buying new laptop... (2 Viewers)

[sunny]

IBM thinkpads are so horrendously ugly though, they look like old laptops which ran 95, ergh.

Some of them are....if looks are a concern, pick a stylish looking Compaq Presario, and see how long that lasts. Paying $2500 for something that lasts is more important than making you look cool.

Centrino is a general term used to describe a new architecture, a pentium M and a celeron M are centrino chips a pentium 4 M or a celeron is not.

New architecture?? Theres no such thing as a "Centrino chip". See above.

An STM or Targus bag for your notebook is a must, inconspicuous = less likely to get stolen, well protected = less likley to get broken.

STM and Targus are brand name laptop backpacks/bags. They shout out "I have a laptop" and you're begging to be rolled in a bad neighbourhood - I'd hardly call them inconspicuous.

 

[loquasagacious]

Firstly i was multi-tasking so posted before seeing your post sunny.

Secondly Centrino mainly refers to the new archtecture, (a much shorter pipeline and more instructions per cycle, which means same processing power but less heat and less power to drive it). The chip set is merely to support the chip and the wireless connectivity is value-add - its a marketing tool. Hence i sued the term centrino to describe the new type of chip family that the pentium M and celeron M belong to.

STM and Targus bags look like any other backpack, of that style - the majority of which do not carry notebooks. Further in the 'bad neighbourhood' you refer to it is unlikely that the bag would be identified as an STM/Targus bag and hence make you a target. Most importantly its a whole lot less conspicuous than a more traditional laptop bag (often free with Dell's) which anyone can idetify as holding a laptop.

 

[Afurotsu]

Has anyone had experience with a TPG laptop? The bang-for-buck factor is definately there, but I've never experienced it first hand, nor do I know anyone who has had experience with it.

http://www.tpg.com.au/online/

 

[loquasagacious]

I was going to get it but i got a good deal on a Toshiba so went for it.

Bang for buck I dont think anything beats it, google search tpg laptop you should turn up the whirlpool forums there's loads of informatio on it there from users. A quick summary from six-months ago is:

Bang-for Buck, brilliant.
Upgrades almost always gone for.
Postage seems steep at $99 but then the laptop is cheap.
Problems with pixels in some cases - and the warranty only covers severe cases eg hardly any.
Wireless card works well.
It is sold by emachines in the USA and is also sold By another overseas supplier - check the specs on their current models to see what the next upgrade here will be.
Generally people are happy with it.

 

[sunny]

Secondly Centrino mainly refers to the new archtecture, (a much shorter pipeline and more instructions per cycle, which means same processing power but less heat and less power to drive it).

No...Centrino is a term used to describe the 3 components being used together.

And its CPI....CPI....CPI....

The chip set is merely to support the chip and the wireless connectivity is value-add - its a marketing tool. Hence i sued the term centrino to describe the new type of chip family that the pentium M and celeron M belong to.

Pentium M and Celeron M do not "belong" to the Centrino "family" - they are a family in themselves. Centrino is a marketing term for a group of technologies being used together.

Here is some short reading material
http://www.intel.com/products/notebook/centrino/index.htm
http://www.intel.com/products/notebook/processors/pentiumm/index.htm

STM and Targus bags look like any other backpack

If you put it that way, most backpack looks like any other....then it won't matter what you have provided they have good protection. If you ask me, Targus and STM are easily spotted for their common styles and logo placings.

Further in the 'bad neighbourhood' you refer to it is unlikely that the bag would be identified as an STM/Targus bag and hence make you a target.

Oh dear...do we have to get picky word for word?
How about the scenario is changed to.....saaay.....'a computer savvy gang who happens to drive by in a bad neighbourhood that you also happen to be walking by'?
Yes a backpack is more inconspicuous than traditional laptop carry cases, but to say that the STM/Targus backpacks themselves are inconspicuous would be quite a bold statement.

 

[Shuter]

Buy a 2nd hand (or even new) laptop of ebay and you'll save a packet. So many fleet units get sold on there.

ALso, with new laptops, personally I went to DSE powerhouse, and the toshiba's (or maybe it's was compaqs? I can't remember), but the screens on them just blew me away. Every single model's screen looked far and away much better than every other latop or screen in the store, they just looked glossy and sharp and colourful.

 

[pyko]

yeah, i was thinking about a 2nd hand laptop, but the warranty etc in my opinion just isn't worth it.

and whirlpool is a great forum! (i actually asked this exact same question there...though no replies yet, might bump it tomorow).

hmm...well, i think centrino, xp pro, 512mb ram are all on the list...i think i'll start shopping more after christmas, the laptops shld be cheaper.

 

[neuro_logik]

Why don't you wait until you get into uni? you get student discounts (10%) from Apple and I think Big Blue (IBM) does it too, but don't take my word for it.

