Mobile Laptop choice

Frankiestylee

I'm looking at getting a new laptop and would like some advice. At the moment I've a beast of an Inspirion 8600 that's as portable as an elephant but it's still getting me by for certain things.

I'm looking for a thin and lightweight laptop, probably with around a 13inch screen.

I'll be using it for writing and internet mainly, but I'll also use it for photo and video editing. I tend to keep my gaming to the aul xbox360 these days so that's not really a factor.

I've always been a pc head, but I've been pondering some Apple action lately.

Price would be most likely €1500 max, though I'd like to keep it less.

Portability is really the main thing, I just want something I can pretty much have on me at all times.

Compact Flash and/or SD card slot would be a definite plus.

I've been looking at...

A Macbook ...http://store.apple.com/ie/browse/home/shop_mac/family/macbook?mco=MTE3MjE

Dell XPS 1330 ...
http://configure.euro.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?b=&c=ie&cs=iedhs1&kc=NRS13301&l=en&oc=N06X3301&rbc=N06X3301&s=dhs


Toshiba Portege R500...
http://ie.computers.toshiba-europe.com/cgi-bin/ToshibaCSG/jsp/seriesHomepage.do?service=IE&SERIES_ID=129898

All three come in at around €1300 for what I want, though the specs are fairly differant.

I'm also open to suggestions... they were just three I had time to nose around.

Any advice'd be appreciated

Kavkid

I'd go with the MacBook, only because it has the best specs, and for the 1199 model, it's the cheapest for the same specs as the other laptops.

ant043

another vote for macbook. Its a great laptop but it is a bit heavy at 5 pounds. I'd expect the m1330 to weigh less but not sure.

Passenger

+1 for the MacBook. Once you go Mac you never go back

Frankiestylee

Macbook
€1,199.00
2.4ghz core2duo
2gb ram
2.75cm thick
2.27kg

Dell XPS M1330
€1,295.52
2.5ghz Core2duo
4gb ram
2.21cm thick
1.79kg thick
(Though these are starting weights etc... dell doesn't seem to change with the upgrades etc)


I've decided against the Toshiba R500 ... it's way too expensive and limited in hindsight.

Any other brands I should check out.

Macbook is really really tempting... may have to spend some time on a friend's and see if mac is the way to go. Though the dell does seem to beat it on every point.

TommyGun

I would go with Dell serice is good. not flashy but solid with good aftersales service. mac can be limited by availableity of certain programs.

eclectichoney

What about the vostro 1310? I love mine to bits. I went pretty low spec as my needs are modest!

1.8Ghz Core 2 Duo
2GB Ram
160Gb hard-drive
Upgraded to 6 cell battery
Weight is about 2.2kg - 2.3kg with the upgraded battery

Came in at about €590 so you could spec it much higher.

Overheal

you could also consider upgrading the warranty to include accidental damage for instance. Especially when planning for portability you never know if/when youll drop it one day and find your screen bleeding to death (:() which will usually cost you 4x less if you had just bought the accidental cover.

I'd reccomend perhaps one of HP's lighter laptops - they do some nice tablets - but after my little incident i have to admit they arent as robust as other makes: Plastic lid vs. an aluminium one can make or break your afternoon.

Frankiestylee

Ah, I got into reading about the Asus eee PC ... and now my whole mind is in a tizzy, and there's another thread about problems with installing XP on a Dell lappy with Vista, so, ah, loads to ponder now.

I've had issues with Dell before where I tried to remove some installed software (I think it was Norton or something) and everything went wrong. I rang Dell up and their response was pretty much "oh... you're not meant to uninstall that", which lead to a "it's my computer, I should be able to choose what programs I use" etc etc, so I'd be wary about assuming I could get rid of Vista in confidence.

I'm also wondering if I need so much portable power... guess the search goes on.

I'll have a look at those HP lappys, to be honest I've been less then impressed with the brand in the past so I didn't even look at them.