Posted: 1/22/2005 7:56:59 PM EDT
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The wife wants a notebook computer. She wants a widescreen for DVD playing, I would like to play some games on it. We are taking a few long road trips soon and we were going to get a portable DVD player, but most of them have crappy reviews. So we decided to get a notebook instead. We have a Dell home computer that has had no problems at all, so we were leaning towards a Dell, but we're open to other options. What will it be?? Dell HP Toshiba Other I'd do a poll, but can't figure out how  .
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I have a Sony 2.8GHz. It's ok. I can't say anything outstanding about it other than XP has been very stable on it. My con's are the speakers while sounding good just don't have enough volume and the battery life sucks. I would have prefered to get a Dell Inspiron (or if I won the lotto, a Voodoo) but the Sony with the same features was a lot cheaper. |
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I am a total ThinkPad snob, with a capitol "S". I've owned 3 and swear by them. Solid, great software/driver support and as reliable as the sunrise. I'm typing this on a 2 year old T-22. BUT, you mentioned widescreen and I think the biggest that IBM offers is a 15" so that may not fit your specs. |
sony for desktop.
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Well all laptops are nice but if & when the time comes to repair them I can only recommend 2 brands! DELL & IBM I like Dell because their support is as good as bad support can be & they offer optional Complete Care( Covers all damage,accidents etc) IBM T Series thinkpads! Built like tanks! Solid & last forever( More expensive then Dells) IMO Better then Dell Sony, The worst driver support I have ever experenced & shitty screen hinges. Compaq/Hp Their business class isnt bad but their home user stuff is Crap!They have gotten better over the years! Toshiba's are hit or miss! Im mixed on that brand. Forget Gateway! What ever you do, Stay away from anything with AMD processors. Junk & I dont care what the computer comics say on how great they are! Just an opinion from preforming PC Hardware/Software repairs & support for 8+ years! PS: Need or Just Want the widescreen? |
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Thoughts: * If you watch some of the deal sites such as FatWallet.com every day, you'll come across a Dell deal within about 3 weeks or so. * Dell's special deals usually only last 1-2 days. * DVD/CD-RW - always nice to watch a DVD movie when your out somewhere * Lots of RAM...easy to upgrade though (once), so not a huge deal on the initial buy as long as there's a slot to expand. 512MB should be fine now, but in 2 years, you'll be wanting 1GB. * HDD space - 40GB should be fine. HDD's can be upgraded, but it's sometimes a pain on laptops. Most laptop users don't seem to put a ton of videos/MP3's on there. * Gaming: ---- video RAM is not an indication of video card performance. ---- Laptops with "embedded" chips such as the Intel Extreme Graphics and S3 and others are pretty sorrowful on the gaming today...let alone in 2 years. ---- shared video ram is dismal too for gaming ---- I'd be thinking about a minimum graphics chip of an ATI 9600 or nVidia 5600 ---- The mobile 9600 isn't quite up to speed of the desktop 9600...likewise the 9700 isn't quite up to 9700 speeds...the 9700 is more like 9600 speeds. Similar story for nVidia chips * CPU - The 1.7GHz Pentium-M is a nice chip. Gaming-wise, you may be happier with a 3.0 or 3.2 Pentium 4/Athlon 64...but battery life will suffer noticeably. * The Alienware stuff is pretty cool....plus in 2-4 years, if you wanted to upgrade...pay the parts, and they'll rip out whatever...video, motherboard, etc...and do the upgrade. They're really pricey though. * I always recommend the $200-300 2-3 year "drop it" warranty. Accidents can and do happen. If there's one that's hard enough on the laptop, it can be an $1100 repair bill (yeah, depending upon the problem). Here's a $1500 laptop from iBuyPower (not sure of their quality/service). For another $50, it configures to a P4 3.2 with a 9700 video card. I think eMachines (now under Gateway's umbrella) has an Athlon64 3000 w/an ATI 9600 for around $1200 these days. |
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toshiba--great stuff, expensive SAGER--most models are good, w/ excellent value for what you get, would recommed this one: www.discountlaptops.com/index.php?section=specs&model_id=1062&category_id=2&category_theme=c1--had one for 2 yrs, still running great; play JO online, and DVDs, EXCELLENT screen, full specs (at the time) for less that $1.8K dell--great CS, thier processors/motherboards have inadequate cooling systems from most of the dells i have seen, bad for gaming in that order sony viao seems nice, but i have no expierenvce w/ it to do a poll, go to your topic, "EDIT" and the poll option should be near the top right |
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I love my Sony VGN-A150. It's got the centrino M cpu and a wonderful screen. Important for me was a full size keyboard and DVDR. Was like $2k though. Watched a few DVDs on it when travelling. Awesome with a small invertor and headphones. BTW, my last notebook was an HP and it had an INCREDIBLE current draw when plugging the power supply into an outlet. It drew sparks and would occasionally piss off the invertor. No issues with either of two Sony notebooks I've used. Look for a good screen resolution. My Sony is 1200 x 800, nice and big and the DVDs look great on it. |
| Here is what you really want. www.sagernotebook.com/index.html |
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EMachines / Gateway have some kick ass widescreen models of in Intel and AMD64 platforms. Very tempting ATi Radeon 9600 with dedicated mem - But Don't get one! There is a known issue where the hinges keep cracking. A friend has one, loves it dearly, but it has been REPLACED 4 times allready for this problem. Otherwise it real does rock! 
