Shauk

Well, I'm saying goodbye to my sony vaio and it's tiny 60gb hd tomorrow, I'm taking the money + some of my tax return and heading down to fry's to see what I can pick up in the way of a target price point laptop in the range of 699-899

799 obviously being the sweetspot, since I figure with taxes, it's gonna hurt (i live in WA state)

One thing I'm seeing is that the core 2 duo processors are pretty much across the line outperforming the amd x2 equivalents, and I think I'm pretty set on a core 2 duo since I figure, HD, and RAM can be messed with later.

so right now it seems my primary concern is the screen real estate and the processor since those are pretty much permanent fixtures.

Anything else I should look for? any suggestions?

Cynthetiq

congrats on being able to do this finally!

as much features as you can get in a side by side comparison, especially if you are planning on walking out of the store with a machine.

IMO see if you can't find a deal online for that price point, you may be able to skip paying taxes if you buy it from newegg. Why give WA state $70 of that Federal Tax refund if you don't have to? That's $70 you can spend on maybe some new headphones or other gear.

I cruise slickdeals.net and techbargains.com daily, frys.com has these 2 good looking performers for $799.99

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Shauk

in store prices at frys seem to be lower than online because they have some returns/refurbs that they don't want. I don't have a problem with "almost" new computers as long as I get to check them out before I leave.

WA makes you pay tax on internet purchases anyways so theres no way around it now.

EDIT: apparently I was wrong, I just started a checkout with newegg and they only tax you if you are in the same state they are.

O.O

well I guess I've been doing business with locals after all.

I just consider it 70$ for expedited "instant" shipping

Cynthetiq

here's a dell

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Shauk

got a link?

Cynthetiq

http://www.techbargains.com/news_displayItem.cfm/112281

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Halx

Ideal properties of a laptop might include: size/weight, battery life, memory, CPU speed, graphics capabilities, and the amount of CRAP pre-installed.

Be vigilant to find a laptop that fits your ideals for each category.

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Shauk

crap pre-installed doesn't matter to me, 1st thing I usually do is download HWINFO, get a list of the drivers I need, and downgrade that shit to XP ;p

size/weight doesn't really matter to me either, i'm 6'6" and can bench your face :P this 12inch feels so pansy to me, more like a frisbee.

battery life is good, yes, but I've never had to use it for more than 2 hours.

memory is upgradable

cpu speed IS important, which is why i'm looking at the core 2 duo's

graphics are also a concern of mine at the moment, but that's a premium and really I'm like 2 parts away from having a home system that is more than capable of handling gaming so it's ancillary to me.

MAINLY what I want is processor power, as I'll be running programs for my VST/MIDI type programs along with my Torq DJ interface.

it'd be nice to have a big screen to watch movies here at work between calls though

vanblah

Shauk, I know that you do a lot of music. Are you planning on doing any recording with the laptop or just remixes and playback?

I purchased an HP dv9500 with two internal 7200RPM drives. One for the OS and storage (samples) and the other for recording and playback. But I use mine for live keyboard performance (with a PreSonus Firebox for sound). Also 2GB RAM. I spent a bit more than $799, but I'll bet that you can get a similar laptop configuration for much less now.

Two (internal) hard drives in music is a MUST. So is a TI Chipset firewire port if you plan on doing "pro" level soundcards.

Doug

Shauk

I have an external "soundcard" in a way via a M-Audio Conectiv, I know people say "ack USB latency" but it uses ASIO Drivers so it's pretty darn good for what I use it for.

Shauk

so... I got...

http://www.shopping.hp.com/product/r...kFvP!738984738

for 699$


new.


yay for in store sales

Cynthetiq

nice!!! congratulations!!!

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Shauk

my blog of that day....

Manic_Skafe

Awesome story Shauk - I've abused my dv1000 for over a year and I've been nothing but satisfied with it.

Hilarious.

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