I've used a few laptops (IBM, HP, Dell) and my fav to date is my gf's Toshiba, and it was cheaper than all the other models I've used.

 

I personally bought what is a mobile desktop. Primarily because most of the time the laptop just sits in ur room, unless ur on the road all the time.
It's a Toshiba with a 17" widescreen. Takes up less room than a desktop, has a nice lcd, AND the capability of being mobile if you need to be. The LCD is bright, good resolution, its kinda bulky, thoughI rarely ever carry it anywhere, but its smaller and quieter than a large desktop.
It's also really fast, P4 3.6GHz w/HT, 512 DDR RAM, 80GB HD, DVD/CD-RW. It's basically a mini-desktop. I think it's pretty too Glossy pearl blue cover.

pics and reviews here:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=7726

Also, I am selling it because I am in desperate need for money..crashed the tib, have to pay some credit card debt off, and I'm moving into a house as of June 1st, so I'll have rent to pay...

I bought it about a year and a half ago for $1200, but because of my current situation, I'd let it go for MUCH much less .. kinda need the cash.

PM me if you're interested. otherwise, good luck finding somethin!

 

I had similar requirements for my laptop purchase, only stricter.

I wanted to be able to play heavy games, be light (<5lbs), be EXTREMELY powerful and loaded.

I only found the XPS 1210. For around $1500, you can get one pretty decently configured. Plays Battlefield 2 seamlessly.

 

Acer - lots of battery problems at the moment. They have been using $ony batteries that are apparently dangerous.

Fujitsu Siemens - Crap, the worst laptop ever, hard drives go like you wouldnt believe.

Alienware - you get what you pay for (or rather dont) but they are very well made and nice to look at..

Compaq - stay away, as ever theyre monopolised crap.

HP - see above, same company.

Toshiba - bit flimsy but make outstanding laptops.

Apple - outstanding if you like their OS.

Dell - the best all round IMO. Big company, heavy overbuilt laptops that can take a pounding. Give it 20 years and theyll be the only company left making PCs.

Gateway - OK, but a girl I know got one and the hinges broke just out of warranty.

And the rest aint even worth mentioning smile.gif

 

Well, I would def. go for a Toshiba. My old 486 with monochrome screen still works, even after it's been collecting dust for about 2 years. Rugged little things.

Personally I wouldn't buy a Dell. But that's because the supoort is crap over here for them.
I know someone working at the service desk and he even says they suck so tongue.gif .

I know the old Acer computers where top of the line back in the day, but don't know about the quality of it right now.
Didn't they go bankrupt some time ago? Must've been taken over by some other company I guess.
The new Asus laptops seem to be nice as well. Heard good things about them.

 

well dell seems to be the recommended, i checked out there 9400

with the 256MB ATI MOBILITY™ RADEON® X1400 HyperMemory upgrade (80 bucks), would this be able to run new games alright? or are these just high numbers without performance to back it up

i also checked out a desktop from MDG, trying to compare what i can get for the money, they said for 1500 i could get, 250g hard drive, ATI's second best graphics card, 2 gig ram, mother board expandable to 8 gigs and 8 high speed hard drives plus a 19" gaming flat screen monitor, dont remember the speed though, but all in all they said quite alot for 1500, they a cheaper brand or is there quality alright, think there a canadian company

and zoned ill consider it, mom used have a toshiba but its been returned about 4 times do to overheating and had its fans replaced each time, and looking for something with abit more video ram for abit of gaming too, it only has 64mb right?

thanks again for the input

 

I love my toshiba tongue.gif
but u can buy it. cuz im a broke college student. i'm a cs major, so for most of the stuff i do i need to go to the labs anyway. the lab has a card reader and i can get in the building at any time. that's why i'm selling.

i also forgot that the laptop has an sd card reader, for your digi cam.

side note: if you're looking to buy new laptops, i would highly suggest NOT getting vista. currently, it has lots of compatibility issues. also, remember how xp was when it first came out? horribly unstable. until sp2 came out.

 

Everyone will tell you something different for brands, but I agree with the Vista comment, try and find one that will support Vista when it becomes more stable, but comes with XP

As far as my experiences with laptops, I support Dells at work, and I do not like them. They have the same battery issues that several other manufactueres have had

I have a HP 8440 for school and while it is not my favorite (I wanted the Macbook Pro) I cannot complain

My mom has one of the new Gateways for work, and its a pretty nice setup, it has the glossy screen and handles games like WOW including the 40 man dungeons without an issue

 

You need to find what games you want to play on it and then decide on your specs. All the specs in the world won't really mean too much for word processing, web browsing, etc. Make sure the games you are gonna play will work on your laptop. Your biggest limiting factor will be the graphics card. It would really stink to spend a lot of money on a laptop and have it not play your games. Also, desktop computers will always have a lot more for the same price. In computers, the smaller it gets, the more it costs! Good luck.

 

I gotta say, go with Dell XPS, awesome notebook, I personally have Dell XPS M1210 and love it, I play F.E.A.R. with no problems smile.gif, but don't go with Vista yet because right now there is a lot of incompatibility with drivers and such, just give Vista at least till the next year fing02.gif