Laptop for brother

[CoPilotJim]

Hey guys,

My brother is interested in a latptop. He needs the following @ 1500$

14 - 15 inch screen (Brightview if possible)
Lightweight (5-6 lbs)
60gb hard drive (7200 rpm if possible)
Pentium M/Centrino platform
512mb Ram
Radeon 9600/9700 (128mb if possible)
DVD burner

So what do you guys reccomend? I told him about the 700m , since there's a sweet deal going on he can get a pretty sweet one with 1.8ghz, a gig of ram, dvd burner for 1200 but the keyboard is small and he would like a good vid card.

I've been looking around. Checked out that uniwill barebones at RJtech but looks like it'll be a bit more than expected. Also checked out a T42 but too much money. Let me know

Thanks!

 

[fbrdphreak]

The video card is your pincher. What video card does the 700M have?
Maybe take a look here for some good values.
Otherwise, I would say a Centrino w/Radeon 9600/9700 graphics is out of that price range. You can get an Athlon 64 with a R9600 for that much tho

 

[CoPilotJim]

Well I suppose something other than integrated graphics is what he's looking for. He's not a hardcore gamer, but like atleast a radeon 9000 would be nice.

thanks again!

 

[halfadder]

Even if he's not a gamer, a real GPU like a Radeon 9000 is a nice thing to have. It's amazing how much faster a system is with a real GPU and some dedicated graphics memory (even 16 MB helps a lot). It frees up your system's CPU and memory / memory bandwidth for more important uses. Makes for a much snappier feeling system compared to integrated graphics.

 

[trikster2]

If you have any friends that work for IBM the EPP price for the 14" T42 2378FVU is $1401 should be able to get it for $1600 if you have to pay list price.

Intel® Pentium® M Processor 735 1.70GHz
14.1"
1400x1050
64MB ATI MOBILITY RADEON 9600
4.6-4.6

Only 256mb of ram but another 256mb stick should run you $50

Advantages over 700m: much better keyboard and tons better graphics.

 

[fbrdphreak]

Jump on that if you can, awesome machine; I have basically the 15" version of it
BTW, you can get another 256MB for $30 usually; eBay or FS/FT

 

[trikster2]

fbrdphreak

Do you have the DXU?


Looking at that one too. It's $1699 on the EPP program righ now. Trying to think if the Flexview and extra inch is worth $300.

 

[fbrdphreak]

Originally posted by: trikster2
fbrdphreak

Do you have the DXU?


Looking at that one too. It's $1699 on the EPP program righ now. Trying to think if the Flexview and extra inch is worth $300.

I don't have a standard model, as mine was specifically made for my school (model 2373-NC1). But it does have the 15" FlexView. IMO the FlexView is nice because you can see it from virtually any angle and it is quite bright, but from what I hear it does suck up more battery. I haven't used a 14" non-flexview, so I can't comment on the screen quality. One thing tho: the 14" models are much more portable. If you plan on taking this thing around a lot, esp using it in tighter places (i.e. me pulling my 15" out in a crowded lecture hall), the 14" is MUCH better suited for that. If its more for general use and the bigger screen size is a plus for your preferences, then go for it. Hope this helps