Need Small Desktop Replacement

[teddyv]

Hi Folks - I am losing my office to a house renovation and have decided for the first time in many years to make a laptop my primary system. I am seeking advice on a powerful laptop with a screen 14.1" or smaller that will perform as well as my current system (Epox 939, AMD 3000 Venice, 1 gig, X800 gpu) and can capahly handle:
- WoW and UO
- MS Office
- Photoshop 6 & Illustrator 9
- Dreamweaver
Plus work with a 19" LCD when at home, have several USB2 and at least one FireWire, a multicard reader, and have a decent 6 or 8=cell battery.

I have a budget of $2k and was looking at this Sony VGN-C140G/B, seems pretty nice for $1,300.

Any better out there I should consider? I would like to avoid Dell, too many nightmares with my work laptops...

Thanks!

 

[Ayah]

Asus A8J series of laptops are powerful. But theyr'e 14-15s.

 

[TheStu]

I would avoid that sony since all it has is onboard graphics, they make another laptop that has roughly the same size screen that has a 7300go chip in there in addition to the onboard graphics, but i am not sure if it has made the jump to the core 2 duo yet, or if it still core duo. between the two, they are fairly close, and you shouldnt really fret too much over that one. I know that my laptop does a fine job of all of those things that you mentioned, but teh graphics are limited. I have run WoW on it, and it did not seem to overly stress the system graphics-wise, and it does run guild wars fairly well and that is a more graphically demanding game.

I personally would recommend the macbook, the ability to dual boot is nice, but OS X will run everything you have listed there (except for UO i think) but if you already have the windwos versions of all your apps, you may be hesitant to get them all again for OS X.

I just priced a 2.0GHz Macbook
DL DVD-RW
1 GB RAM
120GB HDD
13" Widescreen
intel integrate graphics
mini-dvi to dvi adapter
built in wifi and bluetooth

the total was $1468 (plus tax, but free shipping) and if you happen to be a student that price goes down to $1351 so roughly the same price as that vaio, but with a faster processor. I can attest that my macbook gets an average of 3.5 hours of battery life, and that is with the brightness most of the way up, wifi and bluetooth on, music playing, me surfing the web, and working on school work. YMMV, given as how it is a different processor, but it should be close.

Like I said, I would personally recommend the macbook. It is a pleasure to use, the trackpad is huge which is nice if you dont have room for a mouse where you are. Plus the apple drivers for windows are better and better with each new version. The latest version added in two-finger scrolling and two finger right clicking, as well as finished off the keyboard compatibility.

my two cents

 

[gpgofast]

Lenovo Thinkpad T60p.

Core2Duo 2.166
256MB FireGL V5250 Graphics Card
1.5GB RAM
100 GB 7200 RPM SATA HD
XP Pro
DVD Dual Layer
yada, yada....

Should be able to get it for well under your $2000 limit.

Very nice machine, very durable, fast, great display. Highly recomended.

 

[Zap]

Alienware?

CPU performance isn't too difficult to match (non-overclocked). RAM? Sure. HDD? Bit more difficult but 120GB is pretty common on notebooks now, with 200GB available (but I'd avoid that because first ones out seem to be 4200RPM).

Biggest issue, especially for playing games would be the video card. The Alienware listed can be had for around $1500 with a Core Duo, 1GB RAM, 120GB HDD and a 7600Go video. If you have a vanilla X800, then you have the 8 pipe GPU. A 7600Go should be around as fast (faster depending on clock speeds).

EDIT:

Dell Inspiron E1705, around $1650 for 17" LCD, Core Duo, 1GB RAM, 160GB 5400RPM HDD, 7900GS Go video!!! That's nice graphics.

EDIT#2:

I played around with the configurator and unless I'm reading things wrong, Dell's trying to stick it to the gamer. :| Select the E1705 and get three "preconfigured" choices. Using the exact following choices in their configurator:

Core 2 Duo T7200 (2GHz 4MB cache)
WinXP MCE
No upgrade to Vista
17" XGA+
1GB DDR2-533 RAM
160GB 5400RPM HDD
DVD burner
256MB Geforce Go 7900GS
integrated audio
3 year at home warranty

Out of the preconfigured choices if you go "gaming" you pay about $50 more than choosing the cheapest under $1000 model and then upgrading it all the way.

