laptop...whats best company

[bren_1a]

I like the ASUS F3JP, Here in Oz it costs about $1600 so it should be your price range. It has a C2D and ATI x1700.

 

[weskurtz81]

I agree that the HP has more memory, but if you want to game, it has a worse GPU. However, it will probably be more than enough to game on. I like HP, and they have EXCELLENT service when they have problems. My dad has an HP and the screen went out on it. Well, they picked it up at his house, and had it back to him in about 3 days. It went out again, and the second time they gave him a free battery. But, excellent and fast service. They make good products. I think my dads laptop had freak problems, but they took care of them.

But other than the HP having more memory, they are similarly configured. But the Acer has the edge in GPU power.

wes

 

[weskurtz81]

Jack,

I don't think the 950 would work to well for gaming would it? He said he would like to game on it, as well as all the rest of the stuff. Would GMA950 actually work for a gaming machine?

wes

 

[ihateibuypower]

lol warcraft 3 is hardly a game for modern computers...it should have no problem...it has no problem on my current laptop other than my laptop overheats..but i have 1 gig ram and amd 3700+

 

[kwalker]

aright here's what im lookin at for right now...
heres toshiba
Processor
Processor Type * : Core™2 Duo Processor Number * : T5500 Processor Speed * : 1.66GHz
Operating System **
Genuine Windows Vista™ Ultimate (32-bit)
Memory Size *
2048MB
Display Size *
15.4" widescreen
Display Type *
Widescreen XGA with TruBrite® Technology
Display Resolution *
1280x800
Graphics Engine *
Graphics Media Accelerator 950
Graphics Memory *
8MB-256MB dynamically allocated shared graphics memory
Hard Drive Size *
240GB: 120GB HDD+120GB HDD
Hard Drive Speed
5400rpm
Optical Drives *
DVD-SuperMulti drive (+/-R double layer)
Wireless LAN * ♣
Intel® PRO/Wireless 3945ABG (802.11a/b/g)
Bluetooth *
No Bluetooth (No Antenna)
Input Devices
85 key US keyboard, Hot Key Functions, Windows Key Function, Dual Mode Pad, CD/DVD Buttons, Application Launch Button
Security
Finger Print Reader, Password Security, Security Cable Lock Slot, Hot Key Security
Modem
V.92 Modem
LAN
10/100/1000
Audio
Standard stereo speakers, Built-in microphone, Headphone jack (stereo), Microphone jack (mono)
AC Adapter
75W (19V 3.95A) Auto-sensing, 100-240V / 50-60Hz input
Battery Type
Li-Ion (4000mAh)
PC Card Slots
1-Type II PC Card Slot
PC Express Slot
No PC Express Slot
Media Port
5-in-1 Bridge Media Adapter
USB Slots
4-USB (2.0)
iLINK
i.LINK™ IEEE-1394
S-Video
TV-out (S Video)
Software *
Microsoft Works, TOSHIBA ConfigFree®, TOSHIBA Disc Creator, TOSHIBA Game Console, TOSHIBA Speech System, Ulead® DVD MovieFactory® for Toshiba, InterVideo® WinDVD® 8 SD
Weight
Starting at 6.0 lbs.
Color
Onyx Blue Metallic
Warranty *
1-Yr Parts and Labor, 1-Year Battery

Also Includes:
# Microsoft® Works, Onyx Blue Metallic color, 5-in-1 Bridge Media Adapter, FingerPrint Reader, Standard stereo speakers, Duo Mode Pad™ pointing device, 4-USB (2.0) ports, i.LINK™ IEEE-1394, TV-out (S-Video), 10/100 LAN port, V.92 modem port, Monitor port, Microphone jack (monaural), headphone jack (stereo)

Your Price: $1,329.99

AND HERES HP
Intel(R) Core(TM) 2 Duo T5600(1.83GHz/2MB L2Cache)
15.4" WXGA BrightView Widescreen (1280x800)
BrightView improves color contrast in your images and video.
256MB NVIDIA(R) GeForce(R) Go 7400
HP Imprint Finish + Microphone + Webcam
2GB DDR2 System Memory (2 Dimm)
160GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
LightScribe Super Multi 8X DVD+/-RW w/Double Layer
12 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
1-year HP Accidental Damage Protection with Express Repair extended service plan

PRICE $1,337.98

I like my hp but toshiba builds very reliable laps.
the Hp has better graphics by far and I believe the Toshiba steels a little of that 2 Gigs of ram.(something to consider)
for that reason alone I would get the HP

 

[weskurtz81]

Oh,

Yeah, if you aren't going to play any other games than old ones, it would do fine.

wes

 

[Wonderwill]

I would say HP or Toshiba, or Sony if you have money to blow. But really, what is the point of a superpowered laptop? A high end desktop is half as much, and you can get a lower end core duo laptop with a gig of RAM for travel with the extra cash. Why spend that much to game on the road when the battery will be the real bottleneck? If you want to blow an extra $500 just to play games with the graphics cranked up in your hotel room, I won't argue. It's your choice!

