Getting a laptop, need some help deciding.

[DeathBySpoon]

Here's what I'm looking for...

General Questions

1) What is your budget?

Around $1300.

2) What size notebook would you prefer?

c. Mainstream; 15" - 16" screen

3) What tasks will you be performing with the notebook?

Gaming, school

4) Will you be taking the notebook with you to different places or leaving it on your desk?

Taking it with me

5) Will you be playing games on it; if so, which games?

Yeah, Half-Life 2, Oblivion, and UT2k7

6) Are there any brands that you prefer or any you really don't like?

Nope.

7) How many hours of battery life do you need?

Doesn't really matter.

8) Do you mind buying online without seeing the notebook in person?

I'm fine with buying online.

9) Please select your country's flag as a post icon and tell us what country are you buying this in?

USA

Screen Specifics

10) Would you prefer standard or widescreen?

Doesn't matter.

11) From the choices below, what screen resolutions would you prefer?

Standard
SXGA - 1400x1050 - Compromise resolution between XGA and UXGA.

Widescreen
d. WXGA or WXGA+ - 1280x768/800 or 1440x900; Wider viewing version of XGA, good for movie viewing or spreadsheets.

12) Do you want a glossy/reflective screen or a matte/non-glossy screen?

Doesn't matter.

Build Quality and Design

13) Are the notebook's looks and stylishness important to you?

14) When are you buying this laptop and how long do you want this laptop to last?

Notebook Components

15) How much hard drive space do you want; 40GB to 160GB?

At least 60GB

16) Do you need an optical drive? If yes, a DVD-ROM, DVD-CD/RW or DVD-RW drive?
At least a DVD drive.

Thanks! Right now I'm looking between a Radeon X1600 Mobility and a GeForce 7600 Go, and a Mobile AMD® Turion 64 MT-40 vs a Intel® Core 2 Duo Mobile T7200 vs a AMD Mobile Turion-64 X2 Dual Core TL-56 CPU.

 

[jimytheassassin]

That's gonna be really hard to configure for 1300usd. You'll have to give up something in any attempt to reach that budget. You could get yesterdays core duo instead, which would be a start, or a low end core2duo or AmdX2. Acer makes some budget laptops that are..okay, but not great for what you'd like. The 5672wli comes to mind. But the x1600 is only 128meg. They have amd variants and nvidia aswell, so you can look around the web. Tough thing is the 1 year warranty, often excessive heat, and questionable warranty service and support. You could try configuring one at a botique.. where you'll only be able to reach what you want under budget, if you already have an OS for the computer. DiscountLaptops comes to mind..the Chembook Hel80 for example. Good botique builds might be the Asus s96j where you'll have to sacrifice the better resolution screen of the Z96j, or Asus AMD z92t xoticpc asus z92t
If push to 1400 or more, this is much easier to get the right notebook, for the games you want. You can ofcourse try dell or hp, but I think in the end. you'll find their upgrades too costly to be with in budget..i.e. inspiron 1705 and hp dv9000

 

[DeathBySpoon]

So far I was looking at www.ibuypower.com for a place to buy, they have some really good deals, but I don't know which processor and video card to go with. I overcomplicated my original post. Thanks!

 

[jimytheassassin]

So far I was looking at www.ibuypower.com for a place to buy, they have some really good deals, but I don't know which processor and video card to go with. I overcomplicated my original post. Thanks!

Ya, I was almost going to say.. you might be able to find that price at a place like ibuypower.com or cybernotebooks? Cybersomething anyways.. Their reseller ratings are very poor, and have recieved many complaints in forums for assorted reasons, build quality, warranty, support, etc. If you go that route you may have a good experience..or you may not. I would not recommend it, but it's your choice. Newegg also sells some Ibuypower computers.. I'd personally feel safer buying from newegg than direct from Ibuypower..only cause newegg rocks!

Edit: they DID sell them..but not at the moment.. only desktops now :?

For Proc.. you're on a good track with Core2duo, but I don't expect you'll find the 7200 with a Go7600 for under 1300.. that is unless you skimp on some essential things like Ram, OS, Warranty or extras. I'm not sure dell offers a 7600 in their line, but the 1705 does have the 7900gs. In your shoes I would shoot for the 7200 and go7600 ONLY if you plan on upgrading the RAM in a couple months. But it will make your games play sub-par till then as your computer struggles under the load with only 512megs. Stick with no less than a gig if you can, and a single stick if you plan to upgrade in the coming months. Going below the 7600 or x1600 will make Oblivion suffer. Good luck. - jimy
Consider coupons and look for deals - Laptop Deals
Check out dells refurb house also, you may snag a good deal on something there Dell OUTLet

 

[killernotebooks]

Get a DELL if you don't have a very large budget.
Resellers that offer cheap pricing are probably not the best avenue for the average person.

 

[XOTICPC]

The best way to judge a company would be to go to resellerratings.com. Cheap laptops dont necessarily mean they are not of good quality. There are allot of good machines out there that start out at very attractive prices (even in your budget).

 

[killernotebooks]

DELL is the undisputed heavyweight champion of cheap notebooks. It would probably be best to get it from someone that is accepted as leader in their field.

Reseller ratings is really a joke.
Few people even know what or where it is.
ANYONE can post anything they want on it...
There is absolutely NOTHING official about what gets posted as "reviews", it is essentially touted by people that know how to use the system there to make themselves look good, that's all.

How do you even know the people who posted even bought or used the product? You don't. That's my 2 cents on ResellerRatings, I have a 10/10 rating there, I am not saying this out of bitterness, it's just common sense.

I would take reseller ratings with a grain of salt. Take a look at DELLs rating, it is from 1,160 people. DELL probably sells that many systems in a day.

 

[jimytheassassin]

Yes, everything should be taken with a grain of salt, forums included. I remember reading about reseller ratings wars a couple years back where companies would sabatoge one another with fake reviews. But it has lessened these days and is now not a bad thermometer to read by today. We should all realize that sometimes..only the bad news gets reported. Salt makes that taste better 8)

 

[ArbY]

I'm hoping for $1,000 for my laptop. Probably will put a Buy It Now of $1,200.

You can view its specs here: Link

I played strictly Source games on it for about 10 months. It performed great at Medium settings with 2X AA. I also ran WoW and Civilization IV and those ran great as well. The F.E.A.R. demo played fine, and the BF2 demo played fine after some tweaking.


ArbY