What Laptop should I get?

[xmountainxlionx]

I want the opinion of TPU. what laptop should i get? my budget is about 1200 at the MOST. 1000 would be better though. Ill be using it for work in which I do a good amount of photoshop, and systems anaylsis. I will also be taking it from home to work everyday also. Also I will be using it with midi/usb sound devices. I thought about just getting a external sound card for this though. Ill be using headphones for that application also. Also I will be installing vista ultimate 64 on anything i get so OS dosent matter. Also no mac's:shadedshu

I was thinking something like this:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8779404&productCategoryId=abcat0502003&type=product&tab=2&id=1204332257046#productdetail

[Cybrnook2002]

I want the opinion of TPU. what laptop should i get? my budget is about 1200 at the MOST. 1000 would be better though. Ill be using it for work in which I do a good amount of photoshop, and systems anaylsis. I will also be taking it from home to work everyday also. Also I will be using it with midi/usb sound devices. I thought about just getting a external sound card for this though. Ill be using headphones for that application also. Also I will be installing vista ultimate 64 on anything i get so OS dosent matter. Also no mac's:shadedshu

I was thinking something like this:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8779404&productCategoryId=abcat0502003&type=product&tab=2&id=1204332257046#productdetail

Dont hate, but seriously, you can get a Dell with a google "dell coupons" for dirt cheap with Nvidia 8600 Big HD 3-4 GB ram Your choice of Intel Dual core processor and Creative sound card for under 1,000. But personally, I have always been a fan of the ComPal laptops (Sager).

[xmountainxlionx]

how do you get "Dell coupons"? lol thats a funny marketing thing. But yeah i like that you can custom build dells, and upgrade the soundcard. video isnt that big of a deal to me.

[Cybrnook2002]

Go to google and type in "dell coupons". Then usually the first few sites have "coupon codes" that you type in when you have your laptop in your basket on the dell website at checkout. Usually they give you %30 off inspirons 1299 and up, and %25 off inspirons 999 and up.

[xmountainxlionx]

wow 25-30% is alot

[FatForester]

Yea, when I bought my Dell 1520 it was a tax free weekend and there was a 30% off coupon for any Inspiron 1520's above 1,200 bucks. Needless to say I got a 1,900 dollar computer for 1,250 bucks! It's treated me well so far, but if I was to do it over again I'd get an ASUS instead.

[xmountainxlionx]

Yea, when I bought my Dell 1520 it was a tax free weekend and there was a 30% off coupon for any Inspiron 1520's above 1,200 bucks. Needless to say I got a 1,900 dollar computer for 1,250 bucks! It's treated me well so far, but if I was to do it over again I'd get an ASUS instead.

why is that exactly?

[PVTCaboose1337]

I am looking for a laptop too and settled on this for myself:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220317

That is what I am going to get.

[Polaris573]

I'm a fan of the thinkpad T series. Very light and durable.

[ktr]

I would get this: http://www.gateway.com/systems/product/529668033.php

My cousin got one, and its friggen fast. He put the HDDs in raid 0 and its a fast machine.

edit: whoops, i post the wrong machine...had the wrong url in clipboard.

[Polaris573]

That's a big sucker. It looks like a great desktop replacement, but at ten pounds with a 17 inch screen it wouldn't be much fun to shuffle between home and office everyday.

[xmountainxlionx]

ya know this one looks awsome. Id really like to have a 45nm dual if i could get it.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220273

[ktr]

That's a big sucker. It looks like a great desktop replacement, but at ten pounds with a 17 inch screen it wouldn't be much fun to shuffle between home and office everyday.

17" & 10lb is a man's laptop :toast:

[FatForester]

why is that exactly?

Well for the positives, the 1520 I have is well built and was a bargain for the price. Dell's RMA department was also quite responsive, and although they screwed up a few times, they apologized and got it right.

Negatives: My laptop when I got it had an unusually loud DVD drive (a known issue for a lot of 1520's- not really fixable, you just get lucky), the LCD backlight bled on the edges, the GPU was shot (whenever anything 3D opened up, mainly Aero, artifacts would jump everywhere), and there was HEAVY static through the headphone jack (a very, very known issue- they shorted the case to the headphone jack, so all frequencies from the HDD and CPU went straight to your ears. VERY annoying.). I sent it back the first time, they replaced the DVD drive (same problem, but now I use Nero to keep it from throttling) and the screen, but left the GPU which artifacted everywhere. Second time they finally replaced the GPU, but did absolutely nothing for the static. To fix the static I had to take apart the entire laptop (~40 screws down to the bare mobo) to get to the headphone jack in order to ground both it and the case surrounding it with electrical tape. NOT a fun experience.

My laptop works great and was a hell of a deal, but I probably won't do business with Dell again. My friend got an ASUS 13.3in and it is very nice, so I have some experience with it. It came with plenty of accessories and is definitely a lot easier to work with. Their prices are good as well, and I personally just like their layouts.

[FatForester]

ya know this one looks awsome. Id really like to have a 45nm dual if i could get it.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220273

+1 on that. The screen is 1280x800, not 1440x900 like the images suggest. Another one of my friends is looking into it, and after some searching on notebookreview, there was some confusion on the specs. Newegg has cleared it all up now though. The 9500M GS evidently performs identically to an 8600M GT, so you'll be able to play TF2 with some AA/AF.

