Whats the best laptop on the market?

[GuitarDaddy]

I'm more of a desktop guy so I haven't been keeping up with laptop tech

 

[unfalliblekrutch]

depends on your needs.

mobility?
graphics?
hard disk space?
screen size?
durability?
battery life?

Remember, jack of all trades is master of none

 

[Fox5]

Yeah, you can't really say one laptop is the best.
Sure you could have one with a super great, bright, hi res 17" screen, geforce 6800 ultra, the latest dothan, 2GB of ram, a 7200RPM 16MB 160GB harddrive, and a dvdrw driver, but it'll also be huge, weigh close to 10 pounds, and get less than an hour of battery life doing anything relatively intensive.

On the other hand, you could get a laptop with 7 and a half hours of battery life, weighs only 3.5 pounds, and is super compact.....but has a small screen, small slow harddrive, no disk drive, and integrated graphics that can't play most games.(GMA900 appears to be about geforce 3 level performance, except GMA900 supports dx9 instead of just dx8, and geforce3 can barely run dx8 stuff so anything dx9 on gma900 chugs)

 

[WackyDan]

If it's for work... You can't beat a ThinkPad T-series. They are the most durable STANDARD laptop in the industry...period.

I recommend the 14", it's still a large enough screen to work comfortably with, and in the 14" chassis it weighs 4.6 pounds by itself, vs the 15" T chassis weighing in at 5.7 pounds.

It's rated #1 in it's class for a reason.... and support is based in North America for North American customers regardless of whether you buy 1 or 10,000.

 

[Windaria]

Actually... there is one area where you shouldn't skimp NO MATTER WHAT. Get a 7200 RPM HD. One of the laptop review sites did a great article which showed that, while the performance difference was incredible, there was no real effect on power usage, and ony a MINOR effect on system noise/etc. In fact, the 5400 used 1 more wat (in their test) than the 7200, and that is well within margin of error.

So, if you want any decent performance, do NOT get anything less than 7200 for the HD.

 

[Scarpozzi]

I let work buy my laptops for me every 2-3 years. They have a contract with Dell, so we always get Dells.... I believe a Dell Latitude is the closest to having a solid piece of equipment that can handle a little abuse. The Inspirons don't tend to hold up quite as well.

As for any other laptops, you can find a lot of deals on them but always consider the warranty to be one of the most important selling points. If you ever have to foot the bill for laptop repair, it can get pretty stupid. The parts are all proprietary and vendors can really bend you over. Buy a warranty that will last the life of the laptop and use it when things start to break.

 

[herm0016]

panasonic toughbooks are awsome if you want the most durable. otherwise thinkpads are great.

 

[fbrdphreak]

Originally posted by: Windaria
Actually... there is one area where you shouldn't skimp NO MATTER WHAT. Get a 7200 RPM HD. One of the laptop review sites did a great article which showed that, while the performance difference was incredible, there was no real effect on power usage, and ony a MINOR effect on system noise/etc. In fact, the 5400 used 1 more wat (in their test) than the 7200, and that is well within margin of error.

So, if you want any decent performance, do NOT get anything less than 7200 for the HD.

This article maybe?
http://www.laptoplogic.com/resources/guides/35/1/1/

 

[Hacp]

I would suggest that you stick with a 5400 Drive. There is a reason why there are very little 7200 drives out there, and that is because they tend to suck the battery life out of the laptop very quickly.

 

[ShellGuy]

Hacp,
That isn't the reason at all it is because the 7200 drives are just becoming wide used in lappys they have been used in desktops for yrs. They don't suck the life out a batt they will in the end help it a bit. Bigger Drive + faster spindle speed = Less use.


Will G.

 

[mickles]

I'm very satisfied with my T42. I've seen the 14" versions, they are significantly more portable.

I've also compared to many friends laptops and others I've seen at Bestbuy and Staples, the build quality is unmatched from what I've seen.

 

[Corporate Thug]

15 inch powerbook

if u are lookin for a PC, IBM T series is good