Help with laptop choice!

Noodle_soup · 8th January 2006, 9:10 AM

Hello all,

i'm looking at purchasing a laptop in the coming month for the next year at uni but at the moment stuck with the many choices available in laptops.

I'm wanting something with a 12" or 14" wide screen (1280*800 upwards res)
and dedicated graphics card, like an x600 or something like that.

and at least a 60gb hard drive, and dvd burner if possible.

I'm after something a small and light as possible and it will be a portable computer as I have a decent desktop for games at home.

my budget is $2000-$2500 so if u have any suggestions it would be greatly appreciated

Cheers

Noodle

deadspawn · 8th January 2006, 6:00 PM

ASUS A6Vm

# Intel® Pentium® M processor 700 Sequence
# Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional, Microsoft® Windows® XP Home
# 15"/15.4" XGA / WXGA (Color Shine)
# Nvidia® GeForce™ Go 7300 128MB/256MB with TurboCache™
# DDR2 533MHz, up to 2G
# 802.11b/g, a/b/g
# 1x 1.3M Pixel built-in webcam, 1x SPDIF, 1x TV-Out, 1x Card Reader, Bluetooth™ V2.0+EDR (optional)

comes with carry bag (targus), and USB optical mouse (logitech)

http://au.asus.com/products4.aspx?l1...95&modelmenu=1

sells for around $2400, depending on place of purchase

edit: there is a couple more models in the A6 series that would suit you. This one is particularly heavy in comparisson to some of the others. I have the A6K and find its quite a portable notebook, plus has the nv6200 128mb with turbo cache for my gaymz

Eamon · 8th January 2006, 9:21 PM

I'm in pretty much the same boat. I'm after a laptop with similar specs, max screen size of 14" but with dedicated video seems to be hard to come by but I did narrow it down to 3 choices a little while ago:
Benq Joybook*S72*v49
ASUS W3030V
Acer Aspire 5500

I then decided to see what yonah would bring to the tabe and as yet I'm still waiting for a 14" yonah notebook with dedicated video, but yonah's just been released so should be something out shortly.

Eamon

Odje · 8th January 2006, 11:41 PM

I am also in the same boat, but I am after 12.1" high res, 1GB RAM, 1.7-2GHz Pentium M. Need the power, RAM and desktop space for Matlab and CAD stuff, but still must be small enough to fit in my backpack and not be too heavy. The Dell Inspiron 710m looks good, with 80GB HDD, DVD burner for $1900 delivered. Ofter ends today on free double RAM and larger HDD. Don't know if I should get it or wait 2 months since uni is 2 months away, and won't be needing it till then. It has the older chipset, 855GM so no Gigabit, 400MHz FSB (not 533MHz) and very standard intergated graphics.

Another option is Acer TravelMate 3000 series. It is thinner than the dell, but it has no internal optical drive. It comes with an external firewire dvd burner. The Acer is around 400 more expensive and comes with 512MB RAM. The up side is the graphics are much better, uses 915GM newer chipset and its much lighter and thinner. (no optical drive).

EDIT: found another option, Asus M5A series. same as the dell one, expect with 915GM chipset, so better graphics, 512RAM, 60GB HDD. Comes with 2 batteries and 2 carry bags. Its much lighter too and only $2K at computer alliance. Just need to double the RAM.

So confused on what to buy.

I don't want to spend more than 2500.

Noodle_soup: Dedicated graphics card seems to be bit of a big ask for small laptops (14" and below), considering there is no large display to take advertage of the better graphics. Plus small laptops are expensive enough

Noodle_soup · 9th January 2006, 12:09 PM

THanks for teh suggestion Deadspawn, the asus a6 series are great but I don't want a 15.4" screen, as I've got a backpack that I store all my books and stuff for uni and it has a laptop compartment in teh back that will support a 14" or less screen size
I can get a 15.4 in but at a very tight squeeze.
I reckon I will go with either the w3n or w3v as they have a 9700 or x600 respectively.

cheers

Noodle

Eamon · 9th January 2006, 12:21 PM

my ideal laptop just might be here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=36107

just got to find out what GPU it will have, but it should be good enough I think.

