Laptop help

epj3 · Jul 8, 2004

I need a laptop for college -- I need it to have atleast a 1.5ghz pentium M (athlon's are okay, pentium 4's are too), 256mb ram, 14.1" screen, 40gig hard drive, and NON-INTEGRATED video... my last laptop had integrated video with shared ram and that bugged me. It must be light, since I'm taking it to every one of my computer classes in college (The college started a new cirriculum where laptops are required.)

My biggest problem is my budget. I'm trying to find the best possible for $1,500 or less total. I wanted an IBM becuase they are probably the best quality possible... but cost a little more than the other brands. Dell are okay, but every time I see HP's offereings I cant get over their prices. For $1,500 I can get so much more out of an HP than a dell or IBM...

The last HP laptop I had (2 years ago bought it new, had an Athlon XP1600+) was okay, but I was unhappy with the general quality of the laptop. Anyone have any tips? I like acer's selection, but never used one.

Abdoman · Jul 8, 2004

Check tigerdirect.com and ecost.com

Bryan330i · Jul 8, 2004

ibook

http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore/

Tom · Jul 8, 2004

Toshiba Satellite would be my recommendation for that price bracket.

Kirby · Jul 8, 2004

Does anyone even make laptops these days without integrated video/shared RAM? I think you might have a hard time finding one like that....

I've been buying Toshiba, mostly Tecras and Satellites, for the company engineers for 13 years. 8 hours of use everyday, frequent trips into factories. We have had problems only with Tecra 8100/8200 models (the Toshiba Lemon) but they fix them under warranty. They aren't perfect, but overall I've been happy with Toshiba. Much better than the Dells I have bought for customers at their request!

Bryan330i · Jul 8, 2004

Kirby said:

I think Apple ibook is the only one for the 1500.00 price with 32MB of dedicated video memory. It sounds like he is looking the other direction though.

jrt67ss350 · Jul 8, 2004

My IBM ThinkPad R40 has 32MB DDR dedicated video RAM. In my experience, the IBMs have some of the best quality (but a tad pricier), followed by the Toshibas. If you are wanting to stay with the x86 PC platform, I'd take a serious look at the Toshibas. The quality of Dell laptops are questionable at best.

Take a serious look at the new Ibooks. With the education discount, you can get a top of the line 14 inch Ibook with 1.2 GHz G4, 256 DDR RAM, 60 GB, Combo drive, Radeon 9200 w/ 32 MB dedicated DDR RAM, and built in Airport Extreme (802.11b/g) for $1399. If I were going to buy a laptop, I would buy myself an Apple - their portables are awesome.

theBMWenthusiast · Jul 8, 2004

i got an ibook but its limited since i got panther and can't do much except go online on it

bahnstormer · Jul 8, 2004

costco believe it or not =]

mach330 · Jul 8, 2004

bahnstormer said:

yep..costco is pretty damn cheap. also try

www.gotapex.com

Bryan330i · Jul 8, 2004

theBMWenthusiast said:

You should be able to do a lot with it. You will need the o/s software versions though for things like Word and Excel. Many other capabilities for photo, video, music and so on should even be more robust.

epj3 · Jul 9, 2004

Bryan330i said:

No this has to be a laptop for a COMPUTER NETWORKING major... not an art major [:D]

Plus, i'm not into the whole "think different" thing... I need a laptop that will run the same software and code used on servers and business machines. No company uses apples as their primary machine... this laptop is actually going to be used IN CLASS... they got rid of the lab computers so we can use our own laptops... as per graduating student's reccomendations.

epj3 · Jul 9, 2004

jrt67ss350 said:

I won't comment too much more about the ibook idea (since I already have). By that comment I just left -- I'm talking the need for *nix. I have no problem with microsoft -- or linux. I've been building my own PC's since 3'd grade (now 9 years sine I built my first computer!!) and have spent countless DAYS troubleshooting windows operating systems. Through all the pain, trouble, stress, etc. that I've been put through with microsoft operating systems -- I still like them MUCh more than ANY apple OS. I have used MORE than just the highschool's mac's, I've used a friend's G5 and I hated it.

