Need suggestions on buying a laptop

[MrBond]

I looked at Circuit City, dell, staples, and officemax.

[Luxury]

I'd recommend a Pentium M processor.  They were specifically designed for laptops.  They have the best battery life, and are powerful enough for most of your laptop needs.  Don't get hung up on the difference between speeds though.  A 1.5 ghz M is the same speed as a 3.0 ghz P4 or so I've heard. 

[crashwg]

What exactly are you planning on doing with your new laptop?  If you go back just a couple years laptops used less power and therefore had longer battery life. 

I find that my 3 year old sony vaio is quite capable of doing most things short of playing Halflife 2.  Since the battery is also 3 years old I can't realy give you an acurate timing on how long the battery lasts nor did I time it when it was new, but I can say that I'm pretty sure it lasted longer than 4 hours...

Also you should not forget that getting the older model will be cheaper, another plus!

[MrBond]

I really don't need a power hog, I'll be using this thing to write lesson plans and email.  Watch DVDs/play music and play the occasional game.  Must have a network card.  I'm staying away from used, but older is fine.   I want something that will last at least 7 hours.  I looked in the reviews for that vaio, and some people said it only lasted 1.5 hours!  Ouch.  Probably runs hotter too.

What about this: $899  Averatec Notebook PC (AV3250HX80)

[Dermbrian]

We're pretty happy with the HP Pavillion low-end laptop we bought, except we're having rebate hassles.

But something that bothers me about that unit and my Dell that my company provides me is that neither has a LINE IN jack. 

I've seen aftermarket solutions that use the USB port and an external device to add that functionality back in, but that's extra $$$ and can be a surprise.  I use LINE IN all the time for converting LP's to .mp3's, as well as live recording to the hard disk in stereo.  I'd love to do that on the HP laptop, which is really totally silent in normal operation.

Brian

[MrBond]

That's another thing I'm looking for; something thats silent.  If it has a non 'M' type processor (pentium or athlon), won't it run louder?

[HaRuMaN]

I use a Toshiba Satellite with a P4, and it's pretty quiet most of the time.

[M3talhead]

If you're interested, I'm going to be selling my laptop soon. Its about 2 years old, but here are the specs anyways....

Dell Inspiron 8200
1.7Ghz P4
1GB of Ram
40GB HDD
DVD ROM
48x CD-R
Floppy
10/100 integrated NIC
2x USB ports
2x PCMCIA slots
GeForce 4 440 GO mobile graphics (64MB)
15" screen

XP Home

I'm going to ask some of the other guys on base first, but if nothing pans out, Its going to be available in the next few weeks. I'm going to ask about $900. Let me know if you're interested.

[mrhowell]

Do you work in education?  If so,  Dell offers more rebates for teachers and such. You can usually get another 6 or 12% off.

[MrBond]

Do you work in education?

[MrBond]

If you're interested, I'm going to be selling my laptop soon. Its about 2 years old, but here are the specs anyways....

Dell Inspiron 8200
1.7Ghz P4
1GB of Ram
40GB HDD
DVD ROM
48x CD-R
Floppy
10/100 integrated NIC
2x USB ports
2x PCMCIA slots
GeForce 4 440 GO mobile graphics (64MB)
15" screen

XP Home

I'm going to ask some of the other guys on base first, but if nothing pans out, Its going to be available in the next few weeks. I'm going to ask about $900. Let me know if you're interested.

What's the battery life generally?

In general, what is a good battery life?  I've never owned a laptop, so I'm clueles...I just figured 3 or even 4 hours is kind of short.

[Magnet_Eye]

Dell special:

New 17in Screen Inspiron 9200 Centrino Notebook $1319 shipped free

Inspiron 9200 7.7lb Centrino Notebook Pentium-M 725 1.6Ghz 2MB Cache, Huge 17in Wide XGA+ Screen, ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 Graphics, 256MB/40GB, Free CDRW/DVD, 802.11b wireless, Word Perfect, XP Home SP2 $1649 - 20% off
code:086ZHCJV3H0016 = $1319 shipped free by 2 day air.

[Pyro]

I want something that will last at least 7 hours. 

I've been keeping my eyes out for a decent deal on a laptop for a few months now. I'm in no hurry to buy one, but hopefully within the next few months I will get one.

Anyway, in response to your wish for something that lasts for 7+ hours, I don't think that will be possible. The specs that I have seen are anywhere from 1.5 to 4 hours. I think the 4 hour batteries that I have seen are either iBooks or Powerbooks. I'm not an expert on this subject, so I could be wrong.

I also have been searching for something in the sub-$1000 range. I have to admit that Averatec has caught my eye a time or two. I have seen a couple models in Sam's Club as well as Circuit City. From what I have seen, Averatec offers the most bang for the buck. The thing I wonder about is the reliabilty of the brand. If you purchase something in a brick and mortar store, you always have the luxury of taking it back without shipping hassles, as you would if you purchased something on the net. The downside of that is usually the good deals are on the net.

Pyro

[Luxury]

Yeah, I think 7 hours is highly unlikely.  I think that the IBM Thinkpads have the longest battery life, and they are only like 5-6 with the extra battery. 

I've got a Dell 700m with an extra battery, and if I'm not doing anything really intensive (watching a DVD for example), then I can usually get 5 hours - which is really good compared to most laptops.  Plus its small and light. The only thing I dislike is the video card.  No 3D whatsoever.

[MrBond]

So 3 hours is fine?  I guess I could always buy another battery if I really had to.

[pointdablame]

you're not going to get 7 hours of battery life... not without a laptop with 2 hi capacity batteries... and even then... 7 hours is being EXTREMEMLY optimistic.

