I am finally back for a more permanent stay at home. I ordered another GeForce 8800GTS 320MB video card, this time for the Backup Tower, and of the PNY brand, vice the eVGA that is in the Main Tower. I also ordered 2GB of RAM, which I will also chuck into the Backup Tower to see if it will take 4GB of memory. In my last configuration, the Main Tower took the 4GB, but the B-Tower became unstable, so it remained at 2GB for the duration of that incarnation.

I also capitulated to another mobile device error for this year. The HP dv9548us I bought in an attempt to replace my gaming laptop was just not working out. It would run Bioshock, but I had to run in WindowsXP compatibility mode, and DirectX9, and then I had to turn off all of the special effects. When I got back from the last trip to Mississippi, I installed Bioshock on the Main Tower and it looks amazing, even in DirectX9. Of course, on that rig, I am able to enable all of the effects and run it at 1440 x 900 resolution.

I was able to install GRAW2 on the HP, but it stuttered along, even after it was patched and I had all of the effects turned off.

I sat on the fence about replacing the notebook after only having had it about a month. But a buddy at work was willing to buy it, and model that fit my exact requirements had become available on Newegg in the intervening weeks after I purchased the HP. I had actually committed to keeping the HP and gutting it out for the 18 months that it was supposed to remain in service, but my friend really wanted a laptop at an affordable price. With a serious girlfriend and domestic expenses looming, he just was not ready to make the plunge on a MacBook, which was his strongest contender otherwise. The price of the Newegg laptop was pretty sweet, and I had seen them go out of stock in the time that I found it online and considered buying it as a replacement. They had restocked and I knew that if I wanted to grab one I would have to move fast. As if to confirm my assessment, two hours after my bud came over, wrote me a check for the HP, and I placed my order, the model went out of stock.

So it is due to arrive either tomorrow or Tuesday. I have not been able to tell over the weekend whether or not my order made it in time for rush processing and ship out on Friday, but I took the UPS Next Day Saver shipping option, so even if I missed a Friday shipping, it should be here by Tuesday.

It is another model from iBuyPower, which was the configurator brand for my gaming laptop before the HP; that one went to my Navy buddy who got hot-sticked with a deployment. That model was built on the Asus Z96 chassis. The new model is built on the Compal IFL-90 chassis. Compal is another of relatively few whitebox, OEM laptop manufacturers that build the chassis that most other branded notebook sellers buy and then populate with components.

The IFL-90 chassis is selling via vendors that include ProStar, Sager, and iBuyPower. This model came in $50 cheaper than a similarly configured laptop would have cost from ProStar, the next nearest competitor in price.

It has a midnight-blue color scheme that appears black at first glance. So what did I get (and give up) for making the jump? Here's the comparo to the HP, from the perspective of the IFL-90:

Deuce: OS = Windows Vista Home Premium in both

Add Out: The IFL has a 15.4" screen in comparison to the dv9548us's 17" screen, as well as a lower max resolution (1280 x 800 compared to the HP's 1440 x 900). I threw this out since I originally did not want a 17" display because a 15.4" is more practical for travel. The only downside is that the two Booq luggage pieces I just bought are both outfitted to support 17" laptops. I considered the smaller display, advantage of portability, and disadvantage for not getting maximum use out of the Booq luggage a wash. Add to that the fact that having a high resolution with an anemic graphics card just means having a feature that you can not really take maximum advantage of.

Deuce: Both are outfitted with 2GB of RAM. The HP, though was capped at 2GB. I am not sure about the IFL-90 since Newegg's site does not indicate the cap. I am hoping that it is capable of taking on 4GB, just in case I ever decide to go that route. A quick search of specs for the OEM chassis (the model I ordered is actually branded as an iBuyPower CRZ-90) shows that the max RAM capacity is 4GB, so hopefully this will prove out once I'm in receipt of the product.

Add out: The HP had 200GB of total storage space. One 120GB drive and on 80GB drive. The CRZ-90 only has 120GB. This another down-check that I threw out though, as even I had not come up with a use for 200GB of storage. If I had gotten around to using the TV Tuner that came with the HP and starting using it directly record and encode video instead of my current methodology (record to DVD on my DVR, rip to PC, encode to H.264 using NERO Ultra Enhanced 7, store on NAS), then maybe I would have. 120GB is still a +20GB add over the previous Asus Z96, so it's still meets my laptop upgrade requirement for storage, which is that the laptop being upgraded to has to have more storage than the unit it is replacing.

Deuce: both are equipped with multi-format DVD burners of the same speed.

