I am fairly adept at choosing systems however when it comes to laptops I am little uneducated in a few areas.

[pcumming]

I am fairly adept at choosing systems however when it comes to laptops I am little uneducated in a few areas.

I know I need USB 2.0, Hard Drive 60GB or better, Windows XP of course, 802.11g built in, memory at 256/ideally 512mb, decent screen, (will use external mouse), decent video card integrated-same with audio, etc..

I used to be a Dell fan but have had too too many people complain about their tech support.

HP and Sony seem viable to me as does perhaps Compaq and may be even Toshiba.

Ran into a guy today who had a Toshiba Satellite to replace his Sony Vaio that could not be fixed properly by Best Buy s they gave him a new one.

Will only be used for Internet surfing, Word Processing Quicken, and that is about all. No gaming machine needed. Will network into home network with 802.11g Linksys with speed booster I think.

****My question comes from the following areas:
-Reliability-who is good?
-Good warranty from mfg or store?
-Who has good tech support without being on hold every 2 minutes while a newbie looks up scripted answers.
-And then the CPU:. I saw a laptop from Circuit City with an AMD64 chip-now that might be great for growth BUT might be a power hog.

At one time I thought I should ONLY get an INTEL 2.6ghz (with HT perhaps) or faster CPU and never a Centrino or Mobile M processor. I guess I equate those to the Celerons and their lack of stated speed due to cache memory in the CPU.
But after conversing with this fellow today he said his Toshiba Satellite with Mobile M is fine.......



Thoughts friends......?

Thanks
Peter

 

[cheesehead]

Actually, the Mobile-M has about 4x the cache of the Northwood P4m's. Multiply the clock speed by 1.3, and you'll get it's performance relative to a P4 at that speed. Of course, they wo'nt burn your lap, which is good.
A nice option might be a recent-model Averatech. For 850$, you can get one with everything you wanted-and it only weighs a little more than 5 lbs! An even better option might be the Battallion 100. At an amazing 4.1 lbs, it's one of the lightest laptops around. I would reccomend upgrading the stock (1030$) configuration to something like this :
-60gb hard drive
-512mb of ram
Which would probbably end up costing you about 1100$ total.

Dell now has one really nifty thing which I happen to like: Accidental Damage Protection. You break it, you ship it in, they fix it no questions asked, so long as the damage was accidental (i.e. you drop it in the pool) instead of intentional (i.e. overclocking the video card). A 700$ Dell Inspiron 1000 might suit your needs, and for another 100$, you get 1 year of ADP! I'm none to fond of Dell....but if you're a heavy mobile user, this might make it worth the extra hassle.

 

[fbrdphreak]

Sounds like you are right on your way. The Pentium-M or Celeron-M would be a good choice. The Celeron-M is a Pentium-M with 512KB cache (or is it 256KB....?). So it still performs well and gets good batt life. Both Toshiba and HP have new models out with Celeron-M/Pentium-M chips at a reasonable price. I would recommend the Toshiba with the Celeron-M, as it retails for $1099 and I believe has 60GB/256MB/wireless G/15.4". Just upgrade the RAM to 512MB and you're good.
The HP ze4000 series will get you a Pentium M 735 (1.7Ghz Dothan 2MB L2 Cache) which will be screamin' fast and give you good batt live (4-5hrs) and all the features you want for about $1100 or so. The downside is that the ze4000 series ONLY come with a 15" XGA screen, which doesn't leave much desktop real-estate for ya.

If mobility is not a concern at all, then you can get a decent Athlon 64 notebook for a couple hundred more. It will perform a good bit quicker than the Celeron-M, but consequently use a lot more battery life. W/an 8-cell batt expect 2-3hours max on an A64. So, I would personally go with Celeron/Pentium-M unless you need extra performance in a more desktop-replacement oriented notebook. GL and write back w/more questions

 

[pcumming]

Thanks. I was looking in the stores today and only Circuit City could explain the diff between the processors. Looks like Centrion and Pentium M (not Pentium 4-M) are pretty much the same.

Am I correct in speed and battery life?

Anything wrong with the HP ze4000 being XGA only and 15 inch screen?

Also I would love an 80gb drive but hard to find.

How do I tell if the laptop is Dothan with the extra cache? Never saw that mentioned in the stores. Perhaps too new?

Thanks,
Peter

 

[kuljc]

Centrino isn't a cpu it's a technology that uses the pM. so in a way you can say they're the same.... I hope those people at CC told you true stuff...

and yes usually the more powerful the processor the more power it consumes.

hp's are decent computers

Do manufactuers still make pM laptops that aren't Dothan? and the newer one (I can't remember) has a 1mb l2 cache? I think. something like that

also... i'm heard bad things about the CC warranty (even from CC workers)

The best buy warranty is the best I've delt with. (also depends on BB near you)

also if you want service from a manufactuer I wouldn't consider sony at all.

