Coponent questions on NP9280

[siawash]

Can some one do a quick comparison on these components. I don't need remote or wireless. Just looking for output performance and reception in the case of TV card and sound quality in the case of the sound card.


TV CARD

External USB ATSC HDTV / Analog TV Tuner with Remote (TVT-6010)
Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-850 HDTV USB 2.0 ATSC/NTSC TV Tuner (Digital & Analog)
External USB ATSC HDTV / Analog TV Tuner with EXPRESS CARD REMOTE (TVT-6010)

Sound card

Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Surround 5.1 Channels 24-bit External USB Sound Card ( + 99 )
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi ExpressCard 24-bit Sound Card ( + 119 )
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xmod Wired/Wireless Sound Card System (Broadcast Xtreme Fidelity Audio from PC to other audio devices wirelessly) ( + 147 )

I am planning on going for three hard drives. In a machine of that capbability do you think it is worth the extra bucks to to 7200 rpm drives or would 5400 do just fine.

I am hardly going to be using windows with it's tendency to scatter files all over the drive.

[Anewbus]

Hmm, I know next to nothing about TV cards.
For the sound card: If you are going to be hooking up to an HT receiver you can almost go with anything and let the Receiver do the processing.
If that is not the case I would recommend Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi ExpressCard 24-bit Sound Card ( + 119 )

As for the HDD speed it depends. Are you doing anything that requires heavy file swapping and fast access, such as heavy FPS gaming and video/audio encoding and such? If so you would be happier with a 7200rpm. If not you can get away with 5400rpm. Note: Three 7200 rpm drives can equal a good deal of heat.

[Woody]

I have a Creative X-Fi ExpressCard and I love it. I used to have the USB version and it was great also. The advantage of the ExpressCard is that it's small, compact, is able to utilize the onboard speakers for output, and has the ability to interface wirelessly with compatible Creative products if you want that. The advantage of the USB version is that it offers true 5.1 surround output (the ExpressCard does not offer a 5.1 interface and only offers very effective but simulated surround sound over two channels such as a headset). The USB is cheaper and offers multiple outputs and will work with any computer including a desktop.

If you intend to interface the notebook with an actual 5.1 channel surround sound system such as your home entertainment system you should go with the USB version. If you only intend to use the audio card for gaming over headsets go with the expresscard verison. Both will offer excellent audio quality and good simulated surround sound over headphones.

I have to agree with Anewbus about the hard drive heat issue. When you pair two 7200rpm hard drives in that single center bay they will get very hot, shortening their life and reducing reliability. I would recommend instead getting two 500GB 7200rpm drives and having them configured in the separate bays utilizing the third bay under the battery compartment leaving only one drive in the center bay. If the computer ships with both drives in the center bay you can move one of them yourself but I don't know how they will ship.

If you don't intend to configure a RAID0 then you may opt to have a single 7200rpm drive in the center bay and a slower 500GB drive in the third bay for storage backup but now that 500GB 7200rpm drives are available it makes sense to opt for that in my opinion.

I understand what you are saying about Windows so what I suggest is installing Windows on a 100GB partition and storing your documents folder and applications folder on a separate partition or drive so they don't need to be defragmented by Windows and you can set those volumes with automatic defrag turned off to reduce disk activity.

I am running a RAID0 with two 7200rpm 320GB drives and performance is fantastic. I just back up my data to an external location.