Z60T - Bad time to buy?

[ericssonboi]

I'm looking into buying a Z60T.

Just the very basic model.
I won't be doing any intensive work on it.. just school papers and web browsing. But knowing that the Intel Duo Core chips are out there just gives me second thoughts about buying one now.

Ontop of that... i'm not too big of a fan of the Intel GMA 900...
I would like to do occasional gaming on it ... like CounterStrike and Quake 3 (maybe pushing it) ... but I don't want to be left out not being able to play.
I guess upgrading the ram would be an option... but i would prefer a dedicated graphics card.

Also... 14" is pretty much the max i'll go. I have a 15" Apple Powerbook currently... and i find it annoying to lug it around all the time due to its size.

So the question is... would you wait to purchase... or just buy it now? There's a local store that has them in stock.. so i don't really have to wait to have it shipped...

[sugo]

If you don't need it now, I would wait.

Personally if it doesn't offer exactly what I want, I don't buy it. Otherwise later on I will have to sell it, lose money and buy something else.

[ericssonboi]

If you don't need it now, I would wait.

Personally if it doesn't offer exactly what I want, I don't buy it. Otherwise later on I will have to sell it, lose money and buy something else.

Some good advice...

How does the Intel GMA 900 hold up for gaming like Counterstrike? Anyone try? I don't really need a lot of performance... but more portability.
X series is a bit too small and i would prefer widescreen as this would be my main machine..

[dr_st]

IMO, it's always a bad time to buy Z60t. Because Z60t is a bad thing to buy. Just heard about so many issues with build quality that pop up on "select models", and the lack of dedicated video card, and the fact that it's small and overpriced. But you apparently want it to be small.

End of my rant.

If you'll be doing very basic stuff on it, why do you care about Duo Core chips? You'll not even going to be using half of the potential of the current Pentium M processors. Even a T20/T30 is good enough for the tasks you mentioned.

As for the GMA900. It will play Counterstrike and Quake 3 just fine. My friend has a laptop with Intel Extreme Graphics 2 (weaker than the GMA) and he plays those games without problems. In fact, my K6-2 CPU with Voodoo 3000 would play Quake 3. Now, if you want to play DOOM3 or Quake 4, you will run into problems with the GMA.

[smek]

I got the Celeron z60t model, since I already have a powerful t43, and was able to play Max Payne 2 on high settings as well as Call of Duty on med-high settings with no problem. Those games came out in 02-03 so playing counter strike and quake 3 should be no problem.

[ericssonboi]

IMO, it's always a bad time to buy Z60t. Because Z60t is a bad thing to buy. Just heard about so many issues with build quality that pop up on "select models", and the lack of dedicated video card, and the fact that it's small and overpriced. But you apparently want it to be small.

End of my rant.

If you'll be doing very basic stuff on it, why do you care about Duo Core chips? You'll not even going to be using half of the potential of the current Pentium M processors. Even a T20/T30 is good enough for the tasks you mentioned.

As for the GMA900. It will play Counterstrike and Quake 3 just fine. My friend has a laptop with Intel Extreme Graphics 2 (weaker than the GMA) and he plays those games without problems. In fact, my K6-2 CPU with Voodoo 3000 would play Quake 3. Now, if you want to play DOOM3 or Quake 4, you will run into problems with the GMA.

Why do i care about Duo Core? Because the value of the Centrino chips will be worth nothing in the no time. Why buy a outdated peice of hardware when you know its going to be replaced very soon. Although i won't be using half the potential (2 cores), its good to have it then for when you need or when you do decide to resell it.

[dr_st]

Why do i care about Duo Core? Because the value of the Centrino chips will be worth nothing in the no time. Why buy a outdated peice of hardware when you know its going to be replaced very soon. Although i won't be using half the potential (2 cores), its good to have it then for when you need or when you do decide to resell it.

Ah, I see. I just never resell my hardware.

[ericssonboi]

Why do i care about Duo Core? Because the value of the Centrino chips will be worth nothing in the no time. Why buy a outdated peice of hardware when you know its going to be replaced very soon. Although i won't be using half the potential (2 cores), its good to have it then for when you need or when you do decide to resell it.

Ah, I see. I just never resell my hardware.

