Laptop newbie needs help choosing

[mysticfm]

I've never looked seriously at laptops before, but I find myself in need of one now, and I can't wait around long enough to get a Lenovo Thinkpad. So I'm looking at several options (links below), and could really use some opinions.

I'll be using this laptop mainly for software development, including Direct3D, so it's got to have a fairly up-to-date graphics card. I probably won't be playing games on it much more demanding than maybe Civ IV (no 1st person shooters), so it doesn't need to be a fire-breathing, bleeding edge 3D graphics card either. I will be doing some Photoshop/3D graphics/video editing on it, so I want a high quality display with good blacks and color accuracy (15 to 17 inch in size ... I don't care about widescreen), and at least passable audio. It MUST have WinXP Pro (NOT Media Center), at least close to 100GB hard drive and a DVD burner. I'm relatively unconcerned about battery life and portability ... solid construction, a good keyboard and touch pad are more important (I want it to last a while).

BTW, how does a GeForce Go 7400 compare to an ATI Mobility Radeon X1600? And I have the same question about a NVIDIA Quadro FX 1500M that I've seen on a few machines? (I searched the group for references to there and came up empty ... does no one talk about them?)

Now, for the links to a few machines that are catching my eye (mostly the first two):

ASUS V6J-X009P (is the slightly slower CPU a major liability here?)

Acer TravelMate 8200 TM8204WLMi (editor's choice at laptoplogic ... but are display and sound as bad as the comments say, or noticeably worse than the ASUS?

HP Compaq nc8430 (I kind of dread Compaqs because of the past, and no user comments leave me in the dark about things like the display and build quality)

HP Compaq nw9440 (same questions here, plus not knowing anything about the NVIDIA Quadro FX 1500M graphics)

Again, I need something I can get in a week or so, not two months or so from now, so Lenovo is unfortunately out of the question.

Thanks for any advice!!!

 

[fbrdphreak]

First off: laptops are going to have horrendous sound quality for anything remotely professional. Listening to laptop speakers you'll get relatively poor quality output, but that can be fixed with external speakers or headphones. However if you plan to use the internal microphone or line-in to record, chances are that won't work well for any type of semi-professional use. If you truly need high quality audio, get yourself an external sound card.

Solid construction...good keyboard...sounds like a Lenovo!

You didn't mention a budget, but I have two options for you: Thinkpad Z61m/p (15.4") or Thinkpad T60/p (15"). The Z61m and T60 are high quality, well built machines with industry leading keyboards and unbeatable design. Core Duo and ATI MR X1400 graphics are your options, as well as cellular WWAN on the T60 but you said portability didn't matter. WSXGA+ on the Z61m would be nice, but SXGA+ on the T60 would be even better due to the benefits of the FlexView screen. FlexView offers much improved colors, perfect viewing angles, and much brighter than a standard display. The WSXGA+ on the Z61m is very nice as well, I've used it on the Z60m, but the FlexView screen is a tad better.

Upgrading to the Z61p or T60p gets you the "workstation" models. These both feature top of the line Core Duo CPU's, ATI Mobility FireGL V5200 graphics (workstation equivalent of MR X1600), and all other top notch options (except 2GB RAM, booooooooo). Now these machines will run you quite a bit, but will literally be everything you could ever want for your uses. WUXGA and UXGA screens are used for ultimate in desktop resolution. I really think any of the Thinkpads would perfectly match your needs. They also come with some of the best support in the industry, all tech support based right here in the good ol' US of A.

EDIT: Just noticed your first line there. I just configured a T60p and it ships within 8-10 bus days; that's industry standard for a CTO machine.

As to the options you linked: Asus makes good quality machines and Acer's high end are as well, but IMO they're not good business machines. At a most basic level, they don't have the quality of support needed for someone in a professional role to rely on this machine.

As to the HP's, they're all good quality machines and overall very competitive with Thinkpads. You don't get as many features as Thinkpads, nor all the quality, but they are good machines. I'm also not keen on HP support, I've heard and participated in a few horror stories involving business support and it just appalls me. But then again it wasn't based in this country :roll:

I think the 1500M is about the equivalent of a 7900, but I'm not sure; should be above that of an MR X1600. Go 7400 is much less power than the MR X1600. 4 pixel shaders vs 12
Go 7 series details:
http://www.laptoplogic.com/news/detail.php?id=541

 

[mysticfm]

Thank you for the comments!

Yes, I don't expect anything like pro sound ... just hoping to get something that isn't quite as bad as a tiny AM radio (the high-end Acer in particular has apparently been dinged for having appallingly bad audio). I'll continue doing sound on my desktop, where I have a Gina 24/96 external card (not pro level, but at least prosumer).

As far as my dismissal of Lenovo, I do agree with you that they would be my top choice from the standpoint of my desired feature set. But I've read too many reports over the last few weeks of people who have been waiting for as long as two months for their Thinkpads (and I think these were mainly preconfigured machines, not even CTO). I do see that some people get their shipments within a few weeks, but it seems to be the luck of the draw. The problem is that I'll likely be moving in a month or so, and I can't risk the shipment not arriving until after I've moved. And I can't wait until after I've moved to even order one (and then potentially wait another couple of months beyond that) ... I need something more quickly than that.

The other problem I had with the T60p (which was the Lenovo model I was considering) was the ATI FireGL V5200 video, which from what I've read is essentially an X1600 with tweaks that make it better for CAD stuff but which negatively affect its Direct3D compatibility (the latter is vital to me, given that I intend to develop Direct3D software on the machine).

Thanks much for the comments on the video cards. I did finally find something on the Go 7400 last night which suggested it is barely better than an X1400, which seems in line with your comments. The 1500M sounds promising, but I'd still want to verify that it doesn't have similarities to the ATI FireGL V5200 as far as Direct3D compatibility goes (I say that mainly because of the unfamiliar naming, which could suggest it is an offshoot, specialized card like the FireGL V5200).

Guess I'd better look more closely at the HP's again. It's just a little hard for me to get past my past experience with HP, which has been entirely with relatives purchasing cheap HP desktops and then calling me for help with the myriad problems they experienced.

 

[fbrdphreak]

Any workstation card is going to be OpenGL optimized, but NVIDIA cards will have better D3D features than ATI as far as workstation level goes.

You can always load the consumer drivers for the V5200 and have your D3D performance back, but then that is just another hassle. I assume an MR X1400 is too low end?

You can always give Lenovo a call and see what the delay is. Otherwise I would look at that HP nc-model, but also Dell's Latitude & Precision models. I think only the Precisions come with decent GPU's, but also I think they are the workstation cards. Personally I wouldn't worry as much about D3D with NVIDIA cards (which are common in Dell's high end).

 

[mysticfm]

I was under the impression that the change to the V5200 was hardware rather than drivers? Maybe I misunderstood.

Anyway, this morning I'm putting aside my HP bias and taking a close look at the following machine:

HP Compaq NC8430

Other than the smaller hard drive, I'm thinking it might be a good candidate ... the reviews have been pretty good, though I'm still searching for more comments about the quality of its display. I've also read that it is available with a larger hard drive and faster CPU than this ... I don't know why newegg doesn't offer other combos, but I'm going to look around.

Any comments about the quality of the display on the above system would be GREATLY appreciated.

 

[computeerrgghh]

The laptop in my sig is the Thinkpad 2623DDU. As it is configured, it costs around ~2600 w/4 year depot warrany. IF you know an IBM employee you can get it for ~2k+tax. I ordered mine on Saturday, the 26th with regular shipping. The machine was sent out on Monday, the 28th and I received it today, the 30th.