Xtreme Laptop?!!

[RussianBlue]

Well folks, didn't know where else to go for help, since this often seems to be the only place to get real answers.

Situation: I have to make a Laptop purchase soon (long story but I gotta have one). Don't know what to do. Seems like Dell & Co. are generally raping folks with their prices.

Any suggestions on where to buy/how to build a custom notebook?

Don't need a lot of drive space
Fairly light weight is good
Won't use for multimedia often but want crisp video perf.
Above average battery life
PIII - M??
P4 - M??
XP - M??
Slated to be a MSOffice, e-mail 'workhorse' that will be used a good bit at a docking station. Thanks!

RB

[shray]

try alienware laptop....

[sforza]

I don't know about brands, but I can advise you some tips...

On the graphics card, the best one I have seen on laptops is a Radeon 9000 mobility, I don't know if there is anything better at the moment.

And on the hard drives, there are the standard ones (can't remember the rpms) and the fastest ones, wich are rated at 5400rpm. You should go for one of these, since they make a boost on the performance.

a 15" screen is reccommended...keep an eye on the warranty, some manufacturers give you a new computer in replacement if the TFT screen got 6 pixels non working while the warranty time. The TFTs got non working pixels quite often...they appear like a black dot on the screen.

And of course large capacity Lithium battery is reccomended.

Depending on how much you are going to spend, maybe it's worth it to get a celeron tualatin, since they are cooler and therefore lighter and more slim too.

The top-line P4 2.4Ghz with cdrw and dvd and lots of stuff are usually quite heavy to carry with them in a bag here and there. And quite expensive too.

[WxChaser]

Get a Sager 5660-S, with the ATI 9000M. It totally rocks, I should know since I have one, great lappy.

Best place to buy it is from www.pctorque.com

[RussianBlue]

wow. the sager's are loaded and great prices. the only issue i can see is they weigh a good bit. i might end up having to settle for something smaller powerful just to satisfy the weight requirement. i have a Latitude C600 i use right now at the job i'm about to leave and it's about as heavy as i'd want. she weighed in at 5lbs 13oz on the postage scale today, which is pretty light when reading the stats. the more i look however, the more i see that anything under six pounds should be considered a lightweight.

maybe i'm the lightweight here considering i'm complaining about 1lb of weight difference!! But I'm convinced it makes quite a difference when walking a 1/2 mile airport terminal.

can't have it all i suppose!

[NyCUndaGrounD]

If i were u i would buy a fujitsu p2000. They got 999 mhz, 40 gig, wireless lan (for war chalking). and many more. Its really small and great for on the go

[WxChaser]

If you want to do any gaming or run intensive apps like PS 7.0 then check out this review of the 5660 (yes it's a bit heavy but you are using a P4 533 FSB chipset with no speed stepdowns & lesser battery life).

The ATI 9000-M makes a world of difference in benching, I love mine so far, the Omega Plutonium drivers are very good also.

http://www.pctorque.com/5660review.html

[RussianBlue]

WxChaser,

Just curious b/c I'm not gonna be doing much gaming on this machine, but since you mention benching, what kind of 3Dmarks can you score with the 9000-M?

Also, do these guys cut down the BIOS a lot, or do you have a fair amount of flexibility? On my Dell, I can change about 10 items total - that's it. And very few performance related...

rb

[WxChaser]

Here's a link to my 1st bench, using stock drivers with no tweaking whatsoever on the vid card (it can be tuned upwards easily).

It scored pretty damned well compared to the Dells!

http://carmel1.netfirms.com/3DMARK2001SE%20BENCH.JPG

Forgot to add...this is with a 2.53 P4 @533 FSB. I've heard of 3DMark scores over 7100 or so with the 2.8 Ghz chips and those using hacked drivers or the Plutoniums.