1-1.8k laptop

[techun]

Well I'm graduating from HS in June, and starting college. My desktop is on its way out, and I plan on selling everything and getting a gaming laptop for college.

Best part is, my aunt is going to buy it, or buy most of it. I forget what she paid for my sister's, but im guessing 1200 conservatively. I can throw in extra money to make sure what I get will last me 4 years, and I'll have fun with it.
I'm looking for a good video card, cpu, and HDD. I plan on adding the ram seperatly to save $$

Questions:
1. How much do you think an Inspiron 1100 with a 2ghz celeron cost 4 years ago?
2. What laptops do you recommend? I'm strongly leaning towards Alienware, for the fact they're cooler, many performance options, and im guessing the cooling is better.
3. AMD or Intel? How do they compare? Are the turions offered by Alienware dual core? (I strongly want one)
4. 7600gs, how good is it? How good is the 7900gs?

[custom90gt]

1. I'd say 1200 bucks is about right, maybe higher (laptops have come down a ton price wise from 4 years ago).
2. I like asus laptops, their build quality is excellent. Alienware laptops typically cost a lot more for their name. I'd save that money and put it towards better specs.
3. I'd have to say go with the core 2 duo. They are faster then the turions and use less power.
4. The 7600 is a good mid level gaming card. I can play BF2 on medium settings @ 1440 x 900 on my go7600. The 7900 is quite a bit better then the 7600. Here is a list of laptop gpus (http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Graphics-Cards-Benchmark-List.844.0.html)
Another great site to post on if you're looking for a laptop is notebookforums.com they have tons and tons of info on laptops and would be happy to help you out.
Also if you have any specific laptops you're looking at, feel free to post them in this tread so we can look 'em over.

[techun]

Alright, can someone give me a link to a place to buy different laptops? Asus's website doesnt have prices..or anywhere to buy them AFAIK

[hafa]

Mwave (http://www.mwave.com/mwave/deptnb.hmx?) has a good selection at good prices.

I'd highly recommend IBM/Lenovo or Toshiba. The best value and quality in the market, bar none.

[Aceros]

Friend's bro just got a Sager 5760. Apparently its nice, not paying for the colorful lunch box like you are with Alienware, just packed full of fruit snacks (as every lunch should be ehh?)

[Trap05]

Another vote for Toshiba. Alienware is greatly overpriced for what you get. Even Dell would be a much better choice. Also consider a 3yr total protection warranty for accidents that DO happen.

[custom90gt]

www.geared2play.com has some asus laptops and you can custom config them/get them barebones if you want. Also newegg has a nice selection of asus laptops.

Lenovo laptops are nice, but they are pretty pricey IMHO

Toshiba laptops are pretty nice, but from what I've experienced the asus laptops are nicer.

[techun]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220169 This laptop looks pretty nice.

2ghz C2D
x1700 (how good is this?)
1 gig, (will upgrade to 2)
160 gig (perfect size)
and a nice webcam/camera, considering i dont have a digi cam.

Can anyone do better then this for 1.4k?


edit-
maybe this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220142#spec

basically the same, with a 120 hdd, for 1.2k

[Xenocide]

if your gonna carry it to class, 15.4 no way bro.

i had an acer 15.4 at the begining of the year, switched to a 12 inch dell xps because it wouldn't fit on half the desks.

[techun]

i'm typing this on a 15" laptop, and i think it's just about the perfect size for a laptop. How much larger will the 15.4" widescreen be?

I really dont think gaming on a 12" is for me..

[hafa]

Lenovo laptops are nice, but they are pretty pricey IMHO


Asus (http://www.mwave.com/mwave/viewproduct.asp?PID=NOTEBOOK-ASUS&updepts=NB&DNAME=Notebooks+%2D+Preconfigured)

Lenovo (http://www.mwave.com/mwave/viewproduct.asp?PID=NOTEBOOKS-IBM&updepts=NB&DNAME=Notebooks+%2D+Preconfigured)

I'd say that Lenovo is comparably priced to Asus; in most instances similar machines are within just a few dollars of each other.


Toshiba laptops are pretty nice, but from what I've experienced the asus laptops are nicer.

"Nicer" does not really convey a defined benefit. Toshiba notebooks have consistently maintained high marks from PC magazine (http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,1186140,00.asp) and PC World (http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,123883-page,1/article.html) in terms of reliability for several years now. Furthermore, in my somewhat-less-than-scientific apocryphal experience, Toshiiba has had an excellent track record. With 38 Toshiba laptops in the field, our company has had 0 service calls in the last 5 years. We have machines all over the world, serving as field notebooks for the WWF in Kenya, on research vessels in Palau and in offices throughout Asia.

Given that Asus is relatively new to the notebook scene, they're still categorized in my book as an unknown. If, however, their notebook reliability is to be compared with the reliability of other components they manufacture, I'd stay clear.

All that said, IBM/Lenovo is still the top manufacturer in terms of service and reliability in virtually every poll and review online. We have thinkbooks that have been in continuous service for over 8 years and are still going strong.

