What Laptop Would You Get?

Looking for a nice laptop

from WinCustomize Forums
I am looking for a nice, small laptop that has a lot of features, such as the Dell Latitude x300, but without as high as a price. Any suggestions?
laptops
37,924 views 78 replies
Reply #1 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I *just* bought a Dell laptop, Inspiron 6000. I wanted something smaller & lighter, but didn't want an integrated graphics card. If you're not too concerned with graphics, their 700m looks nice and compact. What I did was to get the latest Laptop magazine (or check them online) and look through some of their reviews. It just depends on what is higher on your list of priorities, what you plan to do with it.
Reply #2 from WinCustomize Forums Top
The price is still a little high . . . but I would not get anything portable that wasn't a convertable tablet. You make trade offs but once you use one . . . I wouldn't go back.
CursorFX - Customize your Windows cursor
Reply #3 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I don't need some of the features, I could probably part with onboard networking as I would have to put a card in it to have an external antenna anyways. The main things I want is the small, light, and the mobile processor. would go with anything over 700 mhz. It needs to have at least a 20 gig hard drive also.
Reply #4 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I could probably part with onboard networking


I meant onboard wireless
Reply #5 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I hate dell laptops. There are at least 5 dells in my hall here in college, every one is basicly brand new. The screens look worse then my dads old think pad from 7+ years ago, and on top of that, it feels cheap. Screen quality is what sets most laptops apart. Sony, gateway, compaq/HP as well as several other manufactors are using a new sceen technology which makes the old style obsolite. Sony calls it Xbrite, others have there own name for it. I have a Sony Viao with it, and it honestly looks more clear then my freinds desktop monitors. The new technology is brighter, clearer, and makes the screen veiwable from any angle (old laptop screens wash out like crazy if you are not looking at it from straight on).


Anyways, if your going the PC route, go with one that has the new screen technology. Me, I am waiting for mac to get ahold of the new screen technology, then I will be buying a 12inch powerbook.
Reply #6 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Snyder, I couldn't agree more. I'm a college student at the University of Illinois, and I have a 15" WS Toshiba Satellite. It works pretty well, aside from the fact that my clock runs fast...but I'm also saving up for a 12" powerbook...good luck!
Reply #7 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I got myself a Fujitsu Siemens Amilo M7400. It's jam packed with features, slightly on the heavy side (if your're lookin for a thin n light one) with a 15-inch LCD, and at a good price. The new screen technology is called TFT I believe, and yes visually it's way superior to the older ones. You can pretty much tell which one is which; normal LCD's have a dull and flat look, while the new ones have a shiny, reflective surface.
If you're looking for something light and have extra dough, get a Sony or a IBM ThinkPad, which'll give you 8+ hours of battery life, and good solid performace.
There is a pretty not so popular company called Averatec that makes nice laptops with 12" TFT, camera, Centrion 725. Retails for under a 1000 bux. I'm gonna get me one of em cuz they're good.
Reply #8 from WinCustomize Forums Top
What are you planning on doing with it? Word Processing, Games, Audio Editing, Mixing, Graphic designing, Web Development, 3D rendering, etc? Alot usually depends on your needs other then it being extremely portable.
Reply #9 from WinCustomize Forums Top
TFT is defaulting on all flat-screen LCD displays. It replaced passive-matrix LCD's a few years ago, which were basically a whole lot worse than todays's active matrix or TFT - it's out of compare, especially if manufacturers add up extra layers for crisper and brighter display, like x-black, or diamond technology ...
Reply #10 from WinCustomize Forums Top
For PCs I like the Gateways, which all have wireless standard.

Portable:
-M320 (most portable)
-M210 (widescreen)

Notebook/Tablet:
-M275

POWER: (smallest to largest size)
-M460
-M360
-M680 (most powerful laptop, most powerful I've ever seen overall)
-M520

Hope helps.
Reply #11 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I plan to use the laptop mainly for word processing, autoCAD, and to watch an occasional video. Thanks for the suggestions, I'll look them up!
Reply #12 from WinCustomize Forums Top
autoCAD


Then you would need something with powerful graphics, like:
Gateway M680 (most powerful laptop, most powerful I've ever seen overall)
Reply #13 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Link

17" wide screen
ATI X700 Graphics
512MB RAM
40Gig HD
Intel Centrino Pentium 1.6 GHz (new tech, feels more like 3GHz)
CD Burner/DVD player
$1399.99

And that's just the S model! The models are from least pricey to most

S
X
XL
Reply #14 from WinCustomize Forums Top
The question was "What Laptop Would You Get?" right?..LoL

Toshiba..I have owned 2 Toshiba laptops and never had a problem with them..

Would rather build one though, just because I like doing that sort of stuff..

But you know, they all have basically the same "stuff" inside "IBM compatible" this or that...I think when you go to choose your machine just look at the list of hardware within it..What chip is in it? "Pentium or Celeron"..etc.. what hard drive, what kind of RAM, MB..etc.. No matter the brand of "Laptop", if you pay attention to whats inside, more than likely you'll be able to choose a decent one.

Zero.
Reply #15 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I should also ask, what is the most you are looking at paying?
Reply #16 from WinCustomize Forums Top
the gateway M680 is nice, but I was thinking not much more than 1000.00, and I want something I can put in a car without taking up the whole seat . I like how small and feature-packed the x300 is, but maybe I am just dreaming if I want something that small for a low price .
Reply #17 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Right now you can get an M320 for $700 I think, used to be $1200
Reply #18 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I would have to have the M320X at least because I have to have a dvd player, and how long is the battery life on the M320, I couldn't find it on gateway's site, but with the mobile processor, would it have at least 4 hours of battery life so I don't have to have it plugged in all the time?
Reply #19 from WinCustomize Forums Top
The battery life is determined by what all you do

Like my notebook, I have the AMD 64 3400+ but it normally runs at 700mhz to save battery life. But if I do something while on the battery that requires more processing power, it will kick it up to where it needs. I've seen it at 1.6Ghz, 2.4Ghz, etc. So, you can't really go by what they say. If you only have a word processing program up, it will at least probably come close to the time it says. If you're thinking about doing graphics, opening and closing programs alot, things along that, be prepared to suck up more battery. I'm thinking about buying a new battery here soon for when I'm at school and can't get to a outlet.
Reply #20 from WinCustomize Forums Top
at least 4 hours of battery life so I don't have to have it plugged in all the time?

I comes with over 4 hours, but you can upgrade it to even more for $20

I would recommend upgrading to 512 megs of RAM, it is ESSENTIAL!

The M320 XL would be the jackpot deal because for $200 you get
-512 meg RAM upgrade
-80 Gig hard drive upgrade
-Faster processor upgrade
-DVD burner!!! upgrade

Oh, and I have to point out that it looks cute too.
Reply #21 from WinCustomize Forums Top
PS the Dell x300 is no longer made
Reply #22 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I noticed the x300 is no longer made and I perfectly agree with this:
-512 meg RAM upgrade
-80 Gig hard drive upgrade
-Faster processor upgrade
-DVD burner!!! upgrade


I want that stuff too
Reply #23 from WinCustomize Forums Top
looks like I'm going to have to spend some $$ if I want want to get what I want.
Reply #24 from WinCustomize Forums Top
oops, double post, I hate tying internet off wireless networks and then it decides to switch networks on me, how nice!!
Reply #25 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I'm going to have to spend some $$ if I want want to get what I want


Guess what that is?




Life.