Help Red! Laptop Get, Help Me Pick One Options

[Redeema]

My better half is going to get me a laptop for a combined Christmas and birthday present (which passed already so don't bother to say Happy Belated Bday) anyway, still not sure on the budget exactly, but I was thinking over $1000, but probably less than $1500. Let me tell you what I'd use it for before you send me Alienware's way. Word processing would be the first and foremost use of it, need to write reviews from somewhere. Secondarily, it would be used for gaming, I don't need tpo of the line, but I'd like it to be able to run a game like Civilization IV with ease. Thirdly, would be net use. I don't plan to do video editing or anything else like that, so yeah.

This is what I would like inside:

-DVD/CR-R/RW possibly with lightscribe. (Is it just HP's that have that built in? I could do without it)
-Some sort of video out so that if/when I get my HDTV I can use that as the monitor instead. You can do that, right?
-The ability to be upgraded easily if I need it to be.
-I'd like it to come with software, but I could do without it I suppose.
-Oh, and whatever else you might recommend for a kickbutt machine.

Okay, now help me out here, link me to some products, of course cheaper (but heavy on the features) is always better. If you've got the hookup (online coupons, etc.) do tell and thanks in advance.

[Erickarim]

is this ur first laptop?

my next laptop its going to be a powerbook 15inch. just to tell u how much i like that machine. its hela awesome.

that aside. here


General Questions

1) What size notebook would you prefer?


a. Ultraportable; 12" screen or less

b. Thin and Light; 13" - 14" screen
c. Mainstream; 15" - 16" screen
d. Desktop Replacement; 17"+ screen

2) What tasks will you be performing with the notebook?


3) Will you be taking the notebook with you to different places or leaving it on your desk?

4) Will you be playing games on it; if so, which games?

5) Are there any brands that you prefer or any you really don't like?

6) How many hours of battery life do you need?

7) What is your budget?

8) Do you mind buying online without seeing the notebook in person?

Screen Specifics

9) From the choices below, what screen resolutions would you prefer?


a. XGA = eXtended Graphics Array; 1024x768; This resolution will give you the largest viewable text and images while offering the least amount of screen real estate.


b. SXGA = Super eXtended Graphics Array; 1400x1050; This resolution offers a middle ground between XGA and UXGA.

c. UXGA = Ultra eXtended Graphics Array; 1600x1200; This resolution will give you the smallest viewable text and images while offering the greatest amount of screen real estate.

d. WXGA = Widescreen eXtended Graphics Array; 1280x768 or 1280x800; This resolution offers the same as XGA except that there is more horizontal real estate; 1280 versus 1024. Popular for movie viewing due to support for widescreen.

e. WXGA+ = Widescreen eXtended Graphics Array+; 1440x900; This resolution is offered on 17” widescreen notebooks and is comparable to WXGA in terms of text and icon size versus available screen real estate. Popular for movie viewing due to support for widescreen.

f. WSXGA+ = Widescreen Super eXtended Graphics Array; 1680x1050; This resolution is comparable to SXGA in that it offers a middle ground between WXGA/WXGA+ and WUXGA. Popular for movie viewing due to support for widescreen.

g. WUXGA = Widescreen Ultra eXtended Graphics Array; 1920x1200; This resolution offers the smallest viewable text and images while offering the greatest amount of screen real estate.

10) Do you want a glossy/reflective screen or a matte/non-glossy screen?



Build Quality and Design

11) Are the notebook’s looks and stylishness important to you?

12) How long do you want this laptop to last?

Notebook Components

13) How much hard drive space do you want; 40GB to 120GB?

14) Do you need a DVD, DVD-CD/RW or DVD-R drive?

[Redeema]

Holy geez! Most of that I addressed in my post, but I'll touch on it again, and yes this is my first laptop:

1) What size notebook would you prefer?
c. Mainstream; 15" - 16" screen
d. Desktop Replacement; 17"+ screen
-I like bigger, but 15" at the least sounds good enough to me.

2) What tasks will you be performing with the notebook?
Mostly word processing, gaming, and net usage.

3) Will you be taking the notebook with you to different places or leaving it on your desk?
It'll be portable.

4) Will you be playing games on it; if so, which games?
Whatever I get for free, I'm not big into FPS games, so no big deal there, but I'd like to be able to play stuff like Civilization IV, ______ Tycoon type games, and stuff like that. Everything else is an afterthought.

