Notebooks.com Forums - View Single Post - Notebooks.com’s $5,100 HP HDX Dragon Notebook Contest Starts Now!

Larrabee · 05-20-2008, 08:29 PM

First of all I'm glad I can enter this competition of the HP Pavillion HDP, codename: The Dragon. Thanks to notebook.com!

My Story: (make some time to read this all)

Design:
I will give some information about my computing life. I'm a designer and use Photoshop 7. Why I don't use CS, CS2 or CS3? It wouldn't run smooth on my current system. I'm a photoshop-fan. (See review: Photoshop)

Mapping & development:
But I'm not designing all the time. Even if I did, I think you don't deserve the notebook. Now I come to my second (big) point. I also love games. What I most like is the engine of the game. "The brain" of the game. I'm a moderate level/map designer. I realy like my current map editor: the Source SDK (games as CS: Sources, Half Life 2, Team Fortress 2 and Portal are based on this engine). Another name is the Hammer tool.

Problems?
But I wouldn't start talking about this if there was no problem. Developing maps take a lot of time and resources of my desktop. I will correct my prevous sentence: It use ALL my resources! If I create a large map (still smaller as the_dust2) then I need huge amounts of ram, which I simply don't have. My desktop reboots... In the contest thread you posted, you wanted the HP HDX would be given to people who still realy use the power of the dragon.

Here it is:
"We want the HP HDX to go to a good home where it’ll be used to its full potential and to someone that could really use it. If you just need a basic notebook for email and Web surfing the HP HDX isn’t for you."

I will prove it I will use all his potentials. First of all their was the RAM problem. But why should I win this notebook? Add some RAM for $100 and you are done? I could do that but RAM isn't realy the biggest problem. I will tell you my other hardware problems.

When maps become detailed by adding light, textures and models I need much GPU power. I currently have an old ATI 9800 Pro with 128Mb of dedicated ram. It's a card that is five or even six years old! I can almost hear the card crying for help.

So after the ram and the GPU power, what else do I need?
A CPU. This is maybe the most important, although, the GPU is also very important. When do I need the full CPU power? When I place objects but isn't the heavy one. Compiling maps is the heavy thing. I always say, compiling is something like rendering. It takes hours! Why?

This must be clear now, very complex map:

Compiling:
Compiling with an old Pentium 4 isn't realy a pleasure. I can go downstairs and make some coffee, watch television and eat some toast. When I go back I see compiling is done. 100% (finaly) I can click OK and run the map, by loading the game. And what do i see? Some errors, no big deal, because you can't simply make a map without any errors or mistakes the first time you compile.
Now I can edit the errors and correct my mistakes. Now I can compile again (after getting some errors like "Out of Memory") Again this take a while.

Screenshots:
A huge is also an advantage, 1900x1200 would give me an overview of the map. You can't see much of the map @ 1024x768 or 1280x1024 and playing @ 800x600.

Atleast I can show you some screenshots. Here they are:

The outside, the first I compile, some errors (you can see one, there is still one big box with lines)
ImageShack - Hosting :: outsidejd9.gif (could only add 4 <IMG> tags that's why there 's an url)

Adding skyboxes, uses light techniques and shadows is very GPU intensive.

The inside. Some sofas, a table, carpet, ceiling, some Terrorist bots and much more. There's a fireplace behind me.
ImageShack - Hosting :: 05pg3.gif (could only add 4 <IMG> tags that's why there 's an url)

The last screenshot, to end.

You can see this isn't realy a big map. Simpley because if I would go for bigger maps, my computer would reboot. I hope you enjoyed the screenshots.

Gaming:
Like I told you in the beginning, there are a lot of problems. I also play Age of Empires III. Playing is a big word. I can't make fun online with friends. I have to build my town at 20-30FPS and fight with 10-20FPS @ lowest details.

School:
Although gaming and mapping are important to me I also have to finish school. So I will need Windows Office with programs like Word, Powerpoint and Excel (math!)

I also would be very glad to have windows Vista. It's just a "mush-have" operating system. I cannot install it. To heavy for my desktop...

Vlexo - hosting company
I'm also part of the team at vlexo.com What do we do? We are providing free webhosting to hostless people. Working with a good PC and one that can run the lastest Photoshop would be great.
Then I can design something more for the company. I, the team and the admin or hosting people that can't realy afford to pay hosting. Jonathan our admin is paying the server and the staff are helping the clients. More information can be found on the Forum: Vlexo Community - Powered by vBulletin

The future:
In the future I will use this system to finish school like I told and create maps. I will learn for level designer or game engineer so a good PC is necessary!

The end:
Anyway I think I've to stop because the staff of notebooks.com will also have to read other stories. Today. I simply couldn't stop writing. You don't know how much I want this HP Pavillion HDX. There are so many reasons to have this 20.1 inch machine! But I must stop.
It''s the perfect combination of performance and style. It's a design and entertainment product. Are these two words "design" and "entertainment" not what I'm looking for? :P

I know I will probably not win this contest, but atleast I tried. I can just dream from this beauty...

