Laptop Hunting

[Frodo Baggins]

Okay, I'm searching for a laptop. I used to be in touch with the computing world, but I've fallen out of touch in the last few years, so I'm not sure what's hot and what's not.

I have two very general questions that perhaps you guys and girls could guide me towards:

A) I'm looking for a laptop that I can do my work on. I'm not a big gamer, so I'm not in need of a top-of-the-line laptop that can keep up with today's games. With all honesty, I've been running my Duron 950 Mhz OC'ed at 1140 Mhz for a few years now, and I'm still fine with that. Really, I'm looking for something that has the best bang for the buck. It has to last, and I don't plan to shill out any more cash for another laptop anytime soon.

Can you guys give me some advice as what to look out for in terms of company, cpu, memory, components, and so forth? Like I said, I've been out of touch with the computing world.

B) Generally, once I have an idea of what I want, where would be the best place to look? I mean, for laptops, is it generally better to go local or on the internet? If I go local, I have my choice of Future Shop (Can), Best Buy, and so forth (including smaller stores).

I know what you're asking: How much money do I have to work with? Well, the less, the better, obviously. We'll say in the $1500 (Can) price range, but I'm a student, so I'm not happy with spending that much. Maybe even $1000 or less?

 

[Albreck]

http://www.discountlaptops.com/index.html
There you'll find very good laptops from all the prices

 

[cyberey66]

Dont get a toshiba, I'm warning people one laptop purchase at a time. I am forced to sell mine for a lot less than a laptop of my specs should cost. My friend just got a new toshiba, it already runs about as fast as the 433Mhz machine I'm using now. They have heat issues, bad customer service, and bad warrenty. Mine only works plugged in and can slow down from 1.2Ghz to 600Mhz because toshiba has a disclaimer on the cpu operating speeds. Luckily I found someone that doesn't mind that to buy it from me.

You can try the dell outlet store to save money, or just dell. My girlfriends dell 600m is sooo sweet, it costs about $1000 base, but goes up in price as you add stuff. I know a few people with dells, all different recent models and they all work great. This is not first hand experience though, I've only owned a toshiba and some ancient laptop. But I have to post my toshiba hate post when I see a new laptop thread.

 

[shard]

Get a toshiba. its great!

 

[Aslan]

I second not getting a Toshiba as well. Both my dad and my sister have them, as well as my dad's business partner, and they all complain. My sister's has broken down completely, and it looks like it costs more than it's worth to fix so we just leave it.

As you're looking for something to just work on, I would suggest an older IBM. The quality is extremely good, and although it costs a bit more compared to other brands, it's well worth it IMO.

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=696143&Sku=M975-3008

I know this is Tigerdirect, but I think this is a good example.

 

[Frodo Baggins]

What do you guys think of the following?

http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/pr..._id=0665000FS10046402&catid=11520&newdeptid=1
http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/pr..._id=0665000FS10046402&catid=11520&newdeptid=1
http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/pr...10043002&logon=&langid=EN&dept=1&WLBS=fsweb22

 

[shard]

Ok well from my experience the toshibas are good

Dell is ok also.

But that HP is realy good from what i hear.

But i second Aslan's IBM idea, cheap and effective

 

[El-Scotto]

we have had two toshiba laptops here for a year with out any problems, so if i had to reccomend one that would be it

 

[73h n00bc4nn0n]

It's never good to buy something that computer nerds disagree with on its quality.

Unless it's due to the AMD > Intel rivalry.

 

[itshondo]

I just bought this Acer laptop at Newegg- it's got it all and a great price as well. I'm still waiting for it to be delivered so no review yet.

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=34-115-124&depa=3

Newegg has a lot of laptops to choose from.

 

[dkitt10]

acer ferrari 3200 http://www.acer.com/APP/AKC/INTERNE...D28B2A87421364B788256E8B005D0867?OpenDocument

...o ur not a gamer


how bout the compaq 2190CA or mayb 2195CA i have the 2190 and no complainets...just graphic controller cant handle doom 3

 

[Aslan]

Well, from what I've heard of Averatec, they make good quality laptops that are very nice considering the very low price. The XP-M is quite an underrated mobile processor, that although isn't as good as the P-M, is by no means bad at all.
Considering that it's going for only $1100 and weighs only 1.9kg, I think that it's a better value than the IBM.
However, I would probably get an external monitor if it's going to be your main system; a 12" screen will get quite annoying the more you use it.

