How would you guys rate this notebook from iBuyPower

[Fenuxx]

I'm getting a notebook for a graduation present (yay ), and I am fortunately able to pick out the configuration I want. So, heres what I have so far:

-AMD Mobile Athlon 64 3400+
-15.4" WXGA TFT (1280x800 resolution)
-128MB ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 (M11P)
-1GB PC3200 SO-DIMM DDR Memory (2x512MB) from Corsair
-60GB 5400RPM 2.5" Hard Drive
-DVD-ROM\CD-RW Drive (24x16x24x8)
-Windows XP Professional (SP2)
-Standard notebook loadout (ports, battery, etc.)
--TOTAL PRICE: $1,449.70

OK, so there you have it. It isn't an uber notebook, but seeing as how it isn't meant for games, but meant for school (DeVry), that doesn't matter. The fact that it has a Mobility 9700 is just a bonus. Hopefully, I'll be able to yoink it to LAN parties instead of having to dissasemble my main computer (in sig below). So, the questions I have are as follows:

1.) How good is iBuyPower?
2.) How would you rate this config, especially considering its price?
3.) What mobo chipset does this thing use (VIA, NVIDIA, SiS, ATI)?

I was going to look for a P-M based notebook, but seeing as how, for my pricerange, I couldn't get anything over 1.6GHz and with "Intel Graphics Media Accelerator", I decided to forget that. I only have a $1500 budget, including shipping, so this is about as beefy as I can get. If anyone has any other suggestions, let me know. I did look at Dell, HP\Compaq, Toshiba, and CyberPower, Inc. as well, so I did my fair share of shopping, thats for sure.

Anyways, thanks for the help in advance.

-GFT

 

[RamIt]

Sorry to keep sounding like a broken record but the dell 9300 would be a much better buy.
They have a 750 off 1500 coupon starting tommorow which would get you a far better system in your price range with better battery life.

 

[Fenuxx]

Originally posted by: RamIt
Sorry to keep sounding like a broken record but the dell 9300 would be a much better buy.
They have a 750 off 1500 coupon starting tommorow which would get you a far better system in your price range with better battery life.

So just so I know, its $750 off a $1500+ purchase? If so, you're probably right.

 

[BobDaMenkey]

Dude, that Dell deal is killer.

I priced out a system to be 1456 with the deal with the following specs:

1.86ghz P-M
512mb RAM Dual Channel
80gb HDD
GeForce Go 6800
9Cell batter(bigger)

That's not shabby at all. I'm gonna see if I can swing me one of those myself hehe.

 

[fbrdphreak]

The Dell is a frickin' killer deal, but I can say that IBuyPower is an excellent brand. In fact, we will have an in depth review of I think that same model posted tonight (see my sig). One of our editors @ LaptopLogic has an IBuyPower just like that.

 

[fbrdphreak]

BTW, its the SiS chipset.

 

[Nonsequitur]

since you say this is for school and not for games, you really should look at a pentium-m. i love amd and all, but the pentium-m is leagues better than any amd cpu when it comes to getting the most out of battery life- which is pretty important if you are going to be using the laptop in class often.

 

[Fenuxx]

So when does that $750 off deal start? I configged a system today (Wednesday) and it still is only a $350 off deal. I wonder if it starts tomorrow?

 

[RamIt]

Here and gone in a hour. "Limited to the first 10,000 users"

 

[Fenuxx]

Originally posted by: RamIt
Here and gone in a hour. "Limited to the first 10,000 users"

Wrong dood. In fact, I used it last night. I used it to get the following notebook:

-Intel Pentium-M 760 (2.0GHz, 533MHz FSB, 2MB Cache, 90nm)
-17" WXGA TFT
-256MB NVIDIA GeForce Go6800 (NV41M)
-512MB DDR2 RAM
-40GB 5400RPM 2.5" Hard Drive
-DVD-ROM Drive (8x)
-Windows XP Home Edition (SP2)
-Standard notebook loadout (ports, etc.) plus beefier battery
-3 Year Warranty
--TOTAL PRICE: $1,866.00

I think this shall be more than sufficient. I skimped on the HDD and the RAM as those can be easily upgraded later. In the place of those, I upped the CPU from 1.83GHz to 2GHz. That will make a stronger foundation, and as I said, I can upgrade the RAM and the HDD later.

 

[edspag2000]

i could've sworn the coupon is gone

 

[Fenuxx]

Nope. The coupon code I used is: $PL41?89Z6$T0?. It gave me $750 off my notebook, but its limited to 3000 uses, or until Friday 4\15\2005, whichever is first. This is SOOO cool .

 

[RamIt]

Sweet! that's about $100 less than I got my XPS for.
If you are going to upgrade the ram you can get Kingston 1 gig sticks for $131 from Here
Dont worry about running a 1 gig stick with a 256. There is no performance loss by not running dual channel.

 

[Fenuxx]

Originally posted by: RamIt
Sweet! that's about $100 less than I got my XPS for.
If you are going to upgrade the ram you can get Kingston 1 gig sticks for $131 from Here
Dont worry about running a 1 gig stick with a 256. There is no performance loss by not running dual channel.

Well, although that sounds like a decent deal, I am forever more gonna stay as far away from Kingston as I can. I've had bad experiences with them in the past with BOTH plain old PC1xx and even DDR. I will stick to Corsair, Crucial, and Mushkin. I've had memory from all three, and have had ZIPPO problems, so I am definitely not gonna switch.


Besides, since I dropped $1800+ on this thing, I think the budget is gonna have to catch up before any upgrading goes on. I'll probably do it within 6 months or so at least though.