LAPTOP EXPERTS OUT THERE!!!

[Shimmishim]

I have somewhere between 1.5K to 2K to burn for a lap top....

any suggestions at all????

it'll mostly be used for very light gaming, browsing, lots of word and excel and any other related office aps that i may need for my research lab..

thanks!

 

[pillage2001]

IBM T series.

T31. <----I think.

 

[bacillus]

have a look at the dell inspiron 8500!

 

[BoomAM]

What about a Alienware Laptop?
They are suppost to be great for games, and a machine thats good for games can do anything else.
Heavily customisable specs as well, so you can tailor it to your needs.

 

[Mutilator]

Originally posted by: BoomAM
What about a Alienware Laptop?
They are suppost to be great for games, and a machine thats good for games can do anything else.
Heavily customisable specs as well, so you can tailor it to your needs.

Save yourself a lot of $$$ and buy a Sager from PowerNotebooks.com. Alienwares are just rebadged Sagers. Plus Powernotebooks is a top rated reseller on ResellerRatings.com.

 

[Shimmishim]

BUMP.... more please!

 

[jasonsRX7]

IBM T series (A series if you want to go cheaper or need desktop replacement). IBM laptops are real workhorses, not kid toys like a lot of the plasticy Dells.

If you have a way to get a hands on comparison, feel how well made an IBM T series is over something like a Dell or Sony or typical Circuit City brand.

With Dell, you get a lot of computer for the money, but (to me) they are quite flimsy.

 

[Joker81]

ibook? just kidding. It really depends on if you are looking for a desktop replacement then the dell 8500's are good but they are heavy. Make sure if you go with dell check out the deals with %offs you could save hundreds. The thing is when people usually think of laptops they want light ones.

The Default Dell 8500 looks like its in your price range and offers some good stuff.

Things you may want. Internal Wireless just so you don;t have to take up a pcmcia card and probably you will want to use it if not now in the future. You may want to pick up the cdrw/dvd combo just incase you ever need to burn.

 

[Rogue]

If you're gonna be doing a lot of Excel, I recommend something that can do 1400x1050 res. 1600x1200 is too small for most data entry stuff and 1024x768 seems a waste. I worked on a Dell Inspiron 8000 with a 1400x1050 native res. for a while and got hooked on 1400x1050 res. even for my dual 19" monitors at home. I've had good luck with Dell Inspiron laptops. I have 8 of them that I manage at my civilian employer and in almost 5 years of desktop replacement use (ie.-They use them in docking stations in place of a standard desktop PC) I've only had one that was sent back because of a hot spot the developed on the display housing and I think one other one had a hard drive go bad, but that was only after the user dropped it and admitted to it then a few months later it went bad. Other than that, I recommend the Dells. I've managed Toshibas (crap), IBM Thinkpads (both of them had many small problems with them, but nothing major) and Compaq Presarios (good teenager laptop, otherwise, crap).

 

[Joker81]

Oh and Dell has a really good warrenty. Basically they will send out the replacement for you, you replace send back the bad one. At least if its a harddrive/modular bay. I think also they have a 3-5 turn around which is pretty quick.

 

[ElFenix]

do you need to carry it? if so the 8500 is a really poor choice

 

[bocamojo]

I would check out the Dell Inspiron 600m. It's a light and fairly powerful laptop, running on the new Intel Centrino platform. Very nice system, and lightweight. Good battery life too.

 

[Shimmishim]

let me be more specific now

it will not be a desktop replacement and i will be carrying it around all the time from my research lab to home and even to class...

so with that in mind... i guess weight may be an issue as well...

so far it looks like dell or ibm T ....

any other suggestions?

 

[AllucardCasull]

Originally posted by: Mutilator

Originally posted by: BoomAM
What about a Alienware Laptop?
They are suppost to be great for games, and a machine thats good for games can do anything else.
Heavily customisable specs as well, so you can tailor it to your needs.

