[Speakersrock]

Originally Posted by new tech guy

Ok i have returned. I think im definitely giving the old computer to my mom as she could use it and the problem isnt bad at the moment. Doing this so she can have her own and i think it would just be a waste to toss the machine at this point. In the meantime im just going to use it till i have the new one. Now, i was looking at different dell models. Only fear i have with them is that i may be getting a cheapy computer. Although i have serviced a client who owns one and have heard stories about them being good im still nervous about owning one. Are they a good option to look into? Thanks for all the advice so far.

Originally Posted by carolavis

I saw some used or refurbished Dell laptops on Ebay and am looking for some advice about purchasing one. The prices run around $300. Has anyone had experience with them? Thanks.

Originally Posted by carolavis

OK, I guess $300 is to good to be true. I will look at the other places mentioned. Thanks

I buy a lot online too, and from ebay. Im not recommending it, or advising you to steer clear of it, I can image that you could find some genuine lappys/sellers out there. - But remember, should you decide to go for it, talk to the seller first, ask a few questions, e.t.c, and also only go for sellers with very good feedback, and have sold lots and lots.

Hope that helps!

[new tech guy]

Right now i was looking again at the dell lattitude d830 laptop. Now it looks good and i can equip it well and still get a great price on the pc. Just one factor has me concerned and maybe someone milling around can explain it more. It is the graphics card. Im looking to upgrade from the standard intergrated one to the NVIDIA Quadro NVS 140M . Now this chip is getting 256mb of onboard ram which for my purposes should be ample. The trouble comes because when i look at the graphic card specs it has this technology called TurboCache where essentially along with using its own onboard memory and recources it will sap extra memory from the main system to extend its own. So it may have 256MB onboard and with the turbocaching enabled it will be say, 512MB. I am looking around on the internet to see if this chip has anyway of disabling the turbocache and at least am glad to know it is a software configuration change and not a firmware hack but nowhere on the internet has clear instuctions as to how. If anyone has knowledge of this system could they explain to me how i could either reduce the consumption of it or just best to disable the thing altogether. I just dont see any reason for it to be there.

[Speakersrock]

Well I have done some more asking around for ya, and finally managed to find someone that does know a bit about it. He says that It really doesn't do much, and is only comes into play for high-end gaming, (and you would not normally do that on a lappy anyway of course, so tht is why it is there.)

Otherwise it shouldn't really do much at all. - To be honest, I would really not worry about it unless you plan to do high end gaming, which i don't think you do?!

However, I you do want to worry some more about it, he did mention that he put a fair amount on betting there would be some form of management software included – which will probably include either a way of really minimizing how much effect it would have should it come to life, or indeed disabling it completely.

[new tech guy]

But see wont the ram, still be allocated for the video, even if its just an empty chunk, its still there and allocated, therefore the system wont touch it, or will it give up that chunk alltogether and allow the main system to use it, then if video needs it, the peice of memory will be allocated and used? I know that sounds a bit confusing but this is an odd peice of technology.

[Speakersrock]

yeah I hear ya, and I said, Im not sure. I got the impression that it just took the memory when/if it needed and and became available.
Anyway, hopefully all will be clarified tomorrow!

[JohnWill]

Shared memory for video is a serious performance hit for any machine.

[new tech guy]

Which is exactly what aggravates me on it John, I got my fears confirmed today as I contacted nvidia support. There is no way to turn this feature off and did find out it is controlled by vista APIs. In other words unless i can find some sort of hack to turn off the feature or set the shared memory to nothing, im in a bit of trouble. Might be best if i keep looking for a computer. Here is a quote from what their support told me:
Thank you for contacting NVIDIA Customer Care.

This is Ganesh and I shall answer your query.

I understand that you have Quadro NVS 140M graphics card with Vista operating system in your computer. You would like to know if you can disable TurboCache feature of the graphics card. You would also like to know if you can control the amount of memory need to be shared and if the graphics card would share the system memory when not using it.

