Help, I need Laptop Recommendations...ASAP (1 Viewer)

[Gregg Loewen]

My laptop died on Sunday, I went out (uneducated) and bought another from Sams Club, which also promptly died
Anyways, I need one as soon as possible.
I need it for the following:
1. to run calibration software (I think this will run on pretty much any speed of machine)
2. Internet (wireless - via PC card)
3. watch DVDs while on the plane
4. Here is where it gets tricky, I would really like to have either S video output so I can plug into a TV or get an external video accelerator (?) to perform this option. WHILE RUNNING THE CALIBRATION SOFTWARE
5. I dont want to spend 2000 plus dollars.
Sams club has a "cheaper" compaq for about $750. Id have to get a PC video accelerator card for it. The 3 year extended warranty is only about $50 so that would also be added.
I could spend up to $1500 but dont really want to if I dont need to.
Please let me know your thoughts. I was thinking of a Dell and called them up. They want to sell me one for $1900 which I dont really want to spend. But they will let me do payments of about $50 a month which seemed kewl. I will not go this route if I find that the hidden interested rate is 18% (or whatever).
Thanks!!!

 

[Drew Wimmer]

check out Dell, despite the fact that their current mascot is that annoying "dude, you're getting a dell!" punk, they make a pretty good laptop, i'm reasonably sure all of them have s-video outs
good luck

 

[AllanN]

www.dell.com
The only computer I will every buy PERIOD. Anything in the 4100 seris and above should have S-Video out. The ATI chipsets have hardware assist DVD features built into them so you will get longer battery life vs. a strict software decoder. If you want good gameing jump up to the dell 8100 with the Radeon 7500 video chipset. You can also get a internal 802.11b card. If you dont need fast processors or allot of storage space (40+ GB) You should easly be able to get a 4100 series for around 1500. I plan on getting a decked out 8100 15" screen CD-RW/DVD around christmass.

 

[Kevin P]

I third the Dell recommendation. I have an Inspiron 4100 1GHz Pentium III and love it. It has a S-video output, though I don't know how well it works with DVD since I got a CD-RW drive with mine. Sometimes Dell offers specials including free DVD drive upgrade.

You can get a wireless PC card, or a mini-PCI card that goes inside the machine (probably costs a bit more, but you can have it pre-installed at Dell).

Dells are well built, and well supported. You'll definitely be happy with it.

KJP

 

[Matt Stryker]

Dell or IBM. No one else comes close in terms of quality.
Here are a couple of links to good specials that are running at Dell:
http://forums.anandtech.com/messagev...eyword1=laptop
http://forums.anandtech.com/messagev...eyword1=laptop
Most are ending today though.

 

[Gregg Loewen]

hi guys, I surfed to Dell and picked out this:
Your thoughts? is 2066 delivered good. It is kind of on my high side.???
Base
FREE UXGA Display Upgrade! Mobile Pentium® 4 1.4 GHz-M, 15.0
UXGA
Qty: 1
Price: $2,066.00
Date: Wednesday, May 01, 2002 4:02:20 PM CDT
Catalog Number: 29 19
Base: FREE UXGA Display Upgrade! Mobile Pentium® 4 1.4 GHz-M, 15.0 UXGA CM14UHX [461-5543]
Memory: 128MB,DDR,266M,1DIMM 128M1D [311-1350]
Video Card: 32MB DDR 4X AGP NVIDIA® GeForce2 Go™ 3D Video 11NVD32 [320-0193]
Hard Drives: 20GB Ultra ATA Hard Drive 20GB [340-3446]
Floppy Drive: No Modular Floppy Drive NFD [340-6352]
Operating System: Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition WHXP [420-0744] [313-1041]
Network Adapters: Integrated Network Card INTNIC [430-0334]
Modem: Internal 56K Modem 56MDC [313-0832]
Fixed CD/DVD Drives: Save $100! 8X CD-RW/DVD Combo Drive with Roxio's Easy CD Creator® COMBOP [313-0833] [461-4547]
Bundle: Microsoft®Works Suite 2002 with Money 2002 Standard IWORKS [412-0134]
Virus Protection: Norton Antivirus® 2002, 90-day introductory offer NAV2002 [412-5623]
Digital Music: Dell Jukebox powered by MusicMatch JUKEXP [412-3809]
Limited Warranty, Services and Support Options: 3Yr Ltd. Warranty- 3Yrs At-Home Service+Lifetime Phone Support+CompleteCare SQ3CC [950-4462] [950-3339] [950-4460]
Internet Access Options: 6 Months of America Online Membership Included AOLDHS [412-0183]
Digital Photography: Dell Picture Studio,Image Expert 2000 Standard Edition DPSXP [412-0194]
Special Offer: 3 DVD Movies or Software Titles: 3 DVD Movies or Software Titles! Redemption details will be mailed to you. FREEDVD [A0013288]
Dell PCs use genuine Microsoft® Windows®
www.microsoft.com/piracy/howtotell

 

[Matt Stryker]

Gregg- I got this for $1449, and the only difference is in the warranty selection (I picked the 1 year/1 year option; you might consider the 3 year phone/mailin/limited warranty w/ completecare; you save a lot, and after the parts warranty runs out they are going to charge you out the wazoo anyway for replacements.)