Another option is the new sony SZ http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=2706

Eamon

PNut · 9th January 2006, 6:22 PM

My two cents.
If the primary role of your laptop is for uni work and you'll be lugging it back and fourth alot. You do not want to go beyond 14". 15" widescreens may be 'all that' for a while but laterwards you'll come to appreciate smaller and lighter laptops.
Coming from someone who has spent years at uni lugging laptops back and fourth.

deadspawn · 9th January 2006, 7:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eamon

Another option is the new sony SZ http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=2706

Eamon

Regarding the Sony .. ASUS builds all of Sony's notebooks, so you might as well buy an ASUS anyway :P

Noodle_Soup, those ASUS W3V's look pretty nice .. 2kg is damn light!

k88k · 9th January 2006, 7:53 PM

when u guys come up with a decision u might want to pm me and we can get it cheaper if we bulk buy hehehe

Mitch01 · 9th January 2006, 9:26 PM

I've got an ASUS v6V (v6800v) which should be around your price range now (or the upper end of it).

Touch wood, but it's been bloody fantastic over the past 6-8 months I've had it, and gets heavy use most days.

Bluetooth, IR, USB 2 all round. Based on 1.73 Ghz Sonoma processor (later relase Intel Mobile CPU), has SATA 60GB 5400RPM HDD, DVDRW-DL, 512MB DDR2 RAM, onboard PCI-E X600 with dedicated VRAM, 15" XGA NON WIDESCREEN, and weighs around 2-3kgs with powerpack and everything.

Battery life is around 3-3 1/2 hrs from a full charge, and being a Sonoma, ports not in use are powered down.

All in all its an awesome laptop... Cost me $2899 about 8 months back, but its dropped since then.

Screen is absolutely fantastic, viewing angles are great, colour reproduction good, and plays DVDs and games without blurring.

Comes with ASUS 30 day Zero Bright Dead Pixel Policy, AND a 2 YR international warranty.. plus a minimouse, fake leather bag, and a few other bits and pieces free.

Even against laptops I sell everyday, I'm yet to see one that would convince me away from my choice.

Rass · 9th January 2006, 10:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eamon

I'm in pretty much the same boat. I'm after a laptop with similar specs, max screen size of 14" but with dedicated video seems to be hard to come by but I did narrow it down to 3 choices a little while ago:

Acer Aspire 5500

I have the acer aspire 5503wxmi - really happy with it. I wacked in 2gig of ram and it flies.

fnp · 10th January 2006, 9:18 AM

Someone recommend me a laptop. I'm looking to buy secondhand. Doesn't need to be especially grunty, but reasonably power processor (1.5ghz+), 512mb ram and >20gb hard disk space. Graphics don't really matter so long as it can display a decent desktop. It won't be used for gaming at all (apart from perhaps King's Quest or Leisure Suit Larry - heh), mostly office work, mp3's and a bit of video playback. The main thing I'm looking for is I'd like to be able to dual boot a unix of some kind at some point on it. What brands are generally fairly unix-friendly, if any? Leaning towards FreeBSD or Fedora. I'd be willing to spend up to $1500 or so. Doable?

Eamon · 10th January 2006, 9:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by deadspawn

Regarding the Sony .. ASUS builds all of Sony's notebooks, so you might as well buy an ASUS anyway :P

Noodle_Soup, those ASUS W3V's look pretty nice .. 2kg is damn light!

but ASUS don't do a 13" laptop with dedicated graphics

I pretty much with PNut on this one, 14" is the biggest I will go, makes it hard when you want dedicated graphics though.

Eamon

Mitch01 · 10th January 2006, 9:39 AM

FFS Did I miss the part in which this became the consolidated "Recommend me a laptop thread"?

FNP: There are heaps around at the moment. Harvey Norman are selling refurb'd IBM Thinkpads for $498 odd, and then you have other cheap notebooks (mainly Acer and Compaqs) coming in around $1000 these days.

Bigs · 10th January 2006, 11:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rass

I have the acer aspire 5503wxmi - really happy with it. I wacked in 2gig of ram and it flies.

