Suitable compromise? need some suggestions.

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dextr3k

Gawd
Joined
Aug 3, 2004
Messages
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ok, i wont hide it, I'm a consumer whore. I love the latest and greatest and i like it with style. Now heres my problem.

1st laptop, ultra-portable Sony PCG505 with docking. Loved it for its portability (I do long distance traveling a lot) but i was really disappointed with its capabilities and performance.

2nd Laptop, heavy heavy desktop replacement. Acer gaming laptop with dedicated graphics card. I love the performance, but its heat output burns my desk and i goto sleep at night worried i'll wake up to smoke alarms. And its so heavy I usually just leave it on the desk dreading to move it to a sunny/comfortable place.

Ok, I still have my second laptop, im considering sell it off, but I would like a replacement picked out so im not left out in the cold.

This time I'm looking for something in between the 2 spectrums, so...thin and light, but with enough juice to handle say...WoW at native resolution. I have no illusions that it will be a sli 8800gtx system, but i'd like to get some performance out of it. Oh, and i watched too much Casino Royale so now im hell-bent on finding one with a sleek metallic black matte finish. Sony does make good product placement.

Price range would be something around $2000 USD. Does a such a system exist?
I looked at the Lenovos but I really dont like the nipple pointer (you guys know what im talking about :p ) Its fun and all but i am too used to the side scrolling system. Sonys are just a bit out of my price range for what im looking for.

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated =)
 
Heat hasn't really been an issue, while the processor can get hot, like in all notebooks it's well within range on these chips they are rated safe up to something like 125 celcius... Mine usually idles around 50 and under load can hit 70's.

However the heat transfered to the case is minimal and stays cool/slightly warm on the case.

The best deal I found when I bought mine was here...

http://www.costcentral.com/proddetail/HP_Compaq_Business_Notebook_nc8430/RB554UTABA/K76829/

notice it comes with a 3 year standard warranty... it can be found a little cheaper but those usually have a 1 year warranty. good luck i've had mine for 6-7 weeks and it's been superb. no problems/crashes whatsoever...

the nc8430 also comes with a fingerprint scanner :)
 
pretty good stuff, tho newegg doesnt ship to canada. Trying to find an HP dealer to price this lappy out, =)
 
Nice machine. I didn't realize HP used a different keyboard for thier business models. The 2x3 ins/del/etc block layout on the keyboard is very high on my wishlist of features but I wasn't aware of anyone except dell and lenovo offering it, the latter only did on thier thinkpads which are priced well above what I want to spend. The cheapest machine on the business page is still a bit more than I'd like to part with, but with the 3y base warantee not totally outside of the picture.
 
DanNeely said:
Nice machine. I didn't realize HP used a different keyboard for thier business models. The 2x3 ins/del/etc block layout on the keyboard is very high on my wishlist of features but I wasn't aware of anyone except dell and lenovo offering it, the latter only did on thier thinkpads which are priced well above what I want to spend. The cheapest machine on the business page is still a bit more than I'd like to part with, but with the 3y base warantee not totally outside of the picture.
Click to expand...

I have always been a fan of the HP business class notebooks and IBM thinkpads...

I can honestly say that the NC8430 is the nicest laptop I've ever touched...
 
TheCreator said:
I have always been a fan of the HP business class notebooks and IBM thinkpads...

I can honestly say that the NC8430 is the nicest laptop I've ever touched...
Click to expand...

I'm not planning on getting a laptop as a primary system. I just want a machine for one monthly personal travel, otherwise I'm expecting it to mostly sit and run einstien@home so I don't feel a need for the heavier business class construction.

My only hypothetic hostile use would be if I took it in the field to run a starchart app while at the telescope, but that's often a condensing environment and I abosluetely can't afford $2500 for toughbook class machine that wouldn't die when soaked in dew.

My gaming is turnbased so I don't need alot of power even when I'm doing something beyond web browsing. I'm looking at something one or two steps above entry level to avoid the worst of the suckage. C2D 1.6, 1gig ram, long life battery, and non integrated gfx.

In weeks with better sales I've priced this for about $850 as an inspiron with 1year warantee. With a newegg ram upgrade the lowend hp c2d nx7400 would be about $920.

Unless it's possible to get it by talking with a sales rep, dell doesn't offer 3y mailin coverage on thier home models which would close the price gap. For the very light use I'm planing I'm not sure the extended coverage is worth it especially since around the 2y mark I'll probably be fighting the temptation to void the warantee by upgrading the CPU to something 30-50% faster.
 
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