Save yourself a lot of $$$ and buy a Sager from PowerNotebooks.com. Alienwares are just rebadged Sagers. Plus Powernotebooks is a top rated reseller on ResellerRatings.com.

yeah those sagers are exactly the same for 500 less, go for a sager

 

[jasonsRX7]

No laptop feels as good as an IBM T series with the titanium composite case. Unfortunately, most of the good T series are out of your desired price range, unless you're willing to spend more than you suggested.

Really try to get your hands on a T series and compare it to anything else you've used. You'll be amazed at how much more sturdy it feels, which really matters when you're going to be lugging it around all the time. I have had 3 IBM laptops over the past 6 years and beat the crap out of them on a regular basis and they never give up.

 

[crip11]

You want a sturdy laptop look no further than a Panasonic Toughbook but at almost 10 lbs you better be a very strong man.....lol I'm kidding these things are sweet

 

[pillage2001]

Oh yeah, while you're at it. Dell C series are pretty good. I personally like the IBM T series or the Fujitsu Lifebooks. They rock!

 

[Shimmishim]

more suggestions...

i feel so.... TORN!!!

the sagers are nice and cheap but don't use the centrino processors..

seems like these new centrinos are pretty nice...

600m is nice and i can get it down to under 2k but the display is weak (1024 x 768); same as the T series by IBM

any other suggestions

or if anyone can suggest a build, that'd be great as well!

thanks!

 

[Shimmishim]

i think i've narrowed down to these two...

what's the difference besides the fact that one has a cdrw/dvd combo while the other only has a dvd player???

price difference is almost two hundred...

the more expensive one also has Intel PRO/Wireless Network Connection 802.11b
while the cheaper one doesn't...

do i need this?


this one

or this one

 

[Antoneo]

I recommend IBM's T series as well. My friends have dropped theirs on concrete and they work fine. It's unbelievable. I use dell laptops at work (old 4xx0 and 8200 Inspirons) and they are heavy, all plastic, and would probably come out of a drop hurt. The keyboard layout on Dell isn't that good IMO nor do you get as much tactile feedback when compared to IBMs.

Unfortunately, most of the good T series are out of your desired price range, unless you're willing to spend more than you suggested.

Check out IBM's EBay store (their own, not the "authorized" dealer ones) and you might be able to catch a deal there

 

[jasonsRX7]

If you don't get the integrated Intel wireless, then it can't be branded "Centrino" but who cares, really. Besides, it's limited to 802.11b and you might want to get 802.11g anyway. I don't know if it's upgradable via firmware or a hardware upgrade or not.

Me personally, I think I would spend the extra money to have the integrated solution so you don't have a wireless card sticking out the side. But if you're ok saving the money and getting a different wireless adaptor or don't need one, then go ahead and save a few bucks.

 

[jasonsRX7]

Originally posted by: Antoneo
...The keyboard layout on Dell isn't that good IMO nor do you get as much tactile feedback when compared to IBMs.

If there is one thing IBM does better than anyone else, it's keyboards. From their old "clicky" keyboards to the thinkpad laptops, IBM makes the best feeling keyboards (although they do still market crappy ones). I'd rather type on my thinkpad than any desktop pc anyday.

Check out IBM's EBay store (their own, not the "authorized" dealer ones) and you might be able to catch a deal there

Really good idea. I've gotten a couple really good deals on thinkpads from the IBM ebay store. I mean REALLY good deals... I paid $4100 for my laptop new from IBM, and within about 4 months, it was on the ebay store with a buy it now for $2800 and they were still selling on IBMs site for over $4k

 

[Shimmishim]

sounds good!

1781 isn't too bad...

hmm... 802.11b vs 802.11g how many Mbit difference are these two?

 

[pillage2001]

1mb L2 cache?!?!? :Q

 

[Joker81]

Originally posted by: Shimmishim
sounds good!

1781 isn't too bad...

hmm... 802.11b vs 802.11g how many Mbit difference are these two?

g has max performance of 54mbps if the router is set to G only. Average actual throughput ~22mbps. Its mixed mode i think i drops to 11mbps.
b has max performance of 11mbps. Average thoughput ~5.5mbps.