I am sorry, TurboCache feature is not user definable. You can not disable or control the TurboCache feature. The amount of system memory to be shared is prefixed by the card manufacturer and is shared by the graphics card even when not using it.

Also, please note that in Vista, allocation of memory for the graphics card is controlled by the operating system itself. The GPU or the display drivers do not have any control in Vista operating system in the amount of memory allocated to the graphics card.

Please click the link given below for more information.

http://nvidia.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/n...p?p_faqid=2118

Please feel free to contact us for any further information.

Regards,
Ganesh,
NVIDIA Customer Care

Well that makes me want to keep looking although this current pc was a powerhouse with the specs i had for it.... Only way out is if i can find a way in the system to not allow memory sharing and to make the os take all of the recources instead of the graphics card.

[JohnWill]

You can't turn "shared video memory" off, the video card has no memory of it's one in systems like that!

One of the selection criteria I had for my laptop was not having shared memory for the video adapter.

[new tech guy]

Today i was in the local circuitcity for a set of headphones for my ipod (other ones broke on the plane coming home from vacation) and i found a diamond in the rough..It was an hp pavilion laptop that was installed with a graphics card on its own recources, (i found a nice site for confirming the exact specs of the card) 3 gigs of ram, and a dual core intel processor. All of this for around 829 i beleive. I thought i had found my new pc until i read the processor spec....1.63 ghz. A bit dissapointing for a dual core. I asked if they had a comparible machine with a little more punch in the cpu deptpartment and i would have been satisfied with 2 ghz. The best they had was at 1.83. Still slow. So i thanked the salesperson and let him go. He even told me that i wouldnt notice a difference between the two. Sheesh, talk about closing a deal. So i jotted down the pc models i saw and figure i can look them up on the manufacturer's website and see if i can find one with a better cpu clock and same specs.

[Speakersrock]

hmmm shame about the whole processor thing. - But LOL at the sales rep.!
yeah, I guess in this day in age you shoud'nt settle for anyhing less than 2ghz

I would carry on loking for that upgrade! - sounds a good machine, but from a place like that, be sure to chek the warranty!


Good luck mate

[new tech guy]

Will let you know, i have one more pc to work on later and then i can get back to this hunt. Dunno if i can get the sale price on it but i will see what i can do.

[Speakersrock]

hmm, yeah well gl, and yes, please do keep me/us posted

[new tech guy]

Ok good news on alot of different stuff (hopefully the links hold up this time). First i did find the pc from the store on the hp website but it was a locked configuration that was uncustomizable. However, i did look into the dv6700t. I had it equipped for under 1000 usd because of an on site discount and on top of that, i checked with my job's employee discounts page and i can get another 20% off the price of the computer. This totals out to around 30% as i beleive the hp store is taking 10% off the top of everything. If this works the way i want it to (will check the nitty gritty details later). Here is a link to the pc. It has preset configurations but i plan to go custom. Will let you know my findings and details as i learn them.

[Speakersrock]

Originally Posted by new tech guy

Ok good news on alot of different stuff (hopefully the links hold up this time). First i did find the pc from the store on the hp website but it was a locked configuration that was uncustomizable. However, i did look into the dv6700t. I had it equipped for under 1000 usd because of an on site discount and on top of that, i checked with my job's employee discounts page and i can get another 20% off the price of the computer. This totals out to around 30% as i beleive the hp store is taking 10% off the top of everything. If this works the way i want it to (will check the nitty gritty details later). Here is a link to the pc. It has preset configurations but i plan to go custom. Will let you know my findings and details as i learn them.

well that sounds good!
Unfortunatly, I don't see any link to the lappy, but it all sounds good. Im sure you'll get it worked out! Plus the employee discounts sounds good!

[new tech guy]

Originally Posted by Speakersrock

well that sounds good!
Unfortunatly, I don't see any link to the lappy, but it all sounds good. Im sure you'll get it worked out! Plus the employee discounts sounds good!

O whoops sorry, here is the link http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/sh...dv6700t_series