Slashdot Mirror
The FragBook
Petaris writes "For all of you hard core gamers out there a new choice is availiable for gaming notebooks. Introducing the Falcon Northwest FragBook. This notebook will be in direct competition with gaming notebooks from several competetors including Alienware and VooDoo. Falcon-nw, VooDoo, and more recently Alienware are the place to look for insanely high end and usually fairly expensive gaming systems. The gaming notebook, a more recent arrival in the industry, promises more recent processors than are commonly available for notebooks. Just make sure you stock up on batteries or settle in next to an outlet. :)"
If I want to play an FPS, I want my 21" monitor, my 6 channel surround sound with booming bass and a nice mouse to move around - I just don't think the experience could translate so well to an LCD screen, tinny laptop speaker, and a pressure pad to move about. And it'd probably cost a hell of a lot more too.
I guess I'll just stick to using my laptop for pr0n when I'm away on business trips...
Sunday you're Thinking Different, Monday you're a huge tool, paying too much and waiting to think like everyone else.
That's crazy. a first post that is relevant to the article AND more than five words long!
Quite frankly I agree. laptops are just not ideal for gaming, unless it's some slow moving turn based strategy thing or somesuch.
--
1.) Fuel cell that will run on coffee
2.) OLED display that works
3.) games that don't suck
4.) video cards that don't suck
2 cents + =o)
I call it the DeFragBook.
Gaming a while ago on my Inspiron 8200 which has well better specs than my normal destop and it came nowhere near the performance on my desktop. The sceen refresh seemed to be struggling badly to keep up with the game. Crappy sound takes a lot away from enjoyment of the game as well.
Do not try to read the dupe, thats impossible. Instead, only try to realize the truth
What truth?
There is no dupe
...if you're staying in one place. If you're going to gatherings, LAN with friends or otherwise move the machine round alot (e.g. because you need to put it away to make room), all the cables and weight is a hassle.
If I was about 15-18 somewhere again I might have gotten one of these (translation: I may have suckered my parents into buying me one). Would be perfect for the kind of computer use I had back then. Newer LCDs work very good at games, just add an USB mouse and some good headphones. It's a gaming system in a backpack.
Kjella
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
those companies listed just sell rebranded generic crap at a premium, why keep paying the middlemen ? i thought that was the whole point of this interweb cut out the hangers-on
can anyone tell me why?
We played dungeons and dragons for 3 hours.....then i was slain by an elf
I've been needing a hyper-fast notebook (portability) so I can have a "black box" style satisfiability solver written in assembly on it. Add a program to convert different problems to 3-sat on it, and I'll be set to go.....
That's right. All your base.
I just built a system using some of the high end hardware on their System Configuration Page. The cost? Over $8700 using a 19" CRT instead of their ~$1500 21" LCD.
Of course, if I wanted to park something that costs as much as a compact car on my desk I'd let Billy Joel do it.
would be great for playing openFRAG (http://www.openfrag.org)
The first time I saw a gaming labtop was during a meeting. Discussing CAD or visual simulation works fairly well on such machines!
It is great to see all you gamers drive the market, so I can work better.
I read that and imagined guys at LAN parties scribbling furiously about their scores or whatever into some little dead tree thing!
Oh, THAT kind of notebook...
Hark!
Hear the cry of a thousand geeks who gamed too long with a laptop on their lap. May their manhood rest in piece.
I hear ya brother. I call for a pledge from Slashdot that we will boycott the asian-slave overlords known as THINKGEEK.
A 17" PowerBook for unixy needs (i.e. Mac OS X and Linux). That 1.5ghz is roughly equivalent to a P4 running at 2.5 ghz. I can dual-boot Mac OS X and Yellow-Dog Linux (which is kind of like RedHat/Mandrake, with excellent hardware support for my existing Powerbook 15" 667). That alongside with IBM's Thinkpad 3.0ghz, for only $1400 (yes, I prefer to use several machines simultaneously - or rather, while the other one is compiling, I'm a programmer). Now that's some SERIOUS horsepower for very cheap!