 

[fbrdphreak]

kuljc is absolutely right. If a computer says Centrino, that means it uses the Pentium-M processor, Intel 855 motherboard, and Intel wireless card. The Celeron-M is comparable in performance to the Pentium-M, but will still perform like a budget machine. However, batt life should be almost exactly the same.
pcumming, have you ever used an old 15" CRT monitor? Or an LCD 15"? They will have the same resolution, 1024x768. IMO, it leaves too little desktop real estate and room to work. If I were you, I would go bigger (thus the Toshiba model).
As far as Dothan vs Banias availability, yes you can get both currently. As apart of the "value" line, you can get certain notebooks with a Pentium-M 705 (1.5GHz, Banias, 1MB L2 Cache). The Dothan chips have the model number 71x, going from I believe 715 to 755 (1.6? GHz to 2.0GHz). I have a Dothan 1.7 and I love it. Very quick, very good batt life, overall I love it to death.
As far as warranties go, Best Buy does have the best third-party warranty around. Free batteries every year, cover everything except software & abuse/accidental damage, service @ any BBY store.
If you want an 80GB, you're probly looking at a higher end model. Something like a Toshiba or HP Centrino notebook. Price out a zt3000 from HP's site to see how much one would be for your needs. Also check out BBY's stock of Toshiba Centrino notebooks, I believe they have one that fits your needs. GL and write back w/more questions

 

[pcumming]

Thanks all for some great responses. I looked at some laptops last night and found a Toshiba Laptop M35X-S349 (S349), 80GB Hard Drive, Centrino, 1.7Ghz. They did not have anything faster in Centrino. They did however had a few Pentium 4's.

The guy at Best Buy said the battery would last 5-6 hours. I am thinking it would last perhaps 3 if lucky--
***Thoughts??

Best Buy guy said that this would run as fast as a Pentium 4 in actuality at about 3GHZ? Can this be true?

While I may not buy a laptop but instead replace my desktop it makes me think that if I am going to be tethered most of the time or have extra AC adapters around my house to go with a Pentium 4 instead.
***Thoughts on this?


*****Any thoughts on Toshiba versus HP/Compaq versus other support?


I did read recently Intel will be cutting chip prices soon which should trickle down shortly. They had a great sale on Dell laptops (end of qtr with $750 off. Found at www.morestuff4less.com )

Thanks again.
Peter

 

[fbrdphreak]

Originally posted by: pcumming
Thanks all for some great responses. I looked at some laptops last night and found a Toshiba Laptop M35X-S349 (S349), 80GB Hard Drive, Centrino, 1.7Ghz. They did not have anything faster in Centrino. They did however had a few Pentium 4's.

The guy at Best Buy said the battery would last 5-6 hours. I am thinking it would last perhaps 3 if lucky--
***Thoughts??
He is off a little bit. MOST notebooks in the store come with either 6-cell or more often 8-cell batteries. With that system, I would estimate a minimum of 3 hours (Full brightness, wi-fi, etc; but not while gaming obviously) and a maximum of 5 hours (Low brightness, no wi-fi, little hard drive paging, etc).

Best Buy guy said that this would run as fast as a Pentium 4 in actuality at about 3GHZ? Can this be true?
He is pretty accurate. I don't remember the exact correlation, but Pentium-M's run like 1.75-2 times faster than their clockspeed. i.e. a 1.7GHz Pentium-M will compete pretty well with a 3GHz Pentium 4. If you google it or just search AT articles, I'm sure you will find a good benchmark comparison.

While I may not buy a laptop but instead replace my desktop it makes me think that if I am going to be tethered most of the time or have extra AC adapters around my house to go with a Pentium 4 instead.
***Thoughts on this?
Going around your house with a P4 compared to a P-M is pointless. As I said, the P-M is VERY comparable if not better in performance than the P4. And it gets a HELLUVA lot more batt life. A 3GHz P4 with an 8-cell batt and 15/15.4" screen, you will be LUCKY to get 2.5 hours of batt life. If you get a 12-cell, you can hit 3 hours max with a 15."4 screen & 3GHz P4 (My friend has one, so I know that is accurate). Thus, if you're going to a laptop and want to use it on the batt at all, it pretty much only makes sense to go Pentium-M. Athlon-XP-M's are a good budget processor for a notebook, averaging 3 hours of batt life for good performance, but if you have the money go Pentium-M.


*****Any thoughts on Toshiba versus HP/Compaq versus other support?
Overall, Toshiba/HP/Compaq/anyone but Dell's support is okay. Same 90-day (or in some cases 1 year) tech support; more than likely talking to someone in India. They cover manufacturer defects only, you have to pay shipping if it is shipped out to them, and can take anywhere from a few days to 3 weeks to get it back. IMO, I wouldn't buy a laptop without extended coverage. The manufacturer will offer their own extended warranties. I personally think HP's is kinda of waste of time, as the only benefit to going with HP's warranty vs BBY's warranty is accidental damage coverage. However, if you read the fine print, HP will only replace ONE OF EACH MAJOR COMPONENT during the life of the plan. i.e. One screen, one mobo, etc etc. BBY doesn't cover software and doesn't cover abuse/accidental damage. However, they do give you a new batt up to one per year and you have in-store techs to check out your computer. They still might have to send it off, but at least you can talk to someone face to face and never someone in India. If you're going to buy retail, my recommendation is to go with BBY's warranty. You might check out Toshiba's extended warranty terms & cost as another option.


I did read recently Intel will be cutting chip prices soon which should trickle down shortly. They had a great sale on Dell laptops (end of qtr with $750 off. Found at www.morestuff4less.com )

Thanks again.
Peter