Options for a portable laptop - Looking for good 14" WS, solid build at low cost

[Diasper]

Sorry for this typical thread but I need help with choosing a laptop.

I'm looking for a laptop for potential travel and so needs to be very portable. 14" seems to be the perfect size but options seem more limited.

Order of priority is:
Size - eg. 14" widescreen for portability
Quality+solidly built
Price - sub £600 really
Specs - Most importantly a good screen ie viewing angles, colours, brightness (eg Trubrite/Crystal bright screens), a decently sized hardrive hopefully 60GB+, if not much more costly Core Duo and preferably a non-Intel GPU

What options are there? Acer seem like they have a few good options but I've heard bad reports of their support (and maybe quality?). Whats worth looking at from Toshiba or Fujitsu?

 

[dnuggett]

What will you be using it for?

 

[Diasper]

Sorry I should have said. It'll be for general use - broadly that's office apps, encoding and some photo manipulation. While I'm not too interested in games if I can play some older ones that'd be a bonus.

Recently I was looking at the Acer Aspire 5622WLMI which I liked the look off before deciding that I really needed 14" and ideally better battery life.

 

[dp004i]

If you want something well-built and reasonably light, take a look at lower-end Thinkpad T60 models.

 

[Diasper]

Originally posted by: dp004i
If you want something well-built and reasonably light, take a look at lower-end Thinkpad T60 models.

Unfortunately, I'm not much of a fan of the styling/feel of the Thinkpad series. Also options seem limited regards prices/battery life.

Options seem pretty few on 14" laptops.

The best options I've found so far is the Fujitsu Amilo M6450G vs the Dell 640M.

Positives of Fujitsu: Great styling, bit smaller (mainly depth and thinner), marginally lighter and better build quality. It also won the What Laptop Gold Award.
Positives of Dell 640M: Dual-core (albeit buget 533mhz), has XP Pro, much longer battery life (upto 6hrs vs 3.5 approx).

I'm not keen on the Dell styling or it's seeming so-so quality.

Prices are Dell: £626 (£669.82 - 7% aff. cashback) vs Fujitsu: £606 (£598.99 +£7 del)

Exact Specifications Are:

Dell 640M (Small Business)
- Core Duo T2050 (533mhz FSB, 2MB L2 Cache)
- XP Pro
- 14.1" Ultrasharp with TrueLife (1440 x 900)
- Intel Media 900 graphics accelerator 128MB shared
- 512MB RAM
- 80GB 5400RPM harddisk
- DVD-RW
- Integrated Sound Blaster Audigy Advanced HD Audio - Trial Version
- Free Carrying case
- 1 YR Warranty
- 330 x 245 x 38.6mm
- 2.5KG
- Nylon carrycase free extra

Fujitsu Amilo M6450
- Pentium M 735A 1.7Ghz (2MB L2 Cache)
- XP Home
- 14.1 Crystalview (1268 x 768)
- Intel Media 900 graphics accelerator 128MB shared
- 512MB RAM
- 80GB 5400RPM
- DVD-RW
- Media card reader (SD/MS/MMC/MS Pro)
- Realtek ALC880 Azalia
- 1 Yr Warranty
- 332 x 233 x 32-35mm
- 2.4KG


Confusing choice. Anyone got experience with either laptop? Opinions on Dell vs Fujitsu laptops generally? Are their other laptop options I'm missing maybe?

Other questions: What is the trial version of the Audigy on the Dell - how does that work with hardware? Will I be losing out with anything by going XP Home if I went with the Fujitsu?

Also is the Dell battery life as good as it's claims of 5.5-6hours? Fujitsu specced upto 3hours for the Amilo M6450G but in the What Laptop test managed 3.5hours. I can imagine battery life specs are typically misleading given all the ways of measuring it and what constitutes 'light' use etc.

 

[cw42]

here's a few options

also u might want to checkout the D620, and HP DV2000T. I havnt heard much about the quality of Fujitsu laptops because they don't seem to be that popular, but they do look nice.

 

[Diasper]

Originally posted by: cw42
here's a few options

also u might want to checkout the D620, and HP DV2000T. I havnt heard much about the quality of Fujitsu laptops because they don't seem to be that popular, but they do look nice.

Thanks for the link. I've tried to look into some of them. What seems to be the case:

The Dell D620 is something I looked into before nicer than the 640m (bit smaller etc) but it's also another £200 or so - not really viable.

The Lenovo 3000 N100 suffers from poor battery life. It's also not any cheaper than the other options.

The Toshiba Satellite M105 looks nice but I can't find availaibility in the UK yet.

HP laptops I have heard a fair few negative comments about. On the DV1000 there are significant negative comments including poor build quality. Nevertheless the HP DV1000T is picking up some good reviews, has a good screen and battery life. However, it doesn't seem availablein the UK yet.