 

[Shuter]

Why don't you wait until you get into uni? you get student discounts (10%) from Apple

yuck, apple.

 

[Afurotsu]

Fear of the unknown?

 

[anti]

IBM has been in talks to sell off PCs.. I wouldn't really want to buy one in the future seeing as we don't know how well the new vendors will support old machines.

See http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,65916,00.html for details.

 

[pyko]

hmm, yes, i guess support/warranty/service would come in really handy if the laptop does happen to stuff up.

so hard to decide....i was also thinking of reading pc magazine reviews to see which laptops are recommended. One of the magazines i've read is PC USER - though it doesn't always review laptops.

Does anyone know any other magazines/sites that reviews predominately laptops?

thanks!

 

[Collin]

If you want to do some considerable gaming on the laptop for some of this year's more buff titles, you're gonna have to consider a video card along the likes of the Radeon Mobility 9700/9800s. Apparently I heard the X600 Mobility are crap.. but I'll have to look into that a bit more.

 

[Templar]

Radeon Mobility 9700/9800s.

9800 isn't that good. And I believe they're only available on high end Dells.

GeforceGo 6800 is great...at a cost.

 

[pyko]

hi all,
been looking around and i saw this..

Acer Aspire 1682WLMi
(some main specs that i remember)
Pentium M 725 (1.6GHz)
256 RAM (but some sites say default with 512?)
60GB HDD
DVDRW
XP Pro
64mb ATI Mobility Radeon 9700
15.4" screen
And from looking around, i think its around $2500 (at cworld)

the acer site is non-firefox friendly already got a few bugs using IE! and i was stupid and didn't keep any of the good sites with specs listed out, now i can' t find them

does anyone have one of these? (i'm also considering the Acer Aspire 1681WLMi - which is nearly the same)

oh, and i still havent quite figured out what is the 'WLMi' afterwards stand for? I think i read somewhere that the 'W' was for wide screen but no idea wha 'LMi' is for....any ideas?

thanks for all the suggestions!
pyko

 

[Collin]

9800 isn't that good. And I believe they're only available on high end Dells.

GeforceGo 6800 is great...at a cost.

They have Gf6s for laptops already? Shit, that I did not know.

 

[Templar]

does anyone have one of these? (i'm also considering the Acer Aspire 1681WLMi - which is nearly the same)

No, but it's a good laptop. Top notch graphics, killer battery life. Just that the viewing angle of the screen is a bit small and the brightness is a bit low, and with all Acer laptops, hard drive is slow.

Acer default is 256MB RAM. It might be cheaper for you to by the one with 256 and then upgrade it yourself if you know how to.

The 1681WLMi is identical except for the use of a Pentium M 715.

 

[Slidey]

I've got a Tosiba M200 Tablet PC.

Fircking AWESOME. Downside: costs $4.5K to 5.5K, depending on what you get. Mine was $4.8K.

Plays Half-Life 2 on max settings (without AA) with no hitches or glitches.

As for what it's for - to replace workbooks. Does it well, too.

But my words can't do it justice. I direct you here:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/tabletpc/evaluation/toptenbenefits.mspx

And for further discussion and any enquiries you may have, there's a discussion forum roughly the size of this one based solely on tablet PCs here:

http://www.tabletpcbuzz.com/forum/

Oh, almost forgot: Tablet PCs are a SUBSET of notebooks. They have all the traits and abilities of a notebook.

Oh crap. XP:TPC 2005 is out. Free, too! Sweet!

Mine has 1gig ram, 1.6 Centrino (which means wireless, too) Geforce FX 5200 Go 32mb (which funnily enough plays HL2 just fine), 80gig HD.

Not to mention people who see you writing on your screen with a pen will think you're crazy.

 

[Slidey]

Oh, and I have a Targus backpack.

 

[pyko]

No, but it's a good laptop. Top notch graphics, killer battery life. Just that the viewing angle of the screen is a bit small and the brightness is a bit low, and with all Acer laptops, hard drive is slow.

Acer default is 256MB RAM. It might be cheaper for you to by the one with 256 and then upgrade it yourself if you know how to.

The 1681WLMi is identical except for the use of a Pentium M 715.

yeah, the screen doesn't really worry me that much. went to a few shops and looked at some acer laptops, the screen seemed fine, must admit some other laptop (i think HP) screens looked waaay brighter, but i think i'll live.

what do you mean that the HDD is slow? as in the HDD are 4200rpm?

Also, while looking around the net, i saw the Dell offer....$1000 off the Dell 8600 or $500 off Dell 700m (with $5 upgrade to xp pro). Just wondering what do people think of these two models compared to the Acer Aspire 1682WLMi?? (btw, the offer ends 20 Dec. so please reply asap! )

thanks!

edit: forgot to say...Slide Rule, i envy you!!!