Another vote for the Acer Aspire 5500

8th January 2006, 9:10 AM	#1
Noodle_soup Member Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Hobart Posts: 62	Help with laptop choice! Hello all, i'm looking at purchasing a laptop in the coming month for the next year at uni but at the moment stuck with the many choices available in laptops. I'm wanting something with a 12" or 14" wide screen (1280*800 upwards res) and dedicated graphics card, like an x600 or something like that. and at least a 60gb hard drive, and dvd burner if possible. I'm after something a small and light as possible and it will be a portable computer as I have a decent desktop for games at home. my budget is $2000-$2500 so if u have any suggestions it would be greatly appreciated Cheers Noodle

8th January 2006, 9:21 PM	#3
Eamon Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Brisbane Posts: 55	I'm in pretty much the same boat. I'm after a laptop with similar specs, max screen size of 14" but with dedicated video seems to be hard to come by but I did narrow it down to 3 choices a little while ago: Benq JoybookS72v49 ASUS W3030V Acer Aspire 5500 I then decided to see what yonah would bring to the tabe and as yet I'm still waiting for a 14" yonah notebook with dedicated video, but yonah's just been released so should be something out shortly. Eamon __________________ Aaron ATS-4 Speakers for sale

8th January 2006, 11:41 PM	#4
Odje Member Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: Sydney Posts: 1,975	I am also in the same boat, but I am after 12.1" high res, 1GB RAM, 1.7-2GHz Pentium M. Need the power, RAM and desktop space for Matlab and CAD stuff, but still must be small enough to fit in my backpack and not be too heavy. The Dell Inspiron 710m looks good, with 80GB HDD, DVD burner for $1900 delivered. Ofter ends today on free double RAM and larger HDD. Don't know if I should get it or wait 2 months since uni is 2 months away, and won't be needing it till then. It has the older chipset, 855GM so no Gigabit, 400MHz FSB (not 533MHz) and very standard intergated graphics. Another option is Acer TravelMate 3000 series. It is thinner than the dell, but it has no internal optical drive. It comes with an external firewire dvd burner. The Acer is around 400 more expensive and comes with 512MB RAM. The up side is the graphics are much better, uses 915GM newer chipset and its much lighter and thinner. (no optical drive). EDIT: found another option, Asus M5A series. same as the dell one, expect with 915GM chipset, so better graphics, 512RAM, 60GB HDD. Comes with 2 batteries and 2 carry bags. Its much lighter too and only $2K at computer alliance. Just need to double the RAM. So confused on what to buy. I don't want to spend more than 2500. Noodle_soup: Dedicated graphics card seems to be bit of a big ask for small laptops (14" and below), considering there is no large display to take advertage of the better graphics. Plus small laptops are expensive enough __________________ There are only 2 reasons why you should run, 1. If you are being chased or 2. If you are on fire Last edited by Odje; 9th January 2006 at 12:01 AM.

9th January 2006, 12:21 PM	#6
Eamon Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Brisbane Posts: 55	my ideal laptop just might be here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=36107 just got to find out what GPU it will have, but it should be good enough I think. Another option is the new sony SZ http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=2706 Eamon __________________ Aaron ATS-4 Speakers for sale

9th January 2006, 6:22 PM	#7
PNut Member Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Sydney Posts: 145	My two cents. If the primary role of your laptop is for uni work and you'll be lugging it back and fourth alot. You do not want to go beyond 14". 15" widescreens may be 'all that' for a while but laterwards you'll come to appreciate smaller and lighter laptops. Coming from someone who has spent years at uni lugging laptops back and fourth. __________________ NINJA: C2Q 9550 \| EP45-DS4P \| 4GB DDR2 800 \| Samsung 22" LCD \| 4850 512MB \| 3 x 1TB Samsung \| VIOLET: ASUS A8JS \| C2D T7200 \| 2GB DDR2 \| 14" WS LCD \| nVidia Go7700 512MB \| 120GB \| DVDRW \| 2.38kgs \| WXP: Lenovo T61 \| C2D T7300 \| 2GB DDR2 \| 14" WS LCD \| nVidia Quadro NVS 128MB \| 100GB \| DVDCombo \| 2.4kgs \|

