Eagle's latest toys
I've had this bad boy for a couple of weeks already, but I just got around to posting it. I know our residential geek coder lady will be interested:
I was browsing around looking for a new laptop to replace my aging 13" MacBook (with a dead battery, naturally), and after much searching, this fit the bill. I didn't want to purchase an expensive laptop, but on the other hand, I wanted to be able to do at least some light gaming on it (e.g. Source engine games such as CS:S, Portal, or TF2). After browsing around my local Microcenter's website, I found this link:
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0339942
As it turns out, it has all the specs that I was looking for and more, in a price range I was quite happy with! Here's the (important) specs:
- CPU - Core i3-350M Processor - 2 cores@ 2.26GHz + Hyperthreading
- Memory - 4GB DDR3 1066MHz RAM
- Hard Drive - 320GB 5400RPM Drive
- Discrete Video Card - ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5650 with 1GB onboard memory
- Integrated Video Card - Includes on-CPU Intel graphics for extended battery life
- Display - 14" 16:9 1366x768 display
- Weight - 4.65lbs
- Other standard laptop items - DVD burner, 1.3megapixel webcam, card reader
- Battery Life - Can have up to 8 hours battery using integrated graphics
Now, while the processor doesn't sound too impressive, it's fast enough for what I'm going to be doing with it. Also, the gaming bottleneck is the GPU, and the GPU in this thing is no joke. It can run Crysis well at medium settings, and so far has run all of Valve's Source-based games at the screen's native resolution with full graphics, antialiasing, anisotropic filtering at roughly 100fps. The great part about this GPU is it's not usually found in such a small laptop (usually the 15.6" models or larger), which makes this thing a gaming beast with none of the weight that comes with it.
Also, the battery life is AWESOME for web browsing and non-gaming tasks (I consistently get 5-6 hours minimum), but it's still not bad gaming on the battery (1.5-2 hours average). It is on part with my Acer Apsire netbook, which is hard to believe for a gaming laptop.
Here's the shocker for some of you: the OS I chose for this guy happens to be Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit version. Yes, I have a dedicated Windows machine again. Since the thing can game so well, it'd be a shame to not have games on-demand for those work breaks.
![:-) :-)](./images/smilies/icon_e_smile.gif)
I haven't gotten pictures yet, but I'll get some up here soon. Also, I have another toy coming in the next day or two to show off as well!
</geekout>
![Image](http://www.eagleworld.net/pics/eaglerockfahrenheit.jpg)