Help me choose a laptop

K!LL!@N

I'm in the market for a new laptop.
It's going to be a desktop replacement so I don't think i'd want a screen smaller than 15.4".
I'm moving to the US so i'll be buying it over there.
That should hopefully mean i'll get one much cheaper than here.

I'll have a max budget of $1500 but i'd prefer to spend a little less if i can.

I'd like it to have at least 1Gb RAM, 60Gb+ HDD, a dedicated graphics card and a DVD burner.

I'm not sure what processor type to get.
Should i be going for a Core Duo or is Pentium M still worth going with?
What about Turion based systems?

I've been having a look at Dells, HP, Acer and a couple of others.
Any Sony or Toshiba laptops i've seen have seemed to be overpriced compared to the three i mentioned above.

Anyone know any other reputable online stores apart from www.newegg.com and www.tiger.com?

Any recommendations good or bad.
If there are brands i should stay away from let me know.

Cheers,

Killian

Tom Dunne

K!LL!@N wrote:

I'm not sure what processor type to get.
Should i be going for a Core Duo or is Pentium M still worth going with?
What about Turion based systems?

If it is a desktop replacement, Duo is the way to go. While there aren't many programs out there that utilise the duo, you are "future proofing" as best you can.

It really depens on how mobile you want to be.

K!LL!@N wrote:

Anyone know any other reputable online stores apart from www.newegg.com and www.tiger.com?

In the US, you can generally buy off most of the manufacturers. I had trouble with HP and an Irish credit card (even though the address was my US address, they still wouldn't accept it). And on the HP, I personally wouldn't recommend them. I had numerous problems - if I had one, maybe two, I would say that I was just unlucky.

But the amount of problems I had, and the crappy support I received, I would not recommend HP.

I would, however, recommend IBM. I just bought myself an R50e and I can't complain. I've used IBM laptops for the past 7 years between work and personal, and I've found them to be the most reliable and well built machines.

K!LL!@N

Well I was intending to build a new desktop machine but there are a lot of interesting new things coming out in the summer so i want to hold off.

So i've decided to go with a laptop to tide me over.
I don't need to be very mobile with it.
It'll be used for development work mostly, so i think the dual core would be useful.

When you say IBM, they're all made by Lenovo now, right?

Keep the suggestions coming.

Killian

Tom Dunne

K!LL!@N wrote:

When you say IBM, they're all made by Lenovo now, right?

It's badged IBM, but all the documentation refers to Levono.

K!LL!@N

I looked about a bit more during lunch.

I keep coming back to this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16834115223

It's an Acer, Core Duo, 1Gb Ram, 100Gb HDD, dedicated graphics and a dvd burner as well.

The price makes me a little wary.
Anything else that comes close to the same spec costs about $400 more.
The reviews seem favourable though, apart from some complaints about the graphics drivers, the disk being formatted as FAT32 and the fan outlet being on the righthand side.

Any thoughts on this or Acer in general?

Killian

jimmycrackcorm

I was in the same boat as the OP. I wanted a desktop replacement for development work. I was looking at a similar Acer or Ferarri and I couldn't decide between Core Duo and turion. In the end up I went with the Turion and a HP DV8173 fro 1549 in PC World.

On the face of it the Core Duo might seem a slightly faster bet but with a lower processor speed and having the experience of running a full dualie box I reasoned that the possiblity of migrating the OS to Vista 64 bit in the future meant that the Turion was a better bet for the future.

Also for development it is way better to get a17 inch widescreen for all those property inspector windows that pop up. didn't think of that one when buying but I think now it is the best thing since I don't have to keep moving the windows about to get to design / code / properties / other.

I also read a review deciding which technology to go with and that said to ignore the Pentium M

K!LL!@N

So you've had no problems with the HP?
I had been looking at the DV8000 series.
The 17" was appealing alright.
I think i specced up something for about $1500 that i'd have been happy with.

Killian

jimmycrackcorm

I had a HP previously which was a workhorse but beinga company laptop - I had to give back.

Delighted with it and looking forward to getting Vista 64 bit installed. The only bummer is that the RAM upgrade to 2 GB means throwing the two 512 sticks out. I thin €1549 is a great price for such a laptop in PC-World. I wonder did they get it wrong?

Laguna

MacBook Pro?, I'm looking at one for myself but the only thing stopping me at the moment is the slightly prohibitive price. All benchmarks and performance reviews I've read for it are great and before someone whinges "But it's a Mac, you can't get software for it" - wrong, now the switch to Intel is underway, all the big software (as well as game) companies are starting to release their applications as universal binaries (Adobe, Quark, Macromedia etc.), so that argument against Macs is defunct now.

K!LL!@N

I'd have no problem using a Macbook Pro but cost is a serious issue with them.

I can get the Acer with same processor, same screen, more ram, more hd space and similar graphics card for almost half the price.

Killian

mikemac

Do you find it cheaper to buy from the states?

I bought my laptop form dell.ie and am very happy with it

Can I ask why you buy from the US? Will you have to pay customs duty on arrival to Ireland? Are delivery cost prohibative?

Was looking at buying a Macbook Pro in the next few months but buying from the states wasn't something I'd ever considered

K!LL!@N

I'm moving to the states in May.
I'm not shipping the laptop here.
So i'm afraid i've no idea of the costs involved.
From what i've heard you would have to pay customs.

I'm just looking for general advice on the best laptop with the specs i'm after, within my budget.

Killian

gamer

go for laptop,with at least,64meg ,preferably 128meg onboard graphics,with vga,and svideo connectors, you can always upgrade the memory,as necessary, get at least dvd/cdr,writer installed,if you want to play games you,ll need at least 64meg vram.