Laptop recomendations...

[overdose006]

Hello trusted forum members
looking for a laptop which will primarily be a desktop replacement
here are the specs iam looking for

CPU: Pentium M (doesnt matter what speed it is, or does it?)
RAM: 1 gig, but will settle for 512 if I have too
HD: 100 gig, but could be as low as 80 or something
Media: DVD/CD burner
Video card: This is where I'am a little bit confused as to whats availible
ive seen some with ATI x300 (128 meg) but I have read that its not all that great. I hear good things about nvidea 6800, are there any other options availible in this department?
LCD: 15.4 widescreen

Now I have found the Dell inspiron 6000d to match all these criteria but the vidoe card (x300) and the 9300 is too big with 17" screen

basicly my question is, are there laptops like the 9300 but in 15.4" screens?

Thanks...(living in canada if that makes a difference)

[Hammerstein]

I think some of the Acers meet those requirements. And probably some Gateways, too. You could also complete your own laptop from an Asus chasis (add RAM, HD, etc) and get good results there, too.

[kent1146]

Well, there are laptops with a GeForce 6800 laptop, and ones without. Unfortunately, the laptops with a GeForce 6800 are either bigger (Dell Inspiron 9300, with a beautiful 17" LCD), are VERY expensive (ie, Alienware or Falcon NW prices), or are made by companies without large names (ie, ProStar, Sager, IBuyPower, CyberPower, etc). If you must have the GeForce 6800, I would recommend you wait for Dell to release a 35% off coupon, and get a fully loaded Inspiron 9300 for under $1500.

I have recently been looking at computers around those specs (mobile CPU, 1GB, DVD burner, 15.4" screen, gaming capable video card). And the two computers I found that fit those specs nicely are:

HP Pavilion DV4000 - Pentium-M CPU, 1GB RAM, DVD burner, 14" widescreen LCD, x700 GPU. Nicely built, beautiful laptop. Has an instant-on media play option, so you can play DVDs without booting into Windows.

Acer Ferrari 4000 - AMD Turion CPU, 1GB RAM, 15.4" LCD, x700GPU. Words cannot describe how incredible this laptop looks. I will let you do your own research on this one.

[overdose006]

thanks for the speedy reply guys...
Ive seen the dell coupons around, unfortunately there is a bit of a time constraint. I'am moving in jan. and will need my laptop sorted by then, so I dont really have the luxary of waiting for a coupon. Ya the 9300 with the specs I want come out to 2k canadian. Surely there must be a better price out there.

Looking at those suggestions, whats the comparison like between 6800 and x700?

The Acer Ferrari 4000 is beutiful, but its beyond my price point. The HP V4000 is nice, but I cant find it on their canadian site. Know of any places that ship it to the north?

Was looking around today, Toshiba Satellite M70-SR6 looks really good
Processor Intel Pentium M 750
Memory 1.0GB DDR2
Hard Drive 100GB
CD-DVD Drive 8x Double Layer DVD+/-R/RW
Graphics Chipset ATI MOBILITY RADEON X700
all for 1800 CAN

all depends if x700 is a decent card really

[pudad]

IBM Thinkpad or a dell 700m. Also, powerbooks are decent, although I will probably sell mine soon.

[Chuck232]

I'd take a look at the ASUS models. The Z70Va is a very solid laptop.

http://www.canadasys.com/laptopasus.htm

Scroll down to the price lists of the different configs of laptops. Definitely better build quality than the HP.

[proxops-pete]

$1200 from HP.com Compaq V4000T model...

