Help - which notebook would you choose?

[d9175a]

I'm in the market to buy a new laptop - recommendations please?

Dell Inspiron 8100: Intel® Pentium® III Processor 1.2GHz-M
Monitor: 15in UltraXGA TFT Display
RAM: 256MB 133M
Video: 64MB 4X AGP ATI Mobility Radeon 7500
Hard Drive: 60GB Ultra ATA Hard Drive (5400 rpm)***
CD/DVD Drives: 16X CDRW Drive
CD/DVD Drives: 8X Max Variable DVD-ROM Drive
Modem: 10/100 + 56K Capable V.90 NIC/Modem

or

Dell Inspiron 8200: Mobile Pentium® 4 Processor 1.6GHz-M
Monitor: 15.0 Enhanced UXGA
RAM: 256MB DDR 266M
Video 64MB DDR 4XAGP NVIDIA GeForce4 440 Go? 3D Video
Hard Drives: 40GB Ultra ATA Hard Drive 40GB (4200 rpm) ***
CD/DVD Drives: 16X CDRW Drive
CD/DVD Drives: 8X Max Variable DVD-ROM Drive
Modem: 10/100 + 56K Capable V.90 NIC/Modem

Both of these prices are similar ($2,500 range)

Or would you go with the compaq 2800 series or the Toshiba Satellite 5105-S607:
Mobile Pentium® 4 processor 1.7 with 512MB RAM
NVIDIA® GeForce4? 440 Go? GPU 32 MB
Display Type : 15" UXGA Active Matrix (1600 x 1200)
Hard Drive : 40 Gigabyte (5400)
Multimedia : DVD/CD-RW multifunction drive

($2,500 range also)

*** However battery life for Toshiba is only 1:45 whereas Dell has 2:30 battery life.
Which Dell would you go with? What about Dell vs. other?
Thanks for your help.

 

[ElFenix]

the first dell. the p3 1.2 and p4 1.6 are probably pretty close in performance, and then you throw in the slower HDD in the p4 and the p3 will be quite a bit faster. plus ATi's drivers are better than nvidia's on the mobile side of things, the gf2go was plagued... maybe thats been fixed with the gf"4"go, but i'd go with the more established part since its not like you can just put another card in there.

you can save a little green by going with the 1.13 GHz p3, 66MHz isn't very much of an increase.


EDIT: that dell p4 has the best screen, unless dell's stats are lying. probably eats batteries though.

 

[corkyg]

I would go with the Dell 8100. It is a great laptop/notebook. The Radeon Mobility 7500 is a bit more stable and better suited to most laptop work. The faster HDD will befinitely make for better application speeds.

 

[d9175a]

Thanks for the advice on the laptops...

One other quick question - what about the compaq Presario 2800 Series?

$2,599
Mobile Intel P4 1.7GHz-M
256MB 266MHz DDR SDRAM
ATI Mobility Radeon 7500 with 64MB of dedicated DDR video memory
Integrated 56K v.92 modem and 10/100 Ethernet and Compaq 802.11b MultiPort Module
15? SXGA+ Active Matrix Display
30 GB UltraDMA Hard Drive
8X DVD-ROM/CD-RW Combo Drive

The screen isn't as good as Dell's or Toshiba's, but it comes with a radeon chip and the other specs are fairly comparable to the previously mentioned models. Thanks again for your help.

 

[hans007]

are you kidding me. the compaq presario. its 2 pounds less!!! 2 pounds. the only thing is the screen isnt as nice. but it has integrated wifi, which the dell only has as an option

 

[HalfCrazy]

I would choose the Dell Inspiron 8100 my self. Since it does has a faster hdd.

 

[FreakyD]

I think the Toshiba is the best of the bunch. Personally I'm not much of a fan of the Dell laptops. They seem a little flimsy to me. The Toshibas seem to be put together well and comfortable to type on. It's also the best deal of the bunch with what you're getting for the price.