Which laptop setup to buy for college (for use with docking station)

CaptainKahuna

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May 19, 2002
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I'm looking into a new computer setup, and he's the basic plan. I want a small, light laptop (no bigger than my current Dell Inspiron 4000) with one swappable drive bay (floppy or DVD/CDRW/DVDR), integrated wireless, decent graphics, and a touchpad. I don't see much point in paying for a large screen (14.1 inches max I think) if I'm just going to be using the LCD most of the time. Basically performance is important, as I want it to last at last 3 years.

My plan is to use this to take notes in class and work in the library, and when I arrive back at my dorm, to plug it into a docking station.

I envision the docking station on the floor or a shelf, and the keyboard on the slide out drawer, leaving only the LCD (which has a small footprint) and the mouse on the desk. I'm going for a clean desk.

My ideal docking station would have the following:

17 or 19 inch LCD
keyboard, mouse
floppy or optical (whichever is not in the swappable bay)
audio out jack to my stereo
a bunch of USB 2.0 devices (number of ports not really an issue, I can use a hub)
10/100 ethernet

I'd really appreciate it if you guys and gals could recommend a brand and/or model of laptop that has all that and has an available docking station with all the features I want. Also please recommend an LCD. Thanks a lot everyone.

Budget maximum is $3000 for EVERYTHING (laptop, docking station, LCD)
 

charloscarlies

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Feb 12, 2004
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I've heard a lot of good things about the emachines ahtlon 64 notebooks. I know when you first hear emachines you think crap...but they are actually very nice from what I've seen. They should be great for gaming (A64....9600 vid card).

Check em out:
Here


To be honest I don't know a whole lot about docking a notebook, but I thought there were many usb docking stations that you could buy? I could be wrong though.

As for a nice LCD I would say go with the Dell 2001FP...you can get some great deals on them and I've heard they are pretty nice. I believe they run around $850-950?
 

CaptainKahuna

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Yeah, that is pretty nice, but I dunno if I wanna pay for such a nice 15.4" widescreen if I'm going to mainly be using an external monitor. It does have the hardware (basically) I'm looking for.
 

ForceCalibur

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Mar 20, 2004
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No no no! Say NO to emachines!

You have a lot of choices.

Hypersonic CX6 - This thing looks so bad ass, perfect college notebook that I will be getting in a few months. Comes with M11 Radeon 9700 128 w/ tv out.
Cyberpower/IBuypower Amd 64 Notebooks. - Very cheap, good performance.
Dell I8600 or I9100- Find a good deal, look for some coupons, and you got yourself a real performer at more than competetive prices.
Sager - Pick a Sager, well maybe not. They're best are DTRs, which isn't exactly what your looking for but..

Anyhows, those are the notebooks your looking for, I dont have any suggestions for your docking station or LCD, but I would suggest getting a good notebook cooler and a nice 17'' notebook LCD and just forget buying another one.
 

CaptainKahuna

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May 19, 2002
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Originally posted by: ForceCalibur
No no no! Say NO to emachines!

You have a lot of choices.

Hypersonic CX6 - This thing looks so bad ass, perfect college notebook that I will be getting in a few months. Comes with M11 Radeon 9700 128 w/ tv out.
Cyberpower/IBuypower Amd 64 Notebooks. - Very cheap, good performance.
Dell I8600 or I9100- Find a good deal, look for some coupons, and you got yourself a real performer at more than competetive prices.
Sager - Pick a Sager, well maybe not. They're best are DTRs, which isn't exactly what your looking for but..

Anyhows, those are the notebooks your looking for, I dont have any suggestions for your docking station or LCD, but I would suggest getting a good notebook cooler and a nice 17'' notebook LCD and just forget buying another one.

Yea, but I really want portability for taking it to class and such, I won't go with a behemoth desktop replacement.

The hypersonic looks badass, but it's awful pricey, and doesn't include a port replicator except by USB, which will just add to the mess of cords on my desk.
 

jdogg707

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Jun 24, 2002
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I would say the eMachines if you are looking for a cheaper laptop, but otherwise I would get something like a Dell Inspiron 8600, Dell 2001FP LCD, and a docking station, which should put you at under 3K depending on your laptop configuration.
 

jdogg707

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Jun 24, 2002
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Originally posted by: charloscarlies
No no no! Say NO to emachines!