When it comes to general manufacturer evaluations the Fujitsu notebooks seem to rank quite well. Other laptops being less so seems to have some consensus too though some of those rankings might seem questionable.

 

[fbrdphreak]

I've used both the original dv1000 and the new dv1000t, all were excellent build quality for the money. They weren't a Thinkpad or Apple by any means, but much better than Inspiron 600M or average notebook in that price range. You can't get a dedicated GPU in the dv1000 series, but you can get the Go6150 IGP in the Turion 64 X2-based dv2000 series.

 

[Diasper]

I found a rather good review of desktop/notebook reliabilityon various manufacturers at PCmag that's worth a look.

I think I'll go with the Fujitsu.

 

[corkyg]

Funny - I got a HP dv1000 last year for the purpose you cited. 14' Wide Screen, Ultra-Brite, 1 GB RAM, now 160 GB HDD, Wi-Fi, modem, Cat5, Firewire, USB 2. It has travelled with me extensively to include South America, Caribbean, Amazon, and domestic trips. Never a problem. Battery life is excellent with the 12 cell Li-ION. I picked it because it had won Editor's Choice last year in PC Mag, PC World, and MaxPC. Never a problem. It has never crashed, locked up, or failed to do its job. The on/off switch for the infernal touchpad is a joy.

 

[Diasper]

Originally posted by: corkyg
Funny - I got a HP dv1000 last year for the purpose you cited. 14' Wide Screen, Ultra-Brite, 1 GB RAM, now 160 GB HDD, Wi-Fi, modem, Cat5, Firewire, USB 2. It has travelled with me extensively to include South America, Caribbean, Amazon, and domestic trips. Never a problem. Battery life is excellent with the 12 cell Li-ION. I picked it because it had won Editor's Choice last year in PC Mag, PC World, and MaxPC. Never a problem. It has never crashed, locked up, or failed to do its job. The on/off switch for the infernal touchpad is a joy.

I guess everyone's own experiences will vary and vary according to model. I'm sure most experiences are good. However, I think it'd be wrong to disregard significant negative comments or statistically higher repair rates.

That said reviews of the DV1000 were good while the 1500 and 1600 successors seem to be doing similiarly well. I guess I'm just gonna be cautious. Also pricewise they don't seem to be any cheaper.

One thing - Is there any possibility to get an additional higher capacity battery for the Fujitsu? My searches aren't coming up with much (for the Amilo M series). Would a higher capacity also mean larger dimensions?

 

[pcmodem]

Originally posted by: Diasper

Originally posted by: dp004i
If you want something well-built and reasonably light, take a look at lower-end Thinkpad T60 models.

Dell 640M (Small Business)
- Core Duo T2050 (533mhz FSB, 2MB L2 Cache)
- XP Pro
- Intel Media 900 graphics accelerator 128MB shared

Fujitsu Amilo M6450
- Intel Media 900 graphics accelerator 128MB shared

Don't quote me on this, but I thought I came across somewhere that the Intel Media 900 GPU is not Vista compliant.

Are you certain you're not meaning to refer to the Intel Media 950 GPU? I believe that's the model currently sported by the Dell Inspiron 640M.

I'd check into this before making a purchase.



Good luck,
PCM

 

[Diasper]

Originally posted by: pcmodem

Originally posted by: Diasper

Originally posted by: dp004i
If you want something well-built and reasonably light, take a look at lower-end Thinkpad T60 models.

Dell 640M (Small Business)
- Core Duo T2050 (533mhz FSB, 2MB L2 Cache)
- XP Pro
- Intel Media 900 graphics accelerator 128MB shared

Fujitsu Amilo M6450
- Intel Media 900 graphics accelerator 128MB shared

Don't quote me on this, but I thought I came across somewhere that the Intel Media 900 GPU is not Vista compliant.

Are you certain you're not meaning to refer to the Intel Media 950 GPU? I believe that's the model currently sported by the Dell Inspiron 640M.

I'd check into this before making a purchase.



Good luck,
PCM

Ah! You're right it is the 950 they use - Thanks.

Hmm, even though I'm not planning to migrate to Vista that does make it a bit better.

I'd be leaning towards the Fujitsu with its quality and looks but thinking about the dual-core and better battery life of the Dell I'm not so sure... also with deals like offering a free hardrive upgrade 60-80GB on the Dell...

 

[Diasper]

The other thing that's more tempting about the Dell is the larger desktop area it provides with the higher resolution ...which could be very useful for photography stuff.

Does anyone know anything more about the screen specifically eg viewing angles in comparison etc? One thing I've picked up from reviews is the potential for light leakage from the bottom of the screen...