Laptops

[edc 0]

In a few days(well, actually in a maybe 30 hours from now. Yes I am a procrastinator) I'm going to be going on vacation. I've though of getting a laptop for the last several months, and really want to get one for this(and future) vacations(especially since we'll be driving a fair ways). I've kind of narrowed it down to maybe 2 laptops, though I am open to suggestions(as long as its under $1100 or so).

The two I'm considering are:

Toshiba A75-S206

P4 w/ HT 2.6

15.4 " Widescreen

512 MB DDR, expandable to 1.5 GB

60 GB 4200

Integrated .11g

3 USB 2.0

Radeon 9000 w/ 64 MB shared

$1149

and

Compaq 2108us

Athlon XP-M 2800+

15"

512 DDR

40GB 4200

802.11G

2 USB 1.1

ATI Mobility Radeon 7500, Shared Memory

1 Firewire/IEEE1394

$899

Does anyone here have any expiriences with these notebooks? And how well would you think OFP would run on it?(I'm willing to use fairly low viewdistance, etc.). One thing I'm not sure about is how much slower shared memory is vs. dedicated(I probably don't have enough $$ for dedicated, but if I'm basically not going to be able to play OFP and a few other games w/ shared, then I might as well get a lower-end laptop).

Feel free to suggest any others that are in that price range.

[theavonlady 2]

Stay away from Compaq. Go for the Toshiba.

Besides, the ATI 7500 is ancient already and you won't regret the 60GB disk over the 40.

What mouse pointer does the Toshiba come with? Both a pad and stick or only one of them? Will you be comfortable with that device or will you feel the need to attach an external mouse?

Sounds just great for OFP.

[edc 0]

The Toshiba has a touchpad. I honestly hadn't thought about how easy/difficult it would be to use that for gaming(I have a really old laptop, but it doesn't even support 3d gfx, so I never could game on it). I guess I would probably want to get a external mouse for it(I don't think either has PS/2 so, I'd have to get a USB mouse regardless). Thanks for the reply. I could probably get by with the 40 GB HD, though the 60 GB would give me a lot more room to play around with.

[Albert Schweitzer 10]

Stay away from Compaq. Go for the Toshiba.

Besides, the ATI 7500 is ancient already and you won't regret the 60GB disk over the 40.

What mouse pointer does the Toshiba come with? Both a pad and stick or only one of them? Will you be comfortable with that device or will you feel the need to attach an external mouse?

Sounds just great for OFP.

Double that.

Compaq benchmarks suck!  

Go for Dell, their game-benchmarks are always superior to all competitors in their price-category

[theavonlady 2]

The Toshiba has a touchpad.  I honestly hadn't thought about how easy/difficult it would be to use that for gaming(I have a really old laptop, but it doesn't even support 3d gfx, so I never could game on it).  I guess I would probably want to get a external mouse for it(I don't think either has PS/2 so, I'd have to get a USB mouse regardless).  Thanks for the reply.  I could probably get by with the 40 GB HD, though the 60 GB would give me a lot more room to play around with.

Don't discount the 60GB diskspace so fast.

About the touchpad, I hate them and find them impossible for gaming.

I've got a stick on mine. Takes 2 weeks of getting used to but you'll never need a mouse again.

I'm a righty by I can control the stick with my left index finger, using my left thumb for the keyboard mouse buttons and space bar , while controlling the arrow keys and others with might right hand. Great for gaming!

I agree with Albert. Check out Dell.

[denoir 0]

I can recommend Dell and IBM. The most fundamental thing you should think about when buying a laptop is the size. You should be able to carry it around.

Anyway, take a look at the IBM Thinkpad X-series. I recently bought an X40 and so far I'm very pleased. Used to have a X23 before that.

The nicest laptop that I've ever had was my old Dell Latitude D500.

Don't know how more current models are though.

Factors of importance:

1. Size/weight

2. Battery life

3. Disk size

4. Display quality

5. Memory

6. CPU

The rest, such as graphics board etc is irrelevant. No point in playing games etc on a laptop.

[theavonlady 2]

If IBM is within your price range, go for it. There's nothing better than a Thinkpad!

[theavonlady 2]

The rest, such as graphics board etc is irrelevant. No point in playing games etc on a laptop.

Wrong!

Dell's Inspiron XPS. You can even get it with a 256MB DDR ATI MOBILITY RADEON 9800 AGP 8X Graphics Adapter!

Of course, it comes at a price.

[Albert Schweitzer 10]

Okay, I see your price category so there I guess dell might be the best.

sorry ... gotta change that.. they changed their products too.

(for games I would always go for ABS laptops)

Processor:

Intel Pentium 4 3.06GHz w/ HT Technology

Operating System:

Windows XP Home Edition

Memory:

512MB PC-2700 DDR333

Video Card:

ATI Mobile Radeon 9000 64MB

Hard Drive:

60GB

Display  

15" SXGA+ 1400x1050 TFT

Optical Drive:

8X DVD ROM/24X CD RW

na? does that sound good for 1400$?

find more here ABS computers

[theavonlady 2]

find more here ABS computers

No. For gaming you still want their Mayhem series.

[MASTAKILLA 0]

low-mid price range (800€+):

chiliGREEN (IPC)

high end (2000€+):

Alienware

L - Laptops

if you need long batterie support and WLAN go for an Centrino CPU.

[theavonlady 2]

Alienware

Someone mentioned here about half a year ago that Alienware's support is practically non-existant. If you've got a problems-free machine of theirs, fine. Otherwise, its sounded abysmal.

[SpecOp9 0]

Alieanware is just as good as a custom computer, only way too expensive.

And ya, Compaq is incredibly horrible.

