Need advice on a budget laptop

[TheVrolok]

I'm looking into getting a laptop (not for primary use) to do some work (no gaming), anyone have any idea where I should look for quality laptops under a grand? Should I just check Dell, BB, etc.?

 

[niggles]

simple, The Inspiron 6000 is fantastic, it's more a desktop replacement laptop, but it's a really great all around work horse. Just make sure that you get the Pentium and not the Celeron is all. It is even actually ok for some low end gaming. Just look for coupon's is all, becuase the price right now is $1166. It can go under 1K if you wait for it.

 

[Hacp]

I would reccomend an IBM. My uncle has a T41 and its awesome. I wish I had an IBM too . The keyboard is great, and the little red mouse thing is nice to have if you don't like the touchpad that much. They are also sturdily built, and have alot of security features. Cheap models with pentium Ms go for around 800-900.

Another laptop I have had experience with is the z2000 series by HP. I bought this for my sister's friend, and tried it out when he opened it. The keyboard is great IMO. It is alot better than my sister's 600M. Battery life is a little short, even if you tone down the screen. I would suggest that you either buy the 12 cell battery, or try unvervolting the processor. The sempron and pentium M models are the ones that I personally would get. Sempron for budget, and Pentium M for more battery life and decent performance. Also, size wise and weight wise it is pretty small. Its not an ultraportable, but It feels like it weights less than the 12 inch powerbooks/ibooks, which claim to be less than 5 pounds.

 

[The Linuxator]

Your answer is the Thinkpad R50e that is in my sig, I got it for $849 directly from IBM / Lenovo , you won't regret it , at least I didn't

 

[drerickarim]

ibook

 

[deathwalker]

Dell and IBM are both good places to start your search. IBM perhaps gets the nod for rock solid contruction...Dell offers value pricing.

 

[bearxor]

I'd recommend the 6000 with a CeleronM processor. It starts at $700 right now, has a 15.4" screen, Intel GMA900 graphics, 4 USB ports, solid design. I love mine. I would say go with a Celeron simply because you don't plan on it for major useage. The CeleronM is actually quite zippy, and if you're daring enough, you can pinmod the Celeron 1.3 to run at 1.733. Should have no problems running at that speed. Add a 1GB stick of RAM from newegg for $100, and add some other options you may want, like a DVD burner, or the WSXGA screen (highly recommended), bluetooth or an extra power adapter (also highly recommended for how cheap it is), and you can get a great laptop that still has enough power to play a few older games (say, anything right up to Doom3), and provides just an overall wonderful laptop experience.

For even cheaper, you can get the 1200, which starts at $499 on Dell's site. You get a CeleronM 1.4, but a 14" screen stuck at 1024x768 and the Intel Exreme Graphics 2 chipset. I'd get this one only if you were planning on doing no 3d graphics on it at all.

For a first-time laptop buyer, you should pick up just about the cheapest thing you can. You never know how you will use it. I've known people who go out and spend 1500-2000 on a new notebook and hardly ever use it. I know people who picked up something used for $300 bucks and never even touch their desktop. That's what I did. I got a cheap HP laptop that was beat up, and I started using it more and more until I just gave my desktop away to some friends who had an old gateway. I never used it anymore. Then, when I bought my 6000, I took my time and used the experience from having my HP to decide what I wanted and settled on something. Even now though, I wish I had bought a 9300. It's not much bigger, and the 6800 would have been a nice comprimise.

You'll never be happy with anything you pick, but its all about whats most important to you. For me, having something light, portable, but still having some graphical muscle under the hood was what was most important. The truth is the 9300 would just be too big and too heavy. Sometimes a couple of extra inches + 1 pound make or break a deal. The 6000 is what I considered to be the high-end of still being portable, thats why I picked it.

 

[mect]

I'm in the market for my first lap top too. Here's something I've been considering:

Brand ABS
Model MAYHEM F-15 A40
General
Operating System Windows XP Home
CPU Type AMD Turion MT-32 1.8GHz w/ 512K L2 Cache
Screen 15.4" Wide screen
Memory Size 512MB DDR
Hard Disk 60GB
Optical Drive CD-RW/DVD Combo
Graphics Card Integrated Mirage 2 Graphics Engine
Video Memory shared memory
Communication Modem, LAN and WLAN
Card slot 1x Type I/II PC Card Slot
Dimensions 14.0" x 10.1" x 1.2"
Weight 5.8lbs
CPU
CPU Type Turion 64
CPU Speed AMD MT-32(1.8GHz)
CPU Cache 512KB
Operating Systems
Operating System Windows XP Home
Display
Screen Size 15.4"
Display Type WXGA
Resolution 1280 × 800
Graphics
GPU/VPU SiS Mirage 2
Video Memory Shared system memory
Graphic Type Integrated Card
Hard Drive
HD Capacity 60GB
HD RPM 5400rpm
Memory
Memory Slots 2x DIMM
Memory Size 512MB
Optical Drive
Optical Drive Type DVD/CD-RW Combo
Optical Drive Interface Integrated
Communications
Modem 56K
LAN 10/100Mbps
WLAN 802.11b/g Wireless LAN
Ports
Card Slot 1x Type I/II PC Card Slot
USB 4
Video Port 1 x VGA
Audio Ports Yes
Audio
Audio Integrated Sound card
Speaker Internal Speakers
Input Device
Touchpad Yes
Keyboard Standard
Power
Battery Lithium Ion
Physical spec
Dimensions 14.0" x 10.1" x 1.2"
Weight 5.8lbs
Warranty
Manufacturer Warranty 1 Year 24/7 Notebook Toll Free Tech Support. Service Provided in 50 States of America except Texas. No Service Outside of Honolulu in Hawaii. Service is Available only in Anchorage and Ketchikan in Alaska

On sale on Newegg for $900 after instant savings. I haven't seen any reviews on it, but the specs seem like a decent deal.

 

[guz]

There's a pretty good deal on a low-end Toshiba at Circuit City right now. An L25-S119 Satellite: 1.5ghz Celeron M, 256 DDR2 4200 RAM ($50 for a 512 stick @ Newegg takes you to 768), 60GB 5200 HD, CDRW/DVD, a beautiful 15" TruBrite Screen....5.8lbs I think? Runs around $600 after a $200 rebate.

Nothing powerful, but it's a very nice looking laptop with a great screen.

 

[niggles]

Strike my earlier post, I checked into what bearxor was saying about the celeron M and it's not that bad. It's a great price, and you can get all the extras you need. I say Dell Inspiron 6000 with a Celeron M

 

[Abhi]

Intel Centrino Pentium M 1.6 GHz, 512MB DDR, 60GB Drive, 8x DVD Dual Format, DL Capable 8.5GB Burner, 15.4" WXGA, Integrated Intel 900 Graphics , Intel 802.11g, MS XP Home, 1-Yr Warranty

to get the the coupon level of $999 you will will to upgrade the Hard drive to 60GB and to the DVD Burner

Comes out to $750 after code with shipping and handling at $24.

thats been taken from http://www.rasputinj.com/article6173.html

 

[roofles]

I was on the Lenovo site looking at thinkpads and it said the Z series line started at $799 which I thought was an awesome price for a widescreen laptop (14inch). I would suggest this, if it actually was possible to price a laptop at 799, I clicked the link and even with celeron proc it was like 1200 Which sucks because at 799 I would've jumped on it, and just slap some more RAM in it.