Wich laptop?

[mindgam3]

Ok, i've got a budget of about £2000 for a laptop for uni. Weight and size isn't really an issue, but it would be nice to have something relatively slim and good looking ;) Needs to have at least a 1.5Ghz processor, about 1gb or ram, a desent graphics card and a HD above 60gb. I need wireless and regular netowrk connections and at least a 15" screen.

The best i've come up with so far is the Apple powerbook G4:

• 1GB DDR333 SDRAM - 2 SO-DIMMs
• ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 128MB
• 80GB Ultra ATA drive (5400rpm)
• DVD-R/CD-RW
• AirPort Extreme Card (wireless)
• Backlit Keyboard & Mac OS
• 1.5GHz PowerPC G4
• 15.2-inch TFT display
• 56K internal modem

Has also bluetooth and regular, firewire and USB connections for just under £2000. All in all this is the best i've found.

Can people please comment on this selection and state some alternatives if possible. I've also been looking at VAIO's and IBM thinkpads...

What ya reckon?? ;)

[X-ale]

/\/\ You fruit!!! :wink: L$2000 is how much USD?! Never mind:

2,000.00 GBP United Kingdom Pounds = 3,672.41 USD United States Dollars
1 GBP = 1.83621 USD 1 USD = 0.544601 GBP

Gimme a sec and i'll re-edit with THE beast for your $

Check this out:

For $2,975.00

Area-51m

Processor
Intel® Pentium® 4
Processor @ 3.4GHz

Operating System
Microsoft® Windows®
XP Home Edition

Memory
1GB DDR PC-3200

Hard Drive
60GB 7200RPM with
8MB Cache

Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce™
FX Go5700

Optical Drive
4X DVD+RW Drive

Dimensions
(W)13.8"x(D)11.4"x(H)1.6"

http://www.alienware.com/Images/product_detail_page_images/area-51m/hdr_shot.jpg (http://www.alienware.com/product_detail_pages/Area-51m/area-51m_features.aspx?SysCode=PC-LT-AREA51-M&SubCode=SKU-EXTREME)
(click for more info)

[X-ale]

/\/\ Dell is like a plastic wrapped sandwich you buy at the corner store or the supermarket. No mather how good it looks, they always taste bad. :P

[mindgam3]

mmmm that alienware laptop looks nice ;)

Not too sure about buying from a relatively unknown brand. I built my last pc up from components myself and it proved not to be very reliable, i want something that will last and will give me minimum hassle, i'll look into it though ;)

So so far the contenders are:

Apple Powerbook G4 15" (just under £2000)
Alienware Area 51m Extreme - £1980
Some vaio
Some IBM

I havent' quite found the right IBM and vaio yet, can anyone find me a desent set up for these 2 for my budget?

[X-ale]

Alienware is the* pinnacle in hardware among hardcore gamers and they very are well known dude. Have you clicked the blue magic button at the bottom of the page and checked out the other configurations?

* ok maybe not the but among the top 10 that's for sure and well above your other choices there.... just ask around

[oscargarza88]

^
yep i agree if u have cash go 4 the alienware!
or mayb savrow.com is also good, i thin thats were jabba had his desktop "made", not too sure. but alienware is on my "to get" things.
if u want something more normal go with the toshiba 17 inch its cool.

[5vz-fe]

Alienware is the* pinnacle in hardware among hardcore gamers and they very are well known dude. Have you clicked the blue magic button at the bottom of the page and checked out the other configurations?

* ok maybe not the but among the top 10 that's for sure.... just ask around dude/

Yup...Alienware is well known in the gamers world.

[mindgam3]

nice, i see it comes with a 3 year warranty and 24/7 assistance ;) can't be that bad, and i admit, the specs look mighty impressive when you compare them to better known brands.....

I'm jsut finding some reviews now ;)

The area 51m extreme is the best notebook they do correct? (+/- options)

[X-ale]

^
yep i agree if u have cash go 4 the alienware!
or mayb savrow.com is also good, i thin thats were jabba had his desktop "made", not too sure. but alienware is on my "to get" things.
if u want something more normal go with the toshiba 17 inch its cool.

