Laptop, recommendations on what to get ?

astrofool

Right, getting a laptop, for around €1600-€2000 EX VAT (business use).

Min Spec: Pentium 4 M 1.6, 256 DDR Ram, 20gb HD, 14" screen(15 preferable).

Have been looking around the dell site, the 8200 seems a nice machine, whereas the 2650 seems like the 2600 adapted for p4 use. Dell also seem to think that europeans are easily fooled, and charge €400 more for a european system of the same spec as an american one, so not my first choice if I can avoid them.

The Sony Vaio's also look nice, even the low end ones have alot of the same components as the top end Dell's.

Would probably not consider a Compaq as a choice.

Size and Weight is not a worry.

So what do you think ?

KdjaCL

If its a laptop you want upgrading is a bit of a hassle so try and get the one with the best graphics card and RAM.
So you wont have to upgrade .

Kdja

Gerry

we use toshiba and dell laptops in work, have to say the toshibas seem much nicer, not sure if they do laptops with decent graphics cards though.

astrofool

it's a laptop that will be used for carrying around, u can't do that with desktops (already have 10 or more pc's for that work anyway)

Cond0r

I've ordered a laptop last week from Time Computers, I dont think they have an Irish site but I ordered one with the specs I already posted in this thread, as you can read yourself I dont think Time are too popular, but I got a desktop computer from them a few years ago, and I didn't have any problems. Also it was a lot cheaper than most of the other companies around, as with the laptop I've ordered it was loads cheaper than Dell for the specs I got. For Irish offers you'd have to go into one of the shops though, or get a "PC Live!" magazine they always have Time advertisements in them.

Just a little info, might be of use.

< Cond0r >

Saruman

Originally posted by Gerry
we use toshiba and dell laptops in work, have to say the toshibas seem much nicer, not sure if they do laptops with decent graphics cards though.

Yeah go Tosh.... My 1800-814 is fantastic!! Watch out for heating issues with Dells... Dont get that problem with Toshiba!!

beserker

my 1800-814 overheats while doing anything intensive if its on my lap or a table. i have it perched on an upturned cd holder most of the time. i opened it and cleaned the fan and that helped. its not the best tho.

Jabbathegut

What will be this laptops primary function?????
For 3d games and multimedia (video editing for eg) then the Dell 8200 blows everything out of the water, the Gforce 4 is a special piece of hardware, the downside is you pay a mint for it but its well worth it - SOF2 looks absolutly amazing.....definitly the best spec lappy on the market at the moment

for just business use the occasional dvd/game then the tosh looks like it gives the biggest bang for the €.

GoneShootin

aid say toshiba, they seem to be everywhere in any office i go into !

tho i hate that annoying fingerball thingy in the centre of the keyboard. the ol touchpad was the job

Robbo

My Dad just got a new HP Omnibook there a couple of weeks ago.

Sweet machine: 1.6 P4, 256 DDR, DVD/CDRW, 32 Meg DDR Radeon Mobility, built in Lan, modem, sound, 14.1 viewable screen.

Cost €2100 excluding VAT.

_CreeD_

Desknote, mentioned it before, much higher performance and MUCH better price than any mentioned here already.
Not easy to track down outside the US though, but since our beloved EuroYokey hit parity with the dollar it's still cheaper to import them.

Jabbathegut

DeskNote ???? you forgot to mention you can also fry an egg on it

I'd be very hesitant going near a company thats putting desktop cpu's in the confined space of a laptop especially athlon xp's...and shared video memory raaaalph!!!! - luck to get 1fps in SOF2 @ 640x480.

Spooky! run away!!!!

_CreeD_

He stated it was for Business use in the post. As for the 3d performance anyway it ain't stellar but is usable (~40fps with Jedi Knight 2 max options, 800x600 32 bit......so 1fps on SOF?...er....noooo).
Also it has a very efficient heat dissipation setup, including a large copper heatsink extending to the top left, fan mounted right over it with intake and out grills.
Considering I picked up a 2Ghz P4 (Northwood), 512mb DDR, 40 Gb hdd, DVD/CD-RW, 15" screen for $1700 (And that was a few months ago) I stand by what I said, you can't get better bang-for-the-buck in a laptop.

Rew

Bought 2 Tosh laptops last week, very nice and better then any of the 3 dells we got at the same time (2 latitudes and a 8200) the ones we got (SatPro's) have GeForce 4 Go's. I delt with BMS.ie found them execlent

TacT

We have a pIII 600 256mb ram and a 10GB hdd, purchased about 5 years ago and not a hiccup on it yet, (Toshiba) no overheating, even on the lap all day, gives quality dvd/vcd playback, perfect bringing it away on holidays with films of your choice for some english tv to make you feel a bit more at home ;)a
No point putting games on it, although cs can run acceptably (if you are really that desperate to play some games)

Jabbathegut

Originally posted by _CreeD_
He stated it was for Business use in the post

This is where you've shot yourself in the foot, name a business that would risk using such machines considering they can only really be ordered from the US and therefore serviced in the US if anything failed, and the odds of hardware failure are a lot higher compared to laptops using a CPU the way Intel intended.

You may get the best value for money for such a machine but look at possible future consequences here, is a business depends on a reliable machine is it not sensible to pay extra €'s for a brand name ie. Dell or Tosh that have 'local' support services in place (leave support horror stories for another thread) in case the worst happens????

The best performing laptop on the market at the moment is the Dell 8200 but yes you do pay out your ring to get one but you pay for the latest and greatest. For the best value for money lappy - biggest bang for your buck - for business use, go the Tosh.... now I stand by what I say

s8n

IBM thinkpad T23...the dogs b*ll*x

_CreeD_

Actually (without going into it all) having worked for some OEMs, I know all to well support for laptops here in general is diabolical. Yup support should be a stronger factor when buying a laptop for a business but considering the savings in buying from the states, the fact you can have it from here to there within 3 days for service if need be and the odds of failure I still think it's a better way to go.
I guess it's peace of mind (whether the extra security is preceived or real) vs. the fact of value (And the cost of failure).

But, making suppositions as to the reliability is a bit silly. They are extremely well cooled, the P4 itself is built to throttle anyway if it overheats, and in 4 months of pretty strenuous operation (Mine's mainly a music workstation) it's probably the most reliable machine (Desktop or laptop) Ive ever worked with.

stu_69

I have 3 laptops with pretty good spec:
A Toshiba Portege 7200 (which went it's on I could cook an Egg on!!!)
A toshibe Tecra 8000 which is a (unt of a machine and the fan is louder than a motorbike.

And a Dell Latitude c400 which top of the range and the best of the lot.

But if I was to buy a new Laptop I would go for Sony. We have numerous Laptops around the offices (and I have to support the lot of them) and the sony's are far the best (spec's, looks the lot)

We just got one of them Dell lattitude x200's which is the smallest laptop I have ever seen and is top spec (it has a 30 gig hd which I can't find though - we have to security tag the hd seperately)

My advise is Sony