Buying a New Laptop

[truebullfan]

So I'm in the market to get a new laptop. My Dell Inspiron 9200 has had some internal problems and has made it extremely slow. Plus I bought it back in December 2004 so its really time to get a new computer. Plus i'm going to graduate school.

I just want to get some advise and suggestions from you guys. My budge is $900 max. I don't have a preference btw Macs or PCs but w/ the specs I want its going too difficult to afford a Macbook. Plus Windows 7 is coming out and looks very promising so i'm heavily leaning towards a PC. Here is what I'm looking for...

-5-7 lbs
-15-16 inch screen
-webcam/microphone integration
-Good design
-Intel Duo Core 2
-4 GB Ram
-250 GB HDD or more
-Whatever graphic card will let me play Starcraft 2 when it comes out. I have PS3 so im not a big pc gamer but my laptop must be able to play this game.
- Full keyboard not required by would be nice.
-good battery life (3hrs)
-Slot drive CD/DVD rom
-some sort of coupon i can get so when windows 7 comes out in the fall I can get it for free. ( I know they did this when vista came out)

What are some other things I should be looking for? Brands? HP and Dell are the major brands. Also i'm not in a big hurry I can wait to buy until July.

[freakazoid12]

So I'm in the market to get a new laptop. My Dell Inspiron 9200 has had some internal problems and has made it extremely slow. Plus I bought it back in December 2004 so its really time to get a new computer. Plus i'm going to graduate school.

I just want to get some advise and suggestions from you guys. My budge is $900 max. I don't have a preference btw Macs or PCs but w/ the specs I want its going too difficult to afford a Macbook. Plus Windows 7 is coming out and looks very promising so i'm heavily leaning towards a PC. Here is what I'm looking for...

-5-7 lbs
-15-16 inch screen
-webcam/microphone integration
-Good design
-Intel Duo Core 2
-4 GB Ram
-250 GB HDD or more
-Whatever graphic card will let me play Starcraft 2 when it comes out. I have PS3 so im not a big pc gamer but my laptop must be able to play this game.
- Full keyboard not required by would be nice.
-good battery life (3hrs)
-Slot drive CD/DVD rom
-some sort of coupon i can get so when windows 7 comes out in the fall I can get it for free. ( I know they did this when vista came out)

What are some other things I should be looking for? Brands? HP and Dell are the major brands. Also i'm not in a big hurry I can wait to buy until July.

I have one of theese (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834152086&Tpk=gx620) I bought in feburary that i'm really liking so far. Can't say if it'll play Starcraft 2 when it comes out as the game's not out yet. It will (sorta) play Crysis if it's plugged in and the turbo button's on (~15fps at 1024x768 I think, chunky but playable)
can maybe get 3 hours of battery life without wireless and screen brightness all the way down, under load you can expect around an hour.

as to the cupon thing, none exist for that yet and I doubt any will for a very long time.

Honestly though, i'd say stay away from HP and Dell and Apple, hp and dell are sorta overpriced and Apple's very overpriced.

[davmoo]

I can't speak to your specifics because the new laptop I just bought, a Toshiba Satellite U405-s2856 (http://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-Satellite-U405-S2856-Processor-Premium/dp/B001CDAZQS), only has a 13" screen. But I **HIGHLY** recommend Toshiba laptops. I've had 6 of them now, and they've never let me down.

And on Apple being overpriced, it depends. If you compare the machines feature for feature, instead of pairing up, for instance, a PowerBoook against a Dell Netbook, Apples are actually priced fairly competitively.

[master811]

The Windows 7 upgrade coupon thing isn't available until the summer at the earliest, so you will need to wait until then if you want it. Currently the date it starts is about the end of June this year and runs until end of January next year.

[xcorvis]

I'm partial to Dells, and the Vostro line regularly has good deals on it. Watch deals sites like slickdeals.net.

If you can wait, I would. The Core i7 processors and dual-mode graphics cards (like in the Macbooks) should make things interesting in a few months as they drop in price and work into the midrange laptops.

[phil-mize]

the dell studio series might be something you wanna watch... I recently just picked up the studio xps 16 which is over your price range by a couple hundred but u can get the regular studios with 2.1ghz core 2s and 256mb video cards in them and 4gb ram for around 900. http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/laptop_studio_15?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&~ck=mn:D

[truebullfan]

the dell studio series might be something you wanna watch... I recently just picked up the studio xps 16 which is over your price range by a couple hundred but u can get the regular studios with 2.1ghz core 2s and 256mb video cards in them and 4gb ram for around 900. http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/laptop_studio_15?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&~ck=mn:D

thanks exactly what i was looking at. The design for XPS 16 looks really nice but i see it doesn't have a built in web cam. What's up w/ that? The studio 15 looks pretty decent for around 800-900 bucks.

I'm holding off right now until the summer and waiting for some kind of announcement when windows 7 comes out. I'm assuming it will probably come out in september but the sooner they have an official release the better chance computer companies start handing out coupons for windows 7

[broganmc]

thanks exactly what i was looking at. The design for XPS 16 looks really nice but i see it doesn't have a built in web cam. What's up w/ that? The studio 15 looks pretty decent for around 800-900 bucks.

I'd check Buy.com regularly for their refurb laptop deals. The have an HP Pavilion (dv-7 series) that keeps popping up (off right now but probably back in a week or two) that's very nice. A bit heavier (7.5 lbs) but with a 17" screen, 4gb RAM and a full size keyboard for $569. The lighter and smaller 16" G60 is up there now for $499 (http://www.buy.com/prod/hp-pavilion-g60-235dx-notebook-16-0-high-definition-lcd-2-00ghz-intel/q/loc/101/210914908.html).

