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General discussion

The ZD8000 is looking good but the heat / battery is poo...

Mar 23, 2005 4:32AM PST

So I was wondering if there are ways you can cool a notebook down. Apparently the ZD800 needs 3 noisy fans to keep cool (and still doesnt stay very cool). It would be nice if there was a way to get it cool so the fans could stay off more.

Also the battery... One reviewer said playing games cuts the battery down to 1 hour. I already made up my mind to get the slower HDD and the screen w/o the extra brightness... But are there any other ways to save power? Is it possible to turn the processor down a bit or something? (Also Its probobly a stupid question but are there any programms that like optomize your power useage somehow to improve battery life?)

Discussion is locked

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The solution
Mar 23, 2005 4:34AM PST

Don't buy it. If you need battery life and don't want a noisy, hot computer, well then just buy a Dell 9300. Problem solved.

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Well...
Mar 23, 2005 4:42AM PST

I don't need more battery life, I just want it Silly. Also this pile im using right now is very noisy so its not like im not use to it.

Also Dells suck badly... Their bad support really scares me. Not to mention for a similar set up to the ZD8000 I want, It would cost about $600 more to get the Inspiron 9300. Sorry But I don't feel like getting raped by dell any time soon.

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i agree
Mar 25, 2005 12:12AM PST

I want the same thing from a computer. And I'm planning on buying the zd8000 in June. Get the extra battery with it. If you want to save some cash buy the extra battery on ebay, or mabie look into one of those long life external batteries.
Good luck
Reid

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And your substantiation is. . .?
Mar 25, 2005 6:23AM PST

"Also Dells suck badly... Their bad support really scares me. "

Funny. My experience with Dell support is that they have been excellent. If you had a bad experience, that's too bad. But their support isn't really that bad. It's certainly no worse than HP.

Choose to believe what you want about Dell's support, but about the product, this is true: you get what you pay for.

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ryant t the dell fanboy
Mar 25, 2005 2:20PM PST

ryan t ur just an hp hating dell fanboy this laptop is good and some people dont care about those things. im sick of seeing you talk trash about the zd8000 in every thread.

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oooo the conversation gets heated
Mar 25, 2005 11:07PM PST

oooo and the conversation continues to get heated. Watch out now, CNET forum members will beging sending eachother massive hate emails and CNET will get shut down. FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT!

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(NT) (NT) I'm not responding to personal attacks n/t
Mar 26, 2005 1:37AM PST
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and the argument rages on
Mar 26, 2005 1:48AM PST

ouch
RyanT seems upset. I must ask though, isn't the Dell more money?

Why don't u respond to personal attacks?
I think its entertaining watching people argue.
C'mon ryan, do it for all the cnet forum readers.
RESPOND! Respond
(exuent)

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if you dont want to be "attacked"
Mar 26, 2005 2:50AM PST

if you dont want people "attacking you" then dont talk trash about a system that is just as good if not better. ive seen you on many threads talk trash about the zd8000 and how good dell is. so i will respond when someone talks trash about the laptop i just bought and tells everyone to get a dell because "hp isnt good" i dont care if you love dell, but dont expect to talk trash about a system like the zd8000 and not have people talk back to you.

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and it continues
Mar 26, 2005 3:44AM PST

ooo, the battle rages as people continue to argue across the CNET forums. Tune in next time folks as the competetors duke it out again on HP vs Dell laptops.
(exuent all)

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Rock-Em Sock-Em
Mar 26, 2005 12:12PM PST

Okay, well I do have a beef. But not with Bandit. With HP. They insist on using desktop parts in a laptop computer. They get away with cheaper prices but they end up with a product with lots of caveats. As bandit mentioned, lately I've spared no effort to mention the shortcomings of the zd8000, and the reason why I don't respect HP for putting out a product like it.

But I also think that those who buy it will find that in 3 months there will be a cooler, lighter, 64-bit laptop at a similar price point (see I do care about money, heck I got my laptop for $899), maybe even from HP. And if it's HP that offers that computer, I will be very happy for HP and if it's a good product, I'll recommend it.

But as Bob has pointed out and I wholeheartedly agree with, those who buy a zd8000 now may have buyer's remorse in 3-4 months.

Am I talking trash about HP? Well, maybe. I just think they could have done so much better with this computer, and in fact with their whole lineup. There are features about it that I admire--the numeric keypad is unbelievable, and the multimedia features they've put on there are impressive. But the choice of core components and the thermal design is just disappointing.

I admit that when it comes to consumer features that go beyond the standard PC, HP has Dell beat. HP laptops are more multimedia-friendly (at least their high-end ones). They have loads more gadgets and trinkets. But they cheap out on the computer side of things. Which is . . . after all . . . what it is at the end of the day.

When it comes down to it, I don't think anyone should buy from HP until they update their lineup. Their offerings are behind the times and HP is working on new models, and hopefully will get the jump on Dell when it comes to 64-bit. At that point, HP will be a better choice than Dell.

