Maximum PC

More antennae hence better performance. Can you say 450mbps?

Edit: Only the 5300 has the extra antenna. The 5100 goes to 300mbps and it's slower than the 4965.

They also have better range and power management.

Companies I like so far are:

Sager

Digital Storm

Xotic (basically Sager)

And a single GeForce Go 9800M-GTX should be able to crank WoW at 1900x1200, max settings right? No need to waste money on SLI?

Dell is just behind the curve on this one. Who has the best reliability and customer service?

Would a Centrino 2 system be comparable to a Core 2 system? I know the Centrino systems are a bit cheaper.

For RAM, I think I want a Laptop that uses DDR2 800 vice ones I see with DDR2 667. Thoughts?

a single 9800m GTX will definitely max out WoW. Even my friend's 9400m GT can get pretty high up there with settings. If all you're going to play is WoW, a $700 computer with a 9600 or 3670 will max out WoW. If you're going to play other games too, then you will want to get the mobile versions of the GTX cards, or the mobile 4870.

Xotic has awesome service from what I've read. GentechPC.com also have excellent support if you buy an Asus laptop.

Dell... I don't like them. They basically stopped making high end laptops after the XPS M1730, which is pretty old, and I don't think that they sel them anymore. They're basically saying "go buy our ridiculously overpriced alienwares!"

Centrino 2 is the platform that the system is based on (kinda like AMD's spider platform, with the Phenom and CrossfireX) Core 2 duo is like the Phenom in that sense. It is the CPU part of the platform.

Centrino 2 is what you want to get.

If you're getting such a high end laptop, make sure you get DDR3. It's faster and takes less power, since there is a very little speed difference between DDR2-667 and 800.

I don't think I've seen any laptop builds with DDR3 /shrug

After further investigation, I have found that I can get a laptop with DDR3. But I would have to sacrifice a 2nd hard drive. IMHO losing that HDD is not worth DDR3. Correct me if I am wrong.

Correction, Digital Storm offers a laptop with DDR3 and 2 hard drives. But, has a Duo proc instead of a Quad. Not much difference for gaming eh?

It comes with an ATI HD 3870, 512MB video card. I'm seriously behind on the video card developments. Would that be ok to max WoW settings, or go with 2 in Crossfire?

C2D is just fine for gaming. I have really only seen my Quad taken full advantage of with Sony Vegas.

IMO, that is very wrong. You can buy an external drive for <$100 ... how much portable space do you need for data?

At some point, you'll be able to upgrade the single HDD in the laptop as well. You'll never be able to upgrade that laptop from DDR2 to DDR3.

With laptops, it is important to buy the best possible components which are not replaceable ... the other components can be upgraded later as necessary.

Is the laptop your only system? Do you need to have 100% of your stuff with you at all times?

I'd highly recommend an external drive anyway. I have a 100GB in a 2.5 USB enclosure that lives in my laptop bag.

IMO, the cost of DDR3 isn't worth DDR3. The additional hard drive in a laptop seems kinda silly to me.

Yes, US Navy here. I travel and deploy a lot. I need to have a portable workhorse (coughgamecough) ready to go with minimal baggage. External HDD is not really an option.

I would like to run my laoptop like I run my desktop. OS ONLY on C: and everything else on D:

Now to tackle the graphics question.

Got some more info in this heavy desktop replacement beast.

Still based on the desktop Core2 chips
Will support 16GB of DDR3 (two slots)
Confirmation on the eSATA and HDMI ports

Unverified Claims:

1600Mhz FSB


I did see an Asus laptop with three SODIMM slots so perhaps triple channel RAM in a laptop may not be too far off.

for DDR3+dual HDD's, search for the Toshiba Qosmio X305.

In desktops, triple channel came with i7. I'm sure that the i7m or whatever they call it will be the first to have triple channel. That asus with the 3 RAM slots ran either 2 at dual channel or 3 at single channel.

Also, look for the Asus W90. 4870x2 in a laptop? Mmmmm.

I think that the second hard drive would be useful, but if you need extra space, go for the $100 1TB external over the $100 320GB internal drive. If you have eSATA in your laptop (and most high end new laptop do) then there's no reason not to go for the external, other than mobility.

If it's any similar to the D901C, it's got space for 3 HDD's not two.

I saw the Toshiba Qosmio at J&R a few days, definitely not my style. Besides I'm a self proclaimed Clevo Fanboy. However, I am still eyeballing the Asus Eee PC 901 for work related stuff.

Big ass 18 pound laptop at home, 2.2 pound netbook for fieldwork.