As for HP, I don't like them very much at all, and I feel that their quality has been going downhill ever since they merged with Compaq (and even beforehand).
They especially haven't made good, reliable computers for quite a while now, and my advice would be to stay away.

 

[Frodo Baggins]

I just bought this Acer laptop at Newegg- it's got it all and a great price as well. I'm still waiting for it to be delivered so no review yet.

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=34-115-124&depa=3

Newegg has a lot of laptops to choose from.

Too expensive. My cap is <$1500 Can (~$1000 US). By the way, Newegg doens't ship to Canada.


Keep the comments coming guys.

How is the celly proc compare up to other processors? Like what does a 2.x Ghz celly perform like compared to comparable speeds on a pentium or athlon?

 

[itshondo]

I read the celery is good for surfing and low demand applications. I'd go for a P4, P-M, or Mobile Athlon XP.

Check out Acer Canada's website-

http://www.acer.com/ca

 

[itshondo]

http://www.acer.com/APP/AKC/INTERNE...6ED52EB949158A5488256A53005C9744?OpenDocument

 

[BoilersT]

Acer quality has really improved over the last few years, If you run windows. Alot of acer notebooks including mine won't boot anything but windows.

 

[itshondo]

stick in a knoppix cd & see if that will cdrom boot-

 

[Frodo Baggins]

Can you guys compare the following systems for me?

For 1299.99

Compaq Presario R3210CA AMD Athlon XP-M 2800+ 1.6GHz Notebook
Audio Type Built-In Sound Blaster Pro Compatible
Average Battery Life 2 Hours
Battery Type Lithium-Ion
Cache 256 KB Cache
CPU Speed 2800+
CPU Type AMD Athlon XP-M
Fax/Modem 56KB V.90/V.92
Hard Drive 40 GB 4200RPM
I/O Ports 3 x USB, 1 x Parallel; See Below
Included In Box Manual, Software, Battery, Charger
Network Card 10/100, 802.11b/g High-Speed Wireless
Optical Drives DVD-ROM/CD-R Combo Drive
PC Card Slots 1 Type I Or II
Pointing Device Touchpad
Preloaded Operating System Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
Product Dimensions 25.4(W) x 3.1(H) x 35.6(D) cm
Product Weight 2.9 kg
RAM (Preloaded / Maximum) 256 MB
Removable Storage No
Screen Size 15.0"
Screen Type XGA TFT
Speakers JBL Pro Performance
System Bus 333MHz
Video Type 32MB NVIDIA GeForce 4 MX 420
Warranty 1 Year Parts & Labour

For $1,298
Dell Inspiron™ 1150 Mobile Intel® Pentium® 4 2.80GHz,14.1 inch XG
Processor/Display
256MB shared DDR SDRAM (1 DIMM)
60GB Ultra ATA Hard Drive
24X CD-RW/DVD Combo Drive with Sonic RecordNow
65 WHr 8-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
Dell® Wireless 1350 Internal Wireless (802.11b/g, 54Mbps)
1 Yr Limited Warranty plus 1 Yr Return-to-Depot Service 24x7 Phone Support

What do you think? Thoughts?

 

[Milkman]

I bought a refurb emachines 5309 xp2500+,60gb hd,cd-rw combo and 512 mb pc 2100 from tigerdirect for $899.00 about a month ago and love it!! no problems, looked new and had all the accesories,restore was on 3 disks and they used norton ghost to make them so reinstall was a snap, I also loaded Xp pro on it but was actually happier with the stock install(tweaked and crap dumped ofcourse)

-Mike

 

[dkitt10]

out of the above two id go with compaq...

bigger screen...not limited warentee


and ya then it matches up the dell


gogogo compaq~!~!@~#