Looking for a laptop, what brands are good?

[PipeBom]

Hey guys, I'm going to get a laptop soon and I'm wondering what brands are good to get?
Here is a list of the ones I was thinking are good:
Acer
Asus
Dell
Ibm
Toshiba
Are all these brands good (I know that Toshiba, ibm and dell are good, but are acer and asus)?
I'm only looking to spend around 2k or just a bit over, and I'm mostly going to be using it for work stuff, but if it can play the occasional game then that will be good too.

Are there other brand that I haven't mentioned that are good and not too dear?

[ruski]

I've been doing a bit of research recently on laptops, as i've been needing a working laptop. The Acer 1681WLMi is the best price/performance laptop i could find, with a 15"4 WXGA, R9700, 60GB, DVDRW. For $2475 at Cworld, its quite a bargain with the performance u get!

However i checked out the Dells and saw that they had these HUGE hi res screens. The acer only has 1200x800, whereas u can get 1920x1200 screens from Dell - handy as you can put two windows side by side. So I ended up configuring a Inspiron 8600 with a 1920x1200 screen w/R9600P instead. Maybe u should go configure a Dell comp and see if it fits into your budget.

From the reviews i've read though, the acer 1681 seems to be of good quality, and my friend has a Travelmate and they're pretty solid too. Acer has been in he industry for a long time, so expect good products from them!

While toshiba's are GREAT, they are VERY expensive, and with a sub 2k budget, i wouldn't bother! IBMs the same, very solid, but u pay for it through your nose!

Check out www.cworld.com.au for loads of laptops!

[ifrit375]

With $2k to spend go with dell's new 700m. Compact and portable, very light light only 1.7kg.

[baked]

I'm looking for a laptop around this pricerange too, and I have to say the Dell 700m does look like a great machine.

I understand that a P-M chip's clock speed is irrelevant to a desktop PC clock, but what would a P-M 1.8ghz as seen in the 700m be able to compete against?

[rewop]

I have owned both Toshiba and Dell notebooks.

Toshiba is an expensive brand but they are very reliable and built like a brick shithouse.

Dell are very well optioned for the money but imho not very well put together, none the less, good bang for your buck.

You will get what you pay for.

[13_Black]

having sold so many notebooks i dare not remeber, i will tell you brands NOT to go for:

BENQ
LG
ACER

These have by FAR (im meaning about 8-10% failure) rates which is UNACCEPTABLE, to the point, i refuse selling them.

Brands to get:

TOSHIBA
PACKARD BELL/NEC
COMPAQ/HP

we'll be lucky to get 1/1000 with an issue.

Dells are great for value for money, but that is at a sacrifice. Build quality, warranty claims and general quality do lack somewhat on the dells, but they are great value for money, as long as you get no problems.

I would say 1920 res on a 15.4" screen is beyond a joke, most (graphic users excempted) would NEVER use 1920 on a 21" CRT! dont go more than 1440, better still, get the 1280, at least you'll play some good games in native on it!

[PipeBom]

Originally posted by 13_Black
having sold so many notebooks i dare not remeber, i will tell you brands NOT to go for:

BENQ
LG
ACER

These have by FAR (im meaning about 8-10% failure) rates which is UNACCEPTABLE, to the point, i refuse selling them.

Brands to get:

TOSHIBA
PACKARD BELL/NEC
COMPAQ/HP

we'll be lucky to get 1/1000 with an issue.

Dells are great for value for money, but that is at a sacrifice. Build quality, warranty claims and general quality do lack somewhat on the dells, but they are great value for money, as long as you get no problems.

I would say 1920 res on a 15.4" screen is beyond a joke, most (graphic users excempted) would NEVER use 1920 on a 21" CRT! dont go more than 1440, better still, get the 1280, at least you'll play some good games in native on it!

How about Asus? I've been looking at a few of them too, and they seem alright for the price.

[fergo]

Originally posted by 13_Black
having sold so many notebooks i dare not remeber, i will tell you brands NOT to go for:

BENQ
LG
ACER

These have by FAR (im meaning about 8-10% failure) rates which is UNACCEPTABLE, to the point, i refuse selling them.

Brands to get:

TOSHIBA
PACKARD BELL/NEC
COMPAQ/HP

Compaq and Toshiba have both produced laptop models with unforgiveable problems. Some friends with cheap Toshibas cannot run them in the summer (27 degrees +) because they overheat and crash (regardless of how fast the fan is running). Warranty 'repair' did not change the situation at all - they were given the option of changing the chip at the customers' (mammoth) cost. I've also used a few Compaqs (Presarios) that have really poor build quality, shocking battery life and three out of three a small company I know bought had their CD drive fail within a year (along with numerous other problems). I'm sure you were intending to exaggerate a bit with your problem estimates but I'd like to suggest that 'good' brands are not always the best (especially the cheaper models). Sure this is anecdotal evidence but I've done a lot of reading and seen a fair few laptops in my time. You need to check 'em rather than trusting a brand.

