Looking for gamming/school/desktop replacemnt notebook.

[Bbc84]

Well, im planning to declare a Computer Science major this spring, so I want to get a laptop that i can take to class, to the library, and to bring home.
I also want something that will last a while, so i pretty much want almost top of the line with a low price (dont we all want that lol)

I can care less about the weight, since i usually drive to class from my apartment, so lugging around an extra 8-10lbs dont matter to me.

I would like to have some good battery life seeing how each class lasts about 1hr and 30min. But a 2nd battery is probably what ill end up getting as well.

But since this is going to be somewhat a desktop replacement, i want it to have good video to play some games, watch DVD etc. (so screen sizes of 15" and up)

My limit is exactly at $2000.

A couple im looking at is:

Winbook J4-300
P4 3.06Ghz
512MB DDR Ram
ATI Radeon 9000 64MB
60GB HD
DVD-RW
for $1750

Or the very popular Compaq X1000 laptop with Centrino. thinking with something around a 1.6Ghz Centrino.

But im leaning on this new 17" screen HP laptop the ZD7000
P4 2.66Ghz
40GB HD
NVidia GeForce4 440 Go 64MB
9.3lbs

Kinda big, but it has full size keyboard and 17" Screen.

Any other suggestions or which one would you pick?

The Winbook seems very powerful, but the HP ZD7000 with full size keyboard and screen. the Compaq X1000 would have power and battery life.

 

[Hoplon]

http://gateway.com/home/prod/hm_m505x_proddetail.shtml
If i had the money i would be buying this one.

http://pctorque.com/pre-notebook.php
These systems might be what your after sense you don't care about weight. Batt. life might be an issue though.

http://h71016.www7.hp.com/dstore/ct...=D_I_DR_X_T_x_Right_Graphic&t=ad&r=HP_SMBNB_O
That one meets your performance and batt reqirements but the screen is smaller than you asked for.

Check out the 8500 and the 8600 from dell if you haven't already.

Also the x1000 you mentioned is rumored to be coming with a radeon 9600 soon.

 

[Gibson486]

Yeah that new Gateway looks really nice....wish i could buy one.

 

[dnuggett]

My suggestion is the X1000 out of those choices.

I strongly suggest you see the size of the ZD7000 before buying it, you are taking this to class everyday right? Neither the Winbook or the ZD will last past 3 hours no matter how you fiddle with the settings.

 

[Bbc84]

Yea I saw the ZD7000 at Circuit City 2 weeks ago, and just loved it. Full size keyboard with the extra number pad on the side just like desktop keyboards.
Only thing about that is i wonder if it will fit on the small desks at my college.

I know the Winbook and ZD wont last over 3hrs. both of them are around 2 and 1/2hr battery life. So I probably have to get 2nd battery on teh side.

On the other hand the X1000 has a 4hr battery life or something around there if i remember. But i wonder if the X1000 is powerful enough to say play Counter Strike and Warcraft 3. (main games i play).

But the ZD is most appealing to me because, i dont like looking at small screens and straining my eyes.

I wish I had enough money to get these L laptops, especially this 17" one http://www.go-l.com/laptops/hollywood/features/index.htm

I wish they would make the X1000 or the winbook with even a slightly larger screen.

 

[Bbc84]

Well I looked at the Gateway one and the Sauger one posted by Hoplon.

Now I like the Sauger one too (8890 model) Capability of 3HD RAID. Now this thing sounds like a beast. ATI 9600 with 128MB, ha not even my desktop has that.

 

[wutwjd]

By Gateway one, do you mean the 505? Or the M675? I had a chance to play around with the 675 today and wow, I'm really digging it. It's near the price of the HP with better performance. If you were to get a 17" one, you might want to consider the 675.

And congrats in getting into CS. =)

PS. Here's what I looked at...

2.8GHz
Mob. Radeon 9600 128MB of RAM
512MB RAM on 1-DIMM
60GB HD
123987239487 pounds

All at around 2000.

 

[MWink]

I recently got a Compaq X1000 and so far I'm very impressed with it. It's fast, has a beautiful screen, and has great battery life (even longer than my IBM T40).

 

[Bbc84]

hmmm the Gateway 675 looks good too, ill have to go to my local Gateway store and play around with that.