Who moved my sig?
Yes mate, I'll just get my fur coat on and I'll be right over to protest. Do you have any Malaysian Boy Child Penis soup sachets? Or shall I bring mine?
Is it just me, or does the FragBook TL (Thin and Light) not really live up to its name...
well, it might be thin, but weighing in at 6.5 pounds, it is definately not light.
My Dell that I mentioned in a similar discussion less than a month ago seems to have better specs and to have been a couple hundred dollars cheaper. My 8600 didn't come with a godawful orange paint job looking to get scratched, but then again it didn't come with a badass aluminum briefcase either.
You used to have a really crappy sig, but then I stole it.
The Fragbook DR seems quite similar to the Voodoo m:750. I wouldn't be surprised if it's the exact same Compal notebook, actually. And the Voodoo can be had for less money. I wonder whether Falcon are going to have any success with this one.
----- One learns to itch where one can scratch.
Well lets see here...If those asians weren't working to make stuff for thinkgeek, may it be possible that they wouldn't have any money? Would it then be more likely that they will live longer whilst earning money and eating rather than sitting there and starving. I say support thinkgeek! It keeps asians alive (c)"
Karma: -2^0.5 . Mainly due to the imbibing of dihydrogen monoxide
"The computer you want always costs $5000".
I can't remember who said it but it remains true. Fully tricked out this baby is a 5G+ machine.
I specked it with RAID 0 (yes, on a laptop), DVDRW (With a RAID 0 your Documents must go elsware), TV Card, Bluetooth, 1 GB RAM, 3 year warranty and little else. Now if they could offer an unpainted version and pass on the savings from that...
I care about how my PC runs, not how it looks.
PS: I chose XP Home (-$70) because I know I don't need pro to play games. I have herd that XPHome functions better under gamming loads than Pro. Is this true?
--= Isn't it surprising how badly I spell ?
Whats with the 1400x900 screen res? How good is the lcd going to perform when it has to scale to another resolution? At least on the dell you have true HDTV resolution on a smaller screen. I love the custom paint jobs offerred, but how much? Their "american flag" job costs almost $250.
"Jeremy, you need to get to an internet cafe and cut and paste some appropriate sentiments about me from the world wide
The benefactors of the boom economy and the tech era have lost touch with reality. A 3000 dollar game machine? Get some perspective! Where can your head be if you would actually buy something like this. I mean, sure, you are rich compared to the rest of the world, but, thats not the issue, its that you choose to spend your supposedly valuable time playing video games on a hyper expensive yet inferior machine.
Looking on how the other 99% live maybe we should realize that our prosperity is an aberation, and use our money and time more wisely.
I couldn't find a Linux installation report about a FragBook yet. But since the FragBook TL is based on Intel's Centrino technology here is some generic information about Linux on Centrino laptops. The FragBook DR comes with a 17" display. Here is some generic information about Linux on laptops with 17" display.
Life however being about quality, no?
Overlord "Hey guys, you sit and make this shit"
Wankyu "Oh ok boss"
Wankmi "Hey Wankyu, what are we doing making this shit that people don't need?"
Wankyu "So we have money to buy shit we don't need"
Wankmi "That makes no sense"
Wankyu "It's consumerism dude, very Western"
Wankmi "Like pissing on nude Iraqis?"
Wankyu "No, that's mainly American"
There is a new Laptop from Liberman, the Hollywood Gold, here are some specs from the website. (www.go-l.com)
- 17" WXGA 1440-by-900 pixels, high contrast,
120 degree viewing angle, fast video response, Ultra-Speed Widescreen Display
- Up to 3.40GHz HyperThreading Intel® Pentium 4 Prescott or Extreme Edition CPU w/ 2MB L3 Cache
- 800MHz System Bus
- Enhanced CacheFlow Technology
- SuperBIOS IBPT Technology
- PuRam No System Hard Drive Configurable
Up to 100 times faster than any System Hard Drive
based design, with Data Burst Speeds up to
6.4GB/s at over 150.000 I/O second.
