Camera Labs

Believe it or not!

Uncle ordered some in with a special cupon code, but now they just dropped the price for them to everyone!


It's not fancy, flashy etc - does the job.

http://www.viking-direct.co.uk/a/sku%2F ... d=MD96648/

Let me break it down

Core 2 Duo T5250 1.5Ghz Dual Core 2Mb L2 Cache - 478Mobile Socket, so cpu can be changed up to a 2.4Ghz 4Mb L2 Cache.

2Gb DDR2-667 - 2Gb is enough, but you can upgrade above that if needed aftermarket.

nVidia GeForce 8600GS 512Mb - Mixed bag, I think its a cut down version of the GT, but still I dare you to find anything faster in a £600 laptop never mind a £350!!!

17" 1440x900 LCD - Don't listen to the page, we got one here, its 1440x900 nice and sharp. Viewing angles are pants, and a bit to glossy for my taste but still its good enough once calibrated - and in my opinion its the weakest part in terms of what I want it for.




Basically what I would do with it:

New Screen, 1680x1050, more contrast and slightly brighter along with matt finish instead of gloss and a much better viewing angle

7200rpm Hard drive - Simple as, 80Gb+ will do me fine.

4Gb Ram - Pretty easy

New CPU, probably a T7300 2.0Ghz with 4Mb L2 Cache, healthy 500mhz jump along with a injection of another 2Mb L2 Cache.

Obviously my prefered upgrades would probably price this laptop at over £900 not including labour to fit and upgrade.



Also, most importantly, When I (probably) buy it on sunday from my uncle (mum bought the one im playing with atm) Vista will be the first thing to go. Everything is mostly Generic parts and chipsets, so getting XP drivers shouldn't be a problem. Vista seems to be running ok actually, runs better with the bells and whistles since the GPU crunches most of that.

Anyway, I thought this important enough for the general chat since its a pretty much stellar deal!

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Canon EOS 5DmkII + BG-E6 + Canon EOS 40D + BG-E2N + Canon EOS 33
Canon 17-40 F/4L USM + Canon 24-70 F/2.8L USM + Canon 28mm F/1.8 USM + Canon 70-200 F/2.8L USM IS + Canon 85mm F/1.8 USM
Canon Speedlite 580EX II + Canon Speedlite 540EZ + 2 x Nikon SB-80DX
Cactus V2s Wireless Trigger - 5 x Cactus V2s Wireless Reciever

MY FLICKR!

Wow... for a low end price the spec is relatively good! This might be the laptop I've been waiting for as a replacement to my ancient one if I wasn't holding out for a lens

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Canon DSLRs: 7D, 5D2, 1D, 600D, 450D full spectrum, 300D IR mod
Lenses: EF 35/2, 50/1.8, 85/1.8, 135/2+SF, 28-80 V, 70-300L, 100-400L, TS-E 24/3.5L, MP-E 65, EF-S 15-85 IS
3rd party: Zeiss 2/50 makro, Samyang 8mm fisheye, Sigma 150 macro, 120-300 f/2.8 OS, Celestron 1325/13
Tinies: Sony HX9V.

nice spec fro the price, would serve as a bump n dent computer for out and about, though the 17" screen is a bit too big for my taste.

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Mark Osborne
My life through an iPhone

Hi Daniel,

You've been moved.

Do let us know your thoughts when you finally get your hands on it.

Bob.

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OM-D E-M5 + ED 12-50mm, H-PS14042E, H-F007014E, L-RS014150E, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 45mm 1:1.8.
Gitzo GT1541T, Arca-Swiss Z1 DP ball-head.
Astrophotography: TEC 140 'scope, FLI ML16803 camera, ASA DDM60 Pro mount.

the budget laptop manufactuers have quite a few cheap laptops with good looking specs but sometiems the parts they use inside are not so good.

if your going to change all thoes parts you may as well just buy a better laptop in the first place.

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Tobywuk personal website || My Flickr
Gear: Sony a700! || CZ 16-80mm! || Sony 75-300 || bag: Crumpler PB xxxl / Lowepro slingshot 200

well i used it on the way to a wedding today, and imported onto it when i got home.

Screen just ain't doing it for me - to glossy for using even in the car.

Speed is actually fine, editing RAW files in lightroom was just like on my pc really, JPG's was instant. Rending of the images takes a TINY bit longer due to the 5400rpm HDD.

I'll probably just use this one (my mums one) until i can afford a better laptop.

_________________
Canon EOS 5DmkII + BG-E6 + Canon EOS 40D + BG-E2N + Canon EOS 33
Canon 17-40 F/4L USM + Canon 24-70 F/2.8L USM + Canon 28mm F/1.8 USM + Canon 70-200 F/2.8L USM IS + Canon 85mm F/1.8 USM
Canon Speedlite 580EX II + Canon Speedlite 540EZ + 2 x Nikon SB-80DX
Cactus V2s Wireless Trigger - 5 x Cactus V2s Wireless Reciever

MY FLICKR!

Well worth it TBH, stick Vista basic on it if it laggy and it will be fine.

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Canon 40D - EFS 17-85mm IS - EF 50mm 1.8 II - EF 70-200mm f.4 L - Speedlite 580EX II - GF Lightsphere Cloud - S.I.L.K 300DX PRO Tripod - Manfrotto 679 monopod - LOWEPRO Trekkar Backback - Adobe CS3 -

XP > Any version of Vista

_________________
Canon EOS 5DmkII + BG-E6 + Canon EOS 40D + BG-E2N + Canon EOS 33
Canon 17-40 F/4L USM + Canon 24-70 F/2.8L USM + Canon 28mm F/1.8 USM + Canon 70-200 F/2.8L USM IS + Canon 85mm F/1.8 USM
Canon Speedlite 580EX II + Canon Speedlite 540EZ + 2 x Nikon SB-80DX
Cactus V2s Wireless Trigger - 5 x Cactus V2s Wireless Reciever

MY FLICKR!

thats debatable

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Tobywuk personal website || My Flickr
Gear: Sony a700! || CZ 16-80mm! || Sony 75-300 || bag: Crumpler PB xxxl / Lowepro slingshot 200

Sounds good!

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Graham
Flickr

I certainly agree!! Although Linux > Windows so...

Mark

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Canon EOS 40D / EF-S 17-85mm IS / EF 50mm f/1.8 / My Flickr

OMG...please say you are not just reading the net and have actually used XP and think from personal choice XP is better then Vista before sticking it up here for a flame war....lmao

I have used all and I can tell you from a I.T perspective that with Vista fully updated it is a HELL of alot better then XP! And I would not go back to XP for love nor money..Yes it was bad when launched so was XP in fact WORSE.

I went from XP to Dual Booting Vista 32 when launched to Ultimate 32 and now Ultimate 64. And it is a much better allround O/s then XP. And this is from a PURE GAMER with the slight loss of FPS...on a heavily overclocked PC.

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Canon 40D - EFS 17-85mm IS - EF 50mm 1.8 II - EF 70-200mm f.4 L - Speedlite 580EX II - GF Lightsphere Cloud - S.I.L.K 300DX PRO Tripod - Manfrotto 679 monopod - LOWEPRO Trekkar Backback - Adobe CS3 -

I can see where this thread is going Lol

Mac

_________________
Tobywuk personal website || My Flickr
Gear: Sony a700! || CZ 16-80mm! || Sony 75-300 || bag: Crumpler PB xxxl / Lowepro slingshot 200