Hey All,

I'm looking at purchasing a laptop in the next month or so and was looking to see if anyone had any suggestions. Looking at spending around $2500.

Wang

dell + nvidia graphics card + 1 gig of ram

fill in the rest of what you want up to price equivalent

urr...

I don't care for dell personally, I care less for dell fanboys.

I'd go HP, Asus, Toshiba, with 2 GB of ram, and vid card of your choice.

dell + nvidia graphics card + 1 gig of ram

If it's Dell it'd come with Vista, so it's probably better to get 1.5 or 2GB of memory.

I picked up an ASUS F3JP the other day for ~1700. Very Impressed with the value for money.

Core2Due 1.66g
1gb DDR2 Ram
Radeon X1700
15.4" Widescreen

Dell XPS1210 with the Nvidia Go video card. I just got one for work and it's brilliant! nice little 12" screen so it's actually a portable device, not a hulking great bit foldable television set like some are.

ah thats right, damn vista

well, i wouldnt touch HP with mongies stump, so if you dont like dell, asus maybe

but yer, for vista, lots of ram

its a shame xp isnt an option on new laptops anymore

fyi, i used to hate dell (they supply our work machines) and coz we were using the base models they were the suck

since ive been moving up in the world, and i started getting some decent dell products, i coudlnt be happier

my dell D610 is a couple of years old and still cains

last edited by Spook at 14:37:19 13/Mar/07

But it is.

well, there you go

if you can, get XP on it

But it is.

Score, as Vista was mandatory a couple of weeks ago.

Guess enough customers had reservations about Vista?

last edited by parabol at 14:47:18 13/Mar/07

Are we seriously doing this again?

http://qgl.ausforums.com/?agn=thread&id=2500888
http://qgl.ausforums.com/?agn=thread&id=2498100
http://qgl.ausforums.com/?agn=thread&id=2488558
http://qgl.ausforums.com/?agn=thread&id=2482181
http://qgl.ausforums.com/?agn=thread&id=2473661
http://qgl.ausforums.com/?agn=thread&id=2466412
http://qgl.ausforums.com/?agn=thread&id=2430681

FWIW - Dell.

Definately keep your eye out for the Asus G1 notebooks. Very nice specs indeed and come with a logitech G5.

2ghz Core2duo, 2GB 667Mhz ram, 120GB, ATI X2300 Video Card, 15.4" WSXGA+ Screen etc.

Can be had from $2600-$2999

Asus G1


last edited by Fik at 15:07:28 13/Mar/07

Another vote for Dell.

I like that their notebooks are customisable, and they also have pretty good prices + special offers.

Alienware laptops are also pretty sweet, but their huge f***-off price tags turn me off.

Another vote for the dell XPS1210

f***ing great laptop.

I think the problem here is we are all willing to give advice to off topic crap that gets asked all the time.

I think you should buy a celeron clone with a cool name like "laptop" or "notebook", don't worry if it a mobile cpu or not, thats just a gimmick. Don't be tricked into any of those fancy marketing words like core2 duo, wireless, warranty, support.

Also get one as heavy as you can... weight means its good.

Are we seriously doing this again?

Yep, laptop deals change monthly .. which is how often there should be threads on the topic.

many suppliers out there sell them without software?

I actually have a legal copy of XP Pro.

Ignore Obes.

The CPU in a notebook is VERY important, as different processors will consume different amounts of energy. You're going to have to find a balance of power and battery life which best suits your needs. Warranty is also very important with laptops. Get the longest one you can IMO. It's not like a PC where you can replace a single dodgey part with no problems. When something goes wrong in a laptop it can be very expensive to fix because parts aren't so easily interchangable and availability can be a big issue.

dell are overpriced and underpowered. I <3 my toshiba, 2.4ghz celeron 14" screen so it must be quite old and still no dead pixels.

Fortunate this thread came along, I was thinking of getting another laptop for media type stuff (watching recorded tv shows on the TV, little bit of video editing here & there) quite possibly a game of cs:s or two though I have the main pc for that. What's with most of the laptops only having a 1.6 or 1.8gig cpu these days though? I know they're core2 or core duo so would that be as strong as my 2.4ghz p4 main pc?

last edited by whoop at 20:31:33 13/Mar/07

do people actually use batteries on laptops?
i never have;

Of course we use batteries.

How else am I going to watch Top Gear on the train home?

Honorary "Get a mac" post.