- 400MHz Dual-Channel DDR Memory, up to 2GB
- Ultra-ATA Connectivity
- Up to 240GB of Colossal Storage Capacity using
3 ultra-high performance internal HDs
- RAID 0 plus RAID 1 Support
SoftSet Anti-Shock Protection Architecture
AGP 8X ATI Radeon 9700 PRO 256MB
Professional Graphics with External DVI
monitor output and Video In/Out.
HDTV Component Output via optional adapter.
Choice of optical drives: DVD-ROM, CD-RW,
COMBO (DVD-ROM/CD-RW), or 2x Dual Format
DVD+-R/+-RW
Built-in integrated CCD Video camera with
full-motion video at 30 FPS in 24-bit color.
Optional TV Tuner w/ optional remote control
IEEE 1394 FireWire & USB 2 connectivity
Multi-Channel Digital IA Audio with S/PDIF out
Built-in 4 Hi-Fi Surround Speakers
Enhanced high-output Subwoofer in a full-range
bass-reflex enclosure
Built-in 7-in-one Card Reader.
Not often you see those kind of specs on a laptop.. but i wonder if it's worth $7827.....
spn
Obviously you, with a big stack of desktop gear, don't value mobility at all. Could you fit it in a duffel?
Even those who arrange and design shrubberies are under considerable economic stress at this period in history.
Let me just say if your parents are looking for another child let me know.
A 17" PowerBook for unixy needs (i.e. Mac OS X and Linux). That 1.5ghz is roughly equivalent to a P4 running at 2.5 ghz
In many applications it really is, but unfortunately, gaming is not one of them. In games, 1 GHz of a G4 is actually quite like 1 GHz of a P4 (there's no noticeable difference to the player, that is). No, I made no scientific research on this topic, but I played a lot on Macs and PCs since many years. There's also circumstantial evidence to my claim - system requirements of Mac game ports usually state the same CPU clock as their Windows equivalents. Being as much a Mac addict as I am, I wouldn't recommend powerbook as a "fragbook", even if the recent models should be quite capable with the 128 VRAM Radeon 9700 Mobility cards. But even if you put the lack of some titles aside (what if the LAN party you are invited to plays "Counterstrike"?), the 1.5 GHz CPU is exactly what it is, a 1.5 GHz CPU.
I am a Mac user. I am even a Mac gamer. I am even a Mac LAN gamer (as a geek parent, I play strategy games with my kids on iBooks/iMacs connected via Airport). I agree that Macs have interesting advantages in this case, like the incredible ease of the wireless LAN creation. But I wouldn't qualify any of the current Apple machines as a "fragbook" - and they certainly don't need that kind of publicity.
Does anyone have any good recommendations for a good gaming laptop? I'm going off to college (Stanford) next year, and I want a laptop good enough to game. But I don't want one too heavy, and I do want to install Linux on it. Are these gaming laptops worth it for the extra price and weight, or would I be best just getting a top-end Dell or IBM laptop? They should be very good too, and I'd think the hardware would be more standard.
"Could you fit it in a duffel?"
why yes. yes, I could.
An LCD screen, keyboard and the right case will do just fine. IMHO laptops are best reserved for travel, where other passengers would complain about you carrying around a full PC and car battery.
And it's sheer power to cash outlay ratio where laptops always fall down. In fact, a friend of mine constructed a fantastic "luggable" from off-the-shelf components fitted to a flight case because he thought laptops simply didn't justify their cost/benifit ratio...
--
I didn't spec out a laptop as it's difficult to compare that to another company's offering but I did spec out a desktop model. Came to $3175.00 (before shipping/tax) Specced it out with almost exact system at newegg.com and it came out to $2195.17 with shipping included (couldn't find exact psu or hsf) Ahhh but wait! You ask.. where does my extra $1000 go? If you read the fine print on FNW's website it says this: You get FOR FREE: Falcon T-Shirt, Custom Mousing Surface and a 3.5" Floppy drive That $333 T-Shirt better be 100% cotton!!@)&@%#
you could go here and save about 7000 bucks ;)
Puget Systems
Perhaps you'd like my old Toshiba T1000? 20 pounds and three inches thick?
