In the market for a good laptop...
07-12-2005, 11:42 AM
#1
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In the market for a good laptop...
I'm in the market for a good laptop. I know exactly what i want-
64bit prossesser with over 1.6 ghz.
60GB HD
gig of ram
over 3 hour battery life
128kb video card
wifi
15.4in or 17in widescreen
2 year or higher warrenty
you know.. the works
all under or about 1500 bucks.
any ideas?
good notebooks seem to be hard to come by...
I'm thinking about this one...
64bit prossesser with over 1.6 ghz.
60GB HD
gig of ram
over 3 hour battery life
128kb video card
wifi
15.4in or 17in widescreen
2 year or higher warrenty
you know.. the works
all under or about 1500 bucks.
any ideas?
good notebooks seem to be hard to come by...
I'm thinking about this one...
07-12-2005, 05:55 PM
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Mobile Athlon 64 is not really a good processor to get you long battery life. It's more like the Pentium 4-M. Neither one will get you more than say, 2 hours. You need to get a Pentium M (a.k.a. Centrino) to get long battery life. Good luck finding something with a Pentium M and a 15 inch or bigger widescreen for 1500 bucks. It'll be even harder to find something with a dedicated video card (I'm assuming you meant 128 mb, not kb) for that price too. Most laptops have motherboard-integrated video cards, especially the more affordable ones.
At your price range you can get either something that's good for games with a big screen and spiffy video card, ram and processor, that will be huge and weigh a ton, and run through the batteries really really really fast; or you can get something thin and light with reasonably good but not amazing specs that will be thin and light and get several hours of battery life. You have to spend a lot more money to get both things combined, and usually you still won't have quite as big a screen as if you went with something not quite so thin.
I personally own a computer that meets most of what you want though. Sony VGN-S260. Pentium M 1.7 ghz, 512 mb ram, 60gb hd, 4-5 hours battery life, dedicated 32 mb video card wifi, cd burner (no dvd burner), and a 13.3" widescreen. I got it for $1600 about 6 months ago after a bunch of rebates, regular price was I think 1900-2000.
It's been replaced by the VGN-S460 which is essentially the same but upgrades to an 80 gb hd and a dvd burner and lists $1800 with XP Home or $1900 with XP Pro. Check cnet.com to see if you can find it cheaper.
At your price range you can get either something that's good for games with a big screen and spiffy video card, ram and processor, that will be huge and weigh a ton, and run through the batteries really really really fast; or you can get something thin and light with reasonably good but not amazing specs that will be thin and light and get several hours of battery life. You have to spend a lot more money to get both things combined, and usually you still won't have quite as big a screen as if you went with something not quite so thin.
I personally own a computer that meets most of what you want though. Sony VGN-S260. Pentium M 1.7 ghz, 512 mb ram, 60gb hd, 4-5 hours battery life, dedicated 32 mb video card wifi, cd burner (no dvd burner), and a 13.3" widescreen. I got it for $1600 about 6 months ago after a bunch of rebates, regular price was I think 1900-2000.
It's been replaced by the VGN-S460 which is essentially the same but upgrades to an 80 gb hd and a dvd burner and lists $1800 with XP Home or $1900 with XP Pro. Check cnet.com to see if you can find it cheaper.
07-12-2005, 07:33 PM
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I just bought a 15.4 widescreen Toshiba Satellite M35X-S163 for about 700 after tax. I got a free printer and mouse too. Intel Celeron M Processor 360 (1.4GHz) / 15.4" WXGA display / 512 MB (I ended up with 1 gig for another 50 bucks) / 60 GB (I also have an external I made for 90 bucks. 160 gigs on the ex.) / DVD/CD-RW /802.11b/g / IEEE 1394
07-12-2005, 09:14 PM
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Originally Posted by MrFatbooty
Mobile Athlon 64 is not really a good processor to get you long battery life.
I think I'm gonna go ahead and go with that one i linked to. thanks for all the good information.
07-12-2005, 10:23 PM
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What are you gonna use it for?
My computer is an "ultra-portable" type.
I used to take it with me to class and used it on battery power for sometimes 2-3 classes in a row. Now put it in my briefcase and take it to work with me so the light weight (4 lbs) is still great.
I can watch a full DVD on battery power, and then some.
Etcetera.
Do you plan to lug it around with you a large majority of the time and/or use it for long periods of time where you can't plug it in? If so then you'll want to get the thinnest, lightest, and longest battery life possible.
If you just want to have a laptop because you can bring it around if you want, but really aren't bringing it with you everywhere, or using it on battery power for several hours at a time on a regular basis, then going with something heavier and that goes thru batteries quicker is fine.
My computer is an "ultra-portable" type.
I used to take it with me to class and used it on battery power for sometimes 2-3 classes in a row. Now put it in my briefcase and take it to work with me so the light weight (4 lbs) is still great.
I can watch a full DVD on battery power, and then some.
Etcetera.
Do you plan to lug it around with you a large majority of the time and/or use it for long periods of time where you can't plug it in? If so then you'll want to get the thinnest, lightest, and longest battery life possible.
If you just want to have a laptop because you can bring it around if you want, but really aren't bringing it with you everywhere, or using it on battery power for several hours at a time on a regular basis, then going with something heavier and that goes thru batteries quicker is fine.
07-12-2005, 11:21 PM
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There aren't that many mobile A64 notebooks on the market right now. The one you linked is actually from www.uniwill.com ... I can tell you from first hand experience its a decent notebook, no 64-bit driver support yet, and a bit on the warm side.