dv8tion242
Active member
[solved] Questions on hardware and compatability with ...
As noted in the 'hello' post, my laptop is coming to the dying days. I don't need anything earth-shattering powerful, but what the laptop will be used for, does tend to eat up a fair amount of RAM.
If the following sounds like slagging off PCS products, its not intended as such. Before laying out reasonably serious (for me at least) I need to know exactly what has been ordered, will arrive and work. From reading comments this seems to be the case so all is looking well there. Even when there are (ahem) issues, they are resolved.
What will this laptop be used for? Primarily, this laptop will be as much of a "getting away from it all/changing environment", as much as work horse. I do a bit of desktop publishing and as I am not raking in the money from 50 shades of lameness the budget is limited. The hardware still needs to cope with documents and images. By that I mean this hardware can't just be a 'precious item'. The life it will leave will consist of trains, buses and possibly the occasional plane. It will be padded from reasonable shock but will need to visit real life.
I don't plan on doing gaming but will probably be processing largish images bouncing between 400-600DPI. The image processing doesn't take huge CPU time but can suck up memory pretty quickly. Quantity of memory I've found isn't as critical as quality. The amount which is being considered probably won't matter much but the quality of memory makes a big difference on hardware.
Being able to process large publishing files means there needs to be stability. Going by what I have read and seen about the laptops, the top running models are:
15.6" Optimus V From £620 inc VAT and Delivery.
15.6" Vortex IV LE From £750 inc VAT and Delivery.
15.6" Vortex IV From £910 inc VAT and Delivery.
The main concerns from people in regards to laptops in this range is derived from reading reviews and reading this forum: Fan noise, quality of the external shell, battery life, as well as the "AUO Matte 95% Gamut Widescreen" option's rather enthusiastic take on colour rendering.
There are some odd variations on the customization page as well.
Minor differences but "1 x HDMI Port, 1 x Display Port, 1 x Mini Display Port" when both models "1 x 15 pin VGA OUT port" clearly state HDMI "HDMI Ports 1 1 1"
Is there a second HDMI port or is there one on all the laptops by default?
Battery life is not a huge issue for me, but noise is.
Going to a café or library, means at least to me, no excess noise.
Reasonable quality of the screen is required as noted by the publishing.
Based on paper and price and images, the Optimus looks like it has similar spec, but less ventilation. This seems to be countered by comments about noise from the Vortex.
Will probably need a Win7 install for the sheer pragmatic side of things like lovefilm/netflix and values decent quality/cooling more than hardware. The SPDIF port, while great for sound makes no odds to me. The fingerprint reader is not necessary but could be useful. I think OpenSUSE dropped default support in 13.1 though.
If anyone who has heard both (or even one) at full whack, can reasonably describe if these laptops would be OK for use in the public arena?
Going onto the operating system area. Linux is not officially supported, fine. But there still should be (even as a sticky in the forums) a "what works and what doesn't". Saw a link to a pretty outdated and vague "what works with free software" site, but I think the mentioned Clevo hardware was from around 2006-2008.
[edited with shame, because only now have I noticed how incomprehensible the original post was(is?). That and the 'ans' in the title. Not exactly starting on solid feet as it were.
Sorry for amount of changes but it was just easier to replace a lot.
If I couldn't read it, why should I expect anyone else to. If anything else has been missed, I'm willing to correct stupid mistakes
Extra apologies to Stephen who managed to decipher some of the original note and reply.]
[edit: whoever moved this to the correct locale, thanks!]
As noted in the 'hello' post, my laptop is coming to the dying days. I don't need anything earth-shattering powerful, but what the laptop will be used for, does tend to eat up a fair amount of RAM.
If the following sounds like slagging off PCS products, its not intended as such. Before laying out reasonably serious (for me at least) I need to know exactly what has been ordered, will arrive and work. From reading comments this seems to be the case so all is looking well there. Even when there are (ahem) issues, they are resolved.
What will this laptop be used for? Primarily, this laptop will be as much of a "getting away from it all/changing environment", as much as work horse. I do a bit of desktop publishing and as I am not raking in the money from 50 shades of lameness the budget is limited. The hardware still needs to cope with documents and images. By that I mean this hardware can't just be a 'precious item'. The life it will leave will consist of trains, buses and possibly the occasional plane. It will be padded from reasonable shock but will need to visit real life.
I don't plan on doing gaming but will probably be processing largish images bouncing between 400-600DPI. The image processing doesn't take huge CPU time but can suck up memory pretty quickly. Quantity of memory I've found isn't as critical as quality. The amount which is being considered probably won't matter much but the quality of memory makes a big difference on hardware.
Being able to process large publishing files means there needs to be stability. Going by what I have read and seen about the laptops, the top running models are:
15.6" Optimus V From £620 inc VAT and Delivery.
15.6" Vortex IV LE From £750 inc VAT and Delivery.
15.6" Vortex IV From £910 inc VAT and Delivery.
The main concerns from people in regards to laptops in this range is derived from reading reviews and reading this forum: Fan noise, quality of the external shell, battery life, as well as the "AUO Matte 95% Gamut Widescreen" option's rather enthusiastic take on colour rendering.
There are some odd variations on the customization page as well.
Minor differences but "1 x HDMI Port, 1 x Display Port, 1 x Mini Display Port" when both models "1 x 15 pin VGA OUT port" clearly state HDMI "HDMI Ports 1 1 1"
Is there a second HDMI port or is there one on all the laptops by default?
Battery life is not a huge issue for me, but noise is.
Going to a café or library, means at least to me, no excess noise.
Reasonable quality of the screen is required as noted by the publishing.
Based on paper and price and images, the Optimus looks like it has similar spec, but less ventilation. This seems to be countered by comments about noise from the Vortex.
Will probably need a Win7 install for the sheer pragmatic side of things like lovefilm/netflix and values decent quality/cooling more than hardware. The SPDIF port, while great for sound makes no odds to me. The fingerprint reader is not necessary but could be useful. I think OpenSUSE dropped default support in 13.1 though.
If anyone who has heard both (or even one) at full whack, can reasonably describe if these laptops would be OK for use in the public arena?
Going onto the operating system area. Linux is not officially supported, fine. But there still should be (even as a sticky in the forums) a "what works and what doesn't". Saw a link to a pretty outdated and vague "what works with free software" site, but I think the mentioned Clevo hardware was from around 2006-2008.
[edited with shame, because only now have I noticed how incomprehensible the original post was(is?). That and the 'ans' in the title. Not exactly starting on solid feet as it were.
Sorry for amount of changes but it was just easier to replace a lot.
If I couldn't read it, why should I expect anyone else to. If anything else has been missed, I'm willing to correct stupid mistakes
Extra apologies to Stephen who managed to decipher some of the original note and reply.]
[edit: whoever moved this to the correct locale, thanks!]
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