Jon.M

Need Advice on a New Laptop

Can anyone provide any recommendations for a new laptop? I'm not going to be travelling with it a ton, so I'm not terribly concerned with the size/weight. I'm probably going to be using XP Pro on it. It will almost exclusively be using a wireless connection at home and at the office. I'm looking to keep things under a $1K, after any applicable rebates. I'd also be willing to buy refurbished if it was direct from a manufacturer. Any advice would be appreciated.

SethH

Check this one out:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...tem=3464860742

It's an IBM brand new. It's on Ebay but is being sold by IBM. It's hard drive is a little small, but it's probably got the best processor you're going to get in your price range. It also has XP Pro and a wireless card included. It also includes a 3 year warranty.

Also, search under ibm on Ebay for their computers. Dell sells under dell.computers but they don't have anything in your range right now.

Erik*R

hmm Actually Dell has some decent deals on the laptops right now especially where they are doubling the ram for free. You could spec out a decent laptop for under $1000 with their instant $100 off and their $100 mail-in rebate.

Plus you have the options warranty length.

(btw I personally usually buy compaqs/sony laptops because Ive found compaqs last forever and the sonys just have some nice features I use (built in sony memory stick reader ect.)

SethH

I went to Dell's website and the lowest model they sell with a P4 instead of Celeron is the 5100 which starts at $973 after all the rebates. Problem is once you add XP Pro and a wireless card you're up over $1100, not to mention if you want a warranty on it. Now if you already own XP Pro that could save you $80 or so which might make it work.

Heath_E

There is an Inspiron 1100 listed at gotapex.com that Dell is selling through the small business division that starts at $674 after $25 instant savings and $100 dollar mail in rebate. I speced one out earlier today and made some upgrades to a 2.4 Pentium 4 from the celeron, went up to a 30 gig hd from a 20, XP Pro, wireless card, dvd/cd-rw combo drive, and 2 year on-site warranty for $1000 with free shipping. You could give up the $100 rebate and double the memory to 512 also. You might want to have a look at that. The incentives end tonight though. Just start from the link at gotapex.com

I forgot to mention, you also get a free Palm Zire 21, digital camera, or Dell A920 muti-function printer with that.

RossTerry

look at the latest eMachines laptops

The details of my life are quite inconsequential.

Jon.M

I did. $1100 and I'd still have to upgrade to XP Pro and get a wireless card. The deal on the Inspiron 1100 is quite appealing. Unfortunately, I didn't see it until this morning and, alas, it's now gone.

Anyone familiar with the Averatec laptops? They have an ultra-portable refurbished model for $900.

Max Leung

I have myself a 2 year old Toshiba Satellite 5200. A great laptop...1600x1200 15" screen that blows away most laptop screens I've seen (especially the iBook screens, which I think are horrible - worst laptop screens ever!). I believe the replacement models reached the $1,000 mark, although it's hard to tell as Canada and the U.S. have different models.

Mine also has a DVD/CD-Writer combo drive, 512mb of RAM (IMHO needed for Windows XP), and an nvidia Geforce 440-2-Go graphics chip. You probably don't need the 3D acceleration, although it is nice to play UT2004 at a playable framerate. Oh, and it has optical digital output. Newer laptops have similar features, with much faster processors.

From the experiences here at work, the Toshiba laptops are the most reliable. Compaqs are awful, as are the Sony's. Dell laptops, at least those sold to our corporate clients, aren't that great for reliability, but maybe they only sell the crap to corporations?

My advice is to look for a reliable laptop with the best screen you can afford: High resolution (I suggest at least 1280x1024@14"), excellent brightness uniformity, and should be viewable at a 170 degree angle (unlike the iBook laptops which you have to view exactly on - terrible, just terrible).

Mahatma Gandhi, as you know, walked barefoot most of the time, which produced an impressive set of calluses on his feet. He also ate very little, which made him rather frail and with his odd diet, he suffered from bad breath. This made him...a super-callused fragile mystic hexed by halitosis.

Gameshow host: "Is taking Viagra kosher during Passover dinner?"
Whoopee Goldberg: "Not if it leads to pork."
Kermit the Frog: "Hey, that's my line!"

SethH

Jon.M

Okay...it seems I'm being pushed toward the Toshibas. I made forays today to both Best Buy andd Circuit City and I think I've narrowed my decision to two models...the S150 (P4) and the S359 (Centrino) Considering that this will not be my primary computer, do you think the S359 is overkill?