I'll say it again: For reliability and service, IBM and Toshiba in that order. If you want bling, look elsewhere.

[techun]

They may have reliability and service, but they dont have good video cards in my price range (searching newegg)

Just to keep this message in the forefront, how much bigger will 15.4 wide be compared to a 15" screen?

[custom90gt]

"Nicer" does not really convey a defined benefit. Toshiba notebooks have consistently maintained high marks from PC magazine (http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,1186140,00.asp) and PC World (http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,123883-page,1/article.html) in terms of reliability for several years now. Furthermore, in my somewhat-less-than-scientific apocryphal experience, Toshiiba has had an excellent track record. With 38 Toshiba laptops in the field, our company has had 0 service calls in the last 5 years. We have machines all over the world, serving as field notebooks for the WWF in Kenya, on research vessels in Palau and in offices throughout Asia.

Given that Asus is relatively new to the notebook scene, they're still categorized in my book as an unknown. If, however, their notebook reliability is to be compared with the reliability of other components they manufacture, I'd stay clear.

All that said, IBM/Lenovo is still the top manufacturer in terms of service and reliability in virtually every poll and review online. We have thinkbooks that have been in continuous service for over 8 years and are still going strong.

I'll say it again: For reliability and service, IBM and Toshiba in that order. If you want bling, look elsewhere.

Sorry I should have specified. I service toshiba laptops almost daily and I've seen numerous problems with them, although they are defiantly better then the hp's/compaq's i've worked on. We used to sell them and had only a few come back. We have sold hundreds of asus laptops and have only seen a small handful come back. The asus laptops seem to have more options to satisfy everyones taste.

I dont see how Asus has a questionable quality history. They are the largest motherboard producer in the world, there must be some sort of reason for that. They are also the second largest Original Design Manufacturer of laptops next to Quanta (makers of most of the IBM series laptops).

I will admit the IBM thinkpads are tanks, but IBM no longer produces them so you can't really compare that to the Lenovo laptops (unless Lenovo made the original thinkpads but I don't believe that was the case). I haven't had much experience with the Lenovo series since few come in for service, so thats a plus.


As far as the screen size difference.
15.4" Widescreen = 13.1"x8.2" (WxH)
15" = 12"x9"

[techun]

we just ordered the ASUS laptop with
15.4" screen
1 gig (will be 2 gigs, then 4 gigs)
120 hdd (ive never filled 30 before)
x1700 (hopefully it will be enough)
2ghz C2D

[Nathan0490]

we just ordered the ASUS laptop with
15.4" screen
1 gig (will be 2 gigs, then 4 gigs)
120 hdd (ive never filled 30 before)
x1700 (hopefully it will be enough)
2ghz C2D

Darn I was going to reccomend the new Asus Laptop that has Santa Rosa C2D and DX10 so you would be future proofed. Its what im looking at I just graduated myself.

http://1toppc.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=F3SV-B1

From what ive heard the X1700 is a pretty poor performer compared to most other mobile dx9 graphics chips as well.If its not too late to cancel I would certainly go with the Asus F3.


$1688 + about $20 shipping. With the 3 Year Warrenty...
C2D 2.2 GHZ 4MB CACHE SANTA ROSA CHIP
1GB DDR2 667
Nvdia 8600M GS 256MB (dx10 ready)
15.4" WSXGA+ 1680X1050
160GB 5400RPM HD
and more.

[Hazaro]

Nice to see 8600's already. Both look really good.

[techun]

well i've got this laptop now.

I really like this screen, i dont mind the resolution limitations
The construction is very solid and attractive, the keyboard is great and the touchpad is so-so.

With 3 gigs of ram i can easily run supreme commander on high settings, and it blazes through Vista. Pressing the windows key midgame gets me to a usable desktop in less then a second.

I really love this laptop, and I believe it will take care of my gaming needs for a long time.
(and the processor is socketed, so it might be able to be upgraded)

I didn't see anything better for 1.3k, but I would jump to the 1.6 one listed above me if you've got the cash..minus the ugly webcam

[@md0Cer]

Darn I was going to reccomend the new Asus Laptop that has Santa Rosa C2D and DX10 so you would be future proofed. Its what im looking at I just graduated myself.

http://1toppc.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=F3SV-B1

From what ive heard the X1700 is a pretty poor performer compared to most other mobile dx9 graphics chips as well.If its not too late to cancel I would certainly go with the Asus F3.


$1688 + about $20 shipping. With the 3 Year Warrenty...
C2D 2.2 GHZ 4MB CACHE SANTA ROSA CHIP
1GB DDR2 667
Nvdia 8600M GS 256MB (dx10 ready)
15.4" WSXGA+ 1680X1050
160GB 5400RPM HD
and more.

Wowee I might be looking into one of those myself! Just curious, what is the battery life like on this?

[techun]

it's probably similar to mine, and i highly recommend these kind of asus laptops, i love mine so much

my battery life is pretty long, but i haven't had time to do any kind of test, and it's too tempting to use high power mode and the glaringly bright screen