I'd like to buy an IBM, but as you said they are pricey. Almost ALL laptops now-a-days have DEDICATED video ram. I'm not sure where everyone is buying their laptops with integrated video... You can always get dedicated video with the exception of the super-portable notebooks.

Bryan330i · Jul 10, 2004

epj3 said:

No this has to be a laptop for a COMPUTER NETWORKING major... not an art major [:D]

Plus, i'm not into the whole "think different" thing... I need a laptop that will run the same software and code used on servers and business machines. No company uses apples as their primary machine... this laptop is actually going to be used IN CLASS... they got rid of the lab computers so we can use our own laptops... as per graduating student's reccomendations.

I see your point.

jrt67ss350 · Jul 10, 2004

epj3 said:

I won't comment too much more about the ibook idea (since I already have). By that comment I just left -- I'm talking the need for *nix. I have no problem with microsoft -- or linux. I've been building my own PC's since 3'd grade (now 9 years sine I built my first computer!!) and have spent countless DAYS troubleshooting windows operating systems. Through all the pain, trouble, stress, etc. that I've been put through with microsoft operating systems -- I still like them MUCh more than ANY apple OS. I have used MORE than just the highschool's mac's, I've used a friend's G5 and I hated it.

I'd like to buy an IBM, but as you said they are pricey. Almost ALL laptops now-a-days have DEDICATED video ram. I'm not sure where everyone is buying their laptops with integrated video... You can always get dedicated video with the exception of the super-portable notebooks.

I understand - just thought I'd offer my opinion. Do take a serious look at the Toshibas, though. I'd stay away from a Dell laptop.

epj3 · Jul 10, 2004

jrt67ss350 said:

Reasons? 30% of toshiba laptops we sell at staples come back with cracked touch pads and screens -- without abuse (sometimes they get them, turn them on, and find 10 problems with it right away.)

Toshiba's do not have acceptable screens to me either. I'd be happy with a standard XGA screen, but toshiba's are very low quality. They also do not have the performance to weight/portability that I would like to buy. So far Dell and IBM are my picks. Everyone I know with a 600m (Dan has one.."frolf") is VERY pleased with it.

The laptops I've used that I have been impressed with are Dell (Their higher end notebooks, like the 600m), Acer, and IBM.

MrElussive · Jul 10, 2004

IMO, if you're looking for a laptop (windows-based) they are all the same shit. Just find a laptop that suits your requirements and your budget, and go with that. Being biased towards certain companies only makes the final decision even harder.
Don't go with Apple unless your college is Apple-based...trust me on this one as a current college student. For example, you type up a paper and e-mail it to your professor right before the dealine....you don't want him e-mailing you back saying "My word processor couldn't convert the file blah blah blah." As you already know, like you I've been building computers my whole life, and although my life would be A LOT less stressful with an Apple, Windows is the only way to go for me (I owned an iMac for 6 months, so I speak with experience).
Back to laptops, just look around...there are a lot of smaller companies that offer quality laptops for a really great price. Checkout this machine:
http://www.polywell.com/us/notebook/polym3000n.asp
It matches all your requirements (1.5GHz @ $1,299), and it only weighs 4.9lbs and features a 5-hour battery life. The only problems are that it has embedded video that you said you don't like and I've heard Polywell's tech support isn't so great because they're a small company. But I'm sure you'd resolve any computer problems on your own and if you can get past the embedded video, I think this is the laptop for you.

theBMWenthusiast · Jul 10, 2004

Bryan330i said:

ya i do have word and excel and used it for a while when my comp died for school stuff but gaming i only got civilization III and some software i like to use doesn't have mac versions and i got music, dont have a video camera so cant edit and had some photos on it

epj3 · Jul 10, 2004

MrElussive said:

Going with an off brand when I'm going to be already tight with money is not a good idea. I don't plan on using the warranty -- but i didn't plan on using HP's warranty when I had my HP laptop. I got a free battery, new cdrw/dvd drive, and touchpad out of the warranty. I was without a laptop for about 3 days. I already said I don't like HP, becuase the overall quality was not too great, and I think the new ones look too much like a toy.

I'm definitely not one to jump on the 'dell bandwagon' but they seem to have a winner when it comes to the 600m.

MrElussive · Jul 10, 2004

epj3 said:

Dude, you're gettin' a Dell ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

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