ElwoodBlues

I'm looking to get myself a notebook relatively soon.

Basically I want the features I want for the best price. I want at least 512MB RAM, CDRW/DVD combo drive, at least 40GB hard drive, Pentium 4, integrated high speed internet.

Features and specs aside, which brands tend to have the best prices, and which are best for customer satisfaction?

Any advice is appreciated, thanks

sailor

Definitely not for price, but for best-you-can-buy: IBM. No questions about it. Look at the T series.

__________________
"Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws."
--Plato

beejay

I bought the IBM R40 and have no complaints whatsoever. I chose IBM because I do a little travelling and IBM is one of the more sturdy boxes I have used. They also have good tech support and a good product.

I haven't had one problem in the year that I have owned the laptop and have been in three countries and many domestic trips...

__________________
Pimps and Ho's - it's this generation's cowboys and indians

junglistic

have you thought about a mac?

I picked up a 14" ibook 1Ghz G4. Has 40gb hd, 32mb ati 9200, and i upgraded it to 768mb ram and airport extreme (802.11g). Total cost was around 1600 cdn (1200usd)

Dont let the slower processor speeds turn you off of macs. Thats a huge misconception. Panther is amazing, and ive found mac's over all to just be very well built and designed laptops. This is a great machine for school, and ive yet to come across an app that doesnt run great.

bendsley

I am currently writing this on a Dell Latitude D800 laptop. I configured the laptop and my work paid for it. No complaints whatsoever. The only thing I would tell you to be careful about is the wireless card that you choose for the notebook, because the Broadcom wireless cards do not work under linux without the NDIS wrappers. Works like a champ under Windows XP. I purchased the 2Ghz processor with 2mb of cache, certainly a speedy laptop. Does not overheat, 4 hour battery life.

I DEFINATELY RECOMMEND THIS LAPTOP.

BigGov

Do you want best price, or the best laptop?

The IBM T-Series is (in my opinion) the best line of laptops available. They are made far better than any other laptop, feel hard as a rock, and the keyboard is perfect. I'm not talking perfect for a laptop, I'm talking perfect desktops included.

It does not have a Pentium 4, or a Centrino, instead it has a Pentium M and a superior proprietary Wi-Fi connection.

So, for $30 you can buy a wireless router and be able to surf the web from your couch (very nice).

That, and I have NEVER heard anyone disliking an IBM laptop. Again, they are by far the best in my opinion.

Pricewise, Dells are good, Gateway is fine, and the Apple iBooks are very nice for the price.

My recommendations:

$1,000 - Apple iBook (where you can likely get the education discount...that they don't check...I've umm...heard...)

$1,500 - Either IBM T40 or IBM X40 (got to dig around on the site for a while but you can find a nice little deal. Or an upgraded Apple iBook

$2,000 - IBM T41

__________________
One day an Englishman, a Scotsman, and an Irishman walked into a pub together. They each bought a pint of Guinness. Just as they were about to enjoy their creamy beverage, three flies landed in each of their pints. The Englishman pushed his beer away in disgust. The Scotsman fished the fly out of his beer and continued drinking it, as if nothing had happened. The Irishman, too, picked the fly out of his drink but then held it out over the beer and yelled "SPIT IT OUT, SPIT IT OUT, YOU BASTARD!"

sailor

I agree with your assessment of IBMs. Ive used their laptops for upwards of seven years, and they are by far the best laptops I have ever used.

One thing though--Centrino is not a chip, its a certification that comes from, among other things, having a Pentium M processor. Basically, they are the same thing. My T40 isnt Centrino because the wireless card isnt one of the official Centrino cards, but everything else is the same as would be in a Centrino certified machine.

And those Pentium Ms kick some ass, too.

__________________
"Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws."
--Plato

platypus

Another vote for the IBM T40.

I bought this IBM T42 for $1700 a couple weeks ago
and added a 512 MB stick of ram for $175.
(Damn, the ram is down to $155 now.)

I use this machine mainly for work. It's fast enough to use
as an efficient development and demo platform
and light enough for easy travel.

__________________
Out the 10Base-T, through the router, down the T1, over the leased line, off the bridge, past the firewall...nothing but Net.