Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - Buying a laptop

Key · 07-03-2004, 02:06 AM

i'm at a friend's house and don't have time to give a whole guide on laptop shopping, but here's some quick things to keep in mind.

1. don't confuse centrino with celeron. centrino's what all the hype is about right now and what you see everywhere. it's one of the few new technologies that really makes a noticible difference. 4 hrs battery life vs. 2 hrs (may be up to 5 hrs now). built in wifi is an awesome convenience and doesn't suck up a valuable PCMCIA slot. processor rocks. i believe a 1.4ghz centrino is equiv to a 2.0 ghz pent desktop.

2. don't buy extra ram. buy it with as little as possible, and spend the money buying an extra stick you put in yourself. the install process is roughly 100 seconds. i'm not over-exaggerating. it depends on the laptop of course, but it's rediculously easy and way cheaper.

3. hp/compaq have the best value i've ever seen. gateway has a couple centrinos that will probably fit your needs as well. i tend to shy away from dells, all the ones i've seen look like cheap plastic. i'm not spending $1k to have a piece of machine that looks like it was built from the same material as a McDonalds toy. ibm is top if you can afford it. nothing beats it, this isn't just fan-boy talk either. it's pretty verifiable. (i don't own an ibm, but i wish i did). sony's are nice but overpriced.

4. know exactly what you want. figure out what screen size you want, and then resolution. XGA, SXGA, or UXGA. then SEE IT IN PERSON. this is incredibly important because you will not be able to change the resolution (well you can, but if you operate at anything other than native resolution, it gets blurred horribly). go to best buy, frys, circuit city, whatever. personally i run SXGA 15" (technically WSXGA, it's wide-screen). however the text is too small for some people, not enough for others. i suspect you will want a high resolution for text documents.

5. i spoke about wide-screen. keep in mind this IS available, it's just a tiny bit wider width-wise. great for dvds, some games also run wide-screen now as well. also allows for more text, excellent for programming or documents.

6. you should get a built in cdrw, but built-in dvd burners are becomming popular as well.

7. if there's a remote possibility you will use it for multimedia purposes, don't skimp on the video card. you're not going to be able to upgrade it.

8. buy it on a major credit card that has an extended warranty! huge deal.

9. the better the return policy the less risk you take. hp/compaq has 30 days no questions asked. they have fedex come by and pick it up- you don't pay a cent!

10. any questions, please ask! that should be enough to get you started though ...

07-03-2004, 02:06 AM	#8 (permalink)
Key Crazy	i'm at a friend's house and don't have time to give a whole guide on laptop shopping, but here's some quick things to keep in mind. 1. don't confuse centrino with celeron. centrino's what all the hype is about right now and what you see everywhere. it's one of the few new technologies that really makes a noticible difference. 4 hrs battery life vs. 2 hrs (may be up to 5 hrs now). built in wifi is an awesome convenience and doesn't suck up a valuable PCMCIA slot. processor rocks. i believe a 1.4ghz centrino is equiv to a 2.0 ghz pent desktop. 2. don't buy extra ram. buy it with as little as possible, and spend the money buying an extra stick you put in yourself. the install process is roughly 100 seconds. i'm not over-exaggerating. it depends on the laptop of course, but it's rediculously easy and way cheaper. 3. hp/compaq have the best value i've ever seen. gateway has a couple centrinos that will probably fit your needs as well. i tend to shy away from dells, all the ones i've seen look like cheap plastic. i'm not spending $1k to have a piece of machine that looks like it was built from the same material as a McDonalds toy. ibm is top if you can afford it. nothing beats it, this isn't just fan-boy talk either. it's pretty verifiable. (i don't own an ibm, but i wish i did). sony's are nice but overpriced. 4. know exactly what you want. figure out what screen size you want, and then resolution. XGA, SXGA, or UXGA. then SEE IT IN PERSON. this is incredibly important because you will not be able to change the resolution (well you can, but if you operate at anything other than native resolution, it gets blurred horribly). go to best buy, frys, circuit city, whatever. personally i run SXGA 15" (technically WSXGA, it's wide-screen). however the text is too small for some people, not enough for others. i suspect you will want a high resolution for text documents. 5. i spoke about wide-screen. keep in mind this IS available, it's just a tiny bit wider width-wise. great for dvds, some games also run wide-screen now as well. also allows for more text, excellent for programming or documents. 6. you should get a built in cdrw, but built-in dvd burners are becomming popular as well. 7. if there's a remote possibility you will use it for multimedia purposes, don't skimp on the video card. you're not going to be able to upgrade it. 8. buy it on a major credit card that has an extended warranty! huge deal. 9. the better the return policy the less risk you take. hp/compaq has 30 days no questions asked. they have fedex come by and pick it up- you don't pay a cent! 10. any questions, please ask! that should be enough to get you started though ...