New Laptop brand advice

[Freudian]

Well folks, my P3 900 laptop is 7yrs old now and working well, but with all the new software running on it, I find it running a little slow compared to my desktop PC (Core2Duo 2.13GHz).

I'm thinking of getting a NEW laptop in the next couple months. My spend limit is around $1000.00.

I am interested in knowing which brands make a quality laptop generally with the best features.

Here is my wish list of laptop specs:

17.0" WXGA+ 1440x900 LCD
256mb Video
1.7 GHz Dual-Core **or higher*
8xDL DVD-R
120GB SATA HDD 5400rpm **or higher**
1 GB DDR2 RAM **or higher**

Digital SPDIF Audio Out
Mic
Webcam
Card Reader
S-Video Out ** composit out would be fine **
VGA RGB Out
DVI Out ** would be nice, but not necessary **
56kbps Modem
100mbps LAN **1000mbps would be nice but i haven't seen it **
WiFi b/g ** 'n' would be gret, but again i haven't seent it **
Bluetooth *would be nice*
4xUSB 2.0
1xIEEE1394 FireWire 400

[KRS]

Check out the Dell Inspirons. They have a great price and great support. You will want to upgrade to 2 GIGS of ram because only Windows Vista is offered and in order to play any games or multi-task the extra ram will come in handy.

If you have any other questions feel free to PM me. I just bought a Dell laptop and I am very happy with it.

[kaj27]

SPDIF is rare on notebooks, Unless you buy an external card or a PCMCIA card. But you might be lucky to get all the ports you want if you opt for a docking station. Most notebooks come with limited connections now.

[maddmaxstar]

Dude, check this out,
http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?sku_id=0665000FS10090035&catid=25316&logon=&langid=EN

HP Pavillion DV9408CA, 1.7GHz Turion64 X2, 1GB RAM, 256mb Video, 17" 1440x900 Screen, 160gb 5400rpm HDD, Webcam, SPDIF, DVDRW-DL, Card Reader, Firewire, 4 USB Ports, S-video & VGA Out.

749.99. Add Taxes and that'll bring you just under 1000. They also have a faster model with a 1.8GHz TurionX2 and 2GB RAM for 150$ more, though with RAM Prices today you might as well just stick with the cheaper Lappy and get more RAM later. I'd highly recommend more than 1gb RAM for Vista-HP.

-Nick

[Freudian]

KRS:

I checked out the Insperions at Dell. They look great. I also have had a chance to check out a few different configurations of that model in person.

Nick:

I checked out an HP today. Exactly the same as one of the two I was looking at on FS.com. I liked it, but the extra glossy screen kept me from being able to see the screen without tilting my head all weird.


The DELLs have anti-glare screens. That's for me :)

Andrew

[komodo182]

dont get a dell!

expensive for what u get

trust me
i go to univeristy and all the dells are slower, cost more and die before this laptop i got at future shop. I knwo most peopel dont liek future shop for computer stuff but i have a desktop and a laptop form them now and there have been no problems. but get what u want
dell seems liek a pain in teh everytime i deal with them or my friend most. takes a long time ot make. my friend offered one last june and its still not here. They mess up the orders very easily
just a warning,lol

[maddmaxstar]

You should really try looking at those screens under different lighting situations, not under the flourecent lights at Future Shop which wreak havoc on normal Anti-Reflective coatings and don't show them under the best...err..light.. Those screens offer a much more sharper and richer image quality for watching movies and surfing the web than the Anti-Glare screens, a detail I'm sure you'll appreciate.

The reason behind that is that Anti-Glare screens scatter the light so the light doesn't reflect off the screen, but it does the exact same to the light coming out of the monitor, it scatters it and gives the image a fuzzy quality.

The Anti-Reflective coating (Bright View, Crystal Bright, etc) allows the light from the screen to travel straight through without scattering and the end result is a much sharper higher definition image quality because the light isn't difused - but it does tend to look horrible in stores like Future Shop and Staples where the Ceilings are coated by bare flourecent lights. Believe me, it was a hard sell when I was working at Staples when they came out originally. :P

In the end, it's your call, but I've had my Compaq with an Anti-Reflective screen for 2yrs and it looks great in most situations and wouldn't get another laptop without it.

[komodo182]

i have an hp form future shop and i lov eit
its fun watching my friend's laptop dying during school and mine still running

[FutureChief88]

I just bought a Lenovo. They are fairly new.. But rated number 1 in alot of the comsumer reports for 2007. I love it.. Fast, Nice, 15.4 inch screen.. powerful machine..

again.. like everyone else is saying.. Its your call. But i have heard nothing but bad things about dells.. Few people i know have themm Most dont like them.. But thats just their opinions..

[FutureChief88]

http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/controller/e/web/LenovoPortal/en_US/catalog.workflow:expandcategory?current-catalog-id=12F0696583E04D86B9B79B0FEC01C087&current-category-id=83C6BB3C3335400EB7DF1011B7015A00

That is the link to my lenovo. Mine is the N series..

[Freudian]

I currently have a Compaq Armada E500.

Intel Pentium III 900MHz
128mb RAM
100GB 7200rpm PATA HDD *upgraded this year*
24x CD-ROM
1.44mb FDD
14" 1024x768 LCD
etc...

My point is that the LCD is not ULTRA GLOSSY. It's a regular LCD like my new LG 20.1" WS LCD.

I don't now if that means its anti-glare, or if it simply doens't have the extra glossy plastic filter on top of it. That's all I'm looking for. Regular, non-glossy.


Now, as for the HP with the super-glossy LCD... It was at a customer's house and I was using it to set something up for her related to my current job. I was inside the house and under regular usual lighting conditions. The kind where it's daytime and light is coming in from the windows and there are regular lights on inside. All those light sources reflected on the screen so badly that I had to tip the laptop just right to see 1/2 the screen. If I wanted to see the other half of the screen, I'd have to title the whole laptop again. It was nuts. Other than that, the laptop was great. Of course it was loaded wth Windows Vista and that is a POS right now. Maybe it wll be better later, but right now it is very annoying to use.

Freud

[mizunderstood]

hp anything and everything... I love hp.

[maddmaxstar]

The Technical name for the Glossy screens is, oddly enough, "Anti-Reflective"... Because they don't reflect the light coming out of them, resulting in a much sharper and crisper image quality.

About 95% of all Laptops sold these days on Retail shelves come with them, so you're pretty much going to have to order one in.

All I've been trying to say is, they're not that bad.