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Buying a Laptop for X-Mas. Which 1?

M

MacAttack

Member
I am buying a laptop for my wife for Christmas. All she will be using it for is accessing the internet, email, and typing Word documents. She does not play games, so that is not a factor. This is just a basic notebook for general use. Below are some of the deals that I have found online that I think fit the bill. I am looking to see if anyone has any recommendations on the following:

Acer TM4000LCi: $824, Centrino 1.4GHz 2MB L2 cache, 256MB DDR, 40GB HD, 5-hour battery life

Averatec AV5500: $729AR, Sempron 2600+, 256MB DDR, 30GB HD, 3-hour battery

Dell Inspiron 1150: ~$737, Celeron 2.6GHz, 256MB DDR, 30GB, 12-Cell Battery

IBM ThinkPad G40: $799, Celeron 2.6GHz, 256MB DDR, 30GB, 3-hour battery (I can get free upgrades though)

The $100 price difference between the three is not a big deal. I know I will add an additional 256MB of memory later because they overcharge for it at all the online stores. If anyone has a recommendation or knows of a better deal out there, it is greatly appreciated.
 
Hmm, I would say to stay away from the Celerons. Much as I would like to recommend the IBM(a good keyboard is a nice thing to have if you are doing a lot of typing, and they have the best in the business) it just isn't worth suffering with a desktop chip. I don't know too much about the Acer; but you'll be happier with a Centrino than a Celeron(Semprons are often said to be better than Celerons in performance terms; but they aren't fantastic mobile chips either).
 
That Acer looks like a great deal. Plus, it's from NewEgg, right?

Edit, you can get an Acer with similar specs, but with a celeron-m 1.5 ghz. You can get it at sam's for a good return policy, or at newegg.

The celeron m might actually be faster than the pentium, since I've seen benchmarks that show they perform closely, clock to clock. It will have lower battery life, though.
 
Thank you for all the advice. I purchased teh Acer TM4000LCi. I work for one of the companies, but I cannot even come close in price for a comparable system on an internal purchase (even on refurbs).

The Centrino was the main selling point. The $125 difference for the Celeron M vs the Centrino I think is worth the money. I can get an additional 256MB or 512MB of memory very ineexpensively.

Acer TM4000LCi
Intel Centrino M 710 Processo: 1.4GHz, 2MB L2 Cache, 90nm
256MB DDR333 Memory
40GB Hard drive. (I don't need more than that)
Graphics: Not a major point of contention. No games will be played other than maybe Solitaire


Thanks for the comments and advice.
 
How's the keyboard on the ACER?

Wife does not play games but she writes a TON of papers, looking for something with a nice solid keyboard. Almost every dell/hp I try the entire keyboard flexes in when I type.

Thanks!


edit: where did you find the 4000 for $834????? Even walmart charges $1000

Thanks!
 
I can tell you what I will like of it right now!!! 🙂

This means I get my computer back and my wife can't stop me from playing games. It will also be hard for me to compare with it because I work for IBM and I have a really nice lappy (at least for work). I can't say more than that though unfortunately. So, I will see how she likes it. I will see if I can give it an objective opinion.
 
A quick question: why stay away from the celeron m's? I'm thinking of getting my first laptop. I'm not replacing my desktop. I just want something to play around with.
Compusa is supposed to have a toshiba with a celeron m for $599 after mir tomorrow. Orginal thread in hot deals.
Are centrinos that much better in performance and battery life that I should wait and shop some more? Also, is one brand any better than another?
 
Big diffirence between Celerons and Celeron Ms. The latter are actually pretty decent processors. They've less cache than Dothans(possibly even less than Banias, I'm not sure) so they aren't as snappy as real Pentium Ms and they don't have as good power saving as the P Ms. All in all, though, they are quite decent, especially for the money. Celerons, though, are basically desktop processors, and aren't hugely impressive(though the newer Celeron Ds are ok). So, a Celeron M is actually a perfectly respectable processor for your application, and will be a bit cheaper. A conventional Celeron may be cheaper; but just isn't worth it for laptop use.
 
I received the laptop 3 days before the expected delivery. It was supposed to get here tomorrow, but I got it on Friday. Too bad I was gone all weekend.

Here's a quick overview at looking at it for about 20 minutes:

1. Quite a bit faster than I expected.
2. Resolution is good for a laptop (Intel Extreme II graphics)
3. I was able to log on to 3 neighbors wireless ports
4. Downloading the Windows and Office 2003 updates was quick and painless.

That's about all I was able to get to prior to my wife getting home. No more updates until Christmas weekend...sorry.
 
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