Re: Buy new laptop: lots of questions
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Arioch
Can't agree more with this last post. You would have my money also (well you had it before...but you would have some more.
And please take out the DVD unit...or at least make it the 'slit' type.
If we can't make the system any thinner by removing the DVD drive (which we can't, at least for the Lemur), then it makes more sense to leave it in there. Even if no one uses it. We'll look into the slot-loading drives though.
EDIT: Also, SSDs do provide huge speed increases over a traditional spinny drive. That's the main reason we offer them. But they don't really offer better battery life or lower heat. At least not by a sizeable margin.
Re: Buy new laptop: lots of questions
An example would be HP offers a higher res screen option on some of their models for $150. Due to the relative size of the companies, that number may not work for System76. But if the 15" screens you have for the gazelle can be put on the pangolin, then I think it would be great to throw a number out there and let the consumer decide if its worth it. If you need a guinea pig ....
I don't use the DVD that much, but agree the slot drive would be slicker. When my son was a toddler, he wanted to climb up and get to something on a shelf above the computer and the CD tray was open. I think you can guess the rest! :-)
Re: Buy new laptop: lots of questions
I just received my Gazelle with the 1920x1080 matte display yesterday. I can't do any serious work in 720P because I run out of vertical real estate too quickly. I could not find a laptop in the stores with more than 1600x900 except the Apple retina displays. So when I ordered the Gazelle Pro I had to make a leap of faith that the matte display would come close to Retina.
I brought up a photo on the Gazelle that I took with a 14mp canon and was blown away with the display. I am happy I paid the extra price as I think its worth it, at least for me.
Re: Buy new laptop: lots of questions
Quote:
Originally Posted by
philbert
I just received my Gazelle with the 1920x1080 matte display yesterday. I can't do any serious work in 720P because I run out of vertical real estate too quickly. I could not find a laptop in the stores with more than 1600x900 except the Apple retina displays. So when I ordered the Gazelle Pro I had to make a leap of faith that the matte display would come close to Retina.
I brought up a photo on the Gazelle that I took with a 14mp canon and was blown away with the display. I am happy I paid the extra price as I think its worth it, at least for me.
Thanks, that's good info.
I'd love to get that screen. And I am considering the Gazelle. System76 has some nice selection of options on their machines.
I'd pull the trigger on a Pangolin with that display. As it is, one day I'm ready to go with the Lemur, but tell myself to wait and mull it over. The next day I think I want a 15" but without the extra heat and power, then the next day I dream of the better display. Grrrr!
Eventually, a decision will be made. There are also a lot of laptops just coming out with the 3rd generation chips.
Re: Buy new laptop: lots of questions
Quote:
Originally Posted by
irv
Thanks for the quick responds. The comments I made were based on reviews I saw from other manufactures. Goes to show you can't believe everything you read. I would think SSD's would improve performance?
I got an i5, 8 GB RAM, and a 60 GB SSD-20.49 second boot time. My powerhouse computer sporting a 1 TB HDD with an equally powerful AMD processor (plus the same amount of RAM), and an even better ATI graphics card boots in 63.20 seconds.
And, everything is snappy with the SSD-no hangs or anything like it once I upgraded my kernel to fix the Intel graphics issue.
So, to answer your question, yes, SSDs do, in fact, increase performance.
Plus, they also stay extremely quiet and produce very little heat compared to HDDs, thanks to not having any moving parts (the only time the fan is noticeable or not muted by my typing is during a kernel hang or if I'm doing something like importing thousands of photos at the same time in Shotwell).
Re: Buy new laptop: lots of questions
Quote:
Originally Posted by
isantop
If we can't make the system any thinner by removing the DVD drive (which we can't, at least for the Lemur), then it makes more sense to leave it in there. Even if no one uses it. We'll look into the slot-loading drives though.
I was wondering about that. You should offer to have an extra battery in place of the DVD drive (have seen this done before-super useful), or even an extra HDDs or SSDs (for people who want a RAID array or just want a built in backup drive, this would be super useful).
The only other thing is that the trackpad lacks the multitouch gestures you expect from most modern ones. I love the two finger scrolling, but being able to zoom in and out like Apple devices would be a dream come true (I have having to mouse over buttons to zoom in and out).
Re: Buy new laptop: lots of questions
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Ubun2to
I got an i5, 8 GB RAM, and a 60 GB SSD-20.49 second boot time. My powerhouse computer sporting a 1 TB HDD with an equally powerful AMD processor (plus the same amount of RAM), and an even better ATI graphics card boots in 63.20 seconds.
And, everything is snappy with the SSD-no hangs or anything like it once I upgraded my kernel to fix the Intel graphics issue.
So, to answer your question, yes, SSDs do, in fact, increase performance.
Plus, they also stay extremely quiet and produce very little heat compared to HDDs, thanks to not having any moving parts (the only time the fan is noticeable or not muted by my typing is during a kernel hang or if I'm doing something like importing thousands of photos at the same time in Shotwell).
Two days ago I order a 180gig SSD on a one day sale. Got it for $149. Couldn't resist. I am going to install Ubuntu 12.10 on it and do some testing.
Re: Buy new laptop: lots of questions
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Ubun2to
I got an i5, 8 GB RAM, and a 60 GB SSD-20.49 second boot time. My powerhouse computer sporting a 1 TB HDD with an equally powerful AMD processor (plus the same amount of RAM), and an even better ATI graphics card boots in 63.20 seconds.
On my Gazelle with the i7 3820QM, 8GB RAM and Intel SSD booting into Arch Linux with Systemd for the init system, I get boot times of about 5 seconds...and 3 of those seconds are spent bringing up the ethernet connection. :cool:
(caveat: I'm not using a login manager, so this is 5 seconds to a TTY shell; starting X with DWM takes another fraction of a second...)
Re: Buy new laptop: lots of questions
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Ubun2to
I was wondering about that. You should offer to have an extra battery in place of the DVD drive (have seen this done before-super useful), or even an extra HDDs or SSDs (for people who want a RAID array or just want a built in backup drive, this would be super useful).
The only other thing is that the trackpad lacks the multitouch gestures you expect from most modern ones. I love the two finger scrolling, but being able to zoom in and out like Apple devices would be a dream come true (I have having to mouse over buttons to zoom in and out).
That's a lot harder in practice than it is in theory. Batteries require lots of sophisticated circuitry to work properly, and to double that increases the price of the system a decent amount. Additional hard drives have always been a professional line feature on our systems. We do offer such a configuration on the Gazelle.
Re: Buy new laptop: lots of questions
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Ubun2to
I got an i5, 8 GB RAM, and a 60 GB SSD-20.49 second boot time. My powerhouse computer sporting a 1 TB HDD with an equally powerful AMD processor (plus the same amount of RAM), and an even better ATI graphics card boots in 63.20 seconds.
I don't want to get off subject, but could I ask one quick question, How do you measure boot time? Looks like you are splitting hairs.