Yeah the toshiba has an impressive sized screen. would be my second choice but i haven't checked that savrow you mentioned yet

[X-ale]

The area 51m extreme is the best notebook they do correct? (+/- options)

Yup and prolly the best period. With the 3.2G/2.5Mb cache and full option it certainly is cuz it's the only1 you'll have that tweaked out and under warranty. The only thing missing is the ubercool liquid cooling system :shock: And onboard tissues for the drooling and extra :wink:

[mindgam3]

hmmm just been reading a few customer reviews from several sites n the general feeling i got was they're not overly reliable and the customer support/warranty is useless.... something i don't want when spending 2g on a laptop

[crazidude]

I wouldn't suggest an Alienware laptop. Yes they're powerful and all, but they're aimed mainly at gaming. Therefore battery life is less, it gets pretty damn hot I'm assuming and it's pretty heavy I'm guessing. I personally think Dell or Macs make the best laptops. I don't like Dell, but from what I've read they make damn good laptops.

[TransAm]

Laptops - I'd go for the Alienware if it was me choosing but only cos I like to play lots of games!! I had a high end Advent from PC World. I might be wrong but I was told they are made by Toshiba for PC World (by a mate, not by PC world!) It was fine, reliability-wise and my dad still uses it 4 years on with no problems. It cost 2100quid at the time.

Good luck !

[Jabba]

Try www.savrow.com who built my 4.0 ghz....they kill anything in terms of benchmarks from alienware or anyone else for that matter.


http://www.savrow.com/images/feature/katanaWXsm.jpg

[oscargarza88]

hey yea i had it right, i remembered..., sav row ive neverf seen any in person, but if ur computer is that brand then it has to b really good. but why didn tu get a toshiba laptop?

[No.1]

Mindgam - Look at Savrow definitely.

The Razor looks great and has aa very decent spec for about £1500.. they also look great and their servicing seems to be great. Have a look in the Savrow Forums at the client feedback... most seem happy :D

[Jabba]

Did you see my posts there under the name of swordfish ?

The reason I went for the Tosh was that a savrow laptop would have been too overkill for what I wanted.

[No.1]

Did you see my posts there under the name of swordfish ?


i just found it now... before that i was wondering why you hadn't posted there :lol:

Here is the link :arrow: http://www.savrow.com/forums2/viewtopic.php?t=51&start=15&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=

I recognise the setup... and the cars :twisted:

Nice long topic for me to get stuck into... oh, and i like your chair :wink:

{EDIT} I just read the topic... the talk soon moved to cars and some great publicity for JW :wink: And they copied our...sorry, your, forums :D

The pics you posted there are great, the Screens look great too.

That chair is a monster though :twisted: "Microprocessor etc"
My chair was £15 from staples... about 7 years ago. that works out at about £2 a year :lol:
The guy whose dream car was an F50 (but a GT)... he's just like you :D

WTF happened to the 355 :?: I didn't know about that accident :shock:

i like your opinion of the Gumball.... "Having seen how some of the cars end up..... its the sort of thing you want to do in someones elses car rather than your own. If I could afford to wreck a Ferrari though (paint work) then yeh I would love to do it." Well... if you want somebody else's car, you can drive the Corsa and i will drive your lambo.. that way you don't have to drive it :wink:


ALSO.. here is my specced up Razor. Pretty much top spec apart from the HD and only 1GB (instead of 2GB) of RAM.. not bad IMO. Oh and i didn't paint it :wink:

http://img65.exs.cx/img65/4373/razor_config.th.jpg (http://img65.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img65&image=razor_config.jpg)

[mindgam3]

hmmm, it doesn't have a dvd writer tho :( although they're laptops do look very nice. Very tempted by their 17" katana ;) Although not sure if i want something that bulky

[Jabba]

And they copied our...sorry, your, forums :D



Nope... you were right first time....its "our".....were an internet family here remember :wink:

[antonioledesma]

CENTRINO!
If it's for school, then you'll be happy with some battery life!
A 3.4 P4 eats power & those laptops are heavy! And that alienware isn't even a mobile, that things gets hot like hell!

If you buy a laptop, be sure it has a mobile cpu! P4 M or Centrino

If your first "restriction" is school and you have to carry it around the campus, as thamar says, go mobile an light. I sometimes regret I bought last year a toshiba that weighs a lot (almost 3 kilos), after a while carrying it around you'll get tired and wont be able to only put it on you backpack without throwing things

[No.1]

And they copied our...sorry, your, forums :D



Nope... you were right first time....its "our".....were an internet family here remember :wink:

Thanks Daddy :P

Mindgam.... the katana has a P4 so it won't work too long away from the plug, and as said in one of the forums on Savrow.. "It is a true desktop replacement" :D

The Razor's lack of DVD-RW is a shame, and Savrow have said that they have not got one in the pipeline, but can offer an external solution :|

Anyways... i hope you get a great laptop, and be sure to post specs/pics on here when you do buy it :D

[mindgam3]

hmmm think i'm gonna go for the mac powerbook, it does everything i want plus its stylish and light and ultimately more stable than a windows based laptop and i can use pc applications on it with virtual pc. I do like the vaio a series but they're too bulky and the lighter models don't offer the performance i want. The razor is great, and would probably be my choice as it's cheaper for roughly the same performance as the powerbook. But the fact it doesen't have a dvd writer and the fact it isn't a well known company (even tho all reviews are good) are little niggles that would put me off buying it...... We shall soon see ;)

[cooperluke]

I think that, amongst the "normal" laptops... Asus are one of the best! I know lots of people with Asus and they never had any kind of problem with them. I have one and I am very satisfied!

