Laptops
 

I have basically decided to get a notebook instead of a desktop for my next machine.

Not sure how much to spend. As it stands $2000 would be an absolute cap, and it seems that spending less that $1400 would be a waste of my time.

I'm probably going to go for some kind of pentium-M, a solid amount of ram, at least a 40gb hd, and good video.

So, what would you guys recommend?

Sony vaio all the way....i love might and yes it has taking a beating...and has never failed.

I have owned, and sold, several notebooks, all Thinkpads. I cannot reccommend IBM anymore. IBM really has a problem with customer service as of the last two years.

Dell looks good, just make your own decision. You can spec a notebook anyway you want, like building a desktop.

Regrettably, I can no longer suggest the IBM Thinkpad in good consience.

Dell is a very good way to go. They make a solid laptop. One caveat tho, Don't go looking for a gaming machine in a laptop. While they have high speed main processors, they definitely lack in the graphics dept. JUST MY OPINION.

I like Sony Vaios, only if you do a clean wipe of the HD and reinstall the OS and needed drivers only. Sony puts way too much garbage software on their machines. I still like the IBM Thinkpads but agree customer service has gone downhill. If you "know" computers I'd go with Sony or IBM. <p>
If you just "use" computers go for the Dell. Customer service is pretty good, there is a wide variety of machines. I'd make sure I got a CDRW/DVD combo drive. The Inspiron 8500 looks nice. Good vid card and a pretty big screen. <p>

edit to include that Dell's web special on this model includes free 40GB HD upgrade and a free combo DVD/CDRW drive. With a rebate it's under $1400 by a hair. To me it is amazing how low the prices on laptops have fallen.

I've been a big IBM fan all my life and I still think that they make the best laptop, IF you can afford it.

We have Dell's at work and other than the constantly breaking keyboard, which they fix quickly, I like 'em sorta.

Still, bought my mom a Thinkpad X30, just cause I know IBM will take care of her when I'm not avalible for tech support.

www.sagernotebooks.com

These are hellacious beasts. Don't expect much in the way of battery life, but POWER!!! Whoo HOO!!

MPEDrummer

I like my Sony Vaio, paid $1499 for it a year ago. Ended up installing Linux on it last week and I love it more now.

Sonys are nice but I would have perfered a Toshiba. Would have liked a GF4-2go instead of a Radeon Mobility. Toshibas are much more sexeh too ;) I have a friend that has one and he loves it.

just make sure you get a decent gfx card and not like a ati mobility M6 thats common shipped with laptops around that price point. as i got in my hp ze5185 ( dont get an HP :) )

the sager ones are cool, thats what alienware 51m is, cept cheaper, but heavy

dells are good

toshibas are really good.

once i finally got my HP working, replaced ram, lots of driver fiddling around its settled down, but the GFX sucks major donkeys and the HD speed is pitiful, so i ordered a 51m instead.

sony: very good and they have amd but expensive

dell: great quality and support, they always have some 10% off coupons and/or dollar off coupons. They have most of the time around $250 (sometimes even $400 and more) Mail In rebate but don't count on those money cuz there is 50/50 chance that you will get it back. also don't buy their 5100 and 1100 models because they use desktop pentium 4.

hp: you can always get some cheap ones in staples and they have amd but their videocard and sound sucks. they have at least $100 MIR + free usb floppy disk + staples coupons and their rebate center is great too.

Sorry to here about you experience with hp's MINE Rocks! xt375
Paid under $1300 a while back.
2.2pentuim 4, 15"monitor has all the hook up built in, firewire wirelesslan, dvd-cdrw etc. Great machine, if you can find it.
Rock solide reliablity.. this is my third HP
I would never, never, never however buy another COMPAQ ever.
(Same company, I know, but hp's have been just a joy on my end.

Thanks for the input. My dad works for motorola, and they always give him solid IBM laptops, and he swears by them. Nevertheless, I was mainly looking at toshiba and dell.

I'm hoping the pentium-m will be a bit cheaper in a month or two when i finally get around to buying it. Those things have amazing battery life. Certainly, I'm going to get the best mobile video card I can manage. When it comes to games, I'll still have my desktop with its radeon 8500 over the summer. However, during school, I don't play too many games, so i figure weaker 3d isn't a problem.

Oh, and one other question. PortWineBoy said wiping out a vaio is a good way to go. I didn't know you could do that to laptops. I'm all about not having tons of crap on my machine. If I were getting another desktop, I would build my own and load it with illegal software.