 

[TheStu]

I would personally recommend against the alienware (i have a 12" sentia, and i have had nothing but issues with it. My friend has the 17" SLI rig... and has since had to replace one of teh cards since he got it about 4 months ago, they also neglected to send him the tuner card for it) But would second the vote for the lenovo.

And zap, not to put you down or anything, but the guy mentioned that he wanted a system with a 14" or smaller screen, and although that alienware is close at 15.4", it is still larger. And not only did you completely disregard the 14" comment with the Dell, but he also said he wanted to avoid Dell.

I personally just noticed your request for it to have a card reader builtin (thought you were saying that you had that already) so i guess it is back to the drawing board for me.

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: TheStu
And zap, not to put you down or anything, but the guy mentioned that he wanted a system with a 14" or smaller screen, and although that alienware is close at 15.4", it is still larger. And not only did you completely disregard the 14" comment with the Dell, but he also said he wanted to avoid Dell.

You are absolutely right... I missed the part about not wanting Dell, though every brand has people who have had problems and now recommend against that brand (even Lenovo). The part about 14" screen I purposefully ignored because though the OP stated that he wanted a small screen but didn't state why (such as needing it extra portable). Also the title stated "DTR" and that implies size and power in regards to notebooks. Finally, he stated specs that he was trying to keep close to, and I'm not sure any notebook with a screen smaller than 15" is going to come anywhere close to that graphics performance, which is something that you completely disregarded with your Macbook with Intel IGP (and just barely skirted with the 7300go chip).

The Lenovo Thinkpad T60p that gpgofast mentioned is also a 15" screen, plus I don't know where he's finding them for "well under your $2000 limit" but a quick search on Froogle showed most going for $2800 and up, with an occasional one going for close to (but not quite) $2000.

Perhaps there isn't a notebook that fits every part of the stated requirements?

Under $2000
Good graphics
Small screen

Perhaps a suitable one can be found if one of these requirements were cut?

 

[teddyv]

Hi Folks - thanks for the advice so far, I appreciate it.

I wanted the smaller size because the portability of a small screen is important when I travel (a lot) and will not be an issue when I am home as I will be using a 19" LCD. I guess if I had to cut anywhere it would be the graphics, I currently have an Acer 15.4" screen Centrino laptop which is fine for a second/backup but not potent enough for a primary. I believe it has the 915 chip and will play both UO and WoW at minimally acceptable levels so any improvement there would be VERY nice but is not critical (like size, storage and CPU power.)

Thanks again!

 

[TheStu]

Here is another question for you. Do you care if it is widescreen or not? I know some people (like my roommate) almost actively search for one that was not widescreen. If you prefer one or the other, that trims down the field somewhat, but nothing too severe.

And zap, you are right, I did ignore the graphics issue when i recommended the macbook, but as i said, i have one and have found the igp to be, if not spectacular, then fairly decent when it came to games along the lines of UO and WoW

 

[Zap]

Well TheStu, teddyv gave us some more to chew on, wish-list-wise. Don't know yet about widescreen, but looks as if they are becoming... all too common.

I did some more looking, and guess I'm a wee bit wrong about smaller notebooks not having decent graphics (translation - very playable discreet graphics for gaming). I found one Asus notebook with 14.1" widescreen with an Nvidia Go 7600.

ASUS A8Jm-H019H $1513 shipped (plus $100 MIR on top of that)
Core Duo 1.83GHz
14.1" widescreen
Nvidia Geforce Go 7600 with 512MB dedicated!!!
100GB 5400RPM SATA
1GB DDR2-533
DVDRW
5¼ pounds
one Newegg reviewer claimed he got real world runtime of 3 hours on battery

 

[TheStu]

That one looks like a winner to me, definitely better graphics (especially at that price) than most anything else in that class.

 

[teddyv]

Yup - good get Zap, looks like that may be the Winnah!

Thanks folks!

 

[PCGOD]

I pointed him to the Asus Ensemble F3Jm-AP012P

15.4" WXGA / Core Duo T2400 1.83GHz / NVIDIA 7600 512MB / 1GB DDR2-533 / DVDRW / 100GB 5400RPM / Wireless / Gigabit / Windows XP Home

Same stats, but bigger screen, better camera, and has bluetooth. Also a tit bit cheaper.


