In the Market for a Laptop

Suncho · Post by **Suncho** » Tue Aug 31, 2004 1:34 am

Hey guys. I'm looking to buy a laptop and I have a $1000 budget. I'm not planning on playing any games, but I do plan on doing programming, compiling, and running a lot of programs at once. Any tips on how to get the most bang for my buck?

Also, I don't know much about laptops. If I were to buy the parts and put it together myself, what would the parts be? Do you get motherboards separately? Is the LCD screen bundled with the little keyboard?

I'm really clueless. =)

EDIT: Oh I want the battery life to be long enough so I can have it on at school all day.

STRESSTEST · Post by **STRESSTEST** » Tue Aug 31, 2004 1:59 am

Suncho wrote:
EDIT: Oh I want the battery life to be long enough so I can have it on at school all day.

never happen

look at centrino models

Suncho · Post by **Suncho** » Tue Aug 31, 2004 3:24 am

What kind of battery life should I expect?

Tricord · Post by **Tricord** » Tue Aug 31, 2004 4:02 am

1.5 to 2 hours.

BUBBALOU · Post by **BUBBALOU** » Tue Aug 31, 2004 5:45 am

Centrino... that is all you look for(it's a Spec)

Oh and do not worry about Mhz:
1.1 Pentium M(in a centrino config) will rock a P4M 2.6

We were doing real world and benchmark tests with centrino models at least 2 months before they ever made a commecial or were available for purchase vs top of the line Laptops and Desktops

Then look at brand, stay away from HP, Compaq

stay above 256 ram or have at least a single chip config for future upgrade

other than that the only other thing I look for in a laptop is interchangable drive bays(cd/dvd/battery)
and docking station ablility

Tetrad · Post by **Tetrad** » Tue Aug 31, 2004 8:37 am

Tricord wrote:1.5 to 2 hours.

My dell inspiron 4150 has dual batteries (second one goes where the cdrom/floppy/whatever would go if you had it plugged in) and lasts me about 5 hours or so. Sucks that they don't sell it anymore.

If you're really concerned about battery life, look at the Apple laptops. Don't know if that would suit your programming needs, though.

Vander · Post by **Vander** » Tue Aug 31, 2004 12:20 pm

I have a Dell 600m centrino (1.4ghz, 512mb, 60gb) and if I turn the display brightness down, I can get over 3 hours on the single battery. The centrino laptops are a little more pricey, though. Dell has a 600m 1.5ghz, 384mb, 30gb, 32mb radeon 9000, for like $1200. Thats probably as cheap as you'll find for a decent centrino laptop.

I like mine.

http://www1.us.dell.com/content/product ... l=en&s=dhs

STRESSTEST · Post by **STRESSTEST** » Tue Aug 31, 2004 1:00 pm

Watch the Fry's ads suncho.. Oh, wait your back east now huh?

I just picked up a Toshiba satalite centrino. Specs were Centrino 1.5G, 802.11 b and g, 40 gig, 256, 15" WXGA that was normally 1400 for 1050 at fry's last saturday. Came with XP home on a toshiba recovery disc, not a stand alone disc.

Sold it for 1400 same day

Testiculese · Post by **Testiculese** » Tue Aug 31, 2004 2:47 pm

BE absolutely sure the screen's native resolution is high enough. Last thing you want is to be stuck at 1024x768 or some trash. For me, this is paramount to anything else the laptop has.

STRESSTEST · Post by **STRESSTEST** » Tue Aug 31, 2004 3:53 pm

I agree

stick with 15" or larger. Widescreens might fit the bill too.

Demand that you get atleast 1280x1024 out of it is it is a 4:3 screen. The compaq I am using now is 15" WXGA+ @ 1400x1050 native. It is fricken sweet having good rez on a notebook.

Suncho · Post by **Suncho** » Tue Aug 31, 2004 4:37 pm

So you guys recommend buying a fully built model rather than parts... or is it even possible to buy parts?

Vander · Post by **Vander** » Tue Aug 31, 2004 4:49 pm

I think it's possible to buy generic laptop parts. A co-worker of mine bought a generic laptop a few years ago. He had the choice of most of the parts, like chassis, motherboard, processor, etc.. but I'd have to say it was the biggest POS laptop I've seen.

I would go with a name brand with a decent warranty. You can get a pretty nice laptop these days for under $1000.

Mobius · Post by **Mobius** » Wed Sep 01, 2004 2:18 pm

Build your own.

FIC MB02 chassis. Very nice, thin and light Centrino laptop. You fit CPU, HDD, RAM and Wi-Fi module. Usually comes equipped with DVD/CD-R combo drive.

Magnesium chassis machine, very nice LCD. Great battery life.

Takes all of about 15 minutes to fit all the parts. All that's required is a straight-head and a posidrive screwdriver. VOILA.

I've made 5 of these machines and the only slightly poor thing about them is the 2 cent plastic HDD retainer. But I guess no one's planning on dropping their laptop from 2 metres...

Well worth it - and a lot of fun to spec out your own machine. Plus, it looks great too!

THG review: http://www.tomshardware.com/mobile/2003 ... ks-01.html

STRESSTEST · Post by **STRESSTEST** » Wed Sep 01, 2004 3:01 pm

great review mobi. Your notebook had the worst battery performance, something suncho is concearned about..

Mobius · Post by **Mobius** » Wed Sep 01, 2004 7:00 pm

Dunno why they had trouble with the run-down time stress. I *stress* tested

the first one I built, and it played a whole 132 minute DVD in full screen mode, and then played MP3s non-stop for 2 hours before winding down. This was while the Wi-Fi module was active too.

I guess another 30 mins to 1 hour without the Wi-Fi?

Haven't had any complainst from my clients, and sold the first one about 10 months ago. Go figure.

Defender · Post by **Defender** » Wed Sep 01, 2004 9:34 pm

My Dell Latitude 600 lasts ~3 hrs.

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