All comparison is based on what you compare to.
First "TheTechLounge" writes about an article on... thetechlounge.com! Not that I'm complaining about the content, it's a good article, but why couldn't you have just posted it on Slashdot directly?
Then this article, does anyone else think that this was written by the guy that makes these laptops? I suppose it still has some interest to nerds (and people who care about what matters), but it doesn't seem right to allow free advertising like this...
Karma: pi (Mostly due to circular reasoning in posts).
The fool and his money are soon parted.
Think of it as evolutionary partitioning in action.
Just cause it says 9700 pro doesn't mean that it is... the mobile cards go a good bit slower than the equivalently rated desktop parts...
;) ) constraints, they're not gonna be as cool as the upper end desktops... but then again, that has always and will always remain true. On the plus side, they're easy to carry and the wifi is nice.
techbargains.com + dell OR powernotebooks.com will save you a good bit over your voodoos and alienwares...
also busses/ram/hard drives tend to be slower in laptops as well, just a few things to remember. Laptops have come a long way, and now they'll even play the newest games at good res without freezing, but due to heat and size (and therefore monetary
the lcd is only WXGA... you can get laptops with much higher pixel density from many non-high end manufacturers now... first step up is usually only like 50$ more (1680x1050), than 100$ or so for another step up (1920x1200)...
either way, i still can't believe they charge that much... maybe some people really love the paint job.
Centrino....I can't belive Intel get's away with marketing that crap. Anyway, No AMD = No thanks. The notebooks at ibuypower.com are much better. Anyway, why is slashdot such a advertisment pit as of late?!?!
Ubuntu- Linux for human beings.
It seems this laptop is just rebranded Clevo. Compare with clevo pictures. Nothing new here. Clevo is a Taiwan manufacturer and have a lot of rebranded resellers in US and Europe.
If you are away from your custom home gaming rig and want to frag in your hotel room, in-laws, airplane, Starbucks, or what have you, you can at least get a laptop with decent enough hardware to get the job done.
Nothing will replace or duplicate the gaming desktop PC experience, but if you must frag on the go, these high-end laptops work great (albeit with a USB mouse plugged in).
Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, START
Almost all of these "gaming laptops" are Sagers with a slick paint job and a huge markup. The Fragbook DR is actually a Sager NP8790 which you can get at places like Discount Laptops and Power Notebooks with the same specs and much, much cheaper.
If you are away from your custom home gaming rig and want to frag in your hotel room, in-laws, airplane, Starbucks, or what have you, you can at least get a laptop with decent enough hardware to get the job done.
What prevents a standard laptop from "getting the job done"? Playing an FPS doesn't require 4xAA 8xAF... You could easily play any shooter in current release, online and competitively, on a $1000 laptop... and get decent fps with proper settings. What's more, on a $1k laptop you'd most likely be able to frag AND get some work done on the same battery charge. The FragBook gets 1 hour to a charge - you really might as well buy a slimline LCD and a sff box and lug it from hotel room to starbucks to what have you. You'd save money, and get about as much gaming done on the go.
Nope, these aren't primarily to play games on the go on... they are status symbols to lug to LAN parties to show off.
Get yourself a Sager Notebook from PC Torque and save yourself a couple thousand dollars.
Colin Dean Go a year without DRM
weight is huge problem still
You know the Microsoft destroys the night, Linux devides the day...
Now, granted, this is a box that was meant to be more portable than powerful, with limited upgradability, but I sent it back. Since then, I've purchased parts for a fairly decent Athlon 64 system which should wipe the floor with the Fragbox for a few hundred more. It's one of those "If you want it right, build it yourself" things.
Geez, I feel stupid. As my glazed eyes scanned the article, I was thinking, wow, a book of notes (notebook) on gaming... Maybe the best strategies on winning FPS games, or even notes on designing/programming great games...
