Whats a good notebook for $2000 Canadian??

[rsjagtia]

Hey guys,

I was wondering, I need to buy a new notebook sometime before Christmas. Now i have $2000 approx in which i need to get a good notebook. I've checked around for quite a while and the 2 Competitors are :

1) Toshiba Satelite M30 - 710
2) Asus M6BNe

Now The specs are similar besides the video card. Toshiba offers a NVidia GeForce Go 5200 64 MB and Asus offers Ati Radeon 9700 64 MB. I want to know which one is better. I'm a pretty serious gamer and was hoping for a desktop replacement laptop. If you guys have other candidates kindly post. I'd really appreciate it. The other Specs are as follows:

Ram : 512 DDr
HD : 60 GB HD - Maxtor
CPU : Centrino 1.6 Ghz
Weight = Approx 5.6 / 5.8 Pounds.

For a laptop, Are there Video Cards avail with 128 MB RAm. I haven't seen any and there's probably a real good reason for this (Heat, Weight etc). So for the games that are comin out over the next 2/3 years and baring these specs in mind, do you guys think its worth it? Also , the whole Deal about PCI-Express on the front, Do you think its a good idea to wait till end of dec perhaps? Any opinions are welcome. Thanks people.

[Venombite]

If you're a serious gamer, you may want to look into a gaming notebook. Dell & Alienware provide some powerful notebooks with excellent video card options. Another brand to checkout is Sager, but I don't know if they're available in Canada.

If you're considering the 2 units you listed, you may also want to consider the Acer brand. They're more well known than the Asus brand, at least in Canada.

One model you should definitely look into is the:

Acer TravelMate 4501WLMi ($2150CDN, PM 715 1.5Ghz, 512MB, 40GB, DVD +/- burner, ATI 9700 GPU w/64MB, 15.4" WXGA LCD, 6.5lbs.

The good thing about Acer, is the fact that they have a service center in Canada. It doesn't have to be shipped to the US for repair like Asus. It also has a MUCH better GPU than the NVidia 5200 in the Toshiba.

Just as an FYI, there are no Maxtor brand HDD's for notebooks. Mainly it's Toshiba, IBM/Hitachi, Seagate & Fujitsu. Also, there aren't a lot of notebooks that have a 15.4" LCD that weighs under 6lbs and costs under $2000CDN. The only one you might be able to find, is the Sony A150 (should be the 15.4" model), but it costs almost $3000CDN. I think you can get them from Futureshop.

There are units with 128MB, but mainly in systems above $2000CDN. Acer has the Ferrari 3200 & Aspire 2020 series, but both are WAY over $2000CDN.

-vBulletin-

[rsjagtia]

hey,

Thanks for your reply. yeah ur rite its not maxtor [:I]. Anyway, Yeah i did check out acer and those laptops are MINT. However, they are nearly $2400+ Canadian. They are the only people i've seen with 128 MB video Cards on their laptops (besides Alienware). I just hope that Asus follows them soon other wise i'm not gonna be able to game properly . As a Gaming video card is the 9700 really that good for today and say the future (3/4 years). I'm currently on a GeForce 2 MX lol so i'm sure its better than that. How soon do you think it will get outdated (64 MB). I'd really like a laoptop with 128 MB of VRAM on the video card. Anyway, thanks for the help. Really appreciate it.

[Venombite]

The Acer's you much have been looking at with 128MB is either the Aspire 2025WLMi or the Ferrari 3200. These units are really expensive. The 2025 is about the same as the 4501, but offers more memory for the video card and has an all aluminum body. The Ferrari utilizes the AMD 64-bit CPU for added power, but it lacks in battery life and produces way more heat.

Here's a dealer in Canada that has the 4501 for $2150CDN:
http://www.compusmart.com/product.asp?CatalogID=0&SupplierPartID=328075

Here's a dealer in Canada that sells the 4501 for $1899CDN:
http://www.notebookoutlet.ca/Catalog/product.do?categoryid=ca0114&sku=acer_travelmate_tm4501wlmi

I don't think you're gonna find it for less than that.

For gaming, you're gonna want to get the fastest GPU you can get for a notebook (within your price range). The ATI 9700 is one of the latest and more powerful GPU's currently in the market. It will last you for years, but of course, any new games to come out in 3-4 years will require even more power. So it doesn't really matter what GPU you get, but the better the GPU, the longer it'll last (technology wise).

64MB should last you for the next couple years. Currently Doom 3, one of the most GPU intensive games in the market, doesn't need 128MB to run. You should be fine for then next little while.

To get a notebook with 128MB, you gonna have to spend more than $2000CDN. At least for the time being, but you can wait for Boxing Day sales and see if you can get something on sale.

-vBulletin-