Ask around for people that own this laptop and see how they respond. Believe it or not it is a very nice laptop.

Exactly, for the price, it is the best laptop out there. Checkout the massive thread in the SFF, Notebooks section.
 

jdogg707

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Jun 24, 2002
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Originally posted by: CaptainKahuna
Should I even bother with this? I had another idea for 2 systems, see this thread

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.cfm?catid=27&threadid=1276325

I find that docking stations most of the time are outdated because laptops themselves, except for possibly the ultra-thin laptops, have enough USB ports, Firewire, VGA/DVI output, PCMCIA, mini-PCI, built in LAN, Modem, and WLAN/Bluetooth. I would get a nice laptop, monitor, and something like the Logitech MX Duo. I wouldn't worry with a docking station.
 

CaptainKahuna

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May 19, 2002
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Originally posted by: Yomicron
This is just a quick price check, but it is more or less what I'd recomend. I'm not sure if the monitor is good though, I haven't kept up on the the monitor front.

Dell 1901FP 19" LCD: $679
IBM T41: $1842
512MB memory upgrade: $94
Port Replicator: $90 (no affiliation, just a low buy it now price)
=$2705

EIDT: Personally I'd go for the 2 computer set up, with a really light notebook.

Yeah, thats what I think I'll be doing, can you recommend a light notebook besides IBM?
 

CaptainKahuna

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May 19, 2002
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Originally posted by: Yomicron
This is just a quick price check, but it is more or less what I'd recomend. I'm not sure if the monitor is good though, I haven't kept up on the the monitor front.

Dell 1901FP 19" LCD: $679
IBM T41: $1842
512MB memory upgrade: $94
Port Replicator: $90 (no affiliation, just a low buy it now price)
=$2705

EIDT: Personally I'd go for the 2 computer set up, with a really light notebook.

Yeah, thats what I think I'll be doing, can you recommend a light notebook besides IBM?
 

ForceCalibur

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Mar 20, 2004
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I disagree.

Ibuypower has a much sleeker AMD 64 system.

Case ( Battalion-101 SL-Series 15.0" SXGA 1400x1050 LCD TFT Notebook w/Li-Ion Battery, Universal AC Power Adapter, Deluxe Carrying )
Processor ( Mobile AMD® Athlon-64 3400+ CPU )
Memory ( 1024MB [512MB x2] DDR-333 PC-2700 [Notebook Memory] Major Brand )
Video Card ( Mobility 128MB ATI Radeon 9600 Pro 256-bit 3D Video )
Hard Drive ( 60 GB 7200rpm ATA-100 Super Slim Notebook Hard Drive )
CD-RW/DVD-RW Drive ( 8x DVD-ROM & 24X16X24 CD-RW Combo Drive [SL-Series] )
Sound Card ( 3D Wave Stereo Sound Onboard )
Fax Modem ( Build-in 56K V.90 Fax Modem [Notebook] )
Network Card ( Build-in 10/100 Network LAN [Notebook] )
Flash Media Reader/Writer ( Build-in 3-in-i Media Card Reader/Writer [Notebook] )
USB Port ( Build-in 3x USB 2.0 Ports [Notebook] )
IEEE-1394 Fire Wire Card ( Build-in 1x IEEE-1394 Firewire Port [Notebook] )
Video Camera ( None )
Headset ( None )
Wireless Network Adapter ( [FREE] Wireless LAN Wi-Fi 802.11g 54Mbps Mini-PCI Module )
Operation System ( None- Pre-formatted Hard Drive Only )
Warranty ( Warranty Service Standard 1-Year Limited Warranty + 1-Year i-Care Deluxe 24/7 Phone Support )
Rush Service ( Rush Service Fee (not shipping fee) No Rush, Ship Out in 5~10 Business Days )

Sub Total: $1,696.00

Can Emachines beat that? NO. I can deconfigure it down to Emachine specs, and you better believe it will cheaper!