Add In (X2): Graphics - I gave this area two pluses, because the CRZ-90 has the next model up in the nVidia GeForce 8000M series (the HP had the 8600M GS, the CRZ-90 has the 8600M GT) and is also equipped with twice the dedicated memory of the HP-equipped card (256MB to the GT's 512MB). The HP's card was also underclocked below the nVidia stock clock and memory speeds, which was kind of a major source of irritation for me when I discovered it. I do not expect the same issue with the CRZ-90.

Add Out: The CRZ-90 definitely has fewer special features than the dv9548us. They both have Gigabyte Ethernet, 802.11n wireless, and fingerprint readers. I pick up one additional USB port with the CRZ. Both also have Firewire, Express Card slots, S-Video and VGA Out, and Memory Card Readers. The HP had a TV Tuner and two remotes, which I had not used, but I thought were kind of cool. The HP also had an HDMI port, again, no feasible use for it, but I thought it was cool and that I might use it one day. The CRZ-90 has Bluetooth, though, and a higher resolution webcam (2.0 MP versus the HP's 1.3MP). Now, of everything in this list, the only thing that I will wind up using on either is the extra USB port. My network switch and Routers are only 10/100 Ethernet; I only use 802.11g wireless at home, and no hotel that I've stayed in or coffee shop that I've hung out at has 802.11n wireless. I am afraid to use the fingerprint reader for fear that I will not be able to login if it ever stops working. Also 70% of the time this laptop will not be in an environment where it could be compromised short of someone breaking into my apartment. I don't have any Firewire devices except for my camcorder which I rarely use, no Express Card peripherals (my cellular data modem is USB), and I never connect my laptops up to a TV or external monitor. The laptop spot in my LAN room is not near a cable connection, so it was unlikely that I would ever use the TV Tuner for anything, other than maybe over the air HD signal recording, but it would just be a novelty. I only USB Thumb drives so I never use the media-card readers in my laptops. My digital camera uses Compact Flash and I use an external reader for that. I never do video calls, so the webcams are a wash. Since I am experimenting with Skype for Podcasting, though, I can see making use of the Bluetooth feature on the CRZ. As I've written my way through these thoughts, I realize that on number of features, the two systems might actually be a tie in this category. Either way, when deciding on the purchase, even though I thought at the time that I was losing features by moving off of the HP, none of them were features that I was shopping for when I bought the HP, or were in my list of requirements.

Add In: Another huge gain that I am getting in the CRZ-90, and that is probably worth more than one plus-mark, is that I am going to a 2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, over the HP's 1.66GHz Core 2 Duo. The CRZ-90 also rocks the Santa Rosa chipset, which means a faster 800MHz Front-side Bus over the HP's 667MHz bus, and a 4MB cache over the HPs 2MB cache.

Add In: The CRZ-90 comes in almost a full 1.5lbs lighter than the HP, which will result in a huge difference since I tend to carry two laptops these days when I go on travel.

Deuce: Aesthetics should be about equal. While I appreciate the fact that HP's newest line of laptops does a good job of catering to personalizing the laptop with unique designs, I also am looking forward to the almost MacBook-like simplicity in the CRZ-90's design.

Add-In: Software Load - I had to spend several hours getting rid of all of the pre-packaged crud applications pre-loaded on the HP and even after a month of use I knew that I had not gotten rid of the more firmly entrenched foes. I am certain that these applications were a portion of the root of the performance lag that I was suspicious of in the laptop. The last iBuyPower laptop that I had came with nothing but the Operating System pre-installed. Additional applications cam on optical discs that you could if you so desired. Not even the included version of Nero was pre-installed, which was great since I would have had to uninstall it in order to install my version of NERO 7. I expect the same experience with the CRZ-90. Even if those apps are installed, it will not be near the frustrating level caused by all of the trial applications, ISP offers, casual game advertisements, and HP OnLine support software that the dv9548 was infested with.

The CRZ-90 comes out ahead 5-to-2 based on this list, so I pretty comfortable with swapping out. Although I had come to the decision to stay on the HP and that I would be ok, I sort of knew in the back of my head that I would have some level of irritation for the next 18 months every time something occurred that I felt I would not be going through if I had made the jump. My friend's more than casual interest in buying the HP was enoguh for me to make the move, since I do not mind dolling out tech products to friends at reduced prices if I know they are not in a position to buy them otherwise and it partially funds my own upgrades.

Later this week, I'll cover the state of laptop market dynamics that impacted my purchase. Until then, take care.
- Vr/G.