Time for a new laptop, any suggestions?

[Bader]

Chipp, I've got a Dell Latitude D630 which I have never had any problems with. The one gripe I will give about it, is that the lid gets scratched pretty easily. Well, easily is relative, I used to carry it in my backpack to class and I think the metal bindings on my notebooks did me in, so it may not be that bad.

Some things you want to pay attention to:

If you're looking for this laptop as something you carry with you every day or even a few times a week, weight should be a HUGE factor in your decision. Carrying around 8 pounds of laptop is a real pain. Usually the major factors that fall under this are the screen size (which also plays directly into the overall size of the laptop) and the size of the battery. Most companies will give you the option of a smaller cell battery, or a larger. The larger cell battery will obviously give you more battery life, but will be at least a pound heavier, if not more. The bigger battery also usually sticks out either the front of the laptop or underneath, most of them are usually integrated in a way that they look just fine though.

Battery life should be your second benchmark. I mean if you're buying a laptop and leaving it plugged in all day, why not just buy a cheaper desktop anyway right? One thing I strongly recommended in this area is to not buy the upgraded video card for your laptop. These will drain the battery a lot faster and will also produce an enormous amount of heat, which sucks. Another possible way to increase battery life is to look into getting a solid state hard drive. Solid state means that your hard drive is basically a giant USB drive, so there's no moving parts which will decrease the drain on the battery. Also what processor you have makes a difference as well. AMD's mobile processors are horrendous with power management, so I would recommend getting an Intel chip if possible.

As far as futureproofing, the best I can tell you is to get a dual-core processor and get at least 2GB of RAM. I normally buy a laptop from Dell with the least amount of RAM possible and then buy 2GB kits from newegg.com or crucial.com because you'll get a much better deal there. If you're using Windows XP the OS will only see at most 3GB anyway, so getting 4 is a waste. Vista on the other hand will see all 4, but well Vista is a waste, so yea

Otherwise just look for something you like. If you join the revolution and buy a Mac, just know nowadays the two platforms (Mac and PC) have the exact same hardware but you're generally paying 1.5 to 2 times as much for it because it has a big apple with a bite taken out of it on the lid.

One of the best things I can tell you is to just Google for 'D630 reviews' or whatever model you're looking at. A lot of those reviews out there are very thorough and usually quite helpful.

Best of luck in your search

[jdoggivjc]

This is what I plan on getting whenever my stimulus check decides to arrive:



HP Pavillion dv9700t. I know that it's a friggin' huge laptop, but that's kind of the appeal to me. I don't travel a whole lot, so I don't have to carry it everywhere I go. It's more so I can play with a computer while watching TV in the living room (right now the desktop is in a different room that we don't have a TV in). I love the fact that it has a 17" screen and especially love the fact it has a number pad (I hate the fact that most laptops don't have them).

Specs for the machine are 32-bit Vista, Intel Core 2 Duo Processor (2.0 GHz), 17.0" diagonal WSXGA+ High-Definition HP BrightView Widescreen Display (1680 x 1050), 2GB DDR2 System Memory (2 Dimm), 512MB NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GS, and 320GB SATA Hard Drive, for less than $1100 after my government discount. I do have the option of upgrading to the 64-bit Vista for free and upgrading to 3GB RAM for $50, but from reading previous threads I'm kind of wary about doing this as I've heard there are problems with the 64-bit, and the most I'll be using this for is web/graphics design (Adobe CS3 products) and some gaming.

I am open to suggestions on how to improve this setup (other than switching to an Apple - I don't roll that way )

[cloneluke80]

I highly reccommend Fujitsu, the Japanese know how to make laptops...

second would be toshiba, although they have gotten cheaper....

[ajk4st8]

Originally Posted by SouthernHawk

Dell Inspiron is great. XPS is good if you have the money and need a high performance machine.

Just bought a Dell Inspiron 1520 with a ton of upgrades for 600 bucks. We also used a Dell employee discount. Great computer. Fast, Big screen.

[Jeremy]

As somebody that has built PCs for over 12 years, my solid recommendation would be a MacBook Pro. There is no finer computing experience and you get the best of both worlds if you install XP or Vista alongside Mac OS X Leopard.

I am in a technical position at work, do programming and love to tinker but when it comes to the best all around value and experience, Macs are worth their money, now more than at any time in history (Intel processors and what the future holds).

[Jeremy]

Important Note...

The new lineup for all manufacturers will be coming out by mid July. Intel's new Montevina processor has just come out and all of the big brands are coming out with completely new designs with better specs in the next 2-3 weeks. Regardless of if you need the extra 5-10% increase in performance, you'll get better deals on current models and can compare them to their new replacements for styling, specs, pricing, etc.

Check out NotebookReview.com for the latest info on all of the new models and specs.

[AIT]

Anybody have experience with a tablet? I've never used one, but I'm thinking about getting one to take notes. Would that be a good idea, or would I be better off taking notes with a traditional laptop?