Another help me with a laptop...

zoobaby

zoobaby

Supreme [H]ardness
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Jun 7, 2004
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Ok quick situation recap:
Moving in with gf, can't take desktop, her place is too small and she hates my desk. Need a desktop replacement laptop. I game, but assume that my gaming will be limited severely. Otherwise using for music, movies, porn, and general computing. I am looking for something with comparable performance to my desktop. (3.0GHz Core 2 Duo, 2 Gig DDR2 1066, 8800 GTS 320)

My budget is pretty open, 3k would be max I would allow myself to spend. What are reliable laptop brands out there? Is it worth the extra cost to have a custom laptop made?
 
There's a 17" Gateway model that gets a lot of face time around here ... PX-something?

Awesome bangforthebuck unit ... 8800GTS mobile, huge HDD, lots of RAM.
 
Definitely get a Macbook Pro. Dual boot XP/Vista and Leopard for the best of both worlds.

http://store.apple.com/us_edu_438340/browse/home/shop_mac/family/macbook_pro?mco=MTE3MDE

The 15.4" model has 4GB DDR3, a 512mb Geforce 9600M and a great LED display. You probably want to swap out the 5400rpm HD for a 7200rpm one which can be found for under 100$ at newegg.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822145228

It's not a gaming monster, but it definitely is a sexy and well built laptop which performs very very well after the HD swap. It runs TF2 and L4D at high settings, and runs it well. It probably won't do 100 fps on GTA IV but you'd be hard pressed to find a laptop that does. Apple also has excellent excellent customer support if you run into any issues. You can get a 200$ instant student discount for the 2.53 ghz model, just punch in any school you go (or have attended) :) The 17 Inch model has lower specs for some weird ass reason (DDR2, and a lower end Geforce), so I don't recommend it.

Or you could go with an Alienware, Dell XPS or Prostar. I've had experience with all three, they are all excellent high end machines!

The ProStar is something else: http://www.pro-star.com/index.cfm?m...id=20108103&ramid=80086101&batteryid=10031856

BluRay and SLI in a laptop!
 
A guy on notebookreview is selling his OCZ whitebook with quad core processor and so forth for $2600. Its a beast of a machine and isnt going to weigh as much as the D901C or the XPS1730.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=328908

If that doesnt suite your style, the Gateway laptop mentioned is actually really good. The model is P-7811FX. The newer model, the P-7801 FX is the newer version with gpu support of the 9800mGTS

The ASUS G50V is also a nice alternative, as is the Sony 18.4",

but if it were me buying a new laptop it would be the Dell Precision M6400 hands down.

What to look for in a laptop:
A decent Intel core 2 processor, (santa rosa, monteveina, or if the D901C, just standard LGA775 dual or quads)
4Gb of memory, DDR2 or DDR3
Either a 4th generaton 320gb 7200rpm drive, or a decent SLC SSD,
probably for you a graphics card 7950GTX, 8700GT or higher.
All of the laptops mentioned have that.
and a decent screen. Your probably looking at a 17" no matter how you cut the cake.
Also get something with a warranty, it really helps if your system just randomly dies on you.

whatever you do, do not buy from Voodoo, they lie to you. I have learned that the hard way, as in they do not care a damn about the customer when something breaks.

Look at Xotic PC, Sager, Prostar, Dark Smiley systems, or other Clevo/Compal/Arima/ASUS resellers first.

K-TRON
 
Awesome guys! I know I have a week or so to figure out what I want, thanks for pointing me in the right direction. Now to do more research on the companies listed.

K-tron mentioned the warranty...is it really worth the extra costs that most companies are offering for extended warranties? My experiences with laptops have been good. Old Toshiba tank that would not die (still runs has a p-75 in it) and 3 work supplied laptops that lasted 3 years or more each.
 
zoobaby said:
K-tron mentioned the warranty...is it really worth the extra costs that most companies are offering for extended warranties? My experiences with laptops have been good. Old Toshiba tank that would not die (still runs has a p-75 in it) and 3 work supplied laptops that lasted 3 years or more each.
Click to expand...

I'd say it's worth it. Laptops are very hard and costly to repair should a problem crop up. A few friends of mine have had constant hardware troubles with their Dell laptops. Luckily those few bought the extended warranty. It's saved their asses a few times (failing GPU, failing mobo, failing LCD)

Also take a look at this link for a bit more info about which mobile video card is good:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=302231
 
In my opinion, if the laptop doesn't break down on you within the first year of warranty, it will probably last for years. Though it's always nice to have a peace of mind which comes with these extended warranties.
 
Thanks again for more info....I checked the sager site out...like the specs they have.
 
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