5) Are there any brands that you prefer or any you really don't like?
I'd prefer a good reliable brand that someone could give first hand experience with. I would prefer to stay with a name brand, but don't mind going off the board.

6) How many hours of battery life do you need?
Whatever would be standard. I don't know, 4-8 (is that a lot, a little, what?)

7) What is your budget?
I'd say somewhere between $1000-1500 tops.

8) Do you mind buying online without seeing the notebook in person?
I don't think I would mind, especially if I'm going custom anyway.

Screen Specifics

9) From the choices below, what screen resolutions would you prefer?

Um, I don't know. Something that looks sweet, and approaches Hi-Def without achieving Hi-Def prices.

a. XGA = eXtended Graphics Array; 1024x768; This resolution will give you the largest viewable text and images while offering the least amount of screen real estate.


b. SXGA = Super eXtended Graphics Array; 1400x1050; This resolution offers a middle ground between XGA and UXGA.

c. UXGA = Ultra eXtended Graphics Array; 1600x1200; This resolution will give you the smallest viewable text and images while offering the greatest amount of screen real estate.

d. WXGA = Widescreen eXtended Graphics Array; 1280x768 or 1280x800; This resolution offers the same as XGA except that there is more horizontal real estate; 1280 versus 1024. Popular for movie viewing due to support for widescreen.

e. WXGA+ = Widescreen eXtended Graphics Array+; 1440x900; This resolution is offered on 17” widescreen notebooks and is comparable to WXGA in terms of text and icon size versus available screen real estate. Popular for movie viewing due to support for widescreen.

f. WSXGA+ = Widescreen Super eXtended Graphics Array; 1680x1050; This resolution is comparable to SXGA in that it offers a middle ground between WXGA/WXGA+ and WUXGA. Popular for movie viewing due to support for widescreen.

g. WUXGA = Widescreen Ultra eXtended Graphics Array; 1920x1200; This resolution offers the smallest viewable text and images while offering the greatest amount of screen real estate.

10) Do you want a glossy/reflective screen or a matte/non-glossy screen?
Whatever it comes with I think I could live with.


Build Quality and Design

11) Are the notebook’s looks and stylishness important to you?
Not so much, but I don't want anything that looks like a brick with a keyboard built in.

12) How long do you want this laptop to last?
A few years I would hope.
Notebook Components

13) How much hard drive space do you want; 40GB to 120GB?
Probably no less than 60GB again more is better as long as it's not over the top expensive.

14) Do you need a DVD, DVD-CD/RW or DVD-R drive?
I'd like to make my own DVD's if possible, so DVD-R and CDR/RW

[Erickarim]

my emachines has been updated in the bestbuy store. now packs a nice 4000 adm Athlon 64. 100hd. 1gig ram. ati x600 with 128mb. DVD±RW/CD-RW 15.1 inch WXGA. the downside is cracked hingles ( mine has em and most of em will, u can sent for repair free cost) and limited mobility ( betery life just over 1:30 ) but the machine is a beast. mine's 2 year old and can take on doom III quite well.




here are some dell coupons, frequently updated
http://www.notebookreview.com/dellCoupon.asp



and for reviews on most machines out there

http://www.notebookreview.com/


final note....



15inch powerbook...................

[Redeema]

At the minimum for gaming what sort of processor should I be looking at, I saw this one at Best Buy, and it looks and sounds nice, but I don't know how good it would be for gaming. Best Buy There's another with lightscribe for the same price, but the screen is 14" instead of 15.4, which is a pretty nice size.

How about one of these Dells? Dell I was thinking of the second one from left to right. Any better than the HP above or are they comparable? Any other suggestions?

[Erickarim]

the proscesor is not the issue with gamming in laptops. getting the best vidcard is. the emachines ( gateway ) that told u abouth has a decent one. that "i" would consider minimum.... and basicaly something beter of same is priced >1500 at bestbuy. so u need to go dell, asus or boutique for it.
dell is great. my cous has one and it lasted quite a wile considering the kind of threatment he gives it. and with coupons u probably can get a great deal on something with a cool drafix card.


so start shooping. but dont dare go lesser that x600 in a vid card.



i would also recomend this:

ibook.- this jan theres posibly a 13.1 widescreen intel Ibook. that would be priced reasonable. with posibly a videocard upgrade ( 9550 on em rigth now ) priced near 1000.

and save the 500 for a home upgrade?>

[Erickarim]

u can configure a dell Inspiron 9300 with a cool gforce 6800 go ( hela nice ) and wait for a coupon and posibly get it for 1200 or less.

rigth now 250$ off. so configure.

