Which notebook?

[RolyL]

Solid construction (not some flimsy junk)
Has to look smart - probably silver, not black
15" screen
P3M @ 133 MHz FSB, at least 1 GHz
i815 / i830 (preferably) chipset
Under $3000 / £2000 if possible

Suggestions? The Apple Titanium G4 is a possibility, although I don't want to have to spend huge amounts of money on Office for X.

 

[Shalmanese]

Does it have to match your purse and shoes?

I think either HP or Toshiba released a magnesium alloy notebook but I am not sure

 

[Janus]

Personally, unless you have an expense account to use, don't go nutty purchasing the highest end and most stylist notebook you can find. Notebooks, to some degree, are something that will wear out and get abused more than any other hardware you buy - dropping thousands on a product that can't be upgraded as easily (if at all) seems like a waste of money. There are some reasons why one might want a lighter notebook, e.g. frequent travel and avoiding "traveller's shoulder," but otherwise, seek out the best deal and go with it.

Then again, I'm cheap with it comes to notebooks, so my opinion may not apply to all users For the money though, HP or Toshiba have been great notebooks in my experience.

 

[RolyL]

Thanks - the HPs and the Toshibas do look nice on their websites. Anyone used a recent model and had any problems?

 

[Migroo]

Sony Vaio every time. X Factor anyone?

 

[Eug]

<< Sony Vaio every time. X Factor anyone? >>

X factor? Then you need to run a Mac. That's the only way you get X. As for 15" screen (unless on a TiBook or rare PC laptops), I'd avoid it unless you're a 300 lb rugby player or else don't plan moving the thing around much. I ended putting my 7.5-8 lb laptop with 15" screen up for sale and getting a 5 lb iBook with 12" screen. MUCH better.

 

[bigshooter]

I jsut ordered a Dell 4100 1ghz p3 with 14" screen for my sister. I have a friend with a Dell 8100 right now, and although its really fast with a beautiful 15" screen, he even has a 5400 rpm drive, it's really heavy, just plain big and sucks down batteries. Got my sister 1ghz p3, 256megs ram, 16 meg ati (she doesn't play games), internal nic and modem, 20 gig hard drive and a dvd drive all for right around $1600. I've heard good things about the 4100, and to me it seems similiar to the latitude 610's that we use at work.

edit: didn't read your post fully at first. Looks like you are considering a mac or pc. What are you going to be doing with it where all you care is what it looks like? Most people who get a mac laptop have a reason for it.

 

[Migroo]

<<

<< Sony Vaio every time. X Factor anyone? >>

X factor? Then you need to run a Mac. That's the only way you get X. As for 15" screen (unless on a TiBook or rare PC laptops), I'd avoid it unless you're a 300 lb rugby player or else don't plan moving the thing around much. I ended putting my 7.5-8 lb laptop with 15" screen up for sale and getting a 5 lb iBook with 12" screen. MUCH better. >>



X-Factor = desirability...

 

[RolyL]

It's for a rather non-technical member of the family. Ease-of-use and style factor are important for him, not raw gaming speed. Office and DVDs are just about all that are going to be run, so either a Mac Ti or a decent PC would do.

 

[nocturnalnyx]

I have been using Toshiba laptops, but mostly the Portege series (Light Magnesium Alloy ones) [3025CT & 7140]. They have never been a problem (using them since 1999 and 2001 respectively), when combined with Win2K Pro. Your specs though, will lead to Toshiba's Tecra series the 9000, although the screen size is 14.1". It has all the bells and whistles integrated to it, such as modem, ethernet, and DVD-ROM/CD-RW combo. All for ~$2,700.

Link:
http://www.csd.toshiba.com/cgi-bin/...Tecra&aoid=1073768006&poid=199219&action=none

Detailed specs:
http://cdgenp01.csd.toshiba.com/content/product/pdf_files/detailed_specs/tecra_9000.pdf

Good luck!