Only wish Gateway gave more options in customizing the laptops like Dell does.

I would like to get a laptop with just 128MB of Ram so I can swap in atleast a GB of Ram or max it out. which is 2GB i think on some of the newer laptops.

 

[alexruiz]

Hey BBC14, check this thread I started

Thread about affordable Athlon 64-M laptops

$2000 gets you a killer machine..... or if you are still not ready to jump into the 64 bits era, a more common config as follows (with the same vendors):

Athlon XP-M 2500+
KT333
mobility radeon 9000
integrated MP3 player.
Nicely equipped for about $1500

 

[IncredibleHutch]

I can care less about the weight, since i usually drive to class from my apartment, so lugging around an extra 8-10lbs dont matter to me.

I would like to have some good battery life seeing how each class lasts about 1hr and 30min. But a 2nd battery is probably what ill end up getting as well.

But since this is going to be somewhat a desktop replacement, i want it to have good video to play some games, watch DVD etc. (so screen sizes of 15" and up)

My limit is exactly at $2000.

A couple im looking at is:

Winbook J4-300
P4 3.06Ghz
512MB DDR Ram
ATI Radeon 9000 64MB
60GB HD
DVD-RW
for $1750


My personal opinion on this one... with the above quote... is think about it.

If you really want something that has a long battery life you should go the way of centrino which leaves a big want for more power for the games and such you could play on the 'desktop replacement'.

With the P4 3.06 expect maybe 2hrs of battery life... maybe... On my 2.533GHz laptop I get about 2hrs and 15mins with the machine just sitting idle, maybe 45mins playing a game, and an hour and a half watching a DVD.

I just think you should think about this one a bit more... Battery Life VS Processing Power

If you need it for a full day's worth of classes then this is a no brainer... get the centrino.

Maybe it'd be easier to just bring an extension cord and plug the Desktop Replacement in while using the machine... wonder how that would work out... lol

 

[Bateluer]

The Voodoo Envy M355 is nice, but it starts at 2500. You can probably cut that down a little though.

 

[dnuggett]

I just think you should think about this one a bit more... Battery Life VS Processing Power

The 1.6 M chip in the X1000 is not giving much at all if anything on the ZD as far as processing power. The 1.6 M is equal to a 2.6 P4-M. Voodoo advertises the 1.6 M as equal to a 2.9. There is no trade off in battery life/processing between these two. If these two factors (only) are what you going to consider the X1000 is clearly the better choice.

 

[Ramses]

I know Intel imporved the M's internaly so there faster in use than standard P4's at a give clock, but what did they improve so much, and does it translate to game performance? How does that 1.6M compare in gameing to my 3.06HT?

 

[Frightcrawler]

It has an 1 megabyte L2 cache. thats alot, considering the other chips have 512k or less.
it makes a significant difference, as you can see.
im not sure how 1.6 compares to your 3.06, because the processor you have is the Mobility Intel Pentium 4, not like the Pentium-4-M's that the P-M is usually compared to.

 

[Abhi]

Check out the Dell Inspiron 8500/8600 once too ..

 

[Pandaren]

Bbc84 - If you don't care about weight, get a notebook with a widescreen (Compaq X1000 is what I would recommend).

The Pentium M platform has more than enough horsepower for most CS majors (I did most of my work on an Athlon 1800+ machine and that was more than enough). Plus you get the bonus of long battery life should you need it.

Widescreens are great for looking at code side-by-side, and even better for DVD playback.

 

[Ramses]

Originally posted by: Frightcrawler
It has an 1 megabyte L2 cache. thats alot, considering the other chips have 512k or less.
it makes a significant difference, as you can see.
im not sure how 1.6 compares to your 3.06, because the processor you have is the Mobility Intel Pentium 4, not like the Pentium-4-M's that the P-M is usually compared to.

There has to be more than more L2 cache, I've run large cache Xeons and it makes a big differene, but not enough to make a 1.7 into a 3.0..

And my lappy 3.06 is a regular desktop chip, unfourtunantly for heat and battery life..

 

[Frightcrawler]

See For Yourself
There's nothing out of the ordinary, except the L2 cache.
The 400 MHz bus is equivalent to the Pentium 4-M's bus.