Best notebook for $2000?

[Tachion]

I have been looking around for the past few days and I was set on the Gateway 450XL. It seems to have the most bang for the buck (I want to stay with a "name brand" manufacturer) with a Radeon 9600 128 meg, 1.6 GHz Pentium-M, etc. I am mainly going to be using this for web browsing and work, but I also want to be able to play games on it (so a decent video card is a must).

After reading some reviews on the 450XL, though, many said performance was sub-par. Does anyone have any other "name brand" alternatives? I was looking at Dell, but the most I could get for $2000 was a non-Pentium-M with only a 64 meg video card. I would go with a Pentium 4, but size is also an issue for me.

Any ideas?

 

[Frightcrawler]

I know you said you want to stick to name brands...but I'm going to try to change your opinion anyway .
In particular, PowerNotebooks is especially good. Their reseller ratings are extremely high (Lifetime Rating: 9.99 out of 10.00)

I would go for the PowerPro 5:6 because, it just rocks.
I hope you don't judge solely on brand names.

 

[Twsmit]

the Dell inspiron 8600 can be bought for under 2 grand with a R9600 Pro. I have the laptop and its awsome. Its not big in the sense of 'OMG i have a 3.4ghz P4 EE that weighs 12 pounds and gets 1 hour of battery"

But it does weigh about 7 pounts..... but gets 3+ hours of battery life.

 

[Frightcrawler]

Ignore this post.

 

[Wuzup101]

Was just looking at the powerPro 5:6... the top of the line one can be configured very nicely w/ a 7200rpm hdd and 1 gig of ram w/ wireless card for about what you want to spend. Also uses the Radeon 9700Pro w/ 128DDR and 1.7P-M. If money is tight (this setup runs about 2100) then drop to the middle one and configure it in a similar manner... the 1.5P-M vs the 1.7 should easily save you enough to put you under 2k.

Other than that I like Apple iBook and Powerbook and IBM Thinkpads as my favorite lappies. There is much to be said about apple notebooks... very nice and classy... but definitely not gaming books...lol as you probably know. IBM's aren't strong in the video area... but they are pretty much godlike everywhere else

 

[Corporate Thug]

15 inch 1.25 Ghz powerbook with superdrive, 512 ram, built in airport, etc...

 

[ShellGuy]

The NEW Emachine m6809 came out yesterday here and IMHO is the best bang for buck. Its aslo dam sexy if u ask me. Spec me out a lappy with the same equpment and equal or lesser price if u want to argue with me. LOL... I think we already had this arugemnt one time before.


Will

 

[axemanxt40]

I am gonna put up another suggestion to look at the PowerPro from powernotebooks.com, I am considering that as my choice because it packs everything I want into a notebook (battery life, the best mobile graphics card, reliable company, etc) for like 400 bucks less than Hypersonic! Now granted this notebook is in no way shape or form a real eye pleaser if that really annoys you, it can always be modded!

Also besides their reseller ratings, they have a clean record with the BBB and participate in its online affiliate program.

As for shell's suggestion of the M6809 I wouldn't recommend it for next generation games due to the low amount of dedicated VRAM. I mean with modern games pushing more and more textures into themselves...64 MB of VRAM is just not sufficient. I believe in that really long thread about the 6805/07 that people stated they have to cut their resolutions for Fary Cry and graphical settings! And Far Cry is just the beginning imagine trying to play Doom 3/HL 2 with anything above 800 x 600 on that laptop?

 

[ShellGuy]

From what I read of his post games are a secondary thought not a primary one. If it was primary and he had the cash i would suggest something other than the E. But as for Web and Email and Work. It is a very good machine.