My bad habits... or else i wouldn't be able to by an IBM

[smek]

Although it will derease the resale value, it will not be by a lrage margin. When sonoma platform came out, the older t4xs prices barely moved, IBM buyers put a much larger value on quality and support rather than the actaul comoponents, since afterall you can get a compaq system for a hell of a lot less that will have better components.

[K. Eng]

This is true. The second generation Centrino, Sonoma, is not a terrible product, but its chipset (915xM series) is mediocre at best.

Napa, on the other hand, offers large performance gains and lower power consumption. Having a CPU that can process two threads concurrently will also make your computing experience much smoother...

Why do i care about Duo Core? Because the value of the Centrino chips will be worth nothing in the no time. Why buy a outdated peice of hardware when you know its going to be replaced very soon. Although i won't be using half the potential (2 cores), its good to have it then for when you need or when you do decide to resell it.

[ericssonboi]

Very good points everyone.

I did notice that the X60 is already on the ibm website... and that it did not change the pricves of the X41's at all... The X41's remained at their price while the X60 was the most expensive one out of them all.

Maybe its just me not comfortable buying outdated hardware..
Other companies are selling their laptops for hundreds less... while the IBM is known to be sturdier and in its own "business class"

Another question for everyone...
Is the exteneded Warranty worth it? Option of 1 year or the 3 years from IBM. Which one would you choose and why?

[dr_st]

Option of 1 year or the 3 years from IBM. Which one would you choose and why?

3 years. Because I want those two extra years of protection. Contrary to public opinion, things can fail outside of the first 6 months of usage.

[a31pguy]

If you're buying a laptop for resale value forget it. Unless you plan on selling it the moment you receive it. If the Intel's Moore's law holds up, every six months your laptop will virtually worthless anyway.

You should make your buying decisions on productivity instead. How much value does your computer bring to your everyday. How long you plan to keep it and what applications it will support.

Personally - I find the best determination of a good laptop is Graphics, Screen, Hard drive space, hard drive speed, and ports. CPU isn't as much a factor at this point as long as it will support Longhorn.

If a laptop can last three years and still be a decent performer - that's the sign of a good value.

BTW - Counterstrike on Intel GMA? Forget about it. Maybe in DX7 mode but not DX9 mode.

[dr_st]

If you're buying a laptop for resale value forget it. Unless you plan on selling it the moment you receive it. If the Intel's Moore's law holds up, every six months your laptop will virtually worthless anyway.

While I don't think that buying a laptop (or a car, or a house) with the thought of selling it later is the right approach, I disagree that hardware will lose its value so fast.

You should make your buying decisions on productivity instead. How much value does your computer bring to your everyday. How long you plan to keep it and what applications it will support.

Agreed, except the "how long you plan to keep it" part. I keep hardware as long as it works. And I buy new, when I need it, and can afford it. But that might be just me.

BTW - Counterstrike on Intel GMA? Forget about it. Maybe in DX7 mode but not DX9 mode.

Have you tried it? We're talking about the original Counterstrike, I presume. The one based on the original Half-Life engine, which isn't heavy at all by today's standards.

[a31pguy]

I haven't tried it on the GMA platform. From what I've read from others it's not a usuable gaming platform. I probably won't either. Loading the game takes a few hours from steam and making the cfg changes to optimized it are lengthy. The original counterstrike is DX 7. Condition Zero is DX 9 based with an option to go back to DX 7. So the original counterstrike would work ok on GMA. But any of the source based steam games are graphics intensive in all but the lowest resolutions with all settings turned down.

I do play BF2, HL2, and Condition Zero (the follow on to counter strike) which are very graphics intensive on my z60m.

On resale value - well true there is a sort of residual value that laptops never seem to go below (about $200 it seems). On the other hand i think moore's law is getting to it's end.

[smek]

If you guys are talking about original CS 1.6 than GMA wont do buetifully but it will certainly hold up very well. I played it on an HP ze4300 with 1.8 celeron and igp 320M, 320mb ram, loaded up in a few minutes and ran fine with average settings and constant FPS.

HL2 is more CPU intensive, BF2 is a ram hog yet they obviously require a descent grfx card of at least x300 to enjoy the game somewhat, even though GMA will run BF2 its horrific.