Got a new laptop

I'm working away for six weeks before the end of the year. And the thought of not having my own PC for that time was unbarable, so I've bought this:

Acer Aspire 5720 Laptop
T7500 Dual Core 2.2Ghz CPU
2GB Ram
160Gb Hard Drive
Intel X3100 Gfx
Windows Vista Home Premium
15.4" Widescreen LCD Monitor
800Mhz FSB speed
Price: £349

It's great so far, I've disabled everything I can in Vista and it's running really fast.
It handles Counterstrike source and half life 2 very well with decent texture quality, World of Warcraft runs fine too. Should be a good machine for writing blitz code on while I'm away.
The T7500 CPU is very fast too, it look to be one of the fastest mobile CPU's around right now, which is nice.

http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.204-6256.aspx

i was thinking of getting a laptop for pub writing (you think my desk is a mess wait till you see my hand writing) but something like that wouldnt be right, bit too steal me now
and i was looking for something else on maplins website when i saw this going dirt cheap
granted its got no dvd or hard drive or even a cpu that blitzmax would compile onto, but i was after a glorified typewriter and nothing else, pitty my hands are too big for the keyboard, im guessing its kinda aimed at the OLPC market ... although i downloaded a rik dangerous clone from their website (but not installed it yet)

I've got a Macbook Pro winging its way to me from Shanghai as I write this. I've not had a Mac in a while, it'll make a nice change.

Actually, it's not. There's the T8100 (2.1GHz, 3MB L2), T8400 (2.4GHz 3MB L2), T9500 (2.53GHz 6MB L2), and T9600 (2.8GHz 6MB L2), and there are some faster ones I think. I have the 2.1GHz T8100, which is the slowest current-generation non-ULV/LV laptop CPU, and it's just a little faster than the 2.2 GHz T7500 because the 45nm Penryn architecture (T8xxx/T9xxx) is slightly faster per-GHz than the older Merom chips (and more power efficient).

Anyway, that's a pretty good laptop for the price. My laptop (Vaio SZ) is a little faster, smaller (13.3"), and lighter (4 pounds), but it's a premium model (carbon fiber chassis, brushed aluminum, etc.) and cost $1400 (which is actually a bargain price considering it originally cost $2000), which is quite a bit more than what you paid :)

Nice.

Okay, so the T7500 is a fast "middle of the range" CPU, like most graphics cards I go for. I don't see the point in doubling the cost just to get 10% extra speed. I'm only wanting it for Blitz development and a few games anyway. Nothing fancy. And I'm a big beleiver in not using powerful PC's for games development, you should use the same platform you expect the player to be running.

Well the laptop I have is expensive not because of the processor, but because it uses high tech materials like carbon fiber (which makes it really light), has an amazing screen, and is all-around a premium engineered laptop (5-6 hour battery life, etc.) But it's a premium ultraportable laptop, so understandably it costs a lot.

The CPU actually isn't a huge difference, maybe at most ~$100 extra to get a T9500 over a T7500.

Anyway, there are many different types of laptops, for many different markets. Personally I prefer the premium quality laptops with high-tech engineering, but that's mainly because I don't upgrade that often (and don't need to, with a good laptop). But for someone who wants to pay as little as possible, the Acer you got should be a really good laptop.


I agree. However, even if you use a fairly powerful PC now to develop your game, and it takes a year to finish it, by the time you're done your PC will probably be average speed.

i got a higrade netbook on order, thats the next platform i intend to write for

I am very temping to buy T7500 Laptop as it look bargin price to me.