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i c your point but
Mar 27, 2005 4:02AM PST

Ryan I see your point, but for me those are non issues.
I am buying the zd8000 to have it sit in my apartment in college. I'm buying it because I can't take a desktop to the opposite side of the world for college. Its not gonna go to class with me, its gonna sit my my room and be my computer, dvd player, video game machine, and TV. Its a desktop that can be moved some. I know its not uber portable. I know the battery life blows. But it does the best job of what I want/need out of a computer at a cheaper price than anybody else, including dell.

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I would still wait
Mar 27, 2005 10:02AM PST

Bottom line is, HP should have a better version in a couple months.

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I'm glad you replied
Mar 27, 2005 10:10AM PST

Ryan, I am starting to see your point, well sort of.
I think for me I want a more portable system than the zd8000. You said that in comparable speed centrino vs p4 systems, the centrino is faster (eg 2g centrino is faster than 2ghz p4). I've read that its 2x as fast (1.7 ghz centrino =3.4 ghz p4). Is this true or close to it? I really like what I am seeing from the Latitude d810. It can game AND gets 4:33min battery. WOW. What do you think about that system? Also, is going from the 1.7 ghz system to the 2.13 system worth the LOTS of extra cash for each step?

Again, thanks for your response.

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Just sharing 2.0 GHz is worth more than 1.7.
Mar 27, 2005 10:31AM PST

Every day of the week. My car is a 2000. Why? I know the resale value of my 2000 exceeds the 1999 model by a lot.

The same is true as you pass MAGICAL numbers in a laptop. Forget the benchmarks and analysis. Think what the impression is.

Bob

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explain more bob
Mar 27, 2005 10:35AM PST

I don't quite understand what you are saying. I mean, I'm not really worried about resale value, I'm worried about how the thing runs and will it do the job. Is the 2.13 worth the extra $300 or so over the 1.7ghz?

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Centrino, fair maiden
Mar 27, 2005 11:03AM PST

Yes, that's true. Pentium M Mhz ~ Pentium 4 MHz X2. So yes, a 2.13 Ghz P-M is approximately equal to a 4GHz Pentium 4. Though you have to give hte Pentium 4 props for its hyper-threading. HT technology gives a boost on certain applications but is pretty transparent most of the time.

I've used the Latitude d810, and I must say it has a number of very nice features:
Good weight (sub-7)
Great screen
Better keyboard (compared to most dells)
Strong chassis
A shorter palmrest which does not interfere with your watch

And it comes with Centrino. Now, the thing to look for is Centrino "Sonoma". There are two flavors. One is the older version (old hat), which has a 400-Mhz front-side-bus, and 333-MHz ram. Sonoma uses a 533-Mhz bus and 400-MHz ram. It also has better graphics capabilities (both for dedicated and shared video subsystems). As far as the difference between 1.73 and 2.13 Ghz, it's not that huge . . . for what you're going to use it for, 1.73 will be fine. Happy

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latitude d810
Mar 27, 2005 11:06AM PST

will I be able to play games on it well?
I've read the battery life is like 4:33
what will it be like watching a DVD?

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Haven't thoroughly tested it
Mar 27, 2005 11:32AM PST

But the battery life sounds exactly right. It will do that in DVD playback, but you'll probably go down to about 3 hours if you pump the screen up to maximum brightness.

If you get the one with the Radeon X series option you should be able to play games, yes. Happy But, see, it doesn't have a gamer's video card like the zd or the XPS does, but I realize that the XPS is an expensive machine.

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I'll nod the 300 is worth it. keybordp Here's why..
Mar 27, 2005 12:05PM PST

There are many things you can pump up later on a laptop. More RAM, an external USB DVD writer, bigger faster hard disk, but that CPU is one item I've yet to find people able to change. I paid the extra for my old p3-600 for the options of 200 more MHz and the CDRW and it paid off with a laptop I used for 4 years. Yes I did change the hard disk and swap the CDRW for a DVD/CDRW but I got a lot of years from that machine while others did the 400 MHz because it was enough for the day. I still use the p3, but just for the demos.

I can also bet the 2+GHz CPU has the bigger L2 CPU cache. It will be one sweet machine you can enjoy for a lot of years.

If nothing else, I'd keep shopping. I know I did and landed a pair of Athlon 64 R3000s for under 900 each.

Bob

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Probably right
Mar 27, 2005 10:19PM PST

Yeah if you can swing the 300, go for it. It has the same amount of cache but it is 266 MHz faster. And buying/changing the processor for notebooks is really difficult later . . . Bob is wise. Wink

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cheaper options
Mar 27, 2005 11:38PM PST

hey
when i customise the D810, it gets pricey.
Is there a company I can go with that is cheaper than the dell but get the same specs (centrino 2gz, 128mb vid, a gb ram ect)?

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Why dump so much into a 32-bit machine?
Mar 27, 2005 11:46PM PST

The number of people who will be upset over the 64-bit tsunami and "why didn't anyone tell me?" is going to be far too many.

If you are dumping thousands into a 32-bit machine, then you should do so with the knowledge of what's up next.

Bob