Going crazy trying to find my baby... (laptop)

[mattmatt3000]

If you have a moment I'd love some help picking a high performance laptop. (I can only afford to do this once every 3 years and I've been over due for a year now waiting for tech improvements. I feel that now is the time to buy, with core 2 duo and all, does anyone see any reason to wait 3 months or so?)

General Questions

1) What is your budget?
$3000 USD


2) What size notebook would you prefer?

d. Desktop Replacement; 17"+ screen
unless you can talk me down to:
c. Mainstream; 15" - 16" screen

3) What tasks will you be performing with the notebook?
Heavy Multitasking, webdesign, photoshop, music, Office suite, converting, etc.

4) Will you be taking the notebook with you to different places or leaving it on your desk?
Mostly on my desk but I will want to take it out for a walk at least 4 times a month.

5) Will you be playing games on it; if so, which games?
Definately Microsoft Flight Sim X, although I would love to think that I'd get back into counterstrike and FPSs, but it's not likely.

6) Are there any brands that you prefer or any you really don't like?
I loved that LG T1 or S1 with the piano white/black, but now I love the Toshiba P100 coppertop. (Any reputable brand really.)

7) How many hours of battery life do you need?
3 hours would be nice, but I'm willing to settle since I prefer performance.

8) Do you mind buying online without seeing the notebook in person?
nah, online is prefered.

9) Please select your country's flag as a post icon and tell us what country are you buying this in.
Canada or the States, would like option to ship to US located Military APO. I can have someone mail it though if I buy in Canada.

Screen Specifics

10) Would you prefer standard or widescreen?
widescreen

11) From the choices below, what screen resolutions would you prefer?

e. WSXGA+ - 1680x1050; Wider viewing version of SXGA, good for movie viewing or spreadsheets.
-or-
f. WUXGA - 1920x1200; Wider viewing version of UXGA, good for movie viewing or spreadsheets.

12) Do you want a glossy/reflective screen or a matte/non-glossy screen?
Don't care, just nice quality.

Build Quality and Design

13) Are the notebook's looks and stylishness important to you?
I would prefer full size keyboard. and I do like the piano black of LG T1 or the brushed aluminum off Toshiba P100.

14) When are you buying this laptop and how long do you want this laptop to last?
With in a month and I would like to use it for 3 years.

Notebook Components

15) How much hard drive space do you want; 40GB to 200GB?
I strongly want 7,200RPM maybe 100GB, also plus if I can have 2 harddisks.

16) Do you need an optical drive? If yes, a DVD-ROM, DVD-CD/RW or DVD-RW drive?
DVD DL Burner

***************************
I was thinking of maybe these 4:

Area-51® m5790

Processor: Core™ 2 Duo T7400 2.16GHz
Operating System: Vista Business
Display: 17" WideUXGA 1920 x 1200 LCD
Motherboard: Alienware® Intel® 945PM + ICH7 Chipset
Memory: 2GB DDR2 667MHz
System Drive: 100GB Serial ATA 1.5Gb/s 7,200 RPM w/ NCQ & 8MB Cache
Primary CD ROM/DVD ROM: 8X Dual Layer DVD+/-RW / 24X CD-RW Combo w/ Software
Video/Graphics Card: 256MB ATI Mobility™ Radeon® X1900
Sound Card: Intel® 7.1 High-Definition Audio
Wireless Network Card: Internal Intel® PRO Wireless 3945 a/b/g Mini-Card
Communications: Integrated 10/1000Mb Gigabit Ethernet & 56K V.92 Modem
Bluetooth: Bluetooth™ USB Adapter

$2,874.00



Dell XPS M1710 Red

PROCESSOR Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T7400 (2.16GHz, 4MB L2 Cache, 667 MHz FSB)
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows Vista™ Business
LCD PANEL 17 inch UltraSharp™ Wide Screen UXGA Display
MEMORY 2GB DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHZ
HARD DRIVE 100GB 7200rpm SATA
OPTICAL DRIVE 8X CD/DVD Burner (DVD+/-RW) with double-layer DVD+R write capability
VIDEO CARD 512MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ Go 7950 GTX
SOUND OPTIONS Integrated Audio
My Accessories
WIRELESS CARDS Hi-Speed: Dell Draft N Wireless edit
BLUETOOTH OPTIONS Dell Wireless 355 Bluetooth Internal (2.0 + Enhanced Data Rate) edit

$3,260.00


Toshiba Satellite P100-ST9742

Processor: Core™ 2 Duo T7200 2.00GHz
Operating System: Vista Business
Display: 17" SXGA Wide 1680 x 1050 LCD
Memory: 2GB DDR2 667MHz
System Drive: 100GB Serial ATA 1.5Gb/s 7,200 RPM w/ NCQ & 8MB Cache
Primary CD ROM/DVD ROM: DVD-SuperMulti drive (+/-R double layer)
Video/Graphics Card: 512MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ Go 7900 GTX
Sound Card: Intel® 7.1 High-Definition Audio
Wireless Network Card: Intel® PRO/Wireless 3945ABG (802.11a/b/g)
Communications: Integrated 10/1000Mb Gigabit Ethernet & 56K V.92 Modem
Bluetooth: Bluetooth® V2.0 + EDR