I've recently spent a lot of time on an LG LS50-1, which seems to be a great machine. It is a 1.4Ghz P4M with 512MB RAM and cost ~$1900. It's fast, lightweight and has fantastic battery life. From my experience so far, I would recommend it. I sold an Asus P4 laptop to a friend at the beginning of the year and he has had no complaints about it (it was a desktop replacement).

[13_Black]

That LS50 range is one of our HIGHEST return machines, seriosuly. Is the most flimsy shit build quality of any notebook we sell, hence the VERY low invoice cost on them, they are VERY cheap units.

I was referring al the Centrino based notebooks, P4 ones etc HAVE had issues, ALL manufactures at one time have, i was mainly talking about the current crop, and details on them.

And as for the 8-10%, no, 1 in 10 are returned in regards to the LG (usualy screen issues, MANY dead pixels from new, also, seems to be having a LOT of hdd spinning up issues as well.) BENQ, having SHIT battery life, and cases actually cracking, and Acers running hot enough they shut down (its a damn centrino, i mean, hell its not a P$ FFS!)

You seem to of bummed out with the older COmpaqa, but now they are owned by HP, the units have improved considerably.

Im not sticking with what is known as "good brands" i sell, and monitor the repairs of these, i've seen litterly 1000's go out, and see what comes back. so that is PROOF not specualtion.

Also, even our LG rep admits they are "cheap and shearful, to cater for the lowend market".

Im glad while your doing reading, im seeing ltitally 1000's or these over months (we sold 600+ notebooks in August) im seeing FIRST hand, not reading websites "reveiw sample" opinions.

Asus, i had an M6N, best damn notebook i ever had, saw or had the pleasure to use. Cant comment on other models though, as we dont sell them.

Personally, i think the new Packard Bell Easynote G5 is by far the best build/feature packer centrino in the 2k range, sadly they lack in GFX though

[PipeBom]

Thanks for the replies guys, its making it a bit easier to decide on what one to get. I'm sure there are other people wondering the same thing.

Also I'm a bit of a noob with laptop processors. I'm a bit concerned about heat as it get realy hot where I live.
From what I can tell there are 3 types of intel processors for laptops:
P4M ~ 2.66 to 3.06G range
Centrino ~ 1.4 to 1.6G range
PM ~ 1.6G range

What are the main differences between these processors and which ones run the hottest/coolest?

[13_Black]

PM and centrino are the same CPU's, PM is the CPU, centrino is a certification from intel. It has to have the 855 chipset, a PM, and a intel WiFi card to get it.

P4's run hotter, have 2hr battry life, are heavier, and are what i would consider a desktop replacement.

Pm/Centrino's are lighter, thinner, have 4-5hr battery life, and are designed to be portable with WiFi onboard.

There are TWO Pm/Centrinos now. Basically Banias and Dothan. Differences are, Dothan is the new chips that contain 2mb of cache, compared to Banis' 1mb.

The G5 packardbells all have Dothans on board.

Banias go up to 1.7Ghz, Dothans up to 2Ghz, with 1.8Ghz doing the rounds readily available.

Hope that helps buddy

[PipeBom]

Cheers mate, that is heaps helpfull. I now know that I won't be going for a P4 because of the heat and weight.
With the different chipsets for the centrino/pm processors, is the 2MB cache realy that much better than a 1MB cache? Sure more is better, but I only want it for cpu stuff like cad programs, not hardcore gaming ( but maybe just a few games ).
What would you reconmend?

[13_Black]

Well, im benchmarks its much of a muchness, some its beter some no advantage.

Me, my money, i'd go a 1.7Ghz 1Mb Banias!, there cheaper now as well as just as good, and about equal to a 2.8 P4 as well, so a great price/performance point

[Andy_lee]

I'm looking at getting an Asus M6SNe735/745, These things make me drool uncontrollably:

Dothan 1.7/1.8
512MB
80G
15.4WSXGA+
Dual DVD-RW
802.11g

[13_Black]

Originally posted by Andy_lee
I'm looking at getting an Asus M6SNe735/745, These things make me drool uncontrollably:

Dothan 1.7/1.8
512MB
80G
15.4WSXGA+
Dual DVD-RW
802.11g

yeah, beautiful machines!

I personally love the new toshiba's, if there ever was a notebook, that was BETTER than the ibook's, in style, then these are it!