(Stolen sig) Remember: it's a "Microsoft virus", not an "email virus", a "Microsoft worm", not a "computer worm
What the hell is wrong with you?
"labtop".
You sound like an ass.
Let's replace "asians" with "blacks" and you have a classic case of racist remarks here. So then, why is it okay to make racist remarks against "asians" but not "blacks"? I presume Flingles(698457) would never consider him/herself a racist... Racism and bigotry against one race is racism and bigotry against all...
They die so well...
You can get a gaming laptop that's of equal or better quality at JS Custom PCs for less money. You get a 3-year warranty in some cases. You get the no-dead-pixel guarantee. JS Custom PCs was actually ranking higher on Google searches for custom gaming laptops until Alienware bought a higher rank.
Why would you pay $500 more for a laptop to get a little green guy or a threatening-looking face sticker? You can get a damn good laptop from the place I mentioned and stick your own threatening-looking sticker on it for $2. *shakes head in disbelief*
Look here for the already-configured laptops. You can click on the "customize" link and trick it out even more.
It's a shame to see a great company like this go unnoticed. I love my JS systems and recommend them to everyone.
Screw these, the AMD Mobile 64 laptops runs just as fast or faster than P4 "Extremes", they usually have a way longer battery life, and they don't scorch your meat and two veg while your using it (the laptop, that is, though for some its both :P ). Even if you do want the P4, get a Hypersonic GX7. About $3000 USD cheaper and have better audio. They also have a translucent green and purple paint job that, in my opinion, is better than the flag paint job. Still wouldn't get the translucent paint job though, after awhile it'll make you nauseas looking at it. They have an AMD M64 too (the AX7) as would be my choice (was actually planning on getting the Inspiron XP but the AX7 looks good too).
Nos una. Nos unique. Nos victum.
You can feel all special that you are getting 125 showing in the game. But it doesn't matter. Lets break it down:
60 cycles per second 125 frames per second
The monitor only refreshes 60 times...you only get 60 new frames displayed. The remaining 65 frames never hit the screen they just get processed and tossed.
Looks like just another re-brand of Clevo's laptops. Alienware rebranded a few of their models. I personally use ProStar - http://www.pro-star.com - Look at their products, you can get the same laptop without all the fancy coloring much cheaper.
-Imidazole
Hilarious Office Prank!
How loud you think this sonofabitch is? The fan on my 4-yr old Dell laptop screams like a bitch when it kicks into overdrive for a hot CPU (which happens within one minute of firing up Diablo 2 or any game more intense than that).
We got some killer laptops for some distributed rendering research. They're P4 3.4 GHz, 2 gigs of DDR 400 dual channel ram, ATi Radeon 9700 mobile, DVD-RW, 15.4" 1920x1200 res XUVGA screens...real nice. And the sad thing is DELL makes them.
We're a pro video shop using Final Cut Pro so we have a fair few G4 and G5 Macs around - the evenings tend to be taken up with stress busting LAN games.
Usually Team Arena, sometimes standard Q3A. Sure, there are more modern games out there, but it's hard to beat Quake 3 for its gameplay and feel and it runs perfectly well on a modest G4 system all the way up to our DP 2gig G5. Hell, it even runs on my 600Mhz iBook in a pinch, although the graphics system is what lets it down there - only 8Mb VRAM).
Im writing santa right now for one. That is a dream laptop for sure. to bad my laptop doesnt have a video card/excelerator.
forget the "FragBook"
I have my super-1337 MX57
ha! beat that!
...until you count up all the apps you're going to have to purchase to get the same library you currently own for your windows box.
Plus, you can beat price/performance on PC laptops anyway:
PowerBook G4
800Mhz FSB
15" screen
ATI 9700 128Mb video
1GB RAM
US$3,049
Sager NP8790
P4 3.4Mhz/800Mhz FSB
17" screen
ATI 9700 256Mb video
1GB RAM
US $2,972
"Creativity is allowing ones self to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep" - Scott Adams
Just jokes mmkay... :/
Replaced it with blacks and I still see nothing wrong with post, ie. support shops that employ blacks