FYI: Also the new G1/G2 are almost out.
http://usa.asus.com/news_show.aspx?id=4809

 

[gpgofast]

Originally posted by: Zap

Originally posted by: TheStu
And zap, not to put you down or anything, but the guy mentioned that he wanted a system with a 14" or smaller screen, and although that alienware is close at 15.4", it is still larger. And not only did you completely disregard the 14" comment with the Dell, but he also said he wanted to avoid Dell.

You are absolutely right... I missed the part about not wanting Dell, though every brand has people who have had problems and now recommend against that brand (even Lenovo). The part about 14" screen I purposefully ignored because though the OP stated that he wanted a small screen but didn't state why (such as needing it extra portable). Also the title stated "DTR" and that implies size and power in regards to notebooks. Finally, he stated specs that he was trying to keep close to, and I'm not sure any notebook with a screen smaller than 15" is going to come anywhere close to that graphics performance, which is something that you completely disregarded with your Macbook with Intel IGP (and just barely skirted with the 7300go chip).

The Lenovo Thinkpad T60p that gpgofast mentioned is also a 15" screen, plus I don't know where he's finding them for "well under your $2000 limit" but a quick search on Froogle showed most going for $2800 and up, with an occasional one going for close to (but not quite) $2000.

Perhaps there isn't a notebook that fits every part of the stated requirements?

Under $2000
Good graphics
Small screen

Perhaps a suitable one can be found if one of these requirements were cut?

Right off www.lenovo.com

ThinkPad T Series T60 Express - 1 Yr Depot Warranty (2613CTO)

Description Part number Unit price* Quantity Price*
ThinkPad T Series T60 Express - 1 Yr Depot Warranty (2613CTO)
Edit 2613CTO $1,827.00 1 $1,827.00
Integrated WiFi wireless LAN: Integrated Wi-Fi Wireless a/b/g 1
Bluetooth: Integrated Bluetooth PAN 1
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo processor T7400 (2.16GHz, 4MB L2, 667MHz FSB) 1
Operating system: Genuine Windows XP Professional 1
Operating system language: Genuine Windows XP Professional US English 1
Display type: 14.1 SXGA+ TFT 1
System graphics: ATI Mobility Fire GL V5250 256MB 1
Total memory: 1.5 GB PC2-5300 DDR2 SDRAM 667MHz SODIMM Memory (2 DIMM) 1
Keyboard: Keyboard US English ? 1
Fingerprint reader: Integrated fingerprint reader 1
Pointing device: UltraNav (TrackPoint and TouchPad) 1
Hard drive: 100GB Hard Disk Drive, 7200rpm 1
Optical device: DVD Recordable 8x Max Dual Layer, Ultrabay Slim 1
Wireless cards: ThinkPad 11a/b/g Wi-Fi wireless LAN Mini-PCIe 1
Battery: 6 cell Li-Ion Battery 1
Power cord: Country Pack North America 1
Modem cable (RJ-11): PSTN cable 1
Language pack: Language Pack US English 1



ThinkPad T60p Mobile Workstation




14" Inch display. They just started making the T60(non P) with a 15.4 widescreen...
ThinkPad T-Series

Description Part number Unit price* Quantity Price*
ThinkPad T-Series
Edit 8743CTO $2,008.00 1 $2,008.00
Integrated WiFi wireless LAN: Integrated Wi-Fi Wireless a/b/g 1
Bluetooth: Integrated Bluetooth PAN 1
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo processor T7400 (2.16GHz, 4MB L2, 667MHz FSB) 1
Operating system: Genuine Windows XP Professional 1
Operating system language: Genuine Windows XP Professional US English 1
Display type: 15.4 W SXGA+ TFT 1
System graphics: ATI Mobility Radeon X1400 128MB 1
Total memory: 512 MB PC2-5300 DDR2 SDRAM 667MHz SODIMM Memory (1 DIMM) 1
Keyboard: Keyboard US English 1
Pointing device: UltraNav (TrackPoint and TouchPad) 1
Hard drive: 160 GB Hard Disk Drive, 5400rpm 1
Optical device: DVD Recordable 8x Max Dual Layer, Ultrabay Slim 1
Wireless cards: ThinkPad 11a/b/g Wi-Fi wireless LAN Mini-PCIe 1
Battery: 6 cell Li-Ion Battery 1
Power cord: Country Pack North America 1
Modem cable (RJ-11): PSTN cable 1
Language pack: Language Pack US English 1


I'm using one right now with a 14 inch display. It is a very solid laptop. GP