:-)

got a dell inspiron 6400 other week

kicks ass

vista aint too bad

Was leaning towards a Dell lappy as well ... I use one at work and seems to work fine ... thanks again for the suggestions all.

I've been messing around with the Dell customisation, but it s***s me that I have to get XP Home AND MS Works in the package.

Anyone know of a decent place to buy a laptop that doesn't bundle with software?

Don't need too much power - just want to spend about ~$1200 with wireless, 1gb Ram and raosnable processor speed.

I think the major question to ask is, "which laptop brand supplies the BEST warranty?"

Dell I believe even has an accidental spills warranty for like $250 which covers for drops or spills or crap like that. I'd make sure I do research on any brand before buying. Asus warranty is "decent" but not obscenely great. takes a little too long at times to get the laptop back from the service agent in my opinion, that and the guys will charge you money the second they get a chance. Check what warranty length the batteries are covered for. Anyone whom buys an Asus laptop be advised your batteries are only warrantied for 1 year, (even though the rest of the laptop is warrantied for 3)


these are all issues you might want to check. I wouldn't care less about speed first up, look at what level of after sales service you're going to get if the thing f***s up.

i like IBM's (lenovo) cos they have that little red button in the middle of the keyboard to control the mouse. handy.

Stinky have you tried playing games on your laptop? I saw one today, looked good and I'm thinking of getting one~

I think the major question to ask is, "which laptop brand supplies the BEST warranty?" )

Dell!


Asus can be good, but there's isn't nearly enough decent service centres here in Qld, meaing that even trivial work like motherboard replacement can take too long due to overly long service ques. After trying to get replacement parts for my HP lappy, I'll never -ever- go for a HP laptop again.

service isn't that big a deal as I only need it to last 12 months before i salary sacrifice another one.

Can't beat a Toshiba for Quality and expense...

I like Dell, no issue with em.. the XPS is pretty nice (if a bit wanky with the LED colors)

I bought a Clevo re brand (Metabox 735) from Laptop Choice the order was delivered promptly and no dead pixels or issues in the 7 months I have owned it so far (Use the deal code "techone" for a $50 discount :) )

I have owned 2 Clevo's now and both have behaved really well

I suggest you look into Salary Sacrificing the laptop as well.. The metabox was ticketed $4740 with the options i took, ended up paying $2020 after salary sacrifice.

Stinky have you tried playing games on your laptop? I saw one today, looked good and I'm thinking of getting one

I have the same notebook as stinky, I play wow, Supreme commander, HL2:DM, C&C 3 demo etc. It handles games really well, and thats with me running vista ultimate on it with the sidebar and dreamscene running.

I've got an Asus, it rocks my socks on a regular basis.

Anono, unfortunately your extreme views lead to people instantly writing off any worth of what you are trying to convey.

If you want to raise a real alternative, at least use parallels not extremities.

for example, I have a 5 year old Toshiba TE2100 laptop which is quite light, powerful and sleek (especially for its age). I get over 2 hours out of the battery and it has never failed.

Instantly, on these facts, i have discounted any reason for owning a mac you have put forward.

last edited by Mr Hardware at 23:31:46 17/Mar/07

get a mac and get power/performance/looks and a decent OS that doesnt need to take 5 years to copy another companies system.

can you run cs on osx yet?

can you run cs on osx yet?

no but u can run windows on a mac ???????????????????????/

can you run cs on osx yet?

Ya you can

Dell XPS1210 with the Nvidia Go video card. I just got one for work and it's brilliant! nice little 12" screen so it's actually a portable device, not a hulking great bit foldable television set like some are.

That looks cool, except the photos on the Dell site don't give me a sense of scale. Have you got any photos of it?

The dell website is possibly the most f***ing horrible experience ever. You'd think with you millions and millions of people that swarm through it that they would try and create something usable, f*****s

Mr Hardware good for you. so your 5yo laptop is still being sold as new today? i dont think so for some reason. New DELL LAPTOPS WHICH IS WHAT PEOPLE ARE TALKING ABOUT are f'ing huge. have poor battery life, but they dont need battery life cause they are way too big and useless as laptops anyway.

Asus used to make reallly nice slimline laptops as well, but MOST pc laptops are not laptops they are desktop replacements.

if you want a real mobile solution then mac is the way to go. You can use it as a windows machine if you want, but its hardly as good an os, but for some games you need it.

ps i really dont give a flying f**k what you think about me, but what i have written is valid and relavant. if the OP has any sense he/she will atleast explore all the option and can make up their own mind

Eds, oh poor little eds.

