Laptop Recommendation

[BrettCB]

I'm selling my desktop PC and taking the plunge into the Laptop world. I've hit a few walls here trying to decide what I want to do exactly. I need a laptop with a decent amount of power, a lot of storage space, and the ability to do some light/medium gaming (World Of Warcraft). I mainly use my PC for Music, the occasional movie, and gaming now and again.

Sample Specs:
-17" Screen
-1GB Ram minimum
-At least 120GB storage... I am currently using around 200GB w/ Media, etc. Guessing I?m going to have to go with a USB hard drive to compensate for smaller HD in laptops.
-Light/medium Graphics card
-DVD-RW Drive

Any suggestions are appreciated.

 

[Brainonska511]

Dell XPS M1710: Core Duo, 7900GTX Go
Dell Inspiron E1705: Core Duo, 7900GS Go
Asus W2Jb: Core Duo, MR X1600
Asus A7J (won't be as nice as the W series): Core Duo, MR X1600
HP DV8000t: Core Duo, 7600 Go (7600 Go is less powerful than the MR X1600)

All of those fit your specs. As for external hard drives, you may want to consider firewire connections since it is faster than USB and you can daisy-chain them together so you can have multiple hard drives running off of one IEEE1394 port.

Internal hard drives can always be switched out if need be, so if you went with one of the Asus ones, you can always swap the internal drive with a new drive and stick the old one in an enclosure.

Edit:

If you're a Toshiba fan, there is also the G35: Core Duo, 7600 Go

 

[ubercaffeinated]

big thumbs up on the asus w2jb IF you can get it in the US. last time i checked you couldn't.

 

[Brainonska511]

Originally posted by: makoto00
big thumbs up on the asus w2jb IF you can get it in the US. last time i checked you couldn't.

Proportable.com has a few (or as they say: Very Low Stock)
C9tech.com also has the W2Jb in stock.

There are a few other sites that you can get Asus notebooks from. A list can be found through Asus's North American site or you can head over to notebook forums and look at one of the stickies in the Asus forums.

 

[BrettCB]

Asus W2JB looks great but I think that laptop would stretch my budget a bit. I was looking at spending around $1,800 top end. I was messing around with configurations on the HP DV800T and it seems to be a solid laptop. Do you guys have any further insight on that particular model?

Once again thanks for the help.

 

[j511180]

Maybe a Fujitsu N6410?

Here's a review - Link

And here's a preconfigured one at the 'egg (just as an example) - Link

I'm also looking for a notebook at the moment and I've considered this one...can't decide what I want.

 

[BrettCB]

Thanks for the Fujitsu N6410 recommendation. This looks like it might fit my needs well as I like the great display and ability to have a lot of storage. Not to mention it seems to have a pretty solid price point.

Still wondering about some input from forum members on the HP DV8000T. For the specs I need I can grab this particular laptop at a nice price.

Thanks for the help, much appreciated.

 

[Powermoloch]

There's a deal on Dells small busines..You can plop a 7900GS in an inspiron 9400. Total of 1,200 .

 

[BrettCB]

Looking at these configurations right now:

HP DV8000T
Intel Core Duo processor T2250 (1.73 GHz)
17.0" WSXGA+ BrightView Widescreen (1680x1050)
256MB NVIDIA GeForce Go 7600
1.0GB DDR2 SDRAM (2x512MB)
80 GB 5400 RPM SATA Hard Drive
Super Multi 8X DVD+/-R/RW w/Double Layer Support
Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network w/Bluetooth
Total w/ Shipping: $1,154.99

Dell Inspiron 9400
Intel Core Duo processor T2250 (1.73 GHz)
17 inch Wide Screen XGA+ Display
1GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz
80GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
256MB NVIDIA® GeForce Go 7900 GS
Intel PRO/Wireless 3945 Internal Wireless and Bluetooth
Total w/o Shipping: $1,247.00

These seem to be the two I'm looking at the most right now. As much as I loved the features of the suggested Asus/Fujitsu the price of the two I listed are very solid for me being a college student w/o much money.

Anyway, what do you guys think of these set-ups? Should I look more at the other rigs that were suggested or will these meet my needs?

Thanks for the help.

 

[Powermoloch]

Originally posted by: BrettCB
Looking at these configurations right now:

HP DV8000T
Intel Core Duo processor T2250 (1.73 GHz)
17.0" WSXGA+ BrightView Widescreen (1680x1050)
256MB NVIDIA GeForce Go 7600
1.0GB DDR2 SDRAM (2x512MB)
80 GB 5400 RPM SATA Hard Drive
Super Multi 8X DVD+/-R/RW w/Double Layer Support
Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network w/Bluetooth
Total w/ Shipping: $1,154.99

Dell Inspiron 9400
Intel Core Duo processor T2250 (1.73 GHz)
17 inch Wide Screen XGA+ Display
1GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz
80GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
256MB NVIDIA® GeForce Go 7900 GS
Intel PRO/Wireless 3945 Internal Wireless and Bluetooth
Total w/o Shipping: $1,247.00

These seem to be the two I'm looking at the most right now. As much as I loved the features of the suggested Asus/Fujitsu the price of the two I listed are very solid for me being a college student w/o much money.

Anyway, what do you guys think of these set-ups? Should I look more at the other rigs that were suggested or will these meet my needs?

Thanks for the help.

Since both of the laptops have 17" screens..I would stick with the dell, 7900GS is a performer on many games. But if you're not too big on graphic details and want to be able to play games on med settings, the HP DV8000T looks alright.

 

[BrettCB]

Do you think it would be worth it to upgrade to the WSXGA Ultrasharp 17" screen for the Dell? I currently have a 17" Ultrasharp Dell monitor for my desktop and I wondered if I'd really see much of a difference in quality for the $149 upgrade on the laptop.

 

[Powermoloch]

Originally posted by: BrettCB
Do you think it would be worth it to upgrade to the WSXGA Ultrasharp 17" screen for the Dell? I currently have a 17" Ultrasharp Dell monitor for my desktop and I wondered if I'd really see much of a difference in quality for the $149 upgrade on the laptop.

I really don't know honestly. I'm not very fond in the variety of screen types on laptops lol

I just found out another sweet deal on a laptop although the GPU needs to be questioned

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...atid=40&threadid=1892101&enterthread=y