looking for a good laptop on a limited budget

Hello there,

I've been looking around for a decent notebook, mainly for school purposes, but i would like to do some movie-watching and game-playing on it as well. I was hoping you guys here could help me with this. I have about $1500 to spend and there are some things i really want it to have:

- A pentium M processor. I've heard & read some good things about its speed, but the most important thing about for me is the extended battery life. I'd like to be able to use it for 3+ hours without having to recharge the battery.
- A decent screen. I'd like to have some space on my desktop, so a screen with a higher resolution than 1024x768 is a must. Anything greater than (or equal to) 1280x1024 would be great.
- A DVD-player. I want to be able to watch some movies on it.
- A decent amount of RAM. 512 DDR should be enough :)
- A 5400 rpm harddisk. 30+ GB should do it.
- It should be new. It's one of the 'biggest' things I'll be buying in a long time, so i want it to be all shiny and new-smelling :p
- There doesn't have to be any software with it, I already have a winXP licence (thanks to my college) and I'll probably install linux on it after some time anway.

I don't know if it's even possible to get a laptop with all this stuff at about $1500, but I'm hoping you guys here might know of something.

Thanks in advance, any help is appreciated,

Franky

i have to recommend the compaq x1000 ive had it for about a month now, and it is a great laptop. i dont even feel the need to use my desktop anymore. i just use it for folding now

The laptop in my sig was $1650 before tax. Take off the DVDRW, downgrade the HD, add 256MB RAM and you've got one kick *** laptop with ~4 hours battery life.

A Gateway M505X would meet your requirements almost exactly for $1499. See reviews here.

Thanks for your replies guys!

I've looked at all the laptops you've suggested and I'm going with the M505X. It's too bad about the 4200 rpm harddisk and I'd prefer a WSXGA+, but it'll do. Also all the extra's like the radeon 9600, the tv-out, the cd burner and the slick look are really cool :cool:

I'm afraid the compaq ready-to-ship notebooks either don't have all the stuff I'd like to have, or are too expensive. They can be customized, but it seems like the M505X is just a better deal. The same pretty much can be said of the inspiron 8600, although I'd wish i could get my hands on one of the customized ones, they just cost a little too much.

I think I'll be very happy with the M505X and I'd like to thank you all again for the replies :)

Greets,

Franky

You should be able to configure a I8600 for <$1500 that would be better than the M505X. You might need to use a 15% off coupon, PM me if you wanna know how. Don't forget you only get a 64MB 9600 on the M505X vs 128MB 9600 pro on the I8600.

The only thing I find better on the M505X is the nice audio with the subwoofer, but the better VC and WSXGA+ screen mean more to me.

Saw a great deals for laptop @ www.dealsofamerica.com for HP from HP shopping.
This is intel P4, 512 MB, IEEE1394, USB2, 15" screen. Looks great good rating @ cnet...for $850 after discount and rebate