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| I just got a new Dell Inspiron 9200. 17" monitor is perfect for games. My daughter like to watch DVDs on this also. Comes with an ATI Radeon 9700 video card so it can handle whatever. I also like the built in wireless network adapter. Nothing like walking around anywhere in the house while surfing. I have been well pleased so far. I looked at all the reviews and this one is best overall IMHO. There were some bad reviews on this computers monitor swga+ option. I opted for the standard swga and have not been disappointed. |
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Toshiba without a doubt. I went through this same thing a few months back and all the research I did pointed toward the Toshiba. I ended up with the A-75 and have been very happy with it, however the speakers suck. With that being said I have a desktop that I use for most stuff so the speakers don't matter to me much. Battery life is not great but having a wireless notebook that is this powerfull has replaced my desktop for most stuff even while I am home, it is a widescreen that they call something like high def., it is very bright and sharp, I compared it side by side to one of there m-series and the display on the m is not even close to the A-75, to say I am happy with this setup is an understatement! I picked mine up through Circuit city on sale and I think after rebates it was around $1200, I was leaning toward a Dell but once I set it up like my Toshiba I could not even come close in price. Computer shopper rated it as a best buy in desktop replacement notedbooks. http://www.toshibadirect.com/td/b2c/cmod.to?seg=HHO&coid=-27931&sel=0&rcid=-26367&ccid=1291021 |
Well I decided on a Dell, here is what I got: Inspiron 8600 Intel(r) Pentium(r) M Processor 715 (1.5A GHz),15.4in WXGA, Microsoft(r) Windows(r) XP Home Qty: 1 Unit Price: $1,479.00 Inspiron 8600 Intel(r) Pentium(r) M Processor 715 (1.5A GHz),15.4in WXGA LP15MHN [221-5903] Memory 512MB DDR SDRAM 2 Dimms 512MB2D [311-3184] Video Card 64MB DDR NVIDIA(r) GeForceTM FX Go5200 AGP 4X Graphics NV64MB [320-2901] Hard Drive 60GB Hard Drive 60GB [340-9637] Power Adapter AC adapter - 65w, 19.5v 65W [312-0176] Operating System Microsoft(r) Windows(r) XP Home WHXP [420-4766] [412-0408] [412-0689] [463-2282] [463-5866] Document Management Adobe(r) Acrobat(r) Reader 6.0 ADOBER [430-1048] CD ROM/DVD ROM 24X CD-RW/DVD Combo Drive with Sonic RecordNow 24COMBO [313-2182] [430-1050] Wireless Networking Cards Intel(r) PRO/Wireless 2200 Internal Wireless (802.11 b/g, 54Mbps) IP2200 [430-0916] Productivity Software Productivity Pack including WordPerfect(r) ICOREL [412-0714] Security Software McAfee Security Center with VirusScan, Firewall, Spyware Removal, 15-months MCAFE1Y [412-0740] Primary Battery 72 WHr Primary Battery 9BAT [312-0066] Limited Warranty, Services and Support 1Yr Ltd Warranty, 1Yr Mail-In Service, and 1Yr Technical Support ST111RR [950-9057] [950-3337] [950-3830] [412-0361] [960-2780] Dell Home Customers: Save 18% off this Dell Inspiron 8600! Expires on 2005-02-10 05:59:59 - $266.22 ADDITIONAL DISCOUNTS AND COUPONS Dell Home Customers: Free Ground Shipping on any Dell Inspiron order greater than $899! Expires on 2005-01-26 05:59:59 - $49.00 Dell Home Customers: Get free ground (3-5 day) shipping on peripheral items over $49! Expires on 2005-02-03 05:59:59 - $10.00 Dell Home Customers: Get free ground (3-5 day) shipping on peripheral items over $49! Expires on 2005-02-03 05:59:59 - $6.00 How is that video card? I will be playing games mostly on my home PC, I will want to play the games on the road, while my wife drives 1200 miles  .I'm thinking about changing my order to the 9200, but I'm finding a hard time spending more money on a notebook than I did for my home PC  . |
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I use an HP Pavilion notebook for everything. The widescreen looks good when watching Mine has a 60 gig drive, plenty of space for games. Trouble free and no problems at all. |
| I got the my 9200 for around 1700. Luckily they were running a special before Christmas, 25% off. You will like your 8600 but will miss the wide screen, especially if you like games and watching DVDs. I have never heard the speakers on an 8600 but the 9200 has 3 including a "sub woofer". They sound as good as any laptop speakers I've heard. Battery power is good but you will need an AC adapter if your on road trips. Games drain the battery fast! |
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I had an HP ZT3000 WSXGA, and it's awesome (for a POS Windoze machine). I now have a PowerBook, and while it doesn't have the same screen resolution as the HP (my one real non-Microsoft gripe with the thing), the fact it doesn't crash every ten minutes is a blessing which more than offsets it. I only wish I'd gotten the 17" instead of the 15". 
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The 8600 IS widescreen. |
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I've got a friend with the 8600 and another with the 9200. The GF5200 chip will let you play most games, but not at the the highest settings. And it's night and day when compared to the non ATI-nVidia chips. The 9200 is a big heavy brute for a laptop, but it'll play all of today's games without breaking a sweat. Both of my friends play games on their laptops and just love it. I've played games while on the road to now and then. First-Person-Shooters give me a major 3D headache though after a little while...hehe. |
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