Pick me a laptop!

[TitaniumJohnson]

Thread title says it all: I'm in the market for a new laptop and need help.

Intended use for the unit is both professional and personal use. Taking a new job that will entail some travel, and intend on watching DVDs and some gaming during the flights and in the hotel rooms. As such, CPU speed and graphics capability are high on the list of 'wants'. Memory should be 512meg out of the box, expandable above 1gig in time. Not too concerned with weight, so doesn't have to be one of the ultraportables. Top price range, after all is said and done...about $1800 or so?

Thanks in advance!

TJ.

 

[Runner20]

Dell makes quality notebooks and so does IBM. Some newer vendors are Voodoo and Alienware, but they're mostly for gaming and expensive. IBM is for non gaming stuff mostly, professionals love IBM notebooks.

Dell can do both things, thats why I recommend them.
The new XPS notebook from Dell is a monster, in terms of weight and performance. Its tops in my opinion, although heavy.

 

[Ionizer86]

IBM's can game well too. The ~$1500 T41's have Radeon 7500's and when they approach $2000, they come with Radeon 9000s.

If you're looking at good build quality, nice battery life, and durability, the IBM T41 is a good choice. Many laptops sure look nice on paper specs, but they may experience issues before two years have even elapsed. So do get a 3 year warranty if you're getting a laptop.

As for memory, I think most laptops with 512MB standard use 2x256MB ram, filling up both SoDimm slots. I don't think expanding to 1GB works on many laptops.

 

[formulav8]

Get the same Lappy that I bought for my wife. It is awesome for the price. eMachines M6805. It is very nice. 15.4" widescreen, DVD/CDRW, Wireless "G", Ethernet, Radeon 9600 graphics, 512MB DDR, 60GB hd, 3000+ ATHLON 64! , firewire, 4 nicely positioned usb 2.0 ports and more. I am completely happy with the purchase. Goto the hot deals forums and hardOc or is it ocworkbench? Either way there is a large thread sticky'd that is dedicated to the M6805 laptop. It is a very fast, powerful and stable laptop. Battery life is pretty good too considering all of the speed and power it has. I think you would be very pleased with it.


Jason

 

[formulav8]

Forgot to say that I can play any game I want too with the lappy. I play Knights of the Old Republic with 16x AF and 4X AA with no problems what-so-ever. MOHAA, Battlefield and more. It is a very nice gaming laptop. Best I have found for the money.


Jason

 

[OdiN]

Well....since you will be traveling, I really don't think you want a heavy notebook. Trust me, I had an inspiron 8000 and did some travel with it. While nice and speedy and ability to have 2 batteries along with CD device was nice, it was not so nice for mobility. I now have and highly recommend a Dell Inspiron 600m. It's not one of the ultralights that don't have CD's internally, but it's also not really heavy. It's about 5 lbs, has good battery life and speed and excellent wireless capabilities (if you use the Dell Truemobile b/g - which is better than the Intel for connectivity/range but uses more power). It does have a Radeon 9000 which can play most games, perhaps not full speed, high resolution but it can play them. If not the Dell, the IBM's are good too.

Just don't get a super powerful system like the XPS....I don't think you will enjoy carrying it around an airport. I know I didn't.

 

[TitaniumJohnson]

Any other thoughts?

I'm leaning towards the eMachines laptop, but being waylayed a bit because I can't take advantage of the 0% financing Best Buy offers as I'm currently between jobs and can't get approved (tho' I have a $40k limit on my bloody MC). Actually buying the laptop BECAUSE of the new job I start a week from Monday...but can't verify income until I get a paycheck. Hehe

Oh well...thanks again.

 

[Quadophile]

IBM T41 should fit the bill perfectly, I got the T41 and a Dell X300 at the same time for use in the office (mine is a T41) I used both machines and updated them on the web, I am glad I did not go for the Dell. IBM is to me super smooth machine and their customer service is fantastic. Not that I had problems with the laptop but I made general inquiries and wnated to get information on add ons. I fianlly opted for the Minidock and additional 256MB of Ram. I hate ultra portables since I use the optical drives a lot and the thinner laptops with external drives really defeat the purpose of portability besides handling two units at the same time. My prevous laptop was a T21 so the T41 was an obvious choice even though I had done a lot of research and looked at various models from Dell as well. If I dare say it IBM are more like the Omega's and Dell's like Seiko's, if you know what I mean.

 

[Mermaidman]

Originally posted by: TitaniumJohnson
I'm leaning towards the eMachines laptop, but being waylayed a bit because I can't take advantage of the 0% financing Best Buy offers as I'm currently between jobs and can't get approved (tho' I have a $40k limit on my bloody MC). Actually buying the laptop BECAUSE of the new job I start a week from Monday...but can't verify income until I get a paycheck. Hehe

I was in a similar situation, except I picked up the eMachines during my last week of work in March in order to qualify.

Anyway, how soon do you need a laptop? I'll be in Durham on June 14 and there's a good chance that I'll not need my laptop after that. If you're interested in a lightly used M6805, I can bring it along and you can inspect/test it, etc. I won't post the specs because it sounds like you've researched it already. It will include the original retail box, software, manuals, etc.

BTW, that's a nice credit line on your MC, hope you're not maxed out on it :Q

 

[TitaniumJohnson]

Originally posted by: Mermaidman
I was in a similar situation, except I picked up the eMachines during my last week of work in March in order to qualify.

Anyway, how soon do you need a laptop? I'll be in Durham on June 14 and there's a good chance that I'll not need my laptop after that. If you're interested in a lightly used M6805, I can bring it along and you can inspect/test it, etc. I won't post the specs because it sounds like you've researched it already. It will include the original retail box, software, manuals, etc.

BTW, that's a nice credit line on your MC, hope you're not maxed out on it :Q

YGPM on the laptop possibility...

And no, no balance on the credit card, thank God.