 

[weskurtz81]

I agree with what you are saying, but for me it's been nice to have the capable notebook. I stay gone for long periods, and go places where I cannot take a desktop, so the notebook has been quite handy. If it were just short trips, I would not have bought this Acer notebook. But, I bought mine for $1069, with a 120gb hd, X1600, 15.4, DVD Super Multi(whatever the hell that means), 1 gig of memory(don't need 2 gigs at this resolution), and a measily Core Duo(not Core 2) but it is still plenty fast. Nice notebook for a grand.

wes

 

[Wonderwill]

That sounds like a good reason to me! There are mediums, like small form factors that u can carry around, but a powerful laptop would be ideal in your situation.

@OP:Your situation doesn't sound like a good video card is worth the money. Spending $1500 on a laptop with your purposes sounds like extreme overkill, but hey, it's your money!

 

[Mobius]

I am a reseller, and have been for over 10 years.
I have sold, in that time, over 200 laptops, from around 8 different companies.
I have built around 40 laptops from barebones chassis up.

Here are the facts:
1) Avoid Gigabyte - their optical drives fail revoltingly often.
2) Avoid ASUS (at least in New Zealand) as the repair service can take upwards of 2 months. Mainboards can have "issues".
3) Avoid laptops which do not have a magnesium, or aluminium frame. If you can twist it, it's a piece of crap.
4) Make sure that you get WIFI and Bluetooth built in.
5) The most reliable laptops in the world are made by Toshiba - no one else even comes close.
6) Avoid Sony, unless you have money where your brain should be.
7) Avoid plastic where possible: dropping will fuck it.

That's about all I can pass along to you.

 

[weskurtz81]

Yeah, small form factor would not have worked. Just think about military travel, if I can't carry it on, it would get destroyed. When you have a bunch of uniformed guys having to unload upwards of 500 heavy arse bags, they tend to get into a rush, especially when it's 135 degree F outside. Anything valuable was carried on with me, and anything breakable was as well. I tried to look into the SFF arena, instead of a notebook, but the monitor was the big problem. I did not have the space to carry a monitor on with me. So, my Acer was the next best choice for $1069. Couldn't beat this time last year, but some of the other makers this year are making more competitive similarly configured notebooks, so not it's not the only choice in the targeted price range.

wes

 

[jaguarskx]

When I first decided to buy a laptop around 4 years ago, I bought an IBM Thinkpad. It's a tough little thing and still works fine today, but I no longer have much need for a laptop nowadays. Good 'ol Pentium M 1.5GHz.

If I were to buy another laptop today, the Lenovo Thinkpads (IBM sold their notebook division) would be amongst the first laptops I would look at.

 

[deceneu]

I am a reseller, and have been for over 10 years.
I have sold, in that time, over 200 laptops, from around 8 different companies.
I have built around 40 laptops from barebones chassis up.

Here are the facts:
1) Avoid Gigabyte - their optical drives fail revoltingly often.
2) Avoid ASUS (at least in New Zealand) as the repair service can take upwards of 2 months. Mainboards can have "issues".
3) Avoid laptops which do not have a magnesium, or aluminium frame. If you can twist it, it's a piece of crap.
4) Make sure that you get WIFI and Bluetooth built in.
5) The most reliable laptops in the world are made by Toshiba - no one else even comes close.
6) Avoid Sony, unless you have money where your brain should be.
7) Avoid plastic where possible: dropping will **** it.

That's about all I can pass along to you.

I agree with you about almost everything you wrote, but, I thought the Thinkpads were the most reliable laptops in the world.

 

[noblekitty]

I was in the market for a laptop about a year ago. I spent a long time comparing laptops from different companies, and finally bought a Toshiba Qosmio laptop ( supposed to be a well built models from Toshiba, on top of the Satelite line ). But guess what? I only kept it for about 3 weeks; returned it to get a Fujitsu Lifebook and never looked back.
If you think Toshiba was top rated, I will give you a personal rating: Toshiba Qosmio = 6 out of 10, Fujitsu Lifebook = 9 out of 10 ( I save the 10 for the super laptop).
Yes, I have seen all the others...Acers, Dells, HP, Compaq, etc... they are all cheap looking and poorly built. Toshiba and Lenovo are about the same in quality but Lenovo is geared more for business.
If you haven't seen a Lifebook yet, do yourself a favor and look for one. There is no freaking air vents on the bottom of the laptop to prevent you from using your laptop on your bed or carpet, and it doesn't fry your lap while using it. The thing is built as tough as a tank yet stil looking very elegant. And the screen, hm... how can I say this...after a year, it still looks better than my new Samsung 22" widescreen lcd.
My coworker just bought a new Lifebook last month and gave his junky HP to his wife, after seeing my laptop. I took a look at his new laptop and the built quality is still there, infact it looks even better than mine. I was impressed.

