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Looking for PC laptop equivalent of Powerbook

M

mallik

Senior member
I've been trying to find a laptop based on what I'm looking for, and the Powerbook seems to be the only one that fits the bill. Is there any PC laptop that is similar? What I'm looking for:

- fast processor that is good on battery
- widescreen display
- nice graphics chipset (ATI preferrably)
- stylish and not too big (thick)

I would say if the Thinkpad T-series had widescreen it would probably be a no brainer, although they're pretty boring in terms of looks. The Sony's are pretty good looking and meet the criteria above I think, but I've heard the build quality is not the greatest. I was thinking maybe the 700m, but not sure. Any recommendations?
 
How big of a widescreen (12.1/14/15.4/17) were you thinking?

I wouldn't go with the 700m if you want good graphics (integrated intel extreme = bleh).
 
Yeah, that's what I was worried about with the 700m. The size of the screen doesn't really matter. If it's a small thin compact laptop with a 12.1" screen, that's fine with me. The only thing would be probably be with the 17" being too expensive, but other than that, size doesn't really matter.
 
Oh, just get the 15" powerbook... you know you want it! 😀

One of my friends just got a Mayhem G2 from ABS. It has a powerbook sort of look to it (plastic, though). They are roughly the same size, but the G2 is slightly larger in all dimensions and is a bit heavier also. It's widescreen and has a Mobility Radeon 9700. Don't know about the battery life. You do save quite a bit compared to the powerbook.
 
One word: dv1000.

The HP dv1000 is a 14" widescreen PC notebook, using Centrino mobile technology of course. You have the option of the BrightView screen, which increases brightness greatly but also increases glare. It is a pretty decent performer, the only two weak spots are the slow HDD (all but one are 4200RPM) and integrated graphics (Intel Extreme 2 decreases general system performance somewhat). It can be had well equipped with a CDRW & Pentium M 1.6 w/256MB RAM for around $1000. I recommend getting the baseline HDD and minimum RAM so you can change both yourself, it is much more cost effective.
A Hitachi 60GB 7200RPM runs about $150 and you can easily find a 256MB stick for $30 used or a 512MB stick new for $60-$70; much better prices than what HP charges.

Whatever you do, get the 12-cell battery. It only adds a pound to the weight and actually sticks out in just the right place as a great grip to hold the lappy. It only costs $25 extra and you get on avg 7-8 hours of battery life, a minimum of 5 while watching a DVD movie from the disc.
Detailed Review of dv1000 here
 

I got the Compaq V2000... 50$ cheaper than the HP dv1000... you dont get the quickplay
dvd feature but no thanks, I'll take 50$.
 
Originally posted by: RichieZ
thinkpad or powerbook, only laptops that I would buy. Thats why I have one of each 😀
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's been my thinking too. If the Thinkpad had the widescreen, I would go for that for sure. That inspiron 6000 looks pretty sweet though. Now I'm torn between that and a Powerbook.

It's hard to find an inspiron with dedicated graphics though. And what's the difference between WSXGA+ and WUXGA? Is it just resolution? Is it a big difference, and is it worth it?
 
Originally posted by: RichieZ
thinkpad or powerbook, only laptops that I would buy. Thats why I have one of each 😀
Click to expand...

This is a smart man. Did you get that 7200 rpm drive in your PB book yet? I want to do the same upgrade but I don't know if I want to put the 7200 in my x31 or my powerbook.
 
Originally posted by: mallik
Originally posted by: RichieZ
thinkpad or powerbook, only laptops that I would buy. Thats why I have one of each 😀
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's been my thinking too. If the Thinkpad had the widescreen, I would go for that for sure. That inspiron 6000 looks pretty sweet though. Now I'm torn between that and a Powerbook.

It's hard to find an inspiron with dedicated graphics though. And what's the difference between WSXGA+ and WUXGA? Is it just resolution? Is it a big difference, and is it worth it?
Click to expand...

ThinkPad will have a widescreen later this year.
 
ASUS makes some SWEET looking laptops... i hear they used to make the old powerbooks. They have laptop the W1000 series... i think they have a W2 now, but it looks exactly like the powerbook... except its black aluminum. Awesome specs too.... but $$$
 
Sony's S series has a 13.3" widescreen, is 1.16" thick, centrino (up to 6.5 hours of battery according to the site), and up to a radeon 9700 graphics. IMO, they're very stylish. They're a bit on the expensive side, though.
 
One can say that about any piece of equipment anytime. I hear horror stories about everything from IBM's to Sony's to Apple's. The general rule is YMMV, and right now no particular brand is significantly worse than others in overall quality.
 
Originally posted by: fbrdphreak
ThinkPad will have a widescreen later this year.
Click to expand...
Link? Very interested if you have a confirmed source of this
Click to expand...

I've been to two IBM briefings in the last couple of months. There is no link as of yet, but it's been verbalized twice by two different IBMer's that a widescreen is coming.

It will be interesting to see whether they go for a big heavy desktop replacement type chassis or thin and lite -like a T but with widescreen.

IBM generally doesn't rush to market ... They wait until the timing is right. ie; Their tablet due out soon.

I'm sure Lenovo will breath a little fire into their product line and be a bit quicker to jump on industry bandwagons.
 
Originally posted by: MercenaryForHire
Powerbook equivalent, huh? Sony's probably the only thing even close in the "Price per Lack Of Performance" category.

- M4H
Click to expand...

You're obviously stretching here. Sony is considerably worse if you consider overall system balance. They might have Pentium Ms, but the fastest video chipset you can get is a Mobility Radeon X600 (i.e. the 9600 on a PCI Express bus). What you're more likely to get is a GeForce Go 6200... or worse yet, Intel Extweeeeme Graphics.

Also, what about IBM? If you buy a T42, the fastest video chipset you can get is a 128 MB FireGL T2 - that's basically a Mobility Radeon 9600 with drivers optimized for pro 3D apps. Yet I doubt you'll hear many people say that IBM's T-series laptops are bad. Why? Because it's a question of how well the system works as a whole.

It's the same with Apple. It doesn't use the G4 by choice in its laptops right now; it does so because it doesn't have a low-power G5 ready for use yet. But there are components that help improve performance: Mobility Radeon 9700s (with dual-link DVI on the 128 MB version!), 5400 RPM hard drives on all models, and so on. It's actually a better platform for someone who hooks up to an external display or uses video editing tools.
 
Originally posted by: Commodus
Originally posted by: MercenaryForHire
Powerbook equivalent, huh? Sony's probably the only thing even close in the "Price per Lack Of Performance" category.

- M4H
Click to expand...

You're obviously stretching here.
Click to expand...

You think I'm going to pass up a chance to slam both Apple and Sony in one easy step? 😉

- M4H
 
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