Any Intel i7 hardware geeks?

10-30-2009, 05:05 PM

I just got a Dell Studio 15 laptop with the i7, 4GB, 500 GB....

MAN, this flies despite Vista 64 bit... Windows 7 upgrade is on the way!!!

The only downside is that I can not dual-boot XP... no Dell drivers for XP... I've tried slipstreaming the new SATA drivers in XP SP3 but still blue-screen on install...

I would agree with getting a getting a smaller system disk and another drive for files...

And something to backup too... This laptop is a replacement for my older Dell that was stolen 5 weeks ago... I lost about 10 days worth of files because of the lack of a backup after upgrading to Windows 7.

I did a test this morning... I processed a 2 GB MPG file that I recorded with SageTV to get rid of the commercials... My loaner single core laptop did it in 331 seconds... This one did it in 46 seconds!!!!

10-30-2009, 05:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cyclone

I would agree with getting a getting a smaller system disk and another drive for files...

Got to agree with this as well. That way even if you just backed up you system files it would not be too much.

Different topic but I have been using clonezilla to clone my system lately (I use it on all the school computers) maybe something to think about... get you system just perfect with all you programs and apps them make an image of it on an external drive... as back up.

As for the system looks nice, wish I had 12GB af RAM

And yah Asus all the way!!

SeanGAR · 10-30-2009, 05:23 PM

Gigabyte's new UD boards are the bomb and in my opinion you get a better bang for the buck than with with the Asus ... I'd look at their X58 boards too.

That Seagate has a lot of horror stories associated with it .. I'd avoid that one like the plague.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822148337

I don't buy ATI cards anymore because of driver problems & frickin bloatware, so I'd swap that one for Nvidia of the same price range.

I'd also recommend a 500-640 GB boot drive and a 1 TB for files - I'd get WD black drives, they've been good to me.

SeanGAR · 10-30-2009, 05:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by str8edg

get you system just perfect with all you programs and apps them make an image of it on an external drive... as back up.

Absolutely great advice ... my 260 card just yesterday was no longer recognized by my boot drive. Uninstall, reinstall, reseat, no dice.

I swapped to my clone which was made once I had everything perfect.

Move over a few files and I'm up and running. I'll just clone back the current drive rather than try and troubleshoot the driver conflict.

I clone then unplug but have it still in the case. A couple of minutes and I'm back and running yet the drive isn't building up hours like a raid would. And the software error that messed my computer wouldn't have been helped by raid at all.

All hail clones.

10-30-2009, 05:05 PM	#1
Cyclone Guest Posts: n/a	Re: Any Intel i7 hardware geeks? I just got a Dell Studio 15 laptop with the i7, 4GB, 500 GB.... MAN, this flies despite Vista 64 bit... Windows 7 upgrade is on the way!!! The only downside is that I can not dual-boot XP... no Dell drivers for XP... I've tried slipstreaming the new SATA drivers in XP SP3 but still blue-screen on install... I would agree with getting a getting a smaller system disk and another drive for files... And something to backup too... This laptop is a replacement for my older Dell that was stolen 5 weeks ago... I lost about 10 days worth of files because of the lack of a backup after upgrading to Windows 7. I did a test this morning... I processed a 2 GB MPG file that I recorded with SageTV to get rid of the commercials... My loaner single core laptop did it in 331 seconds... This one did it in 46 seconds!!!!

10-30-2009, 05:23 PM	#3
SeanGAR Crotchety Geezer Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Radford VA Posts: 911 Trading: (3)	Re: Any Intel i7 hardware geeks? Gigabyte's new UD boards are the bomb and in my opinion you get a better bang for the buck than with with the Asus ... I'd look at their X58 boards too. That Seagate has a lot of horror stories associated with it .. I'd avoid that one like the plague. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822148337 I don't buy ATI cards anymore because of driver problems & frickin bloatware, so I'd swap that one for Nvidia of the same price range. I'd also recommend a 500-640 GB boot drive and a 1 TB for files - I'd get WD black drives, they've been good to me. __________________ How can you have any pudding if you don't eat your meat?