The reason I mention these lappies is because I picked up the dv9 series as a refurb last year. Saved about $400-500 that way and it's been a dream. I got the dv7 model recently to replace my dad's work computer.

All the HP models have built-in webcams and dual HDD bays. The ones out this year also have HDMI ports. Work great on my Samsung HDTVS.

I use to only buy BTO laptops but the recertified refurb route has proven an even better low cost alternative.

[phil-mize]

thanks exactly what i was looking at. The design for XPS 16 looks really nice but i see it doesn't have a built in web cam. What's up w/ that? The studio 15 looks pretty decent for around 800-900 bucks.

I'm holding off right now until the summer and waiting for some kind of announcement when windows 7 comes out. I'm assuming it will probably come out in september but the sooner they have an official release the better chance computer companies start handing out coupons for windows 7

I've seen it in stores it does have a webcam... I thought that too and i was like wtf... but its listed on the website under the type of screen... also avoid the 13' it only has 1 usb port :(

[22phan]

Check out Costco.com offering

$800
HP Refurbished 17.0"
T6400 2.0GHz 4GB DDR2
Blu-Ray ROM Drive
Bluetooth
512MB NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT

DOES ANYONE KNOW WHAT THE NEXT WoW System Spec IS?

http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11471349&whse=BC&Ne=4000000&eCat=BC|84|56670|4774&N=4017754&Mo=6&pos=11&No=0&Nr=P_CatalogName:BC&cat=4774&Ns=P_Price|1||P_SignDesc1&lang=en-US&Sp=C&ec=BC-EC10590-Cat56670&topnav=

OR

MSI GX630-028US 15.4"W
Athlon QL-62A 2.0GHz
4GB DDR2 250GB HDD
4-in-1 Card Reader
512MB NVIDIA® GeForce 9600M GT


http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11377725&whse=BC&Ne=4000000&eCat=BC|84|56670|79295&N=4035047&Mo=0&pos=10&No=0&Nr=P_CatalogName:BC&cat=79295&Ns=P_Price|1||P_SignDesc1&lang=en-US&Sp=C&ec=BC-EC10590-Cat56670&topnav=

[truebullfan]

well looks like windows 7 is coming out OCT. 22th and the windows 7 upgrade coupon will be announced soon. Rumor is if you buy a computer starting in july you will receive a windows 7 coupon.

[truebullfan]

So im still figuring what configurations i want for my new laptop. Still looking at the Dell Studio 15.

Just had a couple questions for you folks about graphics card, processors, and RAM

Intel Core 2 Duo T6400 2.0 VS. Intel Core 2 Duo T6600 2.2 ($50 upgrade)

How much better is the 6600 over the 6400? Also if I upgraded the RAM from 4GB to 6GB will I see a huge performance increase to my system? expensive upgrade at $165. Or should I upgrade later or is upgrading a laptops RAM a hassle?

Also when it comes to graphics cards why would someone upgrade from the standard Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD to the 256MB ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4570? Is it purely for gaming or do colors look much better w/ the upgrade?

thanks guys

[davmoo]

Intel Core 2 Duo T6400 2.0 VS. Intel Core 2 Duo T6600 2.2 ($50 upgrade)

Unless you're doing really hard core processing like video editing or something of that nature where every bit of speed is needed, the difference between the two is going to be so insignificant that my personal opinion is its not worth $50.

How much better is the 6600 over the 6400?

The 6600 is .2 Ghz (200 Mhz) faster than the 6400. Other than that, they are identical. Same cache sizes, same front side buss speed, etc.

Also if I upgraded the RAM from 4GB to 6GB will I see a huge performance increase to my system? expensive upgrade at $165.

Again, unless you're doing video editing or something of that nature, no, you aren't going to see a big enough difference to justify $165. In fact the extra 2GB of ram will probably go mostly unused 99 percent of the time. And if you're running a 32-bit version of Windows or any other OS, you're only going to see about 3.3GB anyway. Unless you're doing something really hard core, 4GB is plenty on that laptop. And get the 64-bit version of Vista or Windows 7.

Let me toss this in with an edit. Right now I'm on a desktop machine with 8GB of ram. I've got two Firefox windows open with 14 tabs between them. I've got a Java weather radar application running (its a dark and stormy night where I live). I've got another application running that displays the security cameras that monitor my property. I've got a dozen other things like TrueCrypt and such running in the background. I'm still slightly under 4GB of memory usage.

Also when it comes to graphics cards why would someone upgrade from the standard Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD to the 256MB ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4570? Is it purely for gaming or do colors look much better w/ the upgrade?

Purely for gaming. Possibly also for video editing, depending on what software you use and whether or not it can use the GPU for transcoding video. If you're not going to game or edit video, however, you will see no worthwhile difference between the Intel chips and the ATI chips.

[truebullfan]

thanks for the advice. Interesting I was leaning towards getting the ATI graphics b/c I wanted to play Starcraft 2 when it gets released but ive heard my system still probably won't be able to run it. And thats the only game I wanted to play on the PC since i do all my gaming now on my PS3.

[davmoo]

The T-series processors are going to be a little weak for most gaming.

[truebullfan]

thanks for the advice. Interesting I was leaning towards getting the ATI graphics b/c I wanted to play Starcraft 2 when it gets released but ive heard my system still probably won't be able to run it. And thats the only game I wanted to play on the PC since i do all my gaming now on my PS3.