It's gotta be light and it's gotta be under $1300...

[Artbox]

Hi Folks,

Just another newbie to laptops and looking for something straightforward but reliable...

General Questions

1) Are you looking for an Ultraportable (12" screen or less), Thin-and-Light (13" - 14" screen), Mainstream (15" - 16" screen) or Desktop Replacement (17"+ screen) style notebook?

Ultra to Thin/Light...no less than 12in screen and no more than 14...more importantly than screen is the weight though..

2) Where are you going to be using this notebook (home, office, campus, library, outside etc.)?

Home and light outside usage (coffee shop, library, etc)...i plan on lugging this sucker everywhere...

3) Will you be playing games on it (yes, no)? If yes, which ones?

Nope...simple web-surfing and the occasional MS Office

4) How many applications will you be running at one time (1-4, 5-10, 10+)?

Max to be 4 items...

5) Are there any brands that you prefer or any you really don't like?

Don't like the Dells...just seems a little too bland...

6) How much battery life do you need (in hours)?

min 3 hours...would prefer 4...

7) How much are you willing to pay for this laptop and do you mind buying online without seeing the notebook in person?

No more than $1300 and buying blind is just fine...

Screen Specifics

8) What resolution screen do you like -- XGA, SXGA or UXGA (XGA is standard, SXGA gives smaller text and icons, UXGA is very small text and icons)?

XGA to SXGA

9) Do you prefer widescreen format or standard screen format display?

Widescreen...here it limits the options a great deal...

10) Do you want a glossy (reflective and bright) type screen or regular matte (no reflection and anti-glare) type screen finish?

Glossy would be nice...it's to be expected in a 14 widescreen, no?

Build Quality and Design

11) Do you need the notebook to be extra durable (good idea for carrying about) or just regular strength (fine for a fairly stationary notebook)?

regular

12) Do you want the notebook to look nice or do looks not matter?

doesn't matter

13) How long do you want this laptop to last you?

Minimum 2 years...

Notebook Components

14) How much hard drive (disk) space do you need (in MB) and do you care about hard drive speed (yes, no)? If you care about speed, what do you want (4200 RPM / 5400 RPM / 7200 RPM)?

5400 minimum...even though I'm a casual user, I hate waiting...

15) Do you need an optical drive? If yes, what do you want (DVD, DVD-CDRW, DVD Burner)?

I have a comp to handle the burning duties...so a detachable is fine.

16) State if you prefer a processor brand (Intel or AMD) and the speed you want (don't care / mid-range / fast / fastest possible)?

Prefer to stay away from the celerons...

Other

17) Do you plan to upgrade this laptop at some point (typically people might want to upgrade memory, hard drive or the optical drive)?

Might increase memory or hd but with new technology coming out, I would say that 2 years time will lead to newer, better options...

Considerations on the table (no particular order):

Acer TM3002WTci (I don't think this is widescreen but willing to sacrifice the screen for the weight)

Averatec 3715

Fujitsu S-series (AMD or Intel is fine) but it's a pain to locate a seller, no?

HP DV1000 - kinda heavier than i wanted but definitely a consideration

Sony Vaio S-series (older, used model as none are under 1300)

IBM Thinkpads (only the z60t works in budget and widescreen but i'm willing to consider the T42 also)

Sony VAIO B100B

So folks...this is just the tip of the iceberg...more than anything else...top considerations are weight and widescreen...in that order..please help someone who's confused and swimming with options...

Artbox :decision: :noisyfan: verheat:

[DeAntego]

You can get a dell,acer Averatech is cheap and meet all your need go check them out

Averatech is what i would choose

[werckmeister]

I've been considering a machine with nearly the same specs as what you listed, and I've narrowed the list down to:

Acer Travelmate 3000 - seems like a good one, and reasonably priced. And it's widescreen too! This looks like the one to get right now.

Dell Latitude X1 - also a good machine, but without coupons it's too expensive

LG LW20 Express - THIS is the one I want...except it's really expensive for my budget.

Compaq Presario B1800 - another candidate, but it's received some mixed reviews.

ASUS s5a/w5a - specs are OK, but the Acer one interests me more.

I crossed out all Sonys, Fujitsus and Lenovos due to the price, and really it's much better to get a new one and have it under warranty than an older one which may conk out and end up being more expensive.

[m61376]

Look at the Dell 700m (or the soon to be released 710m)- it is a nice 12.1" widescreen, and should fit your needs nicely. look for one of the coupons for Dell that floats around and you can get a nicely configured unit within your budget.

[Charles P. Jefferies]

I'll recommend the Fujitsu S2110 - 13.3" XGA, Turion 64, 4lbs, and 4 hours of battery life - here is a review.

I like the Acer TravelMate 3002 as well. You get a lot for your money, but it won't have as nice of a display or as good of build quality as the Fujitsu, but it's a bit cheaper and packs a bigger punch.

[ZaZ]

You can get a ThinkPad x32 for under $1300, but you better like pointsticks.

[Goren]

here's a great Fujitsu reseller www.portableone.com you can't go wrong with the Fujitsu S series (particularly the one with Turion).. should come under 1300!

Asus Z63a is a nice one if you like widescreen. it's a barebone so it costs as much as how much you want to configure it.

[werckmeister]

The Thinkpad x32's technology's unfortunately way too old - and it's also not widescreen. For that price the Acer Travelmate 3000 is much more economical.

The Fujitsu S2110 sounds interesting, but the PC Mag review thinks it's too slow. Plus, it has no bluetooth (important for me). Currently it seems the Acer still holds the lead for me. I'm planning to get a laptop in January though, so I'm still not in a big hurry...

[ZaZ]

The Dothan Pentium M, which the x32 has, does have some adavantages over the newer Sonoma Pentium Ms like they run cooler and have better battery life because they run at lower wattages and the 855 chipsets are very low power. If you were in a room with an unmarked T42(Dothan) and T43(Sonoma), I doubt you could tell the difference.

If you upgrade the hard drive on the s2110 you'd get much better perfomance. Slow hard drives are one of the biggest perfromance bottlenecks on laptops.

[Artbox]

You can get a dell,acer Averatech is cheap and meet all your need go check them out

Averatech is what i would choose

But which model? The Avertec 1000 is too small..and the other 12 inches are questionable in build quality?