Thanks anyway,
It rocks xxx
Larrabee

(This is the longest post I ever made. It's more like a letter :P Thanks for reading, if you did

)

05-20-2008, 08:29 PM	#95 (permalink)
Larrabee Status: Senior Member Join Date: May 2008 Location: Belgium, Europe Posts: 234	First of all I'm glad I can enter this competition of the HP Pavillion HDP, codename: The Dragon. Thanks to notebook.com! My Story: (make some time to read this all) Design: I will give some information about my computing life. I'm a designer and use Photoshop 7. Why I don't use CS, CS2 or CS3? It wouldn't run smooth on my current system. I'm a photoshop-fan. (See review: Photoshop) Mapping & development: But I'm not designing all the time. Even if I did, I think you don't deserve the notebook. Now I come to my second (big) point. I also love games. What I most like is the engine of the game. "The brain" of the game. I'm a moderate level/map designer. I realy like my current map editor: the Source SDK (games as CS: Sources, Half Life 2, Team Fortress 2 and Portal are based on this engine). Another name is the Hammer tool. Problems? But I wouldn't start talking about this if there was no problem. Developing maps take a lot of time and resources of my desktop. I will correct my prevous sentence: It use ALL my resources! If I create a large map (still smaller as the_dust2) then I need huge amounts of ram, which I simply don't have. My desktop reboots... In the contest thread you posted, you wanted the HP HDX would be given to people who still realy use the power of the dragon. Here it is: "We want the HP HDX to go to a good home where it’ll be used to its full potential and to someone that could really use it. If you just need a basic notebook for email and Web surfing the HP HDX isn’t for you." I will prove it I will use all his potentials. First of all their was the RAM problem. But why should I win this notebook? Add some RAM for $100 and you are done? I could do that but RAM isn't realy the biggest problem. I will tell you my other hardware problems. When maps become detailed by adding light, textures and models I need much GPU power. I currently have an old ATI 9800 Pro with 128Mb of dedicated ram. It's a card that is five or even six years old! I can almost hear the card crying for help. So after the ram and the GPU power, what else do I need? A CPU. This is maybe the most important, although, the GPU is also very important. When do I need the full CPU power? When I place objects but isn't the heavy one. Compiling maps is the heavy thing. I always say, compiling is something like rendering. It takes hours! Why? This must be clear now, very complex map: Compiling: Compiling with an old Pentium 4 isn't realy a pleasure. I can go downstairs and make some coffee, watch television and eat some toast. When I go back I see compiling is done. 100% (finaly) I can click OK and run the map, by loading the game. And what do i see? Some errors, no big deal, because you can't simply make a map without any errors or mistakes the first time you compile. Now I can edit the errors and correct my mistakes. Now I can compile again (after getting some errors like "Out of Memory") Again this take a while. Screenshots: A huge is also an advantage, 1900x1200 would give me an overview of the map. You can't see much of the map @ 1024x768 or 1280x1024 and playing @ 800x600. Atleast I can show you some screenshots. Here they are: The outside, the first I compile, some errors (you can see one, there is still one big box with lines) ImageShack - Hosting :: outsidejd9.gif (could only add 4 <IMG> tags that's why there 's an url) Adding skyboxes, uses light techniques and shadows is very GPU intensive. The inside. Some sofas, a table, carpet, ceiling, some Terrorist bots and much more. There's a fireplace behind me. ImageShack - Hosting :: 05pg3.gif (could only add 4 <IMG> tags that's why there 's an url) The last screenshot, to end. You can see this isn't realy a big map. Simpley because if I would go for bigger maps, my computer would reboot. I hope you enjoyed the screenshots. Gaming: Like I told you in the beginning, there are a lot of problems. I also play Age of Empires III. Playing is a big word. I can't make fun online with friends. I have to build my town at 20-30FPS and fight with 10-20FPS @ lowest details. School: Although gaming and mapping are important to me I also have to finish school. So I will need Windows Office with programs like Word, Powerpoint and Excel (math!) I also would be very glad to have windows Vista. It's just a "mush-have" operating system. I cannot install it. To heavy for my desktop... Vlexo - hosting company I'm also part of the team at vlexo.com What do we do? We are providing free webhosting to hostless people. Working with a good PC and one that can run the lastest Photoshop would be great. Then I can design something more for the company. I, the team and the admin or hosting people that can't realy afford to pay hosting. Jonathan our admin is paying the server and the staff are helping the clients. More information can be found on the Forum: Vlexo Community - Powered by vBulletin The future: In the future I will use this system to finish school like I told and create maps. I will learn for level designer or game engineer so a good PC is necessary! The end: Anyway I think I've to stop because the staff of notebooks.com will also have to read other stories. Today. I simply couldn't stop writing. You don't know how much I want this HP Pavillion HDX. There are so many reasons to have this 20.1 inch machine! But I must stop. It''s the perfect combination of performance and style. It's a design and entertainment product. Are these two words "design" and "entertainment" not what I'm looking for? :P I know I will probably not win this contest, but atleast I tried. I can just dream from this beauty... Thanks anyway, It rocks xxx Larrabee (This is the longest post I ever made. It's more like a letter :P Thanks for reading, if you did ) Last edited by Larrabee; 05-21-2008 at 05:06 PM.