[Erickarim]

dude..


go dell.com/

configure a hela nice 9300. it has to be over 1999 dls.

CC2$$MRTCWJ5FD 750$ off


total 1250 dls.

[Redeema]

Nice deal, I assume that's a good computer, and it's a nice screen at 17 inches. I'll play with the options later. Why is this me and you going back and forth, doesn't anyone else want to help me? Pshaw.

[Redeema]

How about these specs?:


Edited because I found something better.


That's a pretty sweet deal I think and it would be even cheaper if I dropped the sound card, would I even need that at all? $1250 for all that sounds like a sugary sweet price any reason why I shouldn't buy something like this?

This post has been edited by Redeema: Dec. 21, 2005, 06:36 PM

[gawl126]

You can probably get it cheaper, there are lots of coupons from dell floating around that you can use.

http://www.dell.com/holiday/

Enter the instant win contest and hope that you either win a laptop or get a coupon which would help you reduce the price even further. Check deal discussion sites for more stuff on reducing that price. I think you can get that for under $1000 if you really try.

[Redeema]

Thanks for the heads up on that, I entered the only coupon I found. I figured that $500 was about as much as I was going to get off. I did "win" a $50 off coupon that would be sweet if I could stack on top of the $500 off and it would bring my price under $1300. I'll have more of a look then to try to bring it down even more.

Forget that other deal this one is better:

Inspiron 9300
Date & Time: December 20,2005 6:54 PM CST 
  
   SYSTEM COMPONENTS
   Inspiron 9300  Qty     1  
Intel® Pentium® M Processor 740 (1.73 GHz/2MB Cache/533MHz FSB), Genuine Windows® XP Media Center Edition 2005 Unit Price    $2,046.00 
Select Inspiron affiliate offer save $750 off $1999+ (Affiliate only)
LIMITED TIME OFFER!        Remove Coupon
     - $750.00 

Catalog Number:   29 
Module   Description  Show Details
Inspiron 9300 Intel® Pentium® M Processor 740 (1.73 GHz/2MB Cache/533MHz FSB)
Operating System (Office software not included) Genuine Windows® XP Media Center Edition 2005
Display 17 inch UltraSharp™ Wide Screen UXGA Display with TrueLife™
Memory 1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz 2 Dimm
Video Card 256MB NVIDA® GeForce™ Go 6800
Hard Drive 80GB 5400rpmHard Drive
Network Card Integrated 10/100 Network Card and Modem
Adobe Software Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 6.0
CD/DVD Drives 8x CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW) with double-layer DVD+R write capability
Wireless Networking Card Intel® PRO/Wireless 2200 Internal Wireless (802.11 b/g, 54Mbps)
Office Software (not included in Windows XP) Microsoft Works Suite 2006- Includes MICROSOFT WORD plus much more!
Anti-Virus/Security Suite (Pre-installed) No Security Subscription
Primary Battery 6-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery (53 WHr)
Hardware Warranty 1Yr Ltd Warranty, 1Yr Mail-In Service, and 1Yr HW Warranty Support
Dial-Up Internet Access 6 Months of America Online Membership Included
Miscellaneous Award Winning Service & Support
Financial Software No QuickBooks package selected - includes limited use trial
Operating System Backup & Recovery PC Restore recovery system by Symantec
Dell Digital Entertainment Starter Entertainment Pack - Basic digital Music, Photo and Game experience

TOTAL:$1,296.00 

I actually managed to get this down to $1246.00 So, unless someone has something better to show me (value/feature wise) for about the same price I may end up going with something like this.

[gawl126]

Just keep playing the regift game until you come across one of these:

$400 off select Dell Inspiron notebooks over $1499

That will definitely bring down your total price. I'll be on the look out for one too.

[Erickarim]

ati x300 is sucky and wont play current generation well.

dont go lesser that x600 and thats just streching it.

[Erickarim]

head over to
notebookreview.com
forum and post the list i made u do.