[xmountainxlionx]

+1 on that. The screen is 1280x800, not 1440x900 like the images suggest. Another one of my friends is looking into it, and after some searching on notebookreview, there was some confusion on the specs. Newegg has cleared it all up now though. The 9500M GS evidently performs identically to an 8600M GT, so you'll be able to play TF2 with some AA/AF.

damn that sucks i cant play cysis on very high:mad:
what is the mousepad like on asus' ? the reviews say they arnt that great.

[Polaris573]

17" & 10lb is a man's laptop :toast:

Oh we're going by which is more manly? :p

Well, then the thinkpad with it's magnesium roll cage and magnesium composite lid wins hands down in the toughness/scratch resistance category. The high gloss surfaces on the gateway are going to get scuffed in no time, although I suppose scars are manly too. :roll:

[ktr]

Oh we're going by which is more manly? :p

Well, then the thinkpad with it's magnesium roll cage and magnesium composite lid wins hands down in the toughness/scratch resistance category. The high gloss surfaces on the gateway are going to get scuffed in no time, although I suppose scars are manly too. :roll:

I own a t61p, great laptop. But don't get the hard drive encryption (like I did), it eats performance. I got a anti-glare screen, and I don't like it that much either, makes everything to dark, but it is less stress on the eyes.

I got a gateway for my grandpa, and the high gloss its pretty scuff resistant, but it is a finger print magnet.

[erocker]

I am looking for a laptop too and settled on this for myself:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220317

That is what I am going to get.

That is a darn good choice!:toast: This laptop would be ideal for the OP, though he may need to find 2 x 2gb's ram sticks for it.

[xmountainxlionx]

do you think that the 9500gs is woth 150 extra dollars over the intel x3100 ?

[Cybrnook2002]

depends if you game. If yes, then get the nvidia. If not, then no. But you have to be sure! Also you have to look at it this way, the NVidia has its own memory, the X3100 is going to use your systems memory. So, in the 150 , you are also buying ram.

[erocker]

do you think that the 9500gs is woth 150 extra dollars over the intel x3100 ?

With the 512mb of dedicated memory that goes with it + Photoshop = Yes!

[xmountainxlionx]

I think this one would be the best compromise between price and graphics
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220304

[spearman914]

Get a toshiba. Dell laptops put random crap on the disks, which makes you want to reinstall OS which wastes almost a whole day to get everything together. Are you going to be gaming? Laptops suck for gaming even if having a Skulltrail Dual QX9775 Dual 9800 GX2, I think you are going to buy a mouse. But theres no point in buying a laptop with mouse, why not buy a desktop instead if ur gonna do that ?

[ktr]

This one looks sweet: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834114473

[Cybrnook2002]

Dude here $750 from dell, SWEET specs. Notice the price in the cart, then after I applied the coupon.

Too sweet to not take a look at and consider.

[spearman914]

The first one not bad but it doesn't have built in camera. Also it is a Ion battery which means will die in 16-24 months.

[xmountainxlionx]

@ spearman, no offense but did you read all of the posts in the thread and all of my op?
@KTR that one is badass, i would just have to warm up to the way toshibas look...:)

[xmountainxlionx]

Dude here $750 from dell, SWEET specs. Notice the price in the cart, then after I applied the coupon.

Too sweet to not take a look at and consider.

compared to the asus i would think that it was kinda expensive

ps sorry if i double posted

[Cybrnook2002]

Well, im looking at it as a bang for buck. The dell saves you $300. That where im coming from. With the $300 you could get yourself a Eepc to play with too.

[xmountainxlionx]

Well, im looking at it as a bang for buck. The dell saves you $300. That where im coming from. With the $300 you could get yourself a Eepc to play with too.

haha my bad i was looking at the price in the pic! yeah for 750 that is good :laugh:

[FatForester]

Well, it's all about what you're going to be using it for. With a laptop I'd suggest shooting high since you can't upgrade a laptop like a desktop. The nicer you go the longer you'll be able to use it. Since Photoshop is rumored to be getting GPU acceleration, going with the nVidia would be a much better investment. It's all about what your priorities are. If you shoot low, you lose the much nicer Intel 4965 wifi chip, RAM, CPU (in this case the 45nm arch, speed, and cache), hard drive capacity, battery, GPU + memory, webcam, bluetooth... it goes on. That's just my point of view at least, so ignore me if you disagree!

But, if you're still listening my money's on the ASUS:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220273

[xmountainxlionx]

you have a very good point there

[jageer008]

I suggest you that you have to purachge HP laptop...
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jageer

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[ktr]

Awesome deal going at dell right now: http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?c=us&l=en&cs=19&oc=DYDWHT1&dgc=CJ&cid=24471&lid=566643

about $400 off.

Just upgrade the cpu to the 8 series, and bump of the screen resolution. Comes with 4gb of memory, and a 8600gt.

this is what you got for $1099...it will come about 1250...slight over your budget, but well worth it.

Midnight Blue
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T7250 (2MB cache/2.0GHz/800Mhz FSB) <---upgrade this to the 8300 ($75)
Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium Edition
Glossy, widescreen 15.4 inch LCD (1280x800) & 2.0 MP Camera <---upgrade this to the 1440x900 screen ($50)
4GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz (2 Dimms)
Size: 320GB 5400rpm SATA Hard Drive
Slot Load DVD+/-RW (DVD/CD read/write)
256MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 8600M GT
Intel Next-Gen Wireless-N Mini-card
Dell Wireless 355 Bluetooth Internal (2.0+Enhanced Data Rate)
56 WHr 6-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
Integrated Sound Blaster Audigy HD Software Edition
Finger Print Reader XPS M1530