What is the best laptop in the $2000-3000 range?

[Jinux]

IBM all the way.... T Series.. the BMW of laptops...

Night light, Ti Shell, ~5 pounds.... etc etc etc....

My friends and I own a (2) Dell Inspiron 8000, (1) Dell Inspiron 4000, (1) Dell Inspiron 2500, (2) IBM T21, (2) IBM A21, (1) IBM 600x, (1) Toshiba Tecra. We used to have a Sony Vaio Slimline but returned it for the Toshiba because it's was all marketing and no stuff inside.

If you have the money.... IBM T21 is the best. Followed by Toshiba Tecra (pricey also but they usually have the latest stuff). Dell Inspiron 8000 is pretty good because it's a great deal for the price (32 megs vram babee!). You basically get all the fixings for cheap. IBM A Series is as nice as the Dell 8000 but they cost more for the same (only 16 vram tho)....

Bottom of the list.... Dell Inspiron 2500... nuff said.

IBM has a great feel to them. Dell feels okay but not solid. You'll know what I mean if you go to a place with a lot of laptops.

And yes.. my friends and I are big into laptops because we can use them at school/work/home.

 

[Mapidus]

Go with IBM if you are going to spend that much. They design their own laptops, so they have some pretty cool, and light models. The one that is two pieces, where one piece weighs about 3 lbs. and the attachment that has the DVD drive and ports weighs about 1.2 lbs seems very good for a student since you don't really need to carry the DVD and ports around when just browsing or word processing.

Dells are alright, but they are nothing special. Dell just repackages designs made by OEMs like LG and AlphaTop. You can most likely find the Dell model under a generic company label for cheaper if you find a model you like (warranty support might be lower for the generic label though).

 

[Mapidus]

<< Uhhh... i'm not going for undergraduate >>



Cool! So you don't have to pay that 24K+ of tuition they charge. Have to do research or TA though I guess. How much is the stipend at NYU? Probably high I guess because of the living cost.

 

[nateholtrop]

3100 flat

 

[Jokeram]

i'd go with the IBM

 

[EppyThatcher]

I have had good luck with toshiba's, especially satellite pro's(4600 series).

 

[RossMAN]

How much did you get it for nate?

nateholtrop has a great laptop but it's HEAVY and intended to be a desktop replacement, I believe he purchased a Dell Inspiron 8000.

Like I've said all along I would get a lightweight, powerful and affordable IBM ThinkPad T20, and it looks like everyone else has agreed with me.

As of today Dell is offering either a $100 rebate or free upgrade to 8x DVD on their Inspiron 4000 laptops.

Here's a great deal on the IBM ThinkPad T21 which is LOADED for $1,649

 

[MrBond]

Hehe, RossMan, I was just going to repost that. He seems to have missed my post altogether about it

 

[Kelvrick]

I don't know, but I like dells. I still like em, but I found out what a hassle swapping is. Get something with an all-in-one design. meaning floppy, dvd, stuff like that is always connected to the notebook. yea, the dell can go longer because you can push in 2 batteries, but you can always push in an extra one with the other types too. Have you ever been on a plane when the laptop is in your lap and you have to swap bays? If you're in 1st class or something, its not as big a problem, but in coach, damn. Vaio's aren't that much more expensive. Like 1400 for a 700mhz with built in nic and all that. Wait a bit though, prices on everything is fallin and plus those new AMD'ers are out.

edit: Oh, and don't get those hundred plus network cards included. Just go out and get a 60-70 pcmia card. Just as good unless you're going to be network crazy. Oh, and do you have a real computer? I dind't need the specs on my laptop because it'll be networked to my faster and better computer.

toshiba satalite 2800-S202 Processor
Mobile Intel® Pentium® III featuring Intel SpeedStep? technology

Speed 700MHz

Display 14.1&quot; Active Matrix

Memory 128MB SDRAM

Graphics S3 Savage/IX M7 graphics controller w/8MB SDRAM

Hard Drive 10 Gigabyte

Multimedia 8x max. speed DVD-ROM

Modem Integrated V.90/56K modem

Networking Integrated 10/100 Ethernet

because I'm networking it to my computer. That way, the hd doens't need to be big cuzz then its all trasfered to my comp HD and my comp burner. I could have asked for a better vid card, but hey, a gift is a gift.

 

[ghostman]

what's your major? some engineering major? I've never heard of a laptop requirement.

EDIT: I should learn to read... but I'm still not sure what you're doing...

 

[RossMAN]

Hehe, RossMan, I was just going to repost that. He seems to have missed my post altogether about it

Yeah I think he totally skipped by the IBM ThinkPad T20, T21 and Dell Inspiron 4000 oh well it's his loss. They're AWESOME laptops.

 

[creation]

<<

<< Uhhh... i'm not going for undergraduate >>



Cool! So you don't have to pay that 24K+ of tuition they charge. Have to do research or TA though I guess. How much is the stipend at NYU? Probably high I guess because of the living cost. >>

hehe, no no, i'm paying 60k a year =[

 

[creation]

<<Oh, and do you have a real computer?>>

Ye, i got my own desktop, with plextor 16/10/40 =]

 

[creation]

3 posts in a row.... hehe

Hearing that everyone supports IBM, I think I'll go for IBM for it's lighted keyboard, light weight, and design. I looked at IBM T21 deal on the hot forums, and the price is really attractive, but I don't need the laptop until 2 months later... Should I wait it off for 2 months and let the prices go down more, or buy this T21 now cuz it might be gone later?