So, can you wipe out laptops and reinstall? Does it void the warranty?

actually for gaming, alienware makes a laptop with a desktop p4 in it.. hard drives are the limiting factor of laptops.. last time i checked laptop hard drives only run at 5400 rpm. Dell make great laptops for great prices.

Dell is looking increasingly good. The 8500 Inspiron has a $350 rebate atm.

On laptop video, I went to best buy, and found a nice sony that had 3dmark 2k1 on it. It was a pretty beefy system on the whole, with a 2.6 ghz p4 and 512 mb ddr, along with a mobility radeon 9000. It scored 7416, and ran the benchmarks without a hitch.

I got a Sony Vaio PCG-V505AX for $1800 and I love it so far.

Absolutely awesome.

iBooks are nice, and priced well too. I've had mine for more than a year, my first Mac, and love it. It's sturdy, light, thin, and extremely useful.

Toshiba all the way. I'm surprised they're not more popular, they really do have the best features and specs for the price.

I'd recommend a Thinkpad. They, in my opinion, are the most sturdy laptops around. You need solid hinges where the screen opens, and Dell just doesn't have them. IBM also has the best keyboard.

I've supported a fleet of Dells and Compaqs, and a couple of IBMs.

I didn't like the Dell machines because their cases were flimsy. In a couple of months, the displays would be wobbling at the hinges.

The Compaqs were tanks, although it was their business class model (I'm typing this one a 2 year old one now, still like new).

The IBMs were nice as well. Had to do one service call on one, which they sent someone onsite the next day to take care of.

I've heard good things about the VAIOs, and the Sagers look really cool.

get something with centrino. a 1.3ghz centrino processor can outperform a 2ghz p4... and it's got all kinds of integrated goodies like wireless networking that are great for laptops.

Alienware laptops are awesome performers, but their battery life is total shit.

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I think if there's a model that you like and can afford then nothing will beat an IBM thinkpad. The ones that I've had a chance to use were built like tanks and performed flawlessly while taking the daily bump and grind of being on the road.

Never had an experience with IBM support or service as I could drop off my notebook at the help desk and pick up another.

I now have a Dell since I'm buying my own and couldn't justify the cost of IBM personally. They are very competitive performance wise. Build wise there's more plastic so things don't feel as solid.

I have dealt a few times with Dell support and have had good experiences always. But my notebook is in the latitude line and support is from the business side. I have heard from others that the inspiron line support is different then the business support.

If you are looking for a laptop to carry a lot stay with the mid-weight laptops. In the Dell Latitude line it'd be something like the C600 series or an Inspiron 4100 (~6lbs laptop only). The Inspiron 8500/Latitude C800 series laptops(~8lbs laptop only) are absolute beasts to carry daily. I had a C800 and now have a C610. The difference in what I carry is incredible even though it's only two pounds. With a combo DVD/CDRW the lighter laptop has all the capabilities of the heavier one except for screen size. Which was worth the sacrifice to me. Video is good too both Dells I have. Not anywhere near desktop performance but all my FPS are playable at 800x600 or 1024x768. Quake3, CS, UT2003 have all been enough to distract me when I needed it.

As I'm on this I'm on an older IBM T21, does the job well and build quality is good.
Having dealt with all sorts in the last 5 yrs (comp, tosh, dell, sony, etc). I think you can't beat the IBM for quality and "thunkability" (The ability to get whacked and still go). The Dells are good for budget but I feel the build quality is a little less desirable.

Yep wipin' is by far the best way to go. As far as I'm aware it won't void the Hardware warranty, but as you said you may put less than compliant software on it there may be some tricky questions to answer to the support guys ;).

TIP: Make sure you get a hardware list and have at least enough drivers to get you back on the net after wipin' it.

Alienware laptops are nice, but they are just Sagers with a cool color and a couple of hundred extra slapped onto the price.

Dell 600m try the www.fatwallet.com forums for deals and coupons on all sorts of computer stuff

If you want mobility, you could go with a 12" Apple Powerbook, or an iBook for that matter.

I've got a Sony Vio PCG-GRZ530.

I love it, its awsome.

I have to agree thats theres tons of shit preinstalled. I wiped the HD and put WinXP on it (came with home edition) and just reinstalled the stuff needed to get the JogDail and function keys working.

Check out the GRZ 530 like I have. They just got replaced with a model that has a 2.2 GHZ instead of my 2.4 and a 40 GIG HD instead of a 30 like mine. the newer ones don't have the JogDail, which I love. If you can find a 530 GO FOR IT!! they are probally going for around $1400 now if you can find them anywhere.

