Need some help finding a laptop with the right features

[DBauman]

I've been looking around all day, and am having trouble finding a laptop that meets my needs.
My basic problem is that I want something generally relatively value-oriented, with the sole exception of the video card - and that doesn't seem to be a demographic that most of the major manufacturers cater to. Again and again, I'll find something that meets my needs, except that the best GPU available is a Radeon 7500 32 Mb

Here's what I'm looking for, at minimum:
P4 M 1.6 Ghz (Dothan)
512MB Ram
Integrated Wifi
Radeon Mobility 9700, 128MB Ram
40 gig HD, some form of DVD/CD drive, etc.
Not weighing a ton would also be a significant plus.

I'd like to come in under $2000 when all is said and done (Including tax and shipping)

Here's the printout of my current configuration:
This is from Hypersonic
With shipping and tax it comes to Total: $2,216.19

Custom System Binder with Performance Benchmarks
Personalized System Recovery DVD
Minimum 72-Hour Burn-in & testing with 128-Point Quality Control Process
Configured and tested with latest qualified drivers and operating system updates
Arctic Silver 5 High Tech Polysynthetic Heat Dissipation Agent
1 Type II PCMCIA PC Card Slot
User-Upgradeable Intel Pentium® M Processor
Intel 855 Centrino? Compliant Chipset
4 Hours+ Battery Life

Turn Around : Approximately 8-12 days (4 weeks with Reflexxion option)
Price as Configured: $2,010.00


Aviator CX5-11 Laptop (Metallic Navy)
1.7GHz Intel® Pentium-M 735 Processor w/ 2MB Cache (Dothan)
512MB PC2700 DDR333 RAM SODIMM
ATI Radeon Mobility 9700 (M11) 128MB for CX5 (w/ TV Out)
60GB 5400rpm Ultra ATA Hard Drive
8X DVD / 24X-10X-24 CD-R/W Combo Drive w/ Recording Software
15.1" SXGA+ High Contrast Active Matrix LCD Display (1400x1050)
Integrated 100MBit Fast Ethernet Controller
Internal 802.11b+g 54Mbps Wireless Mini PCI for CX5 - Promotional Offer
Integrated V.92 56K Fax/Data Modem
MS Windows XP Home Edition CD & Manual SP2 Pre-Installed & Configured
3 Year Accidental Damage Protection (System and LCD)
1 Year 24/7 Toll-Free Tech Support Platinum Service & Lifetime Support


-----

Downsides to this one:
A bit too expensive.
I'm really not sure I like the default color (A sort of metallic steel blue, from the photo), and any other color is apparantly a custom paint job costing a few hundred bucks.
I'm perfectly willing to take a smaller, slighly lower res display (1024x768 minimum, 1280x1024 preferred) so the display is more than I need

So, can anyone direct me to a laptop that addresses these concerns (Particularly price. And color)?

 

[DBauman]

I've also been looking at this laptop:
http://www.powernotebooks.com/configure.php?special=26

This is a rebadged Clevo, I believe. The problem here is that I just don't know much about the manufacturer/retailer, and they don't offer an accidental damage warranty. The specs and the price point seem wonderful.

Are there any reputable/reasonably priced resellers of Clevo notebooks that have an accidental damage warranty option, and who are certain not to be going out of business in the next few years?

Also, are the Clevo Centrino notebooks any good? For the price, the specs are impressive, but I wonder if there aren't any major corners cut.

 

[ElFenix]

inspiron 8600? the mobility 9700 is a 9600 chip. and the price is right.

 

[Geeyoff]

The Toshiba M30X can be customized to have everything you want, with the exception of the processor; the best that they offer is a Pentium M 755. I know that's different from a P4 M, so my apologies if this post is just a waste of bandwidth for you. Even so, it's like $1600 or thereabouts after you've customized it with close to its highest potential.


Linky

--geeyoff

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: Geeyoff
The Toshiba M30X can be customized to have everything you want, with the exception of the processor; the best that they offer is a Pentium M 755. I know that's different from a P4 M, so my apologies if this post is just a waste of bandwidth for you. Even so, it's like $1600 or thereabouts after you've customized it with close to its highest potential.


Linky

--geeyoff

no, you're right, if he is asking for a dothan he is asking for a pentium m, not a p4 m.

 

[DBauman]

The Dothan bit isn't so much a requirement... Going to check out the ones you've mentioned. It also seems that www.discountlaptops.com has a good selection of the generics AND offers an accidental damage warranty.

This is a Chembook(Compal CL56)
The following came out to $1950:


15" SXGA+ (1400x1050) display
1.8 GHz Pentium-M Dothan (2MB Cache)
1 GB Ram
60GB, 7200 RPM HD
8x DVD/24X CD-RW
Internal ethernet/wireless/modem (Intel's 802.11b/g)
SVid out, VGA out, 1 Firewire, 3 USB 2.0, SD slot
No OS

2 year parts warranty, 3 year Accidental Damage warranty

If I barebones this, it comes to $1760 ($300 of which is the warranty coverage. This may seem a high percentage of the cost, but I have extremely bad gadget karma.)

 

[DBauman]

Also from Discountlaptops.com, a nice looking machine from Twinhead:
Twinhead N15RB - V
Base Configuration

15.1" SXGA+ (1400 x 1050) Active Matrix Display
1.8 GHz Intel Pentium M Processor (Dothan - 2048 L2 Cache)
128MB Dedicated VRAM - ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 Pro (M-11) Video
40 GB Hard Drive (4200 RPM)
1024 MB DDR333 (PC2700) SDRAM (512 MB x 2)
Internal 4X DVD±R/RW / CD-RW Combo Drive w/ Software
Internal 56k Modem
Internal 10/100Mbps Ethernet/LAN
Internal Wireless Lan Card with Built-in Antenna (W-Fi) - 802.11b+g
Smart Lithium Ion Battery (9 cell)
Spill-resistant keyboard
AC Adapter w/ power cord
Free Nylon Carry Case
FREE BONUS! MS Works 8.0
No Operating System Installed
1 Year Part / Labor Warranty from Twinhead
3 Year accidental damage warranty

Special Feature: Spill-resistant keyboard, shock-mounted hard drive, full magnesium casing

$1915

This is actually listed as a "Semi-Rugged" laptop. (Might mitigate the need for the accidental damage warranty....)

