Market for a notebook AGAIN!

[[AK]Beaker]

Ok so Clay and I are in the market for a notebook (again)

The Sager has burned through 4 or 5 video cards and is way to heavy to travel with.
The other one is way to slow but reliable.

I was thinking of a tablet for travel becuase I still write all my papers longhand first (yes I am a dianosaur!) and you can do that on a tablet then have it translate to type.

My question is can I run videogames on a tablet?

If Clay and I are going to be lugging a computer through airports should I just concentrate on a bare bones featherweight?

Inquiring minds want to know.

[[AK]Bribo]

This is what you need: http://www.alienware.com/product_pag...book_m15x.aspx

Make it so, number one.

[[AK]Beaker]

It weighs 7lbs!
Isn't that heavy when you consider shlepping it through airport after airport?
Or is this about right?
I'll go put my sager on a scale to determine how much it weighs because it is too heavy for airport duty!

Also what garantee does it have on the video card fans. The Sager fans kept going out causing the video card to overheat therefore causing the computer to be sad and not work.
Doesn't Sager make the alienware notebooks?

If not I would definitely like something Clay and I could take with us while we travel lord knows hotels are only so interesting.

[[AK]Bribo]

Heavy? That's what backpacks are for. Don't compromise because of a weight. Especially if this is going to be your main gaming rig. It's only a couple pounds.

I've seen your picture. You look like a strong lass. Suck it up. You have a whole guild depending on your heals. Do you want them to suffer because of a few measly pounds?

[[AK]Beaker]

Bah!

We went to Best Buy they had a LITTLE tablet onsale. For like $650. (5 lbs or less I think) We bought it and are making it a nice new home. Clay is cursing Vista as we speak.

It plays WOW and with the new 4G of memory Clay is going to drop into it it may even be raid worthy depending on the hotel internet.

This won't be my primary WOW computer it will be our travel computer.

Now I am trying to wrest it from Clay's evil hands so that I can play with the ink to type functions.

[[AK]Clay]

So! On to the topic and some requests for help.

Here's what we got:
http://www.tabletpcreview.com/default.asp?newsID=716
We picked up the floor model from Best Buy, the overall appearance looks new. The only flaw I can see is a screw cover on a corner looks missing. I paid $700 for it. Maybe a mistake to buy a floor model, we'll see. I got it for $300 less than retail, so I'm guessing it's worth the gamble.

To ramble on yet more - we've tried using a dedicated laptop for gaming. It didn't work. We once bought a $2000 Sager that weighs 15lb's with the power supply. Considering luggage weight limit is 50#/bag, that means it's 30% of a piece of luggage. I've had to travel with two bags rather than one just to accomidate that beast. Which might have been worth it if the dog actually worked. The Sager was a fiasco - that thing burned out 4 video cards - the last one I had replace on my own dime for $500. That's approaching what I paid for this new laptop yesterday - for a video card that I don't trust anymore. When I went to a repair shop to look into purchasing a replacement card, the clerk basically said if it's a Sager I'm screwed, they all burn out like crazy and replacement cards are nonexistant anymore. So! if anyone wants a Sager: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...cSELL.m315.lVI I'd look into a chill pad for it.

No more trying to make a laptop into a desktop gaming rig for me anymore.

This new HP laptop is only capable of 1280/800 resolution. It's purpose is to be a lightweight travel notebook that is also capable of some gaming - but not to be a dedicated gaming rig with high usage. It only came with 1 GB of RAM, so I've got 4 GB on order RAM prices today are amazing - it cost me less that $100 for 4GB of 800 speed RAM.

One thing that I am wondering. The LapTop came with MS Office 2007 trial preinstalled. Is there a way to activate this software - on the sly? If not, I'll just uninstall it and put Office 2003 on it. My version of 2003 is... liberated. With Vista's big brother features, is that going to be a problem? I don't care about patching Office 2003 - they stopped supporting it a long time ago anyway.

And finally, for general use and part time gaming, are there any suggested Windows Vista tweeks I should look into?