Let me strike a different note by saying that the Sony Viao is not what it is made out to be. The build quality is questionable and I have had cooling fan fail on me. Ridiculous.
Besides, Sony sucks, so there :D

I'd happily go for IBM(upper range) or Toshiba.

I think the Vaios are kick ass bang for their buck... I'm satisfied w/ the one I've been using, albeit only temporarily.

No doubt. Toshiba. I have had mine for a number of years. Never had a problem. Never. Does what it is suppose to and the price was right.

My only experience with warranties in this regard is Compaq as I've yet to have one of my IBMs serviced. (I support >50 notebooks, we just got rid of Compaqs for IBM, have a few Sonys). <p> On numerous occassions I've told Compaq support that I "ghosted" (wiped, installed my own OS image)a machine. They never said a word about it voiding anything. Now if I crack the case, that's a different matter. All the manufacturer really cares (in regards to warranty) about is the hardware. Anything software problematic winds up with "use the restore CDs that came with the laptop." At most they might care about your OS license but I can't imagine that happening. Just tell them you installed Linux. You pay for the OS license, it doesn't say you have to use it. Just don't expect Sony tech support to hold your hand if the penguin is on your boot screen. IBM might though...<p>and if for some reason you might want to run Linux, download the CD bootable version, Knoppix, for fun. Once I saw that my Compaq Armada M700 would work pretty well (wireless card and all) under Linux, I couldn't wait for my Mandrake downloads to complete. Knoppix doesn't change anything and the whole OS loads from the CD. I've since pasted over my M$ license with a penguin sticker. Doesn't help me get laid more often tho. :(

I've seen so much stuff on Sony laptops. I've had no so good experiences supporting them here at work. Sony and Micorsoft don't often play well espically in regards to system updates.. Be careful there. I have and have purchased for work 3 Alienware are 51M and the rock. I have the P4 2.4 w/1GB RAM and teh 40GB HD. If you can swing teh extra $600 I recommend them to anyone.. Batterylife is short about 1.5 hours but I get nearly 3 hours with the second battery installed. and teh performance is unmatched in any "mainstream laptop.

sony vaios are very nice if you are looking for x86 a chaeaper option would be dell notebooks. I would also consider powerbooks as they seem rather tempting right now :)

A thought on Dell laptops from a friend of mine who supports a boatload of them at the University here...
Latitudes = decent
Inspirons = crap

I used to work in a busy repair shop and had my hands on all sorts of notebooks, but that job ended 4 years ago so I have to say I'm somewhat out of the loop.
My present employer is among other things an Acer wholesaler and their TravelMates seem to be excellent units. I bought one for my mom and she's been absolutely pleased with it.

My own "portables" include a Toshiba 6400DX (486 luggable laptop, no battery - strictly plug-in), a frightening homebrew K6 lunchbox, and a Fujitsu Stylistic 1200 pen tablet.

After the garage sale I'll eventually get around to having to offload much stuff, I plan on getting a white-box laptop.

i'm getting a area-51m

I have had an old Toshiba Satellite 700 MHz Celeron for a couple of years. The damn thing is indestructible. My 2 year old had put it through many torture tests. It works as well now as when it was new. Not much for gaming, but it runs anything else.

What's the hype with - centrino processors and hyperthreading?

What is the best graphcs gard (for gaming) on a laptop?

I want to purchase a laptop that won't be out dated anytime soon, what minimum specs would ya'll recommemd?

what exactky are the benefits of a wireless system?

according to what I have read the centrino is supposed to be the fastes and most power efficent set up for laptops, supposldy beating out those whith the desktop cpus in them.

Go for a Toshiba Sattelite Pro. Its a bit heavy, but what do you expect for a laptop with a 16" display? Plus, Toshiba's laptops are damn Industrial grade machines. I haven't come across a laptop that well built yet. There's a Pro model perfect for gaming too. Its basic spec is something like:

P4 2.0Ghz,
64Mb Geforce 4
512 RAM (max upgrade: 1024)
with the usual assortment of disk drives and ports etc.

In my experience,
Acer = crap
Dell = decent (and they've got the best customer support of ANY laptop company)
HP = crap (because its only a repackaged COMPAQ, which is the crappiest of them all)
VAIO = decent. If you want a multimedia workstation and you have other Sony products, (like a digicam etc) then its more than decent.

I've worked with all these machines before, and Toshiba and Dell are the only laptops I would recommend apart from a Mecer, which I dont suspect you have cause its built locally here.