Decisions... Decisions... Need to pick a laptop!

[KiLLaZ]

I'm looking into getting a laptop, so I can take it back and forth from school to home on the weekends/breaks, etc. I need something pretty decent because I do webwork (Photoshop, Dreamweaver, etc.) as well as some "mild" gaming (a.k.a more gaming then I would like to admit ). Because I work with graphics and multi-task very often, I am pretty much dead set on a 15" screen w/ 1400x1050 (SXGA+) or higher. Now my main question is - how much of a difference does the graphics chipset I get make?

I know everyone here is all about the Dell, but the 4100 doesn't have a 15" screen. I could get the 8100 with a nice GeForce2Go, but I've heard it's pretty bulky. Also, it is a tad bit more expensive.

There's sale going on at Best Buy right now - I could get an HP Pavilion ZT1180 for $1700. It's got PIII-M 1.2, DVD+CD-RW, 15" SXGA+, 512MB RAM, and 40GB HD. The problem is, the HP has a S3 Savage4 AGP 16MB for video. That's pretty old as compared to the rest of the laptop!

A similar spec'd Dell Inspiron is $2,100 - but that's out of my price range, so if I were to go Dell, I would get an 8100 w/ PIII-M 1.0, DVD Drive Only (No burner), 15" SXGA+, 512MB RAM, 30GB HD, and GeForce2Go 16MB for $1700.

Which one would you get? The HP is more stylish, is smaller/lighter, and better spec'd than a similarly priced Dell, but has the S3 Savage4 video.

I've looked into Toshiba and Fujitsu - but I can't seem to find a 15" screen with a decent video chipset. How much does that matter?

Any advice/input would be greatly appreciated!

 

[ndee]

I would go with Toshiba or IBM. Dell has some crappy cases, all plastic and stuff(the Inspirons).

 

[Ryan]

Based STRICKTLY on what they come with, go with the HP

 

[Freejack2]

I have yet to have a problem with the Dell case. I'd say go for the inspiron 8100. You can't go wrong with a radeon 7500 on board. That's one sweet laptop!

 

[UofI]

The HP looks damn good. However, you get a Savage graphics card, which will not be all that great for say CS
I would shop around some more. If you have time, I would wait for the mobil P4's to come out.

 

[KiLLaZ]

I've heard good things about Toshiba, but the problem is - their Satellite 3000 line, the product line that uses GeForce2Go chipsets, ONLY has 14.1" screens! Their 1800 series has 15" screens, but they use CyberALADDIN-T for video - what the heck is that?!?!

How much of a hit will I take if I go with the Savage chipset? What about quality? I'm more concerned about quality than getting blazing FPS.

 

[UofI]

You recieve some ghetto graphics with those chipsets. Atleast in my experience. I have a Dell Latitude which uses a Savage graphic chipset and it sucks. CS looks all blocky as does RTCW. No problem running the games and getting good fps, but the visual quality is bad

 

[PeeluckyDuckee]

IBMs are very sturdy, with average spec'ed components, but at a higher price. DELLs are fairly priced, you can choose among the latest and greatest components for your laptop, casing is not as sturdy. Toshiba's between IBM and DELL in terms of quality, specs, and pricing.

If you do intensive graphics, I'd recommend for sure a 15" SXGA or even UXGA display with a Radeon7500 Mobility. If you can wait, wait until the P4's come out in mass for the laptop, prices will drop by a few in the next few months I'm thinking....

I'm a Dell Inspiron 8100 owner, btw. Love the dual battery option. With Intel SpeedStep I can literally run on ends for 5hrs+ without plugging into an outlet

For games, my 32mb Geforce2Go plays decently when downsized to 1024 or 1280, but can't really handle the full blown native 1400*1040 resolution. I would not pickup the full 512mb ram from DELL directly if I were you. You can always get the upgrade for Crucial for a bit cheaper.

BTW, one more thing, be aware of DELLs crappy CS if you want to be a DELL customer. They have LONG queue times when you do make a call to CS. I've been put on hold for no less than 1hrs each time I made a call, longest being 1 and a half hours long, I actually fell asleep that time. No joke.

My 2 cents
Plucky

 

[JEDI]

how about a compaq? some of them have the ATI radeon mobility video.

and speaking of laptop video..what's better, the geforce2 GO, Radeon mobility or Nvdiia's Nforce??

or if u can wait, nvidia is coming out w/their next gen of nforce soon

 

[UofI]

ROFL Plucky

 

[Skail]

A lot of people like Dells for the fact that they're customizable and they look pretty nice, but I'm the kind of person that drops a lot of stuff. Bye-bye Dell.

 

[Goldfish]

I also recommend just getting 256mb of RAM from whoever you get the laptop from. It's not uncommon to see 100% markup on extra RAM.

 

[Zenmervolt]

<< I would go with Toshiba or IBM. Dell has some crappy cases, all plastic and stuff(the Inspirons). >>

Ditto that. I've played with IBM, Toshiba, and Dell, and IBM and Toshiba are clearly built more solidly than the Dells I've seen. IBM's A-series are amazing machines and the ATI Mobility Radeon is nice enough too, not quite as fast in games as the GeForce2Go, but the ATI chip does better with battery life, and ATI chipsets historically do a little better quality-wise.

ZV

The A-Series has a dual-battery option too I'm pretty sure.

 

[Freejack2]

One of the review sites did a review with the Dell Inspiron 8100 with the Ati Radeon 7500 (64mb).
They found it benchmarked almost double what the geforce 2 go does.

Get the 8100 with the Radeon 7500. I seriously doubt you'd regret it.

 

[Keego]

I love my laptop and would recommend it to anyone. It is heavy though.

 

[Croton]

someone is selling a toshiba satellite pro 3000 s353 in the f/s forums...
i have the exact same laptop but i have more ram in mine....

kickass laptop!

 

[Orsorum]

I love my IBM... sturdy, darn fast, and powerful... it's so cool. I'd check 'em out.

 

[hans007]

ya someone is selling the sat 3000 in the forums. its a p3-900 with gf2go, and 14". the best part is he's selling it for $1100.


dont get the HP, the savage 4 ix is not that bad a video card, but its the intergrated one, which is. so it slows that 1.2 ghz p3 to about the speed of a 1 ghz p3 or less. i personally have many HPs but that model is not the one to get.


i'd get the satelite 3005 s304 (touchpad instead of pointy thing) my friend has one. its pretty light, my friend has one, it comes with a cdrw/dvd, 256mb ram, and 1 ghz cpu. he got it on ebay new in box for $1500.