Laptop Decisions...

Well, i will be off to college next year and i think its time to replace my 6 year old 400mhz desktop. I want to replace it with a laptop but i don't want a "desktop replacement" laptop, if you know what i mean. I want a sleek one with a big hd (most important feature for me) and decent memory and processor. At the moment i'm leaning towards a Sony FS laptop because of its size, capabilities and spec. I'd buy a customized FS790 with the following spec:

1GB (2x512) Memory
120GB Hard Drive (Perfect!)
2.0ghz
DVD Burner
etc etc

That works out to roughly 1800-1900 depending on spec (the better battery is $100). That is really the only complaint i've heard about this laptop, the battery life. Aparently its about 1.5 hours! Still, its a good spec laptop and looks awesome.

So, does anyone know or have this laptop or can reconmend an alternative. I wouldn't be purchasing it soon, probably in a few months time. I'm just doing research at the moment. Are there any decent Dells? The college i'm going to gets a discount (10% or 15%, can't remember which one). I've been told to stay away from Dells though.

1 more thing if this makes a difference. This would be only for personal use. The college makes us buy a dell when we join, but i'd rather have 1 for work and 1 for personal use.

I do not want to buy a desktop, i want a laptop


Thanks in advance



Chris


ps. Please do not start talking about how desktops are better etc. I really want a laptop for various reasons and i've really thought this through (Laptop vs. PC).
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Im not a fan of the sonys....but goodluck

 

I've always loved the design and feel of Sony products

 

ditto

 

...until the warranty runs out

 

dont suport intel......

 

Thanks for the advice guys

 

Joking aside, don't get a laptop because of looks or feel. Get one that will get the job done.

Cheap and powerful but short life......dell
kinda expensive, powerful and longer life....IBM
expensive, powerful and iffy warranty....sony
Cheap, kinda powerful...shortlife....HP

 

I agree the IBM will be the best for you....

another one that isnt too bad is the Dell

 

you mean Lenovo...

 

I completely forgot about IBM's. Thanks, i'll look into them

 

Does anyone have a lap top for sale? I just crunched mine, I was going to use it to check emails away from home and maybe surf the web from time to time.

 

Again, it's Lenovo.

Pretty much can agree with this.

Add to this
expensive, powerful, has propensity to overheat often medium liferange = Toshiba

Friend of mine has, I mean had a HP/Compaq lappy. I played around with a T43, nicely built and decent battery but too expensive and returned. Got a 700m for about $800 (1.6 P-M 1GB RAM 80GB HDD), small and sleek but it definately feels cheap. But hey, I'm in college too and I can fit this on those half desks and slide in back into my bag easily. Smaller screen than the Sony FS (12.1 vs 14) but I can get a good 4.5 - 5 hours on one battery which is great for 3 or 4 hour lectures.

WTH, they force you to buy a Dell?

 

What happened to Apple? those arent bad. Expensive though..

 

Ok, i'm running 465mhz and 512mb right now on this thing and i've got it so its fairly decent. I have Mozilla, trillian pro, winmx, outlook and itunes open all at the same time and its fine (a pretty big feat considering its 465). Basically, do i really need 2ghz and 1gb memory? I always thought i did because i should go for the best but I really don't plan to use games or any other big programs on it. The biggest memory using program i'd probably use is photoshop. I still want to be able to play some games, but i'm not a hardcore gamer and i really don't think i will be one.

Yes. I'm going to ask about it, but it would appear so:

http://www.rider.edu/172_2362.htm


Thanks for the other advice too

 

Just my own personal experience here....... I bought a HP laptop (2.66ghz, 512mb memory, 60G HD) two years ago as a primary computer and it has worked great for me with only a few minor problems. The first is that anymore the battery only holds enough power for ~15 minutes of use (3ish hours when new) but I suspect that is probably because I just let it sit in a drawer for 6+ months with a partial charge. The other problem is that it reboots when I use Google Earth for more than 1/2 hour or so, I don't think it is up to the graphics demands so I limit my GE usage to shorter amounts of time. It has been dropped a few times and so far no damage noted from that. I wouldn't hesitate to get another HP.

edited to add...... I'm not a gamer so I have no clue about how well it might work for that. I do use Photoshop occasionally and it has worked great.

