Laptops (in Off-topic)

getting a new laptop :) whoot ^.^ well i used to have a T42 thinkpad from ibm... and im looking for something better...

few criterias

not more then SGD $2000

going to be used to play mmorpgs and such games

stable wireless (yes i know acer wireless is horrible)

size/weight... (doesnt matter... i dont really care if im carrying a light laptop or a heavy one)

try not to be widescreen

windows xp (or at least an option to change... i hate vista)

prefered a red button(for examples see thinkpads) approach rather then a touchpad...

my T42 was a substandard model sold by the school -.- if they sell 1.8GHz my school was selling 1.7GHz and if other people had 1 GB of ram we only got 512MB... so yep help me make a decision please :) thx

Thinkpads are actually my first choice, obviously you want to make sure you get the model that meets your needs.

Gateway/Acer/Toshiba are no my no go list. I've heard Toshiba cleaned up the IO subsystems in the last few generations, but I still don't trust em.

I've handled the newer HP laptops, and a newer Sonys, and I work with Dells all day ... Between those three it comes down to price...and the Dells usually take that award.

If I was going to spend 2k on a laptop, I'd get a Mac.

If you go for a Mac, be careful what you get. The next operating system is supposed to be only usable on the very latest machines. Do your research.....

i was considering a toshiba... whatcha think?
Click Me

I would actually recommend Toshiba, since it's the best in Asia and considering that you're in Singapore ? (hence the 2000 SGD). The new satellite series are supposed to be pretty good, I, myself got the F 30 Qosmio and it's doing pretty good, very nice for gaming. (so much better than my crappy/dying desktop) I don't think that you would want to get MAC, since you can only get the cheapest macbook with 2000 sgd and not be able to play most/all MMORPGs. (I assume korean MMORPGs ?)

It's almost always silly to spend extra for the fastest CPU, especially in a laptop (where the extra heat is especially noticeable). Even games are more GPU-bound than CPU. Even the second-to-fastest option is usually a lot more bang for your buck.

I can't come up with a scenario where it makes sense to pay extra for a single 2GB ram stick either. If you plan to max out to 3GB (the most 32bit Windows can handle) then having them ship with 1GB and adding 2 yourself is cheaper than the other way around. If 2GB is enough (which it probably is) then just get the 2x1GB option for $300 cheaper. If you think you might want to upgrade to 3GB later, it will still be cheaper to buy a 2GB yourself and ebay (or just throw away) the extra 1GB. Especially since by the time 2GB is not enough, ram will be even cheaper.

If you care enough about hard disk speed or reliability to get 2x5400rpm, then you might want to consider an HP instead where you can get 2x7200. (That is what I have, HP 9500.)

I have to say I think Windows software raid sucks, though. Subjectively it feels like I get less of a boost than I did when I briefly ran linux on the same machine.

Good luck, it's fun shopping for a new toy serious college machine.

just putting as much as i can on the lappie since it isnt me paying for it and i can the budget is there for me to use =x... ah well my cousin pointed out toshiba customization isnt avaible for singapore -.- drats

> If you go for a Mac, be careful what you get. The next operating system is supposed to be only usable on the very latest machines.

Not true, it won't support some that 10.4 supports but those are ... 3 years old? 5? Anything with faster-than-866-MHz G4, whenever that is.

From using my wife's MacBook though I have to say I'm not really a fan of OS X. So much spinny beach ball, whatever the technical term for that is... :)

> just putting as much as i can on the lappie since it isnt me paying for it and i can the budget is there for me to use

ah, that's another matter entirely then :)

of course i could get accessories lol hehe but yea... so HP would be a good idea?

losting, i got an HP and love it. i was going to find one for you but you said you wanted the red-dot style mouse and they dont have that at all. i dont even think IBM/Lenovo thinkpads have them anymore. i'll link you to a few Dells and HPs..... so i understand it right, $2000 SGD is about $1300 USD? or did i google it wrong

i doubt anywhere delivers to singapore -.-" red dot style mouse is liked but not needed :) i have my own mouse lol

As far as I know, all Thinkpads still come with a trackpoint...

> you said you wanted the red-dot style mouse and they don't have that at all. i don't even think IBM/Lenovo thinkpads have them anymore.

You can definitely find them on thinkpads, and on the Dell latitude line. Toshiba is the other vendor that used to include them, I'm not sure if they still do on some models.

I have an HP laptop which I quite enjoy. Possibly the best feature is a little button that disables the touchpad. I hate those things! Any time I type on a laptop, my thumb seems to touch the touchpad, and I end up typing in the wrong place.

I did get a laptop with a good dual-core processor, but I need it for programming. The laptop also has a decent video card, better than many that were available last year (for reasonable prices).

Mine is widescreen, but I believe there are normal screen-versions available.

Here are the stats on mine: HP Pavilion dv6140ca Media Center Notebook

since im not likely to be able to get whatever notebooks you people know about ... i would like your help to identify the pros and cons of each brand

Brands
acer
dell
Lenovo
Fujitsu
Toshiba
Asus
Hp
Vaio(Sony)
and whatever brand i may have left out

yep thanks :)

anyone?

i have Sony VAIO sz28gp
performance-wise it's okay.
usually i only played civilization 4 or supreme commander and they run okay on default configuration (pretty good considering 28gp is kinda old)
i like Sony's design, and most of their laptops are lightweight (mine only 1.7 kg)
and their support is good also, got a trouble once and they fixed it in no time

i only have 1 thing as Sony's con:
PRICE!!
unless u r prepared to spend more than us$2k, don't even think of getting Sony's good series

FYI, only SZ series and above still manufactured in japan, the rest are manufactured in china... consider that and us$2k+ is expensive

acer - dead dog one step up from a gateway
dell - ugly, effective and cheap
Lenovo - Came out of the best series of laptops ever
Fujitsu - Haven't had the pleasure
Toshiba - Slow IO
Asus - Love their other hardware, but haven't touched the laptops
Hp - Included software so bloated dead yaