looking for something small and cheap...

[ericlala]

There are just way too many choices but I will be using the laptop for some 2d cad drawing and just general web surfing, no major gaming.

I have looked at a few and am interested in ones like the Asus Z33a and W5a, are there any like this? I am only interested in 12.1" screen but if there is one of similar size but wide screen i would consider. I really want to keep it below $2000CAN.

I have no idea what kind of speed i want, but what is the difference between just pentium M and mobile p-m? what about all the words like dothan etc?

 

[Mickey Eye]

An Apple iBook 12 inch is very good bang for buck if your willing to shift platfroms.

 

[Liver]

Originally posted by: Mickey Eye
An Apple iBook 12 inch is very good bang for buck if your willing to shift platfroms.

Agreed and disagree. You can get a better bang for buck by minimum configuration and updating hardware yourself, but not with a complete package offered by Apple (esp with student discount). If you can wait until January there are strong rumors (rumors, one more time rumors) that something on the Mactels will be announced.

 

[cheesehead]

The Apple iBook is a very nice option. It's not the cheapest out there, but the quality is very good, and Apple excels at 2d design work like Photoshop. CAD seems to run nicely, too.
Another option, if you feel like taking a bit of a gamble, is a refurbished HP NC4010. It weighs about 3.8 lbs. with battery, has a 1.7 ghz Pentium M, and can be had for 950$ (800$ usd) from geeks.com. Of course, you would need to pay duties for getting it shipped over the border.
http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=PZ507UAR&cat=NBB

Also, a word of advice: The Z33A is a darn nice laptop. Not cheap, but very high quality. JNCS is a good vendor for their stuff.

 

[ericlala]

I do like the apple, i know it is actually better compared to windows but i am way too used to windows already. I'm just wondering if there are any 12.1" thats being talked about, like cheap/hyped etc?

 

[cheesehead]

See above.
Averatec makes an inexpensive 12" laptop with a decent processor, but their products tend to not be of terribly high quality.

 

[Hacp]

Ya avertec has that sempron 12 incher that looks cool. 2D cad can run on like Pentium 2s, so I wouldn't worry about performance that much.

 

[Trippytiger]

Well, we mustn't forget the 12" ThinkPads. You do lose the optical drive and the touchpad, but you gain a very spiffy, durable, and reliable laptop with an excellent keyboard and good battery life. They don't come terribly cheap, but you can get an X32 for less than $2000 CAD.

Originally posted by: ericlala
I have no idea what kind of speed i want, but what is the difference between just pentium M and mobile p-m? what about all the words like dothan etc?

There's no 'Mobile Pentium-M' processor, just the Pentium-M. Current models come in a few different flavours; there's the newest ones with a 533MHz front-side bus that are used with Intel's latest mobile chipset (Sonoma), ones designed for the older chipset that run at a 400MHz front-side bus, and Low-Voltage and Ultra Low-Voltage models, which run at reduced speeds and have greatly reduced power consumption and heat production from regular chips.

'Dothan' is the name of the most recent Pentium-M core. It's different from earlier Banias core processors in that it has twice the L2 cache (2MB instead of 1MB), is made on the 90nm process rather than the 130nm of the Banias, and has a slightly lower TDP (for 400Mhz FSB versions).

For what you want to do, any speed will work; you'd be best off going with the cheapest and slowest to keep costs and heat production down. The processor will probably spend most of its time running at its lowest speed anyways.

 

[ericlala]

excellent response. could i not get something like a 1.73 or 1.8ghz and then down clock it? do they have anything like cool'n'quiet? what are some good canadian/us sites that have reasonable prices?

 

[cheesehead]

Originally posted by: ericlala
excellent response. could i not get something like a 1.73 or 1.8ghz and then down clock it? do they have anything like cool'n'quiet? what are some good canadian/us sites that have reasonable prices?

The Pentium-M automatically drops its clock speed when the power is'nt needed; if I recall, the Pentium-M's drop to about 750 megahertz when running basic apps. Downclocking would not likely improve battery life unless you also undervolted the processor.
Newegg.com is a very good US site.

 

[Trippytiger]

Originally posted by: Cheesehead
The Pentium-M automatically drops its clock speed when the power is'nt needed; if I recall, the Pentium-M's drop to about 750 megahertz when running basic apps. Downclocking would not likely improve battery life unless you also undervolted the processor.
Newegg.com is a very good US site.

All Pentium-M chips drop to a 6x multiplier when there's no great need for processing power. Hence, the 400MHz FSB chips run at 600MHz (6*100MHz), and the 533MHz FSB chips run at 800MHz (6*133MHz).

Originally posted by: ericlala
excellent response. could i not get something like a 1.73 or 1.8ghz and then down clock it? do they have anything like cool'n'quiet? what are some good canadian/us sites that have reasonable prices?

I'm glad it was helpful. The "Cool 'n' Quiet" equivalent for mobile Intel processors is called Speedstep, by the way. With a program called Centrino Hardware Control, you get a lot of control over voltages and SpeedStep settings. Undervolting and underclocking (through custom power settings that let you control multipliers in accordance to CPU load) is very easy.


As for stores, a lot of it depends on what you're planning to buy. Like Cheesehead said, Newegg is a good site, but with no love for Canada (for the time being). I like NCIX.com, which is a Canadian site that carries a lot of Asus laptops. You can also buy direct from a lot of manufacturer's websites as well (Lenovo, Fujitsu, Toshiba, HP, Dell, etc.).

 

[ericlala]

what exactly is undervolting? i know it means decreasing voltage to cpu butcan it be done to any laptop or are there a specific set that can do it? when you undervolt, do u mean running the cpu at a lower voltage while maintaining same speed or decreasing both voltage and power?
i do have some experience from building my first OCing pc but i know nothing about laptops