Best business class notebooks

[Brentx]

I am a college student currently. I commute to college, so my laptops get a lot of stress. I have always been a big fan of business class notebooks, as they seem to be built the best for durability. Now I was looking at both HP and Gateway's business notebooks.

How do you guys feel about these 2 brands different notebooks? Are HP's sturdier than Gateways or vice versa?

The reason I am singling these 2 models out is because they offer the best video solution. I am a gamer, so I need a good graphics card. The Gateway's can come with a 7900GS and the HP's come with an ATi x1600. If it wasn't for this I would be going with a Lenovo, but the best they offer is an x1400, unless I am missing something here.

I am leaning towards the Gateway, but I have never seen the M685 series personally, like I have with the HP Compaq's, which are very nice too.

What would you guys recommend?

 

[fbrdphreak]

Lenovo ThinkPad Z61p or T60p; have the ATI V5200/V5250 which are the workstation versions of the X1600.

Right now they're running a sale on the T60's:
T60p 14.1" SXGA+ ATI V5250 Core 2 Duo T5600 60GB 7200RPM 1GB RAM 9-cell battery fingerprint reader BT DVDRW: $1578, add about $200 for 3 year accidental damage warranty. Also 15" SXGA+ if you want

Z61p is 15.4" WUXGA. There is a T60p 15.4" WSXGA+ as well. T-series is thinner/ligher than Z-series.

 

[corkyg]

Agree - for business class, Lenovo Thinkpads are top drawer.

 

[docinthebox]

Asus notebooks are also well regarded as business notebooks. In fact, over at notebookreview.com, there was a poll on notebook quality and Asus got more votes than Lenovo.

Here's a good notebook for about $1300:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16834220105

 

[Funyuns101]

i would agree as well, although if you really you could get a Panasonic Toughbook.
i have a Dell Latitude D620 from work which is good enough for me to travel with and whatnot

 

[simms]

Neither Gateway or HP are built for duability. HP has some OK business class ones out, but not great.

Obviously Lenovo/IBM are best in this regard... Pana's are too expensive to warrant my recommendation.

 

[Brentx]

So I have been reading, and now hear from you guys that Asus notebooks are pretty good too.

I came across the Asus A8JS at newegg, which has a 7700 Go in it, which I hear is fine for playing WoW (yes I am one of THOSE people ) and BF2, and is even better than a x1700 by ATI in some cases.

The notebook is a bit smaller than I wanted to go, but after thinking about it for a while, I don't think I want to go over the 15" mark as 17" is going to be a lot to carry around with me, which is actually making me like the idea of a very powerful 14" notebook for less than 2 grand.

Here is the link to newegg: Asus A8Js

I think that is a very impressive notebook, and hearing that Asus now offers 3 year warranty standard, it sounds like I can't go wrong!

What do you guys think?

 

[Brainonska511]

Originally posted by: Brentx
So I have been reading, and now hear from you guys that Asus notebooks are pretty good too.

I came across the Asus A8JS at newegg, which has a 7700 Go in it, which I hear is fine for playing WoW (yes I am one of THOSE people ) and BF2, and is even better than a x1700 by ATI in some cases.

The notebook is a bit smaller than I wanted to go, but after thinking about it for a while, I don't think I want to go over the 15" mark as 17" is going to be a lot to carry around with me, which is actually making me like the idea of a very powerful 14" notebook for less than 2 grand.

Here is the link to newegg: Asus A8Js

I think that is a very impressive notebook, and hearing that Asus now offers 3 year warranty standard, it sounds like I can't go wrong!

What do you guys think?

Currently, it is only 2 year standard warranty, but that is still good. The 7700Go is better in almost all cases compared with the MR X1700 (more pixel pipes in the 7700Go).

Still, the A8Js is a nice, powerful, and small machine. Great combination for a laptop that you want to be able to play some games on.

 

[Brentx]

Hmmm, I think this will be the notebook to get. Since my parents are paying for $800 of it too .

2 years is still good, as I probably will be looking to upgrade in 2 - 2 1/2 years anyways. I thought I read on notebookreviews.com that if you register the notebook within 90 days of purchase you get another year. Is that true?

Not to steer this off topic or anything... how do you like University of Chicago? Almost went there, but was too expensive since I am from WI and they charge a lot for out of staters. I ended up at UWM because it's in the city, and so is U of Chicago, which is why I wanted to go there .

 

[Brainonska511]

Originally posted by: Brentx
Hmmm, I think this will be the notebook to get. Since my parents are paying for $800 of it too .

2 years is still good, as I probably will be looking to upgrade in 2 - 2 1/2 years anyways. I thought I read on notebookreviews.com that if you register the notebook within 90 days of purchase you get another year. Is that true?

Not to steer this off topic or anything... how do you like University of Chicago? Almost went there, but was too expensive since I am from WI and they charge a lot for out of staters. I ended up at UWM because it's in the city, and so is U of Chicago, which is why I wanted to go there .

Not sure about the registration thing, but from what I've read, when you call for support, they ask you for your purchase date to make sure you're still in the warranty. All I know is that my W3J that I got last June only has a 1 year warranty (but I'm not worried about it).

As far as the UofC, they charge the same for instate and out of state since it is a private university. I like it a lot; lots of work, but it is still fun. 15 minutes via the El to downtown, which always has stuff to do.

 

[fbrdphreak]

Originally posted by: docinthebox
Asus notebooks are also well regarded as business notebooks. In fact, over at notebookreview.com, there was a poll on notebook quality and Asus got more votes than Lenovo.

Here's a good notebook for about $1300:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16834220105

Asus != business class

Poor driver update/support/certification. Poor US warranty support (not business class in the least). Limited security options (do they even offer a TPM? I don't think they do)

Asus' are built pretty well and have lots of features, but are not business class.

 

[Brainonska511]

Originally posted by: fbrdphreak

Originally posted by: docinthebox
Asus notebooks are also well regarded as business notebooks. In fact, over at notebookreview.com, there was a poll on notebook quality and Asus got more votes than Lenovo.

Here's a good notebook for about $1300:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16834220105

Asus != business class

Poor driver update/support/certification. Poor US warranty support (not business class in the least). Limited security options (do they even offer a TPM? I don't think they do)

Asus' are built pretty well and have lots of features, but are not business class.

Commuting to college is not a reason to get "Business class" notebook. The OP would be fine with something not quite up to par with "Business class."

As far as quality though, I'd go with the W, V, or R series notebooks from Asus since the A and F lines are the value segment of their production lines.

As far as TPM goes, IIRC, the V series has TPM.