Any 12" laptops with built in cd-rom drives?

[777php]

Its for a friend who doesn't want to spend that much money. Any recommendations?

 

[PeeluckyDuckee]

Didn't the older Thinpad R-series come with 13.3" and internal DVDROM/CDRW?

 

[WackyDan]

Originally posted by: 777php
Its for a friend who doesn't want to spend that much money. Any recommendations?

Problem with the 12.1 inch systems is they are purpose built to be small, and due to that not only carry a price premium, but 99% of the time do not come with an optical drive.

You have a safer and cheaper bet by looking at a 13" model as most of those came with some sort of built in optical drive.

Most "decent" 12.1 lappys start around $1400 on up.......

13" start under $1k. Decent start about $1200.

Keep in mind Decent to me may be a bit more expensive than what others would recommend.

 

[TSDible]

Averatec makes decent 12" notebooks with a built in DVD/CD-RW. They are athlon on celeron however. You can even get a slightly older one at CompGeeks for $700 - $780.

You can check out the Averatec Web site here.

 

[xcrunner51]

Averatec makes pieces of crap though

 

[Belteshazzar]

One of my buddies own a Averatec, I find it pretty good. I personally owned two T40's, 600x, 600m, 800LCI, 180B5, and a Ze4101.
I think overall a 600x is good enough if you want just the basics. In fact I am typing this on my 600x.

 

[Shivatron]

I know you said PIII, but keep in mind most iBooks have 12.1" displays, and all have at least a CD-ROM (most are equipped with a burner).

Also, I would hazard to guess that most iBooks have a better battery life (4-5 hours new) than their x86 eqivalents, especially in their price range.

 

[jdogg707]

Originally posted by: Atticu5
I know you said PIII, but keep in mind most iBooks have 12.1" displays, and all have at least a CD-ROM (most are equipped with a burner).

Also, I would hazard to guess that most iBooks have a better battery life (4-5 hours new) than their x86 eqivalents, especially in their price range.

A G4 will be a good alternative to a PIII chip, especially considering the battery life. Also all iBooks come with a CD-RW drive/DVD-ROM, except for the $949.00 iBook that is for education, which comes with a CD-ROM.

 

[jacob0401]

Asus M5 series has optical drive...

 

[nortexoid]

the Sony V505 series

the Averatec one is apparently ok, but i heard the keyboard rattles (which is apparently fixable if you open the thing up and do something to it).

fujitsu makes a sweet 10.6" one w/ a built-in combo drive, but that may be too small for you. i was shopping for the same thing as you and ended buying the Acer TravelMate 370. it doesn't have a built in drive, but the external one is small and is powered off the firewire bus, so it doesn't require an AC brick and it easily fits in the carrying case w/ the notebook.

 

[andyman7]

http://www.discountlaptops.com/index.php?section=specs&model_id=898&category_id=9&category_theme=c1

take a look at that laptop

 

[nortexoid]

Originally posted by: andyman7
http://www.discountlaptops.com/index.php?section=specs&model_id=898&category_id=9&category_theme=c1

take a look at that laptop

i forgot about that one and i almost bought. it was priced slightly higher than the 370 i picked up. it looks slicker tho.