Choosing a Laptop ... help with specs

[b4u]

Hi,

I'm thinking seriously about buying a laptop next friday (My local shop will be giving a 10% discount over everything).

So, I went there to take a pre-look on the machines around, and for the price of about 1500?, I found the following laptops:


1# Toshiba Satellite M30X-144 - (1499?)

Pentium M745 1,6Ghz (Centrino 2Mb cache - and probably 400Mhz FSB?)
512Mb (Expandable up to 2Gb)
ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 128Mb DDR
80Gb HD
DVD+/- RW /Double Layer
Wireless Lan 802.11b/g
15" Wide TFT Truebrite XGA / Resolution 1280x800
I think it also has memory card reader ...
(... don't have all detailed specs with me ...)


2# Acer Aspire 1694 WLMi - (1599?)

Pentium M760 2,0Ghz (Centrino 2Mb cache & 533Mhz FSB)
512Mb (Expandable up to 2Gb)
ATI Mobility Radeon X600 128Mb DDR
80Gb HD
DVD+/- RW /Double Layer
Wireless Lan 802.11b/g
15,4" WXGA CrystalBrite / Resolution 1280x800
Memory card Reader (MMC,5D,MemoryStick,SmartMedia)
(... don't have all detailed specs with me ...)
Oh, this laptop has bluetooth.


What I need? Basically a computer to work on. I do programing in WebSphere, and most probably will do some in .Net. So I'll have to buy a machine with at least 1Gb ram.

Also it would be great to play a bit, at least while the performance of the laptop is acceptable for the game requirements.

I'm interested in a good looking screen. I believe the Toshiba TrueBrite technology is great, maybe better that Acer's CrystalBrite ... or maybe not ... don't have experience with them. And looking into the screens on machines turned on 24 hours a day (almost) with the shop's light and with changed contrast/brightness settings can be deceiving ...

So my questions are:

a) 9700 vs X600? What would be the best? I know X600 is a more recent technology, but 9700 was the top ...

b) Acer has 533MHz. Is it the top at laptops? Doesn't the toshiba machine have 533 FSB also?

c) Can 2Gb ram do any practical performance increase that make it a better choice?

d) So, which one would you choose?


Positive Points:

- Toshiba has a nice looking screen;
- Acer has a friendlier keyboard (for me at least ... I like a Ctrl on the right side of space, for example)
- Maybe Acer is a latter/better technology?

Negative Points:

- Maybe Acer's screen is not as good;
- Toshiba has a keyboard layout I must take some time getting used to ...


Any help, tips on choosing/looking into a laptop, etc ... will be of great help! It's a big investment! And I don't plan to make a mistake (I hope 🙂)

Thanks

 

[n0cmonkey]

I think the keyboard is a huge part of the puzzle when ordering a laptop. Some laptop keyboards are just icky.

 

[xsilver]

a) performance is about same i think
b) the acer has the newer sonoma (spelling??) core cpu.... it is the latest, the toshiba doesnt have this
c) having 2gb of ram is only going to help in certain situations/programs..... those generally being 3d modeling and video creation types
d) i'd go the acer, but that's only cause I have a bias against toshiba 😛
have a test of the two systems b4hand and you should get an idea of the screens, even if under wierd store light conditions

 

[b4u]

Thanks for the opinions so far ...

... anyone would like to add something up to the help? 🙂


Oh, and would a 533Mhz bus will add some performance? I mean, which memory should I be carefully ask for, if it's worth the efford (I'm axpanding to 1Gb, so I believe I can do that).

So acer has new technology, and is that the reason it has 533 FSB?

Anyone has any experience/opinion about the different screen technologies here? (Trubrite vs CrystalBrite)


Thanks!

 

[IntegraGSR]

i'm no laptop expert. but my acer has not made me happy.. i've had it for almost 3 years now and a few keys on the keyboard have stopped working,the ps2 port doesn't work, the battery has died (and wont turn on with just AC power) and the dvd-rom drive has died...

 

[b4u]

Originally posted by: IntegraGSR
i'm no laptop expert. but my acer has not made me happy.. i've had it for almost 3 years now and a few keys on the keyboard have stopped working,the ps2 port doesn't work, the battery has died (and wont turn on with just AC power) and the dvd-rom drive has died...

Wow ... can you post your model please? Just for reference ...



Oh, anyone can tell me if I'm correct, for a 533FSB I will best of with DIMM DDR PC400 ? I'll have to pay ?130 for an extra 512Mb of those ...

 

[mwmorph]

Originally posted by: b4u
Oh, anyone can tell me if I'm correct, for a 533FSB I will best of with DIMM DDR PC400 ? I'll have to pay ?130 for an extra 512Mb of those ...

yes.
now the 9700pro should be faster i think. toshiba, though i dont have exprience with their lappys makes some good dvd drives and dvd players(i own 3)

 

[nygiftinc]

these are not good, try ibm thinkpad t40 t41 or t43, very good built quality and nice csr , I have used some acer toshiba, compaq and dell, all make me disappointed me excep the IBM t23 and a31p, I will get a t43 or t42 later

 

[JBT]

Originally posted by: nygiftinc
these are not good, try ibm thinkpad t40 t41 or t43, very good built quality and nice csr , I have used some acer toshiba, compaq and dell, all make me disappointed me excep the IBM t23 and a31p, I will get a t43 or t42 later

For one of those you have to add a few hundred to the price too. He may or may not have that much to spend.

 

[b4u]

Originally posted by: nygiftinc
these are not good, try ibm thinkpad t40 t41 or t43, very good built quality and nice csr , I have used some acer toshiba, compaq and dell, all make me disappointed me excep the IBM t23 and a31p, I will get a t43 or t42 later

Well, mainly there are 2 things that will drive me away from IBM ...

- Money - I do believe they cost some serious money, when comparing with the 2 options I gave

- Availability - On my local store, they don't sell IBM ... and I'll have 10% discount on everything ... so the cost drops a bit more, thus making it uncomparable with buying an IBM (or even any of the laptops I named) on another shop ... the 10% will buy me the extra ram ... and it will have 10% discount too 🙂

I'll have a look on another shop today, looking for some clasus laptops ... don't know anything about them, though ... I'll be comparing prices and features.

 

[b4u]

Made a simple edit to the message ... Acer has bluetooth already, and toshiba I think only has 400Mhz FSB.

So will I benefict from choosing 533 over 400 FSB? Or in this case, it's not really need the efford?

The 533FSB came from M760?

 

[pepo]

Never the less Acer offers somewhat better configuraton I would preffer Toshiba Satellite over it anytime. I personally own a Toshiba Sattelite Pro 6100 works perfectly as the germans say: Faehlerfrei!!!

 

[kitkat22]

For the memory upgrade check to see if you can do your own upgrade. 1GB of Kingston laptop memory at pricegrabber came up at $138. (Didn't check shipping) You're bound to find something cheaper than what the retailer will offer. I've heard good and bad about both OEM's. Looking at the specs and my own preference I would choose acer. Most reviews have given them good scores. I can't say anything about the screen because I don't know, but I think you will get a coin toss to which one to get.

 

[b4u]

Two more questions regarding processors:

1) Can anyone remember me of an aproximate factor conversion between Pentium M and Pentium 4 processors (I know it's not a rule factor conversor, just an aproximate way of comparing MHz speed). I remember something about 1.3 if I'm correct. Anyone confirm this?

2) I have a desktop Pentium4 2.4c which has HT technology. So my WinXP Pro works with it as if it was a 2 processor machine. Does Pentium M Centrino has HT too?

 

[b4u]

* bump *