Suggest a laptop for me

Post by **Sylvus** » July 24, 2006, 12:25 am

I've never owned a laptop, and I did well at the casino today, so I think I'm going to buy one. It certainly doesn't need to be able to play any new games, though I wouldn't mind it if it had a decent video card. I'll probably primarily use it for programming and surfing the internet, and possibly watching dvd's.

Anyone have any recommendations? I'm not even sure what price range to look in, I was hoping to try and keep it around $1000 if that's even reasonable? I could probably go up to around double that, but I don't need it to replace my desktop or anything. Weight isn't a concern, but I would like good battery life.

Thanks for any help.

Syenye · Post by **Syenye** » July 24, 2006, 1:09 am

macbook! the black ones are so sexy. but honestly, the glossy screen sucks. i use my powerbook to do the majority of my programming and for internet and video purposes. the battery life is way better than my work-issue IBM thinkpad even with its upgraded battery. i'm not a huge fan of the thinkpad line, but the tablet is really slick if you're in the market for a tablet.

Post by **Sylvus** » July 24, 2006, 1:40 am

I doubt I'll go the Mac route, as that goes against my religious beliefs. I probably should have said that from the get-go

Thank you for your input though, I'll take a look at the think pads.

I'm thinking about getting one with Media Center installed on it, which I've never used. The current configuration I'm trying to set up is trying to sell me on a TV Tuner card. I'm assuming that that's one of those things that I'd sit here and think was a good idea and never end up using. Anyone have thoughts on that?

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » July 24, 2006, 3:11 am

Does it need to be portable as in you'll actually be taking it on business trips or just semi portable with bigger screen and more power?

Get a 17" widescreen for sure if you're going to be watching movies. I have a Fujitsu (not a huge name for Laptops but has an incredible screen) and would recommend it for its screen and power. (heavy though)

The thing to decide on with a laptop is whether you want a nice high res screen or a smaller, lighter, portable notebook.

Price range would be ~1,300-1,500 with a nice screen and some power.

kyoukan · Post by **kyoukan** » July 24, 2006, 3:12 am

why don't you take your ill gotten gains and give it back to the tribe you won it from for STEALING THEIR LAND.

Fairweather Pure · Post by **Fairweather Pure** » July 24, 2006, 9:50 am

Which Casino did you go to? I had friends at Soaring Eagle this weekend win pretty big as well.

Kelshara · Post by **Kelshara** » July 24, 2006, 10:00 am

We have had some issues with IBM laptops at work and are in fact moving away from them. We have lost 6 (or 8, can't recall) hard drives in 8 months. They used to be rock solid but I have my doubts now.

What Winnow said is right: Decide on if you want a larger, big screen laptop that is heavy or a small, very light one.

Cartalas · Post by **Cartalas** » July 24, 2006, 10:18 am

Kelshara wrote:We have had some issues with IBM laptops at work and are in fact moving away from them. We have lost 6 (or 8, can't recall) hard drives in 8 months. They used to be rock solid but I have my doubts now.

What Winnow said is right: Decide on if you want a larger, big screen laptop that is heavy or a small, very light one.

Ever since Lenovo took them over all IBM stuff is failing, we have Desktops crashing, Laptop Hd's Failing the Rescue and recovery tool is working for shit.

Animalor · Post by **Animalor** » July 24, 2006, 10:26 am

I have an HP 8230 from my office. http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/en/sm ... 47338.html

It's a bit heavy ay 5.8 lbs but I use it mostly in an office and only really havta bring it from home to the office.

I had a bitch of a time when I first got it though, I had a bad stick of ram in it as well as a bad battery. Out of the 4 my office got, I was the only one with this problem though. HP RMA'd both parts and now everything works like a charm.

As Winnow said, you havta decide what you want for a system. Are you going to want a very light system or something with a lot of screen size and power. Then it'll be much easier to make some recommendations.

Post by **Sylvus** » July 24, 2006, 10:45 am

Like I said, I don't care how much it weighs... I'd rather have a good screen and it weigh 10 lbs than have it fit in my pocket.

I'm just about to pull the trigger on:

Inspiron E1705, Intel Core DuoProcessor T2250 (1.73GHz/533MHz FSB)
17 inch UltraSharp TrueLife Wide-screen WUXGA
2GB, DDR2, 533MHz
256MB ATI MOBILITY RADEON X 1400 HyperMemory
100GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005
8X DVD+/-RW Drive
80 WHr 9-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
Multimedia USB TV Tuner with Remote Control

Like $1250, before tax

Which Casino did you go to? I had friends at Soaring Eagle this weekend win pretty big as well.

Yep, I was at Soaring Eagle. Stopped in for like 20 minutes to break up a four-hour drive. Ended up winning a couple grand playing some silly video slot machine. I had never played one of the video ones before, and I had no idea what I even wanted to come up. I was only humoring my friend who had won on that type of machine before, so I sat down next to her and put like $20 in and caught fire. It was pretty sweet.

Animalor · Post by **Animalor** » July 24, 2006, 10:53 am

Sylvus wrote:Like I said, I don't care how much it weighs... I'd rather have a good screen and it weigh 10 lbs than have it fit in my pocket.

