What do YOU want in a laptop for $2000 or less?

[Valinos]

Yeah, I'm asking you guys what brand laptop and what features you want for $2000! What is most important to you and your needs?

This Dell Inspiron would be my pick for a laptop.

2GHz P4-M
Dell's Ultrasharp 15" UXGA screen
512mb DDR
Radeon 9000 Mobile
24xCDRW/DVD combo
40GB 5400 HDD
Wireless card

If I bought it right now I'd buy only 128mb of RAM and add in another 512 for about $40 less and end up having 640mb. I'd also pick purchasing the CDRW/DVD combo for $113 and mail in my rebate of $150 instead of taking it for free. Good deals on Dell right now but I've seen other good stuff.

What do YOU guys want for $2000? Long warranties? Snazzy exterior? Gaming ability? Ultra thin? Desktop replacement? USB 2.0?

 

[glugglug]

Hmm, what would I WANT in a laptop?

2 THz K9 core mobile processor
NV40m graphics adapter
15" 1920x1440 active matrix display which folds out in 9 sections for "presentation mode" becoming a 45" screen.
NUCLEAR power cell (never needs recharging)
Gigabit wireless WAN adapter
TV tuner/video capture
1TB RAM, 50 exabyte HD
DVD burner

oh for $2000......

maybe this: decked out gaming laptop

upgrade to 1600x1200 display & 60GB drive brings it to $2025

 

[ableach33]

i like my i-buddie... get the same things and more from any name brand laptop for a lot less....

 

[yellowperil]

I just got one (Compaq Presario from BB), my main concern was the price. I didn't want a gaming rig except that it could run CS ok. Other factors:

Quality of keyboard - not too great on this one unfortunately, at least compared to IBM Thinkpad standards
Battery life - should last at least 2.5 hours for word processing
Weight - over 7lbs a bit unwieldy to carry around all day, this one was 6.5lbs which was pushing it

I think the biggest performance issue with laptops is the HDD. Even with a faster processor/DDR/faster FSB I noticed this notebook isn't much faster than a P3 800 because the HDD (4200 RPM) is slowing it down. Good choice on the 5400RPM

 

[BeauJangles]

link

15" SXGA+ Active Matrix LCD
Pentium® 4 2.53GHz 533 FSB
512MB DDR
40.0GB 5400rpm HD
8X DVD / 24X10X24 CD-RW Combo Drive & Softwares
10/100Mbps Ethernet
Internal V.90 Fax/Modem
Smart Li-ION Battery


$1,859.00

[edit: I'm talking about the one in the middle on the page I linked to]