Notebook buying help?

[tony3]

I have been looking at notebooks, mainly because I want my own computer. Also, I am going to indiana every month for a weekend for a tourney thing. Drive is 2-4 hrs so I want something to do. I figured I'd buy an mp3 player, but I thought I might as well get a computer while I got money. Basically, I want it to play dvd's, listen to music, store lots of pictures, and play the occasional game. Also, I'm a sophomore in highschool right now. I want something that will last me through college. I won't be asking for much out of it in college, mainly writing papers and stuff like that, because I will probably get a desktop before that. I am in the process of selling my dm4 and my birthday is in a few days so I should have around 900-1000. I have been looking at refurbished laptops mainly because its so much cheaper.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1105662&Sku=T24-S206B

That is on the top of my list in everything right now. Weight isn't so much an issue. Seems to have good specs and look like I'd run nice. My sister has had a toshiba laptop for almost 6 years and it has ran great this whole time, that is why I am leaning towards them.

Tony

[Target Practice]

tl;dr

Looseleaf or Spiralbound, that's the question.

[Steelrat]

That one actually looks like a good choice. Keep in mind that it will suck a lot of power, as the P4 actually makes it more of a desktop replacement then a true portable notebook. Just buy an inverter to use in the car so it will last the whole trip. Most people rarely need the long battery life.

[tony3]

Is there anything I can buy that I can plug into the cig power adapter in the car and plug it into the laptop?

NVM-Found one. Any other suggetions for a laptop in the 900-1k price range?

[SpecialBlend2786]

My dad and friend both have Toshiba's. Great laptops, best build quality I've seen in a notebook.

[Steelrat]

The two best brands are IBM and Fujitsu. Avoid Dell at all costs. As for the rest, who knows.

[Target Practice]

\Avoid Dell at all costs.

Yes. My Dell has given me a few problems. My HDD had to be replaced, and my LCD shattered after a 6 inch drop.

[SpecialBlend2786]

[..] and my LCD shattered after a 6 inch drop.

SAME HERE

it was in the carrying case and everything too. what crap

[magman007]

go with toshiba, im on my second (first one was stolen a25 man i loved that computer.... it still pisses me off that its gone) and i now have a toshiba portege(the tablet pc) i have been nothing but completely satisfied with these computers. they are of the utmost quality, fast, and worth the price. I highly reccomend them over every other laptop. dells blow. ibm's are nice, but toshibas are the bomb.

plus, you gotta realize toshiba doesnt make desktops, so all of their R and D goes right into their laptops.

[SpecialBlend2786]

plus, you gotta realize toshiba doesnt make desktops, so all of their R and D goes right into their laptops.

yep. Toshiba was the pioneer in laptop systems.

[Hasty8]

I have been looking at notebooks, mainly because I want my own computer. Also, I am going to indiana every month for a weekend for a tourney thing. Drive is 2-4 hrs so I want something to do. I figured I'd buy an mp3 player, but I thought I might as well get a computer while I got money.

Basically, I want it to play dvd's, listen to music, store lots of pictures,

Then forget about a laptop. My battery won't last into hour 3 on a cross-coutry flight.

and play the occasional game.

Hah! Try playing Halflife2 or SWKOTOR on a laptop!

Also, I'm a sophomore in highschool right now. I want something that will last me through college.

Again, hah! You want a computer that will be relevant in 6 years? Not likely.


All kidding aside, I think it sounds like you are looking for a large size laptop. I think PC Magazine did a comparison article on a few of them a few months back but I'll be damed if I can remember when.

You might want to look into an Alienware laptop. http://www.alienware.com/Product_Pag...me_office.aspx
Top of the line is just under $2500 but it comes with a nVidia 6800 256 graphics card and 256 DDR2 @ 533Mhz mobo ram.

Hope this helps.

[tony3]

My brother would punch me if I got an alienware computer Looks are half the price on those things IMO. I figured about the battery not lasting too long to get a car AC adapter that I can plug in on long trips.

I'm not looking to do tons with it, but I want something decent now that won't be insanely underpowered in a few years. I figure I'll buy a desktop before college anyways and just use this for when I need a computer on the go.

[Dayspring]

Look at HP and Compaq. both have some really nice models out.

And everyone is right. A P4 model will suck the battery dry quicker than the M or Centrino classes. The Centrino's only go up to around 1.8ghz though. Just a thought.

[ShooterJM]

I'm looking for about the same thing. Except I need serious processing power to run reporting software, multiple office products and analysis software at once. Fortunately I don't need much battery life.

I'm looking at that same Toshiba and at the Averatec 6130. Really the only difference is the averatec has a dvd +/- burner and a p4 3.0 ghz. And keep in mind if you turn off your wireless g connection you'll save a chunk of battery life.

[gimp]

I've had little experience with the toshiba's but they seem like good notebooks. I've had some bad experience with the dell notebooks.

If you had more money I'd look into an IBM. I'm on my second IBM laptop. I could still be on my first, but my sister took it to school so I got a new one (a T40). I've had it for about a year and a half and it's still a top of the line laptop. It runs half life 2 no problem, got a 80 gig hard drive, radeon 8500 (32 meg, but the newer ones have 64 or 128 meg I think), wireless, and all the other necessities. It's a Pentium M 1.6, which is actually pretty quick. The battery still lasts for about 3 hours depending on what I'm doing. It's got a nice 15 inch screen. The default resolution is 1400 x 1050. I forget if mine has it, but the T42's do, but if you drop it, it senses the acceleration and stops the hard drive from spinning. I've dropped mine from a bunk bed, and I've seen the T42s fall from there as well, and they work fine. The T42s are actually pretty neat. You can move the laptop around and the screen will stay level. My laptop is the same size as the T42, it's about an inch thick, and it's pretty light. IBM's customer service is excellent. One of my friends got drunk and pissed on his laptop and IBM fixed it for free, another friend of mine got pissed and just hit the keyboard. He ended cracking the mobo or something. It got fixed for free too. You have to pay for the accidental damage coverage when you get it, but that's only like 100 bucks or so. And the best thing about the IBMs are that you don't have to use the stupid touchpad. They have an eraserhead!! yay!!! Actually they have both. The eraserhead is just so much faster and easier to use IMO.

I bought my laptop through the school. I paid about 2000 for it a year and a half ago. That came with well over 2000 dollars worth of software too. That was a really good deal. I don't know if IBM sells refurbished units, but I would definetly look into the T40 or T42. I know a lot of people who have sold their notebooks on EBay, but I dont know if I'd trust most people. That's just some food for thought. You don't see to many IBM notebooks, but they really are great.