic performance while running high-end graphical games.
Minimum specification needed to run Windows Vista Premium features, including the new Aero user interface.

4.0 – 4.9
Snappy performance, high definition video, high resolution monitors, dual monitors.
Very good performing PCs.

5.0 – 5.9
Fast moving games with amazingly rich graphics, 3D modeling, high-end multimedia and high performance applications.
Top end of the PC market for the Vista time frame.

Quit your bellyachin Mike.

Thank-you, Ron. See, you got a kick ass comp, Mike. Don't sweat it man.

I know I have a kick ass laptop. I just expected the memory score to go up a notch.

Even faster memory may have upped the score. I'm not sure that more memory past a certain level would have any effect. You may be past the "sweet" spot for RAM. :shrugs:

Didn't you say your memory was CAS 4.5 or such? For one, I didn't think it went that high. That is over double the latency of CAS 2. Good math there.

Nope, I said the memory was CAS4. I don't know where you got the .5 from... must be drinking too much and working on your Dakota or something!!

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx...N82E16820231154

Still...CAS 4 is still kinda high.

Not for DDR2

I thought the lower CAS the faster the memory? Or am I way off base?

That is right, mine is CAS 2.5. Obviously this has changed with DDR2?

CAS Latency

DDR - 1.5, 2, 2.5

DDR2 - 3+, 4, 5

I just read a comparison for DDR and DDR2. Made me wonder...the point of DDR2 is what??

So, to clear it all up, Cas4 is quicker the Cas5 when using DDR2, right?

Just like wire, the lower the number the better the performance, capability.

Yes, but still my CAS 2.5 DDR is faster than CAS 4 DDR2.

Yea, well ... add another nail in my coffin. I just found out today that my super-high-speed laptop draws too much voltage from the United Airplane power plugs and shuts them down!!!!

Freaking GREAT! JUST GREAT.

Ahh, the old Coz we know and love is back. Sorry to hear about the lappy, Mike.

I just can't win man.... I just can't win.

I think I am pulling ahead and then 'the man' comes along and smacks me back!

Buy extra batteries...and charge them.

I spent all day yesterday trying to decrease the volts that the laptop requires by disabiling all sorts of stuff. I felt like Gary Sinise in "Apollo 13" movie with the volt meter making sure they don't burn out the systems trying to re-start the Command Module so they can get back home. LoL

Anyway, none of it worked. I couldn't even get the laptop to charge much less 'stay on AC power'. I did however get the laptop to stay on by taking out the battery all together. I could watch Movies, Run programs etc.... but once I tried to play a game.... *bam* over the volts!!!!

It was just horrible!!! Soooo close but yet so far... lol

Like I have always said...

With you around, at least I don't feel like the only one with shit luck!!

Let's see, wonder who said "If it isn't broke, don't try and fix it"

Now bullski, you're not helping at all, at all. LOL.