I've had a number of laptops now and they've always been used for school/notes/etc which seems like what you're going for.  I'll play DVDs on occasion, play a few games, but nothing overly extensive.

I'd steer clear of Celerons like the plague. Not worth the money at all.  Mobile Athlons are decent but I'd steer clear of those too IMHO.  If you want portability/battery life, a Pentium-M  (not mobile p4 or p4-M, whatever they call them) is your best bet by far.  If you want a desktop replacement (which its clear you don't), THEN I'd consider a A64 or P4 (A64 in my opinion)

One other thing I really notice with laptops is look into tech support.  You won't be fixing laptops yourself like you can with desktops.  You'll hear horror stories from every company, but as a whole, Dell gets great reviews, and IBM laptops are know all over as practically indestructible.  I've had terrible luck with HP/Compaq laptops (had 4 so far, 2 diff models, each had to be replaced)

Bottom line: For what you seem to be looking for... get a Pentium-M.  Don't get too caught up with "Centrino."  Centrino is not a technology... its just a set of specific pieces of hardware that Intel wants companies to use to be deemed "Centrino"  Get a Pentium-M and you'll get a great compromise between power and battery life.

[MrBond]

Ok, what about this one: http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Toshiba-Satellite--Notebook-PC--M35XS311-/sem/rpsm/oid/114790/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do

Toshiba Satellite

[Pyro]

Ok, what about this one: http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Toshiba-Satellite--Notebook-PC--M35XS311-/sem/rpsm/oid/114790/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do

Could I get something similiar anywhere else cheaper?

That looks to be a decent machine for the price. There are only 2 things I can think of that it doesn't have... a DVD burner and a firewire port. I was going to read some reviews on it, but it looks to be a fairly new model and there aren't any reviews about it on circuitcity.com. I think these laptops are fairly heavy if I recall correctly. I don't know if that is an issue with you or not.

Pyro

[MrBond]

So I should probably go with something like the Toshiba over something like the previously mentioned Averatec or even this one:
http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Averatec-Notebook-PC--AV6210X60-/sem/rpsm/oid/111109/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do

[Pyro]

So I should probably go with something like the Toshiba over something like the previously mentioned Averatec or even this one:
http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Averatec-Notebook-PC--AV6210X60-/sem/rpsm/oid/111109/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do

I wouldn't say you should get a Toshiba over an Averatec. Like I said before, I've been toying with the idea of getting an Averatec myself. The link you show to that Averatec at Circuit City has a pretty good rating and nice specs too.

I'm probably the wrong guy to ask whether or not you should get a certain model or not, as I have been looking at laptops for 6 months or more. lol

Pyro

[RoboG2]

You might want to try eMachines.  They supposedly have great customer support and rock solid laptops.  I don't know about their battery life, but they seem fairly cheap.  They are 999.99 on the website, but I think tigerdirect has them for 829.99.  Good luck.

[MrBond]

Just to bring this to a close, I got my laptop last week!  I bought a Dell Inspiron 8600 from the Dell Outlet website.  It was originally $1,584.00, with $475.00 off, and then I put in a coupon for an additional 10% ($110.90) off which I found on xpbargains.com.  $49 Shipping was free (it took 5 days). 
Total before tax: $998.10

The specs:
-Mobile Pentium M Processor, 710 (1.4GHz)
-512 MB SDRAM 333MHz (2 DIMMs)
-80 GB EIDE Hard Drive (5400 RPM)
-32MB NVIDIA,GEFORCE,FX GO5200 Video Card
-15.4 inch WXGA Notebook Screen
-Intel PRO/Wireless 2200 Internal Wireless
-8x DVD +/- RW w/dbl layer write capability (which is removable, and can be replaced by a second 'modular' battery)
-firewire, s-vid, 2xusb, built in mic, mic + headphone jack, pci slot
-Microsoft Windows XP Home
-9 cell Battery/adaptor/1yr support...and a bunch of software

So far, it is PERFECT for me.  I love the thing, and I hardly use my desktop anymore.  The battery lasts around 4.5 hours, but if I turn the brightness down and turn the wireless off, I'm sure I could squeeze out a 1 or 2 hours.  It is amazing how clear the monitor looks.  I'm really glad I went with the 15.4 widescreen: DVD's are awesome!  I never realized how crappy my 17" CRT is!  The wireless internet is sweet (I can connect to the university's T3 sitting in the parking lot..for someone on dial up, this rocks), and the DVD burner is an added bonus.  The 3-d card plays mario64, so I'm happy with that.  The 80gigs and 512RAM is exactly what I wanted.  And it weighs around 6 pounds.

I picked it for the battery life, the specs + price combination.  That, and no rebates to deal with (like @ circuit city)!  Dell has good reviews on customer support, and the brand new 2005 Consumer Reports rank the Insipron 8600 second in the "workhorse" category.

PLUS, my aunt is going to pay HALF of it for my college graduation present!!!!!  (I'm currently in my 8th semester, student teaching in math)  I'll continue to use this while I'm a teacher, so it really is an excellent grad gift.

Woohoo!

[MrBond]

Also, it is extremely quiet, with only the DVD burner making any really noticable noise.  And the resume from hibernate time is anywhere between 12-16 seconds.  I love hibernation!  Why did I ever shut down my desktop?  Just hibernate: your RAM gets stored on the HD, and the next time you boot up, it resumes exactly where you left off (in my case, I have word docs open a lot).  Anti-virus/firewall and other background processes are all in memory and don't waste time booting up.  I just shut my screen, and press the power button the next time I need to work.

Another neat little thing is the play/pause, stop, next track, prev track, volume up, volume down, and mute hotkeys on the keyboard.  Great for DVD's.