 

[r0x0r]

@ Mobius:

Had much experience with Panasonics? What about their toughbooks?

 

[deceneu]

I was in the market for a laptop about a year ago. I spent a long time comparing laptops from different companies, and finally bought a Toshiba Qosmio laptop ( supposed to be a well built models from Toshiba, on top of the Satelite line ). But guess what? I only kept it for about 3 weeks; returned it to get a Fujitsu Lifebook and never looked back.
If you think Toshiba was top rated, I will give you a personal rating: Toshiba Qosmio = 6 out of 10, Fujitsu Lifebook = 9 out of 10 ( I save the 10 for the super laptop).
Yes, I have seen all the others...Acers, Dells, HP, Compaq, etc... they are all cheap looking and poorly built. Toshiba and Lenovo are about the same in quality but Lenovo is geared more for business.
If you haven't seen a Lifebook yet, do yourself a favor and look for one. There is no freaking air vents on the bottom of the laptop to prevent you from using your laptop on your bed or carpet, and it doesn't fry your lap while using it. The thing is built as tough as a tank yet stil looking very elegant. And the screen, hm... how can I say this...after a year, it still looks better than my new Samsung 22" widescreen lcd.
My coworker just bought a new Lifebook last month and gave his junky HP to his wife, after seeing my laptop. I took a look at his new laptop and the built quality is still there, infact it looks even better than mine. I was impressed.

can you be more specific about the models you and your pal bought? there are many lifebook models out there, what kind of grafichs do they have? what cpu? display? etc

 

[tm84p]

Between those two i would take the Toshiba. Personally i am an HP fan and the HP I have is pretty much the same specs as yours except it came with 1 GB instead of two (not a problem, I bought 2 GB for 80$ and sold my other 2x512 chips for 40$) and it had XP. paid 750 for it! The reason I am saying to stay away from HP right now is because of how they built their new laptops. This new glossy finish is a pain in the a**, a buddy of mine bought one and it is always dirty. The other thing is that the new HPs have no latchs on the top to lock it closed. So it is really only the hinges holding the lid closed and while my friends laptop is about 7 months newer than mine his screen is already looser than mine.

P.S. Toshiba have very crappy hinges on their screens. I have 3 friends whos had to send in their laptops to Toshiba to have the hinges fixed.

 

[samael]

I had 2 laptops until now, a Toshiba P100 and currently a Dell XPS M1710.

What I can tell you, but only about these 2 products is that the Dell laptop is WAY better than the Toshiba.

The configurations were almost similar but the XPS is much faster, runs cooler and the battery life is almost twice compared with the Toshiba.

The only think at witch the Toshiba was better was at the quality of the display witch I must admit is superior to that of Dell's.

Note that they were both high end laptops ~2500 $ so I think that the comparison is a valid one.

 

[samael]

I was in the market for a laptop about a year ago. I spent a long time comparing laptops from different companies, and finally bought a Toshiba Qosmio laptop ( supposed to be a well built models from Toshiba, on top of the Satelite line ). But guess what? I only kept it for about 3 weeks; returned it to get a Fujitsu Lifebook and never looked back.
If you think Toshiba was top rated, I will give you a personal rating: Toshiba Qosmio = 6 out of 10, Fujitsu Lifebook = 9 out of 10 ( I save the 10 for the super laptop).
Yes, I have seen all the others...Acers, Dells, HP, Compaq, etc... they are all cheap looking and poorly built. Toshiba and Lenovo are about the same in quality but Lenovo is geared more for business.
If you haven't seen a Lifebook yet, do yourself a favor and look for one. There is no freaking air vents on the bottom of the laptop to prevent you from using your laptop on your bed or carpet, and it doesn't fry your lap while using it. The thing is built as tough as a tank yet stil looking very elegant. And the screen, hm... how can I say this...after a year, it still looks better than my new Samsung 22" widescreen lcd.
My coworker just bought a new Lifebook last month and gave his junky HP to his wife, after seeing my laptop. I took a look at his new laptop and the built quality is still there, infact it looks even better than mine. I was impressed.

I agree, Toshiba is overrated ... I was very disappointed of my Toshiba P100 laptop on witch I paid ~2500$ , I finally managed to sell it and bought the Dell XPS 1710 and I'm a very happy man now.

 

[glockman]

If you are planning on playing games and need a high performance notebook I can't comment - if however, you are looking for a run of the mill unit for browsing, e-mail, etc. I say go with the least expensive unit with the features you want. I recently looked at an Acer that was $399 at Best Buy and seriously considered it but went for a Toshiba that had 1Gb of RAM, a dual core proc and Vista Home Premium for $599 with free Best Buy financing. I am completely happy with it - it is not the lightest and probably does not have the best battery life but does everything I need with ease.

If you are looking for something built a little nicer but still not a gaming rig then maybe look at a ThinkPad.