some notebook questions?

[ncage]

Ok guys in the market for a notebook. Seen some good deals and i need some help choosing. I wanting a cheaper notebook ($600) or less.

Here are my questions

1) AMD 64 MK-36: Ive heard that Core Duo are way better on batter power? Is this true? If so how much worse is the AMD? If im using the labtop continously and not doing any heavy duty stuff (DVD Encoding, Game Playing or anything like that) how long can i expect it to run. I would probably most of the time being using visual studio or something like that.

2) Acer: ive heard some bad and some good? Are Acers really that much worse than anything else out there?

Right now my choices are between a levano labtop with 1GB and Core Duo for 599 AR, Acer with mk-36 with 1GB for $499, and a Dell with x2 1.6ghz and 1GB for $549.

THey all have 15.4 screens. What i love about the acer is its expandable to 4GB which the other two are only 2GB. The Acer has a huge HD (120GB) and the other two only 80GB. The dell has a little bit of a better video card which is a ATI RADEON® Xpress1150 rather than integrated intel video. The only thing bad i see about the acer is that its not dual core . Please any help to sort all this stuff out would be appreciated.

thanks,
Ncage

 

[Brainonska511]

1) The Core 2 Duo is a little bit more powerful (performance) and battery-saving. The Turion 64 X2s are still fine for most purposes. But overall, it is easier to find a C2D notebook and you'll get a decent amount of battery life over the Turion.

2) Their support sucks; the lower-end models are also really cheaply built.

Between those choices, I'd go for either the Dell or the Lenovo laptop. As far as 4GB expandability, are you going to be using a 64-bit OS? If not, it is wasted RAM at 4GB. Also, you may or may not be able to use 2GB sticks of RAM in those other notebooks. The ATI X1150 is integrated. It is just another name for the 200 series graphics chip, though it is better than the Intel counterpart.

 

[AmigaMan]

I bought an el-cheapo Acer for my father-in-law for Christmas last year. It's doing ok, but it's definitely not a solidly built laptop. It creaks and groans, and just doesn't "look well". My Dell Inspiron 9200 seems better built, although there was a problem with the LCD that was subsequently recalled. My MBP has had problems with it's battery (both were recalled), but other than that has held up better than my Dell in the last year and couple months I've owned it.

Then there are the Thinkpads. I had several managers at work who treated their T40, T43, and T60's like absolute crap. Like dropping it on hard desks, flinging them around like they're nothing, and keep them in the most despicable condition I've seen. Dust, coffee, and other crap clog their keyboards, yet the Thinkpads keep on rocking. If I were in the market for a new laptop, and wanted to go straight Windows or Linux, then a T60/61 would be the only thing I'd consider. I might consider a Dell if it were significantly cheaper.

 

[ncage]

from the research ive done i think what most concerns me now is battery power. I know it all depends on what your doing but for the most part i will be doing relatively light stuff compared to those of you that do: dvd movie encoding/playback or gaming. What will i be doing mostly? Programming Stuff: SQL Server, Visual Studio 2005, Active Reports, Ect and of course web browsing. Im sure that those of you that think visual studio stuff can't be intensive but you are definately wrong. Of course is not as bad as say video encoding but its still quit intensive on the system. Anyways i digress. I would like battery power to be around 3.5-4 hours when im using the system. I have heard some of these labtops with the AMD procs only get around 2....now that would suck.

Ncage

 

[ncage]

Originally posted by: AmigaMan
I bought an el-cheapo Acer for my father-in-law for Christmas last year. It's doing ok, but it's definitely not a solidly built laptop. It creaks and groans, and just doesn't "look well". My Dell Inspiron 9200 seems better built, although there was a problem with the LCD that was subsequently recalled. My MBP has had problems with it's battery (both were recalled), but other than that has held up better than my Dell in the last year and couple months I've owned it.

Then there are the Thinkpads. I had several managers at work who treated their T40, T43, and T60's like absolute crap. Like dropping it on hard desks, flinging them around like they're nothing, and keep them in the most despicable condition I've seen. Dust, coffee, and other crap clog their keyboards, yet the Thinkpads keep on rocking. If I were in the market for a new laptop, and wanted to go straight Windows or Linux, then a T60/61 would be the only thing I'd consider. I might consider a Dell if it were significantly cheaper.

What exactly do you mean by "doesn't look well"? I don't know if the QA has gone done since ibm has been sold too. What kind of battery life are you getting?