8th January 2006, 6:00 PM	#2
deadspawn Member Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Brisbane, Australia Posts: 442	ASUS A6Vm # Intel® Pentium® M processor 700 Sequence # Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional, Microsoft® Windows® XP Home # 15"/15.4" XGA / WXGA (Color Shine) # Nvidia® GeForce™ Go 7300 128MB/256MB with TurboCache™ # DDR2 533MHz, up to 2G # 802.11b/g, a/b/g # 1x 1.3M Pixel built-in webcam, 1x SPDIF, 1x TV-Out, 1x Card Reader, Bluetooth™ V2.0+EDR (optional) comes with carry bag (targus), and USB optical mouse (logitech) http://au.asus.com/products4.aspx?l1...95&modelmenu=1 sells for around $2400, depending on place of purchase edit: there is a couple more models in the A6 series that would suit you. This one is particularly heavy in comparisson to some of the others. I have the A6K and find its quite a portable notebook, plus has the nv6200 128mb with turbo cache for my gaymz

9th January 2006, 12:09 PM	#5
Noodle_soup Member Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Hobart Posts: 62	THanks for teh suggestion Deadspawn, the asus a6 series are great but I don't want a 15.4" screen, as I've got a backpack that I store all my books and stuff for uni and it has a laptop compartment in teh back that will support a 14" or less screen size I can get a 15.4 in but at a very tight squeeze. I reckon I will go with either the w3n or w3v as they have a 9700 or x600 respectively. cheers Noodle

9th January 2006, 7:53 PM	#9
k88k Member Join Date: Dec 2003 Posts: 291	when u guys come up with a decision u might want to pm me and we can get it cheaper if we bulk buy hehehe __________________ you can't sell new items here

9th January 2006, 9:26 PM	#10
Mitch01 Member Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Sydney Posts: 21,291	I've got an ASUS v6V (v6800v) which should be around your price range now (or the upper end of it). Touch wood, but it's been bloody fantastic over the past 6-8 months I've had it, and gets heavy use most days. Bluetooth, IR, USB 2 all round. Based on 1.73 Ghz Sonoma processor (later relase Intel Mobile CPU), has SATA 60GB 5400RPM HDD, DVDRW-DL, 512MB DDR2 RAM, onboard PCI-E X600 with dedicated VRAM, 15" XGA NON WIDESCREEN, and weighs around 2-3kgs with powerpack and everything. Battery life is around 3-3 1/2 hrs from a full charge, and being a Sonoma, ports not in use are powered down. All in all its an awesome laptop... Cost me $2899 about 8 months back, but its dropped since then. Screen is absolutely fantastic, viewing angles are great, colour reproduction good, and plays DVDs and games without blurring. Comes with ASUS 30 day Zero Bright Dead Pixel Policy, AND a 2 YR international warranty.. plus a minimouse, fake leather bag, and a few other bits and pieces free. Even against laptops I sell everyday, I'm yet to see one that would convince me away from my choice. __________________ "I think in this world, if you can do something you love as a job and it doesn't feel like a job that is one of the greatest gifts you can have" - Hugh Jackman 2009

10th January 2006, 9:18 AM	#12
fnp Member Join Date: Apr 2004 Posts: 389	Someone recommend me a laptop. I'm looking to buy secondhand. Doesn't need to be especially grunty, but reasonably power processor (1.5ghz+), 512mb ram and >20gb hard disk space. Graphics don't really matter so long as it can display a decent desktop. It won't be used for gaming at all (apart from perhaps King's Quest or Leisure Suit Larry - heh), mostly office work, mp3's and a bit of video playback. The main thing I'm looking for is I'd like to be able to dual boot a unix of some kind at some point on it. What brands are generally fairly unix-friendly, if any? Leaning towards FreeBSD or Fedora. I'd be willing to spend up to $1500 or so. Doable?

10th January 2006, 9:39 AM	#14
Mitch01 Member Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Sydney Posts: 21,291	FFS Did I miss the part in which this became the consolidated "Recommend me a laptop thread"? FNP: There are heaps around at the moment. Harvey Norman are selling refurb'd IBM Thinkpads for $498 odd, and then you have other cheap notebooks (mainly Acer and Compaqs) coming in around $1000 these days. __________________ "I think in this world, if you can do something you love as a job and it doesn't feel like a job that is one of the greatest gifts you can have" - Hugh Jackman 2009