$2,899.00

Killernotebooks Executioner

Processor: Core™ 2 Duo T7400 2.16GHz
Operating System: Vista Business
Display: 17" SXGA Wide 1680 x 1050 LCD
Memory: 2GB DDR2 667MHz
System Drive: 100GB Serial ATA 1.5Gb/s 7,200 RPM w/ NCQ & 8MB Cache
Primary CD ROM/DVD ROM: 8X DL dvd burner /Cd Burner
Video/Graphics Card: 512MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ Go 7950 GTX
Sound Card: Intel® 7.1 High-Definition Audio
Wireless Network Card: (802.11a/b/g) + blue tooth
Communications: Integrated 10/1000Mb Gigabit Ethernet & 56K V.92 Modem
Bluetooth: yes

$3278.00

[moon angel]

I wouldn't say the ones over $3000 were worth the money. My vote goes to the Toshiba.

[jetstar]

I'll second the Toshiba Satellite P100 recommendation above. The Area 51 is also a good machine.

Incidentally, FSX will be rather difficult to run at high settings, even on the Go7900 series graphics cards.

And if you can wait a couple of months, you can get the new Centrino Pro (Santa Rosa) platform that comes out.

[Dreamer]

As far as I know, the Killernotebooks Executioner should be the Clevo M570U, and I definitely recommend it. Check out the Clevo Guide for information about the resellers, you might find a better deal for it.

[mattmatt3000]

Okay so no new suggestions but you guys are thinking that Toshiba, Clevo, and Alienware are still in the running...

I would jump on the Toshiba but I can't find any option to customize it/ upgrade it. Nor can I find the real price, none MRP price.

What are some of the cons that come to mind when you guys think about the P100, also why don't they offer 2.16Mhz or 2.33Mhz? All the other companies you have some options for upgrade but still options none the less.

Thanks guys,

[link1313]

I think the toshiba is the way to go. but you can probably find the clevo for cheaper.

[mattmatt3000]

Okay so questions at the bottom, here's the story for those that have the time.

For years I've wanted a laptop. I've got 3 yrs of back dated X-mas gifts from my Dad. (value $1000-$1500) I was going to get the LG T1 six months ago, but when my older brother found out that my dad was going to help buy me a laptop he told my dad that he didn't have to and that my brother would give me one of his. (How nice of him, right?) Turns out that my first laptop is a Tecra 8000, running 400mhz and I believe it is 7 yrs old. I can't take this anymore. It finally broke, sort of, (honest, wasnt' me) and I need to buy my dream laptop before my brother gifts me another. I like the idea of 2 cores, 1 going full tilt, music keeps on playing. Trying to find out if now is the right time to buy a laptop in general, even though it may be my only chance to buy one.

Here are some questions?

Which is faster at loading files/apps and transfers, 100GB 7,200RPM or 200GB 5,400RPM?>

If Core 2 Duo is 64bit then whats the improvment in this new Santa Rosa thing?

Also are most laptops only 2 ram slots or can you find 4, since 2GB laptop ram is so **** expensive? (that's funny you can't even say dam)

Basically I'm in the Middle East for a short while and their P100 model here is different then the one in North America. 2.16Mhz instead of 2.0MHZ but only 5,400RPM as opposed to the 7,200RPM there may be other details too? What stores sell the P100 back in N.A. also do any of them offer configuration options?

[mattmatt3000]

Here are the two models I was talking about:

Satellite P100-ST9742 - Toshiba Laptop
http://www.toshibadirect.com/td/b2c/...09&coid=-30605

Satellite P100-324 - Toshiba Laptop
http://gulf.computers.toshiba-europe...hibaShop=false

Any ideas about where I can find the best price on a Toshiba, or any more votes for another choice?

[AP27]

For the questions:
I dont think there are 200GB laptop drives that spin at 5400 RPM. The ones i know are only 4200RPM. The 100GB will be MUCH faster than the 200GB in this case. If you prefer more than 100gB of storage, look for the 160GB 5400 RPM drive, which is the largest capacity 5400 RPM drive for now (100Gb is highest for 7200 RPM i think)

The Santa Rosa (or Centrino Pro) chipset supports a higher FSB (probably a little better performance) and a few new processors (such as the Core 2 Extreme X7900 - which is a Core 2 Duo at 2.8 GHz)...it also has the Wireless-N protocol as standard, instead of the current Wireless-B/G (N is supposedly faster and has more range than B/G). There are also reports of the Centrino Pro chipset using onboard NAND-RAM (or something like that) which may prove to improve performance (im a little sketchy on details here...its something between cache and regular RAM...and is used by the processor)

I dont think you can find any laptops with 4 RAM slots. 2 is usually the max, which is why laptops are limited to only 4GB of RAM.

[mattmatt3000]

When do you think Centrino Pro will be for sale in laptops, and am I justified in thinking that if it's 3 months or more down the road, that the improvement in performance and features may not be worth the wait?

I don't care about the size the 100GB 7,200 drives apeal to me due to there speed. Thanks for sorting that out I had just read that sometimes the higher density of larger drives makes their access times similar to the less dense but faster spinning 7,200RPM drives.