 

[AmigaMan]

Originally posted by: ncage

Originally posted by: AmigaMan
I bought an el-cheapo Acer for my father-in-law for Christmas last year. It's doing ok, but it's definitely not a solidly built laptop. It creaks and groans, and just doesn't "look well". My Dell Inspiron 9200 seems better built, although there was a problem with the LCD that was subsequently recalled. My MBP has had problems with it's battery (both were recalled), but other than that has held up better than my Dell in the last year and couple months I've owned it.

Then there are the Thinkpads. I had several managers at work who treated their T40, T43, and T60's like absolute crap. Like dropping it on hard desks, flinging them around like they're nothing, and keep them in the most despicable condition I've seen. Dust, coffee, and other crap clog their keyboards, yet the Thinkpads keep on rocking. If I were in the market for a new laptop, and wanted to go straight Windows or Linux, then a T60/61 would be the only thing I'd consider. I might consider a Dell if it were significantly cheaper.

What exactly do you mean by "doesn't look well"? I don't know if the QA has gone done since ibm has been sold too. What kind of battery life are you getting?

well this is my father-in-law's machine that I see whenever he comes to visit us. It was actually bought Christmas 2005, not 2006 like I said earlier, so it's just over a year old. The battery life is non-existent. It quit working about 6 months after he got it. When I say it "doesn't look well" I mean that it looks faded, the screen is harder to open than when it was new, it creaks and groans when you pick it up. It's still put together, but it looks and feels like it could fall apart at anytime.

This is all my opinion though, but in the past 7 years, I've owned, or used extensively, 6 different laptops (4xDell, HP, Mac) and this Acer is just doesn't seem to have held up as well as some of the other machines I've had. Yes, I don't own it, but I do fix it for my father inlaw.

 

[vtohthree]

What you assume and state about the C2D is generally true, it is a superior chip compared to the AMD, clock per clock, just look at reviews.

2nd, though I haven't owned an Acer laptop myself, they are one of the top three makers(ODM), they in fact make their own laptops and also some other companies, which I do not know of the ones right now since
Companies keep switching their suppliers/ODM's. But in short, it can't be that bad with that in mind.

 

[ncage]

Originally posted by: vtohthree
What you assume and state about the C2D is generally true, it is a superior chip compared to the AMD, clock per clock, just look at reviews.

2nd, though I haven't owned an Acer laptop myself, they are one of the top three makers(ODM), they in fact make their own laptops and also some other companies, which I do not know of the ones right now since
Companies keep switching their suppliers/ODM's. But in short, it can't be that bad with that in mind.

Yes i definatly know the C2D is a better chip. I really don't have to read the reviews for that. I have a e6400 OC to 3.6ghz but that doesn't tell me HOW much better it is on battery power and thats what i was really concerned with. The x2 chips are still very good chips but i was concerned with them sucking to much battery power.

Ncage

 

[pontifex]

Originally posted by: ncage
Ok guys in the market for a notebook. Seen some good deals and i need some help choosing. I wanting a cheaper notebook ($600) or less.

Here are my questions

1) AMD 64 MK-36: Ive heard that Core Duo are way better on batter power? Is this true? If so how much worse is the AMD? If im using the labtop continously and not doing any heavy duty stuff (DVD Encoding, Game Playing or anything like that) how long can i expect it to run. I would probably most of the time being using visual studio or something like that.

2) Acer: ive heard some bad and some good? Are Acers really that much worse than anything else out there?

Right now my choices are between a levano labtop with 1GB and Core Duo for 599 AR, Acer with mk-36 with 1GB for $499, and a Dell with x2 1.6ghz and 1GB for $549.

THey all have 15.4 screens. What i love about the acer is its expandable to 4GB which the other two are only 2GB. The Acer has a huge HD (120GB) and the other two only 80GB. The dell has a little bit of a better video card which is a ATI RADEON® Xpress1150 rather than integrated intel video. The only thing bad i see about the acer is that its not dual core . Please any help to sort all this stuff out would be appreciated.

thanks,
Ncage

what dell has a ati video card for $600?

 

[TheStu]

The ATI video card is an updated X200 integrated chip, so don't get too much of a shock out of it. Since it is an AMD chip, and AMD owns ATi, and Intel isn't about to put their chipset alongside an AMD proc... ATi integrated graphics. It just sounds impressive.