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: DBauman
The Dothan bit isn't so much a requirement... Going to check out the ones you've mentioned. It also seems that www.discountlaptops.com has a good selection of the generics AND offers an accidental damage warranty.

This is a Chembook(Compal CL56)
The following came out to $1950:


15" SXGA+ (1400x1050) display
1.8 GHz Pentium-M Dothan (2MB Cache)
1 GB Ram
60GB, 7200 RPM HD
8x DVD/24X CD-RW
Internal ethernet/wireless/modem (Intel's 802.11b/g)
SVid out, VGA out, 1 Firewire, 3 USB 2.0, SD slot
No OS

2 year parts warranty, 3 year Accidental Damage warranty

If I barebones this, it comes to $1760 ($300 of which is the warranty coverage. This may seem a high percentage of the cost, but I have extremely bad gadget karma.)

ram is not very hard to install, and is almost always cheaper to buy somewhere other than the place building the notebook.

60 gb 7200 rpm drives are also usually cheaper to buy the part and install.

warranties aren't worth anything if the company you buy them from goes out of business during the warranty period.

 

[DBauman]

That's true... I've seen discountlaptops mentioned a bit, so I assumed it was at least worth looking into. I'm actually now thinking of getting the Twinhead machine and forgoing the accidental damage warranty - It's billed as being a "semi-rugged" machine.

For the bits you say tend to be cheaper to buy and then install, where would I go for that? Newegg? (Checking, I see a 512Mb SODIMM (Off brand though) for $84, which is certainly cheaper than the $130 it's charging for memory. However, it doesn't seem possible to order the machine with no memory, and I'm a little bit nervous about mixing brands of RAM. Isn't that supposedly a bad thing? Or am I confusing it with mixing different brands of batteries?)

If I were to try to buy a laptop HD seperately, are their any pitfalls? I'm seeing the following on Newegg:

Hitachi 60GB 7200RPM Notebook Hard Drive, Model HTS726060M9AT00 PART# 08K0939, OEM Drive Only
- Specifications -
Capacity: 60GB
Average Seek Time: 10 ms
Buffer: 8MB
Rotational Speed: 7200 RPM
Interface: IDE ULTRA ATA-6
Features: 9.5mm high, 7200 RPM, 2.5-inch mobile hard disk drive
Manufacturer Warranty: 3 years
Packaging: OEM Drive Only
Model#: HTS726060M9AT00
Item#: N82E16822146020

Can I assume that this would work with the notebook? Or would I need to wait until I had the notebook in hand and then remove the drive to see what sort of interface the drive would need (Getting third party memory I think I can deal with... Third part hard drives may be a bit too much)

EDIT: The Toshiba looks pretty good, but is only available with a 64mb Radeon 9700... Still better than the IGPs that a lot of the notebooks have that aren't full desktop replacements.
EDIT 2: Just looked at the Dell too... Dell has accidental damage coverage, alas, it isn't valid in two states, one of which I live in.
EDIT 3: Since when did the Dell configuration interface feature more add in items than it did bits of actual computer? And why isn't there a "None" option for all of this preinstalled software. Grrr!

 

[wjgollatz]

You should be able to find a capable system at ibuypower.com for about $1500

 

[ElFenix]

as for ram, no, you generally can't order a system without ram. just order the minimum amount and buy other elsewhere.

if you're running dual channel with very restrictive timings you probably shouldn't mix ram brands. since notebook computers don't really do either, it shouldn't be a problem. my notebook is tempermental about which of the sticks is in which slot, however.

notebook harddrives are basically all the same form factor. dell was blowing out that 60 gig 7200 rpm hitachi for about $110 last month. seagate is supposed to come out with a 7200 rpm notebook line *soon*, but then i've been waiting for *soon* since july.

 

[CindySue22]

The fastest gaming notebook in the world right now is the Sager 9860 (which I have ), do a google.

It is awesome, and based on the Clevo 900 mobo with the Nvidia 6800 Go GPU.

Stock, no tweaking at all:

3DMark03=7250
Aquamark3=43000

When o/c'd, those scores rise quite a bit.

You asked, I answered.

 

[DBauman]

I was looking at the Sagers - they look quite nice. The Sagers and the Compals actually seem more or less identical spec/pricewise. Right now though, I'm leaning towards a Twinhead N15RB. I've read a review or two of it, and the major upside on the Twinhead is that it's built to take a good deal more punishment. That and it still has a 128 Meg Radeon Mobility 9700 in.

There are just two things making me hold off -
1. The Radeon Mobility 9800. I sorta want to see what's available once these hit the generic laptop channel. The Dells that have these are way overpriced, even with the 20% off coupon.
2. I would still really like to find a thin/light model with decent graphics capability. A Compaq V2000 with discrete graphics instead of an IGP. If the V2000 had even a 64MB Radeon 9600 or 9700, I'd snap it up in a second. 64 Meg 9600 is the lowest I'd go for graphics, and then only for a laptop which was significantly more portable than the powerful Sagers/Compals or the Twinhead. If I had to go lower than that, I'd just go for a true thin/light laptop with an IGP. I either want to do the 3D thing right, or not at all.