"cheap" high-end laptop
 

I'm looking to pick up a cheap high-end laptop. If anyone is selling something that they can no longer afford, or knows of a deal that is just too "hot" to pass up, shoot me a PM.

How cheap is cheap? I have been doing lots of laptop research recently.

Just bought at dell 9300 myself, powerful and was under 2k.

compaq gives you the most bang for your buck. And to head off the 300 posts to follow all saying how much compaq sucks, I have 4 that I've gotten over the years since the days of the 486, and they haven't died yet ;)

Dell
10% off Desktops and Notebooks :
Code X27TP??$C$XQ0LT ---------- 03/20/05
Extra $25 off refurbished Dimension 3000 or 4700 :
Code 8RH4J9F4Z27RDD ----------- 03/25/05

Not bad I guess.

5 finger discounts are "cheap" :hmm:
But seriously.
With laptops you get what you pay for.
Don't go for one of the house brands..
Anyways I'd suggest IBM, but there not cheap.. they are nice though..
It would help us if you defined what you are looking for. Big screen? fast proc, big hard drive, long battery life? do you care about graphics? sound? expandability? weight?
(currently typing on an ibm x31, a 3.6 lb 12.1" screen laptop(subcompact if you will))

you might check out places like fatwallet.com to see what deals are going on. sometimes these companies have some great offers.

If your gonna buy a Dell, wait for a bigger rebate of at least 15% off. They run a 20% off sometimes too, but i've only seen it once and should have jumpped on the offer but i didn't. The deals change every week, so just keep an eye on the Dell website's discounts from time to time.

Alright, to further narrow the idea down, the following things are important (in no particular order): Speed (and I'd PREFER and Athlon64, but it's not a requirement), 1GB of RAM, decent sized screen at least XGA, decent HDD space (60GB+), good battery life, good Video (preferrably nVidia, but ATI is also fine). This machine will be a true desktop replacement for me, for work, gaming and surfing. I've looked at Alienware and VoodooPC, and they both have the type of systems I'd like, but both are rather expensive (roughly $3000 for my preferred configurations).

I won't go into the name brand/house brand thing. All the major brands are resellers and provide little but a label and additional markup.

Current Alienware and Voodoo notebooks are made by Sager. Shop around for good deals with the ODM name. For your requirements I'd be looking at Sager or Clevo. A nicely configured Sager 4750 would be under $2100 (17",Radeon 9700,1GB,60GB 7200, 8xDVD RW+/- DL,3400+ AMD 64). Their 9860 is bleeding edge Intel w/your choice of PCIe video but it's $2500 and up.

When you say Desktop replacement, are you looking for something powerful, or portable?

I ask because I have an ECS laptop, except that it should more properly be called portable desktop replacement. It's a laptop computer, but it has no battery. And it is amazing. Everywhere I go there is a power outlet, so why bother with the battery?

Pros: Lighter due to no battery, desktop CPU and RAM (since there is no power limitation it doesn't need to use power-saving components), and lots of fans, again because power isn't a problem. And because of the desktop components and the lack of a battery, it is cheaper than the batter-powered versions. It also comes with AMD processors I believe. And if you prefer you can get a battery for the unit.

I've had 2 of these laptops and I regularly use them like desktops - on for weeks at a time, lots of peripherals plugged in, and no problems.

Check them out:
They call them i-buddies or desknotes - cheezy I know

Check out www.overstock.com -- their stock changes almost daily, so if you see a good deal you kinda have to grab it then -- a lot of their stuff is "reconditioned" or "open box" the equipment is in perfect working order, someone just may have opened the box on the floor of some store and they can't sell it as new anymore.

if not, Gateway used to do it, i know dell still does it -- check the major computer manufacturers websites for what they are selling - in the reconditioned department -- thismight be returned merchandise because the owner was too stupid to use it -- or other reasons.. i