Maybe you already had something in your cart? That $2066 doesn't add up; it should be $1798 max.

Base: FREE UXGA Display Upgrade! Mobile Pentium® 4 1.4 GHz-M, 15.0 UXGA CM14UHX [461-5543]

Memory: 128MB,DDR,266M,1DIMM 128M1D [311-1350]

Video Card: 32MB DDR 4X AGP NVIDIA® GeForce2 Go™ 3D Video 11NVD32 [320-0193]

Hard Drives: 20GB Ultra ATA Hard Drive 20GB [340-3446]

Floppy Drive: No Modular Floppy Drive NFD [340-6352]

Operating System: Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition WHXP [420-0744] [313-1041]

Network Adapters: Integrated Network Card INTNIC [430-0334]

Modem: Internal 56K Modem 56MDC [313-0832]

Fixed CD/DVD Drives: FREE 8X Max DVD-ROM Upgrade! (from CD-ROM) 8XDVDP [313-0833] [461-4545]

Bundle: Microsoft®Works Suite 2002 with Money 2002 Standard IWORKS [412-0134]

Virus Protection: Norton Antivirus® 2002, 90-day introductory offer NAV2002 [412-5623]

Digital Music: Dell Jukebox powered by MusicMatch JUKEXP [412-3809]

Limited Warranty, Services and Support Options: 1Yr Ltd. Warranty- 1Yr Mail-In Service+1Yr Phone Support ST111RR [950-3337] [950-8830] [950-9057]

Internet Access Options: 6 Months of America Online Membership Included AOLDHS [412-0183]

Digital Photography: Dell Picture Studio,Image Expert 2000 Standard Edition DPSXP [412-0194]

Special Offer: 3 DVD Movies or Software Titles: 3 DVD Movies or Software Titles! Redemption details will be mailed to you. FREEDVD [A0013288]

 

[Gregg Loewen]

I also had the upgraded DVD/CDRW (in addition to the 3 year no fault warrranty thingy).

So I guess Im paying for the extra. I am real hard on laptops so I think the warranty is an essential??

 

[Matt Stryker]

If your laptop is essential to your business, I'd call Dell today and see what their turnaround times are (guaranteed that is) for mail-in vs in-home. It may be worth the extra money if the loss of the device would cause you to be unable to work.
On the other hand, after 3 years you'll probably want to upgrade anyway. That is why I only recommended the phone support for 3 years. After 3, sell that thing on EBay or give it to the kids.
Heres a list of the 3 free DVDs you can pick from: http://www.dell.com/us/en/dhs/topics...ware_popup.htm

 

[Gregg Loewen]

Matt, this is not only in home but all so covers any accidental damage to the unit. It did state that deliberate damage would not be covered. My laptops always have the screen hings etc break so I thought this would be a good thing?

 

[Matt Stryker]

After reading their agreement about the complete care, it would probably suit you well...just remember that they are raising the price tonight up $200 or so on the laptop.

Does your color/video analyzing equipment require a special input slot/port?

 

[Gregg Loewen]

hi
Just the serial port.
Done deal.
$2145 delivered, with an extra battery, and the 3 year in home warrany, with clutz protection.
thanks guys!!
I also ordered an extra 256 meg of Ram from Crucial for $99

Gregg

 

[AllanN]

Yeah but with In home and compleate care you are almost guarnteed not to be without a laptop unless it gets stolen or burns down in your house. In that case you have a hell of allot more to worry about.

 

[KyleS]

Smart man buying the memory from Crucial as it probably saved you at least 100-150 from Dells pricing.
And congrats on your new machine although I thought that you were trying to stay around 1000 and under 1500
Damn computers are like HT they can take so much out of you and there is always something better right around the corner.
KyleS

 

[Gregg Loewen]

actually it saved me about 250-300. I cant believe how high Dell's pricing was on memory.

They quoted me 125-150 (cant remember) for a 128 meg upgrade.

 

[Michael D. Bunting]

Gregg

Sorry to hear about the other laptop that died! I guess I never put it through much travel when it was mine - like you have been lately.