 

Thanks. Why do you use google earth so much? Driving directions?

 

In my own personal experience, STAY AWAY from sony vaios. Nice and pretty, but their a bit of trouble.

The other thing I hate about them, is that stupid glossy screen. LCD screens were designed NOT to do that.. so you can actually see the screen without annoying reflections and glare from overhead lights.. Pretty useless screen if its glossy in my opinion. But I dont know weather they still do that.

I do have a sony vaio mouse though, and thats quite clever. The mouse has an inbuilt memory stick reader so you can use the mouse as your drive.

 

I agree with the looks part, but the external case durability and solidity of the laptop is part of the function, simply because you are lugging it around everywhere around campus and it might drop a few times. Its not a desktop

In my experience, HP's, Compaq's, Dells, Acer, all begin to fall apart or break at the slightest roughing up. In these brands you can litterally hear plastic cracking when you pick up the unit and press a little. Toshiba satellite pro's on the other hand are built like a brick sh1thouse.

Id much rather a lower spec toshiba that I can rely on the screen not breaking than than a Dell which could possibly snap if some fat guy on campus sat on it.

 

Uhhh..... I'm kind of a GE nerd. Part of it is that I bring a very small GPS with me almost everywhere and I have GE Plus so I can download my tracks. Since part of my job involves flying low level I also use it quite a bit to do route study finding landmarks and helping get an idea what turnpoints (often small bridges or road intersections) look like. Sometimes I program in the route and after a flight I can compair the actual ground track.


The first pic is a turn point that is a road intersection, I circled it because it's kinda tough to see the small dirt road coming off the larger road. The sharp kink in the road isn't really visible because the trees/ridge line obscure it from down lower. We fly it at 500' AGL and ~250mph so you gotta keep watch cause it goes by quickly The second pic is my tracks over the last couple months.... light blue is driving tracks and red is flying tracks.
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Mark,

Could you create artwork using your tracks? It would be interesting to see.. from a design perspective. Would make a great printwork.

 

It's still a IBM design...

SefacHotRodder, if you want one, PM me, I can shoot you some discount info

 

Mark, Cool stuff


Matteo, thanks. I'm looking on their site right now and the stuff is definatley in my price range. They've got some cool features too. I will probably end up going for one. I've really been put off the Sony because of the battery life.




Chris

 

I've been through quite a few notebook PC's in the past few years and heres what I found.

I'll never buy another sony, ever, I'll stop using computers before I give them another dime. Bought a vaio for my g/f to take to school, with the separate docking station deal. Thought it was pretty slick, light weight, etc. It was terrible, went back for warranty work twice with in 6 months, and got to the point where she didn't want to use it b/c of it's issues.

Dell I have isn't bad at all. I got the 9300 with the 17" screen and it's killer for running modeling programs (solidworks, Pro-e, etc) It's heavy, but I don't mind, and it's never let me down.

She just recently upgraded to an HP NX9600 and it's great. For the price it seems like an awesome setup.

Intel® Pentium® 4 560 (3.6GHz, 1MB L2 cache, 800MHz FSB)
1024MB 400MHz Shared DDR II SDRAM (2 DIMM)
100GB Hard Drive (4200 rpm)

I wouldn't hesitate to get another dell, but prefer the HP.

 

Please please please please don't get a Sony product.

I have a gazillion Sony products and I regret every single purchase.

For laptops I don't think I'd ever buy anything other than IBM, Dell or Fujustu (I can't spell either).

I might get another IBM or Fuju for college soon. Another being five or six among my friends.

And remember, as much as you think battery life isn't important, it will be down the road when you think "hey it's a laptop, of course I can take it places" but the battery only lasts two hours