For laptops I would look for something by Sony.  I have a Sony VAIO.  I still get problems, but they are very small and barely happen.  And with all the things this computer has been through, I'm suprised at how well it's holding up.

But Alieanware does'nt use any original parts inside of it.

Intel Pentium 4 (duhh)

120 GB Seagate

NVIDIA GeForce FX 5950

The only original things inside the machine are:

Fusion Red AlienIce (only a cooling system)

and a 420 Watt PSU

I would stay away from Alieanware. $5,575 bucks is not worth it.  Mostly when you can get special deals from computer stores that sell the things within the Area-51 computer for less.

And you don't need all the things in the Area-51 anyway.

Cooling system?  Get a 15 dollar fan, alot cheaper.

[MASTAKILLA 0]

Alienware

Someone mentioned here about half a year ago that Alienware's support is practically non-existant. If you've got a problems-free machine of theirs, fine. Otherwise, its sounded abysmal.

maybe you are right, but i also heard such things about DELL and GERICOM as well.

i´ll tell you if there is such a support problem in near furure because i get my lucky hands on one in the next 10-15 workdays.  

[Munk 0]

I bought my PC from Dell quite recently, the speakers didnt work and they put the cheapest modem in but still tried to charge me for the more expensive one I ordered. It took about 3 days for them to understnad why I was pissed off, then weeks to send me new speakers. They didnt charge me for the speakers, I kept the cheap ass modem which was free aswell.

My brother bought a laptop from them, the dvd player didnt work and he couldnt connect to the internet. They couldnt fix it so they sent him a new one and never came to collect the broken one so he got a free laptop out of them.

Dell - They screw everything up but you get half of the computer for free

[SpecOp9 0]

I would never try Dell.

They completely rely on commercials and ads to sell their product.

They go from weed smocking "Dell Dude" to high tech advanced bull crap commericals.

[theavonlady 2]

I just had a Dell support issue and they were excellent. The CDR would not burn. They sent a new one.

[theavonlady 2]

I would never try Dell.

They completely rely on commercials and ads to sell their product.

They go from weed smocking "Dell Dude" to high tech advanced bull crap commericals.

What does the quality of their marketing have to do with the quality of their products.

BTW, I'm not a big fan of Dells. The workmanship doesn't come near any of the IBM Thinkpads I've used since 1996. Still, I would rate them overall reliable and reasonably priced.

[denoir 0]

What I don't get is why on earth people buy oversized laptops. The main point with a laptop is portability hence size, weight and battery life are the critical factors-

Anyway, about Dell - I had a Latitude D500 (now serving the honorable role as my toilet-computer) and it's by far the one that I liked best. Never had any problems with it. For its time, it was small and light and it looked really nice. On the other hand with the Thinkpads I've had a variety of problems. With my old X23, I had a hard drive failure and some WLAN problems. With my current X40, I have problems with the built in Bluetooth.

Edit: X23 not X25

[SpecOp9 0]

I would never try Dell.

They completely rely on commercials and ads to sell their product.

They go from weed smocking "Dell Dude" to high tech advanced bull crap commericals.

What does the quality of their marketing have to do with the quality of their products.

Well that's the trick to marketing on the Television.

If you have a crappy commerical with cheap special effects, a grainy half-assed video quality, people won't go "Woo awsome!  I gotta get me this!"

But if you have a very clean, shiny high-tech commercial, people are going to think the quality of the product is great, and the thing it's lives up to todays expectations.

I have seen the specs for some Dell computers.  They don't look as good as the many other computers you can get.

A good example of what I mean is the Scion cars.  The television adds look great.  A great commercial for a crap car with a horrible design.

Same thing with McDonalds "health" campaign.  Now burger King is doing the same.

Companies don't give a shit what you think.  As long as you think in terms of giving them money, thats when they do care.

[theavonlady 2]

What I don't get is why on earth people buy oversized laptops. The main point with a laptop is portability hence size, weight and battery life are the critical factors-

I have a very heavy Dell Lattitude C840 notebook. No matter what, it's still portable.

[Ironsight 1]

I have an old Toshiba notebook, it's old but still works. Never had problems with it. They make good laptops. Maybe I will take it with me on vacation so I have O2 and PSP at my hand.

My dad has a Packard Bell, it's the same as NEC. They have very good costumer support and they are not too expensive.

If I were you I would go for the Toshiba  

[denoir 0]

What I don't get is why on earth people buy oversized laptops. The main point with a laptop is portability hence size, weight and battery life are the critical factors-

I have a very heavy Dell Lattitude C840 notebook. No matter what, it's still portable.

Yeah, but why? I mean if it's for the screen size, isn't it a better solution to have a port replicator/docking station at the locations where you intend to use it as a regular computer?

The point being that laptops are as computers inferior to stationary workstations in every respect except the portability. So I really don't see why anybody would want to buy an ovesized laptop - as most of them seem to be today. I really can't imagine sacrificing size and weight in favour of a bigger screen or something like that.

Personally, I have my stationary computer that I use most of the time, a laptop that I use when I travel or for presentations etc and one additional laptop that I use as a toilet computer (Internet access through WLAN makes longer visits to the bathroom more interesting).

[ralphwiggum 6]

given choice between Toshiba and Compaq, I highly recommend Toshiba. Compaq is more of a low end product.

Given more options, I'd highly suggest looking into Dell. My bro has one and has been excellent, and so was my ex-girlfriend's one.

[denoir 0]

Does anybody own one of those Tablet-PC thingies? I'm a bit tempted to buy one in the future. In that case it would be one that only has a screen and no keyboard.

I'm afraid that input might be very cumbersome.