Operating System Microsoft(R) Windows(R) XP Home Edition with SP2
Processor Intel(R) Pentium(R) M Processor 725A (1.6 GHz)
Display 15.4" WXGA Widescreen (1280x800)
Graphics Card 128MB ATI MOBILITY(TM) RADEON(R) X700
Memory 512MB DDR2 SDRAM (1x512MB)
Hard Drive 80 GB 5400 RPM Hard Drive
Primary CD/DVD Drive DVD+/-RW/R & CD-RW Combo w/Double Layer Support Networking FREE Upgrade to Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 2200BG WLAN!
Primary Battery 12 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
Productivity Software Microsoft(R) Works/Money

[Vengance_01]

not bad, but in the 15.4 class of laptops only 2 video cards exsit, the 6600 and X700. I think the Ati is bit more balanced, but both are about 5% with-in each other.

[Chuck232]

$1200 from HP.com Compaq V4000T model...

Operating System Microsoft(R) Windows(R) XP Home Edition with SP2
Processor Intel(R) Pentium(R) M Processor 725A (1.6 GHz)
Display 15.4" WXGA Widescreen (1280x800)
Graphics Card 128MB ATI MOBILITY(TM) RADEON(R) X700
Memory 512MB DDR2 SDRAM (1x512MB)
Hard Drive 80 GB 5400 RPM Hard Drive
Primary CD/DVD Drive DVD+/-RW/R & CD-RW Combo w/Double Layer Support Networking FREE Upgrade to Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 2200BG WLAN!
Primary Battery 12 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
Productivity Software Microsoft(R) Works/Money

He is not in the United States of America. Not everyone can buy stuff from newegg and other American vendors.

[proxops-pete]

Oh... missed that Canada part.
Have a friend that lives across the border?

[overdose006]

can you be my friend? hehe
will have to take a look around local pc retailers and see whats out there

[anubis44]

I'm in Toronto, Canada, and I was just in the same boat... well almost. I actually went with an open box Toshiba M40-SF3 (this is the same computer as the U.S. Toshiba Satellite M45) with an NVidia GeForce Go6600 graphics chip with 128MB on the card (incidentally, this Go6600 in the M40/M45 is NOT the Go6600TE, even though it is a Toshiba notebook - I checked the bios and description with Sandra and Everest Home). I actually prefered this machine over the Satellite M70 with the X700 256MB for the simple reason that the screen on the M40 was absolutely stunning - pure whites and true blacks. With the M70, I think Toshiba must have cheaped out or something because the pannel display is just not as good. You really have to see them side by side. Anyhow, you may not be able to find any M40s as they are discontinued, and if you like the display on the M70, it's probably the single best deal on a 15.4" notebook with a good graphics card out there. The 100Gb HD is 5400rpm, and the 256Mb X700 graphics card really actually has 256MB on the card (I checked with dxdiag at the store). Get it at Futureshop - they've got the 512MB version for $1699 and the 1GB version for $1899.

For anybody who needs a laptop for business, but who wants to play the occasional round of Wolfenstein ET or Age of Empires III, the epilogue to this story is that I returned the M40 because it was just too big to lug around with me in my business (I'm a real estate agent). Futureshop gave me a full refund without hassle and I just picked up a demo Toshbia Tecra M3 with a 64MB Go6200TE chip for $1299. It was demonstrated to a company and then returned after 1 week. The machine's in perfect condition and it'll take an internal bluetooth card for $109 extra. The 14" screen and the 5.0lb weight make it perfect for what I need. The 60GB HD is also 5400rpm, and Toshiba actually put 533MHz ram in the thing (and left the other slot open), not the cheaper, slower ram this mobo can come with. So far, I'm pretty happy with it.

[overdose006]

i think iam going to with the toshiba m70, unless something else comes up
what kind of gaming performance can i expect from a system like that?
i know better than to expect it running the latest on max settings
but is it too much to expect to stay current with upcoming games for the next year or two...

[overdose006]

Hmm, well I have some options now. The dell 9300 with a gig of ram and geforce 6800 is going for the same price this weekend as the toshiba I was looking at. Will have to do some reading on the dells this weekend...

[Dravis85]

If you can spend a bit of extra money you can get a nicely equiped laptop for 2300-2400$ USD from www.xtremenotebooks.com

When I say "nicely equipped" i mean just about the best.