Need a laptop ... deals? advice?

[Hollywood]

I need a laptop, tired of my crappy computer. Anyone have any advice and where to find a deal? $400-$600 or so is what I'm looking for. I have no idea what to look for in one, like the differences between processors like AMD vs. Pentium Dual Core vs. Centrino, etc.

I don't plan on running anything special, maybe some older PC games I'll give a shot to see whats up. I see ads in Best Buy, Circuit City, Office Depot, etc all the time but I have no idea how good they are, what brand to look for, etc. All I know is bigger screen, more RAM, more storage space = good.

[Hollywood]

Dell.com has an Inspiron laptop for about $500 that might be pretty decent. 15.4 inch screen is the standard; I wouldn't recommend going lower than that. This one has it.

It has 1GB of RAM. I would upgrade that to 2GB for better performance. That'll cost you $50, but it's totally worth it. You also get a 2 Ghz processor, dvd playback (add a dvd/rw drive for an extra $30) and an 80GB hard drive. If you need more space, external hard drives can be had for very cheap.

This won't run any games from the past few years, but you'll definitely run older games.

I've seen better deals from Best Buy ads, I really don't trust Dell on cheapness. That's actually what my old computer is, and it sucked trying to upgrade anything on it basically.

[Draft]

http://slickdeals.net/permadeal/13001

This thing's pretty fucking silly for $400. Buy a gig of RAM from Newegg for $30 and you've got a pretty monstrous laptop.

[Draft]

1.7ghz.

[Draft]

You gotta act quick, though. In store only. As of Sunday my local Best Buy had like a dozen, who knows how many they have now. Not that my local Best Buy's stock means much to you, but perhaps you see where I'm going with this.

[Draft]

How good is that video card?

It's garbage.

[Draft]

Basically, in laptop world, you're dropping at least $600 to get a real video card, and around a grand to get a decent video card. Anything cheaper than that and you're looking at Intel Integrated Graphics, which is basically no graphics at all. You may get something like WoW running, but don't quote me.

edit: And what I mean by that is the companies that put laptops together, they tend to only put "better" hardware in laptops with real video cards. So it's not just the GPU you're paying for, it's a slightly faster CPU, it's 40 more gigs of HDD space, it's slightly faster RAM, etc.

[Hollywood]

I might hit up Best Buy then on it. You think 1.7 ghz is powerful enough?

How does it compare to this deal:

http://officedepot.shoplocal.com/officedepot/default.aspx?action=detail&flashbrowse=y&storeid=2480575&rapid=560876&pagenumber=1&listingid=-2091380221&ref=%2fofficedepot%2fdefault.aspx%3faction%3dbrowsepageflash%26storeid%3d2480575%26pagenumber%3d1%26rapid%3d560876%26prvid%3dOfficeDepot-080629

Comes with 3 GB RAM, $500

[T234]

How's this draft:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834115466

Acer Aspire AS7720-6381 NoteBook Intel Core 2 Duo T5550(1.83GHz) 17.0" Wide XGA+ 3GB Memory DDR2 667 250GB HDD DVD Super Multi NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT - Retail

And this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220303


ASUS F8 Series F8Sp-X1 NoteBook Intel Core 2 Duo T5750(2.00GHz) 14" Wide XGA 3GB Memory DDR2 667 250GB HDD 5400rpm DVD Super Multi ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3650 - Retail


Which is better: the NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT ACER or the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3650 ASUS?

[Draft]

CC Acer is probably a better deal but note that price is after a $125 mail in rebate. I just ignore mail in rebates, they're bullshit. I'd probably go with the Toshiba.

Newegg: I'd probably go with the ASUS. It's smaller, weighs less, things I think are pretty important in a laptop.

I don't know much about laptop video cards so I really can't recommend one over the other. ATI card has more memory which is good, but 1gb dedicated (in a laptop!  ) probably isn't all that useful considering clockspeeds and memory bandwith.

But I'd still go with the ASUS based on brand trust and size/weight advantage.

[Draft]

Little googling reveals that the Mobility 3650 is more or less equivalent to the 8600m.

CPUs are a wash.

RAM is a wash.

I gotta go with the smaller, lighter notebook. 17"? Ridiculous. Far too big to ever be taken anywhere. Even if a laptop spends 90% of its time on your desk, plugged into various things, the fact that you COULD take it somewhere is pretty useful. At least, it should be. Otherwise get a desktop and you can have an actual gaming rig.

Goddamn it. I love my laptop to death, but the first one that T234 linked to is $100 cheaper than what I paid and has a better video card (8600 vs. 8400 in mine).

What can you do? Welcome to close box computing. It's much worse than building your own box in terms of fucking you scant months, sometimes even weeks after your purchase. Don't sweat it. Just enjoy what you have.

[Draft]

ASUS also has a smaller native res on its smaller screen, which means the GPU has to do less work. Important consideration. Games look like ass when rendered on LCDs at anything other than the native res.

PC GAMING is in the details.

[crimsondynamics]

15.4 inch screen is the standard; I wouldn't recommend going lower than that.

Screen size isn't nearly as important as screen resolution. I'd much rather have a 14" 1600x1080 screen than a 15.4" 1024x768 screen. or a 17" 1280x1024 screen.

Screen real estate is determined by the number of pixels; the more you have, the more "stuff" you can fit onscreen, which can boost productivity immensely.

[laesperanzapaz]

Gateway P-6860FX


    Intel Core 2 Duo T5550 / 1.83 GHz

    4 GB / 4 GB (max) RAM
320 GB - Serial ATA-300 - 5400 rpm

    1440 x 900

    NVIDIA GeForce 8800M GTS 512 MB


PRICE?? ~ $1100, depending on where you look.

Nothing beats this for price/performance.  CPU is slightly weak, but that's the only weak point.  CPU and HDD are easily upgradeable construction, with an extra empty HDD bay too.

Nothing compares.  I dare you.

[Draft]

I cannot live with anything smaller than 17", sorry Draft.

15.4" laptops should die a fucking death.

I bet you're quite a sight, small Polish fellow with a hunk of silicon the size of an artist's easel balanced across your dainty lap.

[Kestastrophe]

I just bought this one recently and I have no complaints so far, other than typical Vista compatability probs.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8779583&st=compaq+laptop&lp=2&type=product&cp=1&id=1204332500561