Your XPS was lighter, ligher then what? smaller? and WAYYYY faster based on your extensive testing of both machine before buying im sure, not at all based on the specs... cpu usage by both os's clearly show OSX is superior. battery life is also based upop testing im sure, not at all about dells "battery will last this long" crap.

apples hardware isnt "THAT" superior, but its still is isnt it. based on one feature? what one is that? 1. search, or 1. Picture viewer? or 1. Calendar? or 1. Mail? (which is still behind cause they didnt have time to put macs new features in) or 1. Window switching or or or the list goes on and on and on. Man they even copied the colour scheme. and they arent making fun saying they are the only ones, its making fun saying look they are finally catching up, yes apple put the camera in first AGAIN.

Microsoft have actually been quoted to have said that Vista is actually not ready for enduser use yet, that there will be a service pack released very soon to patch as many things as they can. But that doesnt change your fanboi mind does it. as nothing will until you actually use an apple for a length of time, at which point you wont go back, OH THATS RIGHT you dont have too you can actually run both osx and windows on a mac now, wonder who they copied that from, wait NO ONE.

sluggish for your use, aahhaha your funny.

osx isnt perfect yet either, universal intergrating is still being ironed out. but it still works well without killing the whole machine.

Dont remember you, clearly you were an idiot. I try and repress those memorys.

Its clear that you dont read before you post and you think your all that and then some, so Im not going to continue to try and have a reasonable argument based on fact and logic, because clearly you dont have both.

you actually havent come up with anything to support your claims yet, so i can see why you are running away, with your tail between your legs.

actually our dealings never happened because you never responded, even after repeated attepts by me and the person whom was trying to buy from you.

OH, I do remember you now. I didnt want to sell to you because I was warned not to deal with you, because you would bid on things and not pay :P

lol, oh the irony!

So me, not selling to you because I was warned you were dodgy makes me shonky? no, it makes me intelligent enough not to sell to d*******s.

my new(ish) dell isnt huge at all

its very portable

dunno what the battery life would be, coz i never use it on battery

really you remember do you? seeing as it was a friend of mine who bid and was buying and couldnt get in touch with you and asked me to help get in touch with you, incase it was hes log in that was the problem.

have never had a bad review from anyone i have bought from. again trying to pass the buck without any evidence.

spook thats good for you, but comparable machines between mac and pc the size is very noticable.

Plz save the personal s*** for when you're netsexing via MSN or something, noone here cares

Trog, my camera is at work, ill take some photos of the XPS tommorow if you want them.

Noone cares until your pic is put online and it goes through a photochop phase.

That looks cool, except the photos on the Dell site don't give me a sense of scale. Have you got any photos of it?

Dell vs 20" widescreen LCD, and Dell vs Tape Measure

http://xesla.ro/static/images/xps/xps1.jpg

http://xesla.ro/static/images/xps/xps2.jpg

note the bulge out the back is the supersize battery. standard battery on it is flush.

also it's shorter than the height of the monitor, is just closer to the camera so looks bigger.

last edited by stinky at 13:35:44 18/Mar/07

urr... what do you think is inside your mac? an apple?

Its a PC. What piece of hardware inside that case is any different to something in a HP/Dell/Whatever laptop?

i just bought mine through dell, my advice is to call them after doing your online quote - they are very prepared to move on price over the phone!

Intel Duo Processor 2ghz 667 FSB
2048mb 533mhx DDR2 Ram
256mb Nvidia Geforce Go 7300
120gb SATA HDD
15.4" Widescreen 1440x990
Windows Vista Ultimate (will give it a few months see how it goes)
9 cell Battery
Wireless
DVD burner

came to about $2400 and I got them to knock off all the bulls*** extras I don't want like MS Works, free 2nd battery, free upgrade to 160gb HDD, free 3 year warranty, free macaffee etc etc

ended up paying $1850 - looked arouind and nowhere could get close.

and Dell vs Tape Measure

How do you think that's going to help me get a sense of scale?!?

thats an awesome deal spidz

and Dell vs Tape Measure
How do you think that's going to help me get a sense of scale?!?

by measuring certain parts of your anatomy and realising without it, your epenis is small :D

Spidz, so all that "free" stuff really isn't free? : )

Stez,

It would appear not....

It took alot of chat to get MS Works removed from the package.

I will admit that my boss in my current job used to work in marketing for Dell and told me that they will mess with packages as long as the margin stays the same and gave me a few hints on what things they will budge on and what they won't.