I'm just about to pull the trigger on:

Inspiron E1705, Intel Core DuoProcessor T2250 (1.73GHz/533MHz FSB)
17 inch UltraSharp TrueLife Wide-screen WUXGA
2GB, DDR2, 533MHz
256MB ATI MOBILITY RADEON X 1400 HyperMemory
100GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005
8X DVD+/-RW Drive
80 WHr 9-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
Multimedia USB TV Tuner with Remote Control
Like $1250, before tax

Which Casino did you go to? I had friends at Soaring Eagle this weekend win pretty big as well.
Yep, I was at Soaring Eagle. Stopped in for like 20 minutes to break up a four-hour drive. Ended up winning a couple grand playing some silly video slot machine. I had never played one of the video ones before, and I had no idea what I even wanted to come up. I was only humoring my friend who had won on that type of machine before, so I sat down next to her and put like $20 in and caught fire. It was pretty sweet.

Seems like a Fine system for what you want to do with it.

Syenye · Post by **Syenye** » July 24, 2006, 11:14 am

looks good... the USB TV Tuner is nice, cause you can set it up with another system if you don't need one on your laptop.

check techbargains.com or currentcodes.com for coupons and codes before you buy.

Post by **Sylvus** » July 24, 2006, 11:35 am

Syenye wrote:check techbargains.com or currentcodes.com for coupons and codes before you buy.

While it appears that Dell is their focus, I found a pretty solid coupon code on http://www.gotapex.com. I think it was $750 off any system that was $1999, and I priced that one to be as close to that as I could get... I think it was like $2008.

Animalor · Post by **Animalor** » July 24, 2006, 11:46 am

My only concern is the USB TV Tuner. I've had a USB one in the past (ATI) and the image quality really took a hit compared to it's PCI counterpart. I'm sot sure if they're improved this much (or if the faster USB 2 improved this) but you might want to investigate this further before committing.

Marbus · Post by **Marbus** » July 24, 2006, 11:58 am

That system should rock! The only thing I would have done differently was get the NVidia video rather than the ATI...

Marb

Post by **Sylvus** » July 24, 2006, 12:10 pm

I just can't justify the increase... upgrade to ATI was $99, NVidia was $299. As I can't see myself trying to play Vanguard on it, I think the ATI card should probably do the trick for what I need it to do.

I just can't wait to get it now. Won't ship until August 1.

Syenye · Post by **Syenye** » July 24, 2006, 12:45 pm

Sylvus wrote:While it appears that Dell is their focus, I found a pretty solid coupon code on http://www.gotapex.com. I think it was $750 off any system that was $1999, and I priced that one to be as close to that as I could get... I think it was like $2008.

oh sweet, will have to check that out.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » July 24, 2006, 1:02 pm

Looks like a good system Sylvus. You can pack a lot of info on a 17" 1920X1200 screen as long as your eyesight is good!

Nice price as well.

Post by **Xouqoa** » July 24, 2006, 2:48 pm

http://www.hummerlaptops.com/

Truant · Post by **Truant** » July 24, 2006, 6:35 pm

Xouqoa wrote:http://www.hummerlaptops.com/

It burns through it's battery at 3x the rate of a normal laptop?

Zaelath · Post by **Zaelath** » July 24, 2006, 9:20 pm

Truant wrote:
Xouqoa wrote:http://www.hummerlaptops.com/
It burns through it's battery at 3x the rate of a normal laptop?

And doesn't fit on a normal lap, you need to have two people sitting next to you to balance it.

Aardor · Post by **Aardor** » July 25, 2006, 9:27 am

If your tv tuner is http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/prod ... u=A0534166
there is a $100 mail in rebate you can probably use.

Post by **Sylvus** » July 31, 2006, 1:42 pm

So my laptop was delivered on Friday, spent a good portion of my free time this weekend wiping it and reinstalling everything, I don't care for Dell's installs.

I'm wondering if there are any Utilities, Apps, or Games (particularly offline ones that I can play when I don't have an internet connection available) that any of you laptop owners have found invaluable on your laptop that I might not have thought of downloading or installing?

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » July 31, 2006, 1:54 pm

Just make sure you have all the key codecs on there and a video app that you're happy with.

I'm not much help for games on laptops. I tend to grab the latest magzines, books, comics, etc of interest off the newsgroups in PDF format (cept for the comics) and browse those if I'm not catching up on back episodes of a TV series or watching a downloaded movie on my laptop.

I fell asleep watching Clerks 2 in xvid format on my laptop last night!

Playing any game with a touchpad is so incredibly frustrating compared to a mouse that I haven't bothered. I suppose any games that require the least amount mouse movements would be best!

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » July 31, 2006, 2:10 pm

Most laptops allow you to connect a mouse!

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » July 31, 2006, 2:53 pm

Yeah but that defeats the purpose of a laptop! I'm too lazy to connect one even when I am using it in my home. Some of the new wireless mice with the little usb jump drive sized transmitters might be nice but this sounds like a secondary recreational (not for business trips) PC for sylvus and he'd be using his normal PC if gaming at home. (would need a little tray table for the mouse beside the toilet if that's his thinking!)

Maybe there's a market for a toilet that works like a ski lift chair where after sitting down, you pull down a "bar" from over your head that has a keyboard, LCD display and mousepad attached to it.

Don't steal my idea! Patent pending.

Clatis · Post by **Clatis** » July 31, 2006, 6:55 pm

Winnow wrote: I fell asleep watching Clerks 2 in xvid format on my laptop last night!

! give it to me.