[Xploded]

Yer im with cooperluke on thise one, im looking into getting my self a laptop soon and every brand I look at I keep comming back to Asus they look so nice.
And I think this will be my option when I go to fork out that cash he he :D :D :D

[PyroZona]

Mindgam - I just have one suggestion for you regarding the Mac laptop. If you haven't played with the Mac OS yet, you should really do so. You didn't mention if you'd had any experience with the Mac OS, so I thought I'd point out that it's got several little things about it that make it quite different than a Windows system.

Honestly, I used to be a HUGE Mac person back in the day...but after spending a lot more time on Windows systems, I got very accustomed to doing things in a Windows environment. Also, since I mainly use my laptop (which is a Dell Inspiron) as opposed to a desktop, I have come to really love using a trackpad instead of a mouse. So, when I happened across a 17" Mac G4 laptop for a good price not too long ago, I snatched it up happily! Then, through using it for a while, I found a few things that drove me absolutely crazy about Mac laptops -

1. Only one mouse button - if you want/need to right-click something, you have to hold the CTRL, SHIFT or Apple button (can't remember which right now) on the keyboard and then click the single button, or tap the pad (unless you buy a third-party Mac mouse with two buttons)

2. No "extra" functions available on the Mac trackpads - with Windows laptops, you can usually configure "extra" functions like scrolling, back and forward one web page, and even configure the corners of the pad to open whatever application you want by tapping a corner of the pad. This is nice because you don't need to move your finger off the trackpad to do quite a number of things. With the Mac, the only thing you can do is go back or forward one web page...to scroll, you have to either grab the vertical scroll bar on a page, or move your hand off the pad and over to the arrow keys. Why Apple still hasn't improved the functionality of their trackpads like EVERYONE else has, I have no idea!

3. At least on the Mac laptops I've owned recently (17" G4 Powerbook and 15" Titanium G4 Powerbook), the trackpads just flat-out SUCK! Granted, the one on my 17" was much worse than the 15"...I think, mainly, because the trackpad surface and the case of the computer are made of the same material, which causes problems unless you make sure that ONLY the finger you're moving the cursor with is touching the computer. If you also have your hand resting on the case, next to the pad, the cursor occasionally jumps around the screen when moving the cursor. VERY aggravating!

Of course, these are just my opinions. I just thought I'd suggest that you actually TRY a Mac laptop before sinking all of your hard-earned cash into one. If you ARE already familiar with the "cute" little quirks of the Mac OS, then uhhhh.....nevermind. :D

Just my 2 cents worth!

Pyro

[Gimp]

My mom has a Dell. I would reccomend something else actually. The combo drive busted, the heatsink, and fan got fucked up... Quality wise they are like a 6/10, but they repair everything very very fast . I haven't tried other types of laptops, but the Vio's are nice.

[mindgam3]

having read through all the savrow site, i'm so very tempted by them ;)

Might go for the katana instead of the razor though, most of the time it'll be plugged in at my desk, but i need a laptop so i can take it home every so often.

SavRow Katana WX system featuring:

- 3.4GHz Intel P4 Processor with HyperThreading
- 1024MB PC400 Dual Channel RAM

- Microsoft XP Home
- 60GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache Hard Disk
- DVD-RW Drive

- 17" WXGA TFT Screen
- ATI Radeon 9700 Pro Graphics with 256MB

- Internal Wireless 802.11G
- Built-In CCD Camera
- Subwoofer Module & 4 Speaker Sound
- 7-in-1 Card Reader

- 3 Years C&R Warranty
- Black and Cobalt Trim Unpainted

for £2066.83 ;)

39.3x27.5x3.6cm and 4kg are the downsides :(

You reckon its size n weight will be too much?

What about P4 vs centrino?

[Jabba]

There are some independent reviews of their systems if you do a google on them.

[mindgam3]

hmmm i can't find any on the katana :( Most are on desktop pc's or the razor