laptops, which one? - Ford Forums - Mustang Forum, Ford Trucks, Ford Focus and Ford Cars

FalKeen · 11-17-2003, 00:18

am currently in the market for a laptop

main use would be for dvd's, typing up a fair bit of paperwork and letters etc, uploading photos off digital camera, maybe a bit of photoshop muck around, internet access, and a bit of music, mainly just a cool toy hehe but plans are to do a bit of studying, either at uni or elsewhere so would be handy

just wanted to get peoples first hand experience on brand and what things i need to make sure i get like certain amount of RAM and GB and the rest
dont know a heap about that sorta stuff but i still understand what your talking about (ill tell ya if i dont anyway)

the dells look pretty decent from what ive seen

cheers

EFFalcon · 11-17-2003, 00:26

Dell laptops are very good.
I have a toshiba laptop (p3 1ghz, 128mb ram (put another 256 in), 20gb hdd, dvd drive all the other usual laptop connections.
I've perfectly fine for everything i do, i've done 3d imaging work on it fine, photoshop fine, digital camera connects easy, basically does everything i want.
i've had it for neae 2 years now and have had 0! problems.

i looked at both Dell and Toshiba when i was looking at laptops and settled on the Toshiba as it had a few little things that i liked about it.
basically any "New" laptop today is going to be powerful enough for u to do everything.

what sort of money are u wanting to spend?

Phat XLS-ute · 11-17-2003, 00:38

my mum just bought a Dell,
2.6ghz
512 DDRAM 400 Mhz
geforce 5800mx video card
DVD + Dvd burner + Cd Burner
this thing is effin awesome'
4000 and its urs

Soxx · 11-17-2003, 00:49

I've owned a Dell for a few years and it has been good.
I'm just about to buy a new laptop and will be buying this -

HP Compaq Business Notebook NX9005 - Athlon XP-M 2000+ / 1.67 GHz -- 15" TFT active matrix -RAM 256 MB - HD 40 GB - CD-RW / DVD-ROM combo - integrated - Fax / modem - 56 Kbps - Network adapter - PCI - Ethernet, Fast Ethernet - Microsoft Windows XP Professional Stereo speakers.

Most crowds are selling it for between $2100 and $2400, however I found a place who has it for $1945, which is very good.

I do particularly want an AMD based machine though, so you might be able to find something cheaper if you're not fussy about the processor.

Rick.

russellw · 11-17-2003, 00:55

Having had a long list of the bloody things I decided to break the mould and head for the lightweight option and chose the Panasonic W2 toughbook. 980g, Centrino equipped, 5 hour battery life and CD-RW/DVD cleverly hidden in a water/dustproof titanium case.
Screen is small at 12.1" but it fits in a briefcase and does everything I want it to do - not cheap at $4k+ but it suits me after a lifetime of 2.5 Kg monsters.

Cheers
Russ

Soxx · 11-17-2003, 01:27

Quote:

Originally Posted by XTS220

I had a Compaq Similair to this spec which was purchased in June this year, well it was such a pile of rubbish. It was noisy, had a terrible screen *15 inch*, and the battery life was no good at all. So I bought a new ACER Travelmate 290 with Centrino (wireless connectivity), 30 Gb Hdd, 15 Inch TFT, DVD Burner and a heap of other stuff and its the best laptop ive had. Over the last three years Ive had 1 x IBM (average), 3 Toshibas (average), 1 Compaq (SHITBOX), and 2 Acers and id have to say that the Acers are the best overall.

Awww, I don't wanna hear that......
Do you think you had a lemon, or do you feel it was just a shitbox?

Not many are AMD based, and that 'appeared' to be one of the better ones.

Rick.

honer · 11-17-2003, 01:30

If you've got the bucks go for a Toshiba, very robust and good quality.

Whatever you get, make sure its "Mobile" CPU equipped, the cheaper ones are not and are heavy, run hot, use too much battery power etc.

Or if you got really big bucks, go Centrino equipped one as russellw said.

chrispie123 · 11-17-2003, 01:33

just dont get one with a gforce(NEFIN) video card they double up the driver to get 128meg for example its only a true 64 i returned a video card geforce 4 and went to an ati raedon 9200 se much difference

flavze · 11-17-2003, 02:37

Make sure it's got a seperate video card an doesn't use intergrated graphics as this will use up your RAM.
Alot of lower spec an some higher spec Dell's use intergrated graphics.

EFFalcon · 11-17-2003, 02:40

get one with a Pentium M, the ones that they have at work now have a bettery life of about 7hours when they're not doing much work!!!!