help me pick out an inexpensive laptop

[slugg]

im hoping to find a sub-$1000 laptop with very good battery life. Pretty much the only thing i NEED is a looooong battery life. Another thing that would be NICE is a "ultraportable" size (like 12".). Dual battery would also be nice. Im not too worried about weight, aslong as its not rediculous. LOL!

So any suggestions? I'm willing to buy a barebones laptop and adding my own parts, too. Whatever works. I just need ideas

edit: also... is there anything NEW coming out that I should wait for?

 

[bhanson]

Apple iBook's are known to be good for this, I just ordered mine yesterday.

[edit]
I think that's practically your only choice in the sub-$1000 range. They get 4-6 hours of life on one charge depending on usage. The only other portable option I've seen in this price range is the Averatec 3200 series, but it's lacking in some areas, namely the battery life that you're looking for.

If you find something else that works, let me know.

 

[hopejr]

Another vote for the 12" iBook G4.

 

[slugg]

hmm ok. I'd go iBook if it wasnt so weak. Personally I think they're insanely overpriced for what you're getting. A 12 inch powerbook would be nice, but again, the price is rediculous.

So what other options do i have for say... $1200 or less? Sub $1000 is my goal, but if i have to spend a little more for a much better computer, it'd be worth it

 

[bhanson]

Well, personally I think the 12? iBook is a good deal, it?s a very high quality product and should last you for a while. You?re not going to find anything all that powerful in that price range anyway.

 

[thuned]

The only thing I can think of that's cheap and small is the averatec 3250 series. Two of my friends have it, it can last 3hours if you turn everything down. At 800$ of so if you get it on sale, you can afford to get 1-2 spare batteries..
Otherwise, I can suggest the ibook again? Dell's 600m and 700m are on sale sometimes for under 1k sometimes.

 

[airfoil]

My vote goes to the Dell 700M, $1027 shipped when a coupon is applied.

Coupons available here.

 

[Commodus]

slugg:

I'd go for the iBook G4 as well. If you're buying a $1000 12" laptop, you're not going to get performance no matter how you slice it.

The only catch is that you'd really want to BTO with at least 512 MB of RAM (Apple's price for the upgrade isn't that far off online prices) and a 60 GB drive. That'll put you over $1000, but it'll still stomp Averatec's model in battery life... and a few other, more subjective aspects. Ever had a laptop that could wake up a second after opening the lid?

And don't forget: if you're a college/university student, you can get educational prices from Apple (including Office 2004 Student/Teacher: $150 for the whole thing!).

 

[slugg]

ok well... I'll give the apple ibook a chance then. So far I'm pretty much between the Dell 700m and the iBook 12". I can get small business (having my dad buy it) or student discounts. So, performance wise, how does the iBook do against the 700m? The 700m has a much faster CPU to my understanding. Also the 700m has 333 mhz DDR. However, I dont know how to compare the performance of a mac versus a windows PC. Can i get any input on this?

Also, any other suggestions or opinions are appreciated! Thanks so far guys

 

[fbrdphreak]

C'mon guys, where are your brains? HP dv1000
14" widescreen Centrino notebook. You can configure one with 256MB RAM (spend $30 on FS/FT to get another 256MB, 40GB HDD, CDRW, 14" BrightView screen (Save $25 and lose the BrightView if you want), 1.6GHz Pentium M, 54G wifi, and best of all: 12-cell battery. This will run you about $1100, but you can get even more off if you are a student. You will get 7-8 hours of battery life with the 12-cell doing basic usage w/wifi on. IMO, it is one of the best notebooks for the money right now. Look for an in depth review on it at LaptopLogic.com coming soon; courtesy of my GF's dv1000

Feel free to PM me with any ?'s

EDIT: BTW, it weighs right around 5lbs w/the 12-cell. Not too shabby

 

[bhanson]

The DV1000 looks like a pretty good value, although I think 7-8 hours is a bit inflated, even from a 12 cell battery. The other thing the OP might want to consider is that while the 14" widescreen has the same screen height as a 12", it is about as wide as a 15", this could be cutting into the portability factor.

 

[fbrdphreak]

Originally posted by: bhanson
The DV1000 looks like a pretty good value, although I think 7-8 hours is a bit inflated, even from a 12 cell battery. The other thing the OP might want to consider is that while the 14" widescreen has the same screen height as a 12", it is about as wide as a 15", this could be cutting into the portability factor.

So me using my gf's dv1000 (1.6GHz P-M, 512MB, 40GB, BrightView, Broadcom wifi, 12-cell) is inflated? With the lowest screen brightness & wifi enabled, browsing the internet & typing papers, she easily gets 7 hours. Soooo, how about nooooo
Good point on the size tho Head over to Best Buy or Circuit City & see one in person
You will fall in love with it :heart:

 

[slugg]

how's the battery life while playing DVD's? Is there any battery life improvement when playing a dvd without booting into windows?

 

[fbrdphreak]

We watched some Xvid rips off of a DVDR in the car and with max screen brightness & max volume, IIRC it was around 5 hours (according to Windows). We used it for 3.5 hours straight driving and it had plenty of juice left afterwards, so 5 makes sense. Dunno about playing with QuickPlay, I haven't even touched it yet. I will know this weekend though

 

[slugg]

does the 12 cell battery stick out a lot or just a little bit?

 

[fbrdphreak]

I will measure it by this weekend, but I would estimate it sticks out about 1/4 - 1/2 inch. However, this works out well for 2 reasons: it provides a nice grip to hold the laptop when carrying it & it props the back of the laptop up when sitting on a flat surface for better typing angle & better ventilation :thumbsup:

 

[slugg]

hmm looks like i might go this way. The 7+ hour battery life and widescreen is REALLY attractive! I'm gonna wait til you put up your review. Im also trying to find out how I can get either a small business or student education discount...

 

[fbrdphreak]

Post in the dv1000/v2000 watch thread that I PMed you, someone there can tell yo uabout that
or just e-mail HP directly, you can apply the discount when you checkout

 

[slugg]

alright cool. So is the $25 for the brite view worth it? from what i understand, it just makes the screen glossy, which can be good AND bad...

 

[fbrdphreak]

its up to you. go see it in the store for the best idea. my gf likes it for the added brightness, but the glare is a real bitch in rooms with lots of flourescent lighting. there will also be a review up for the v2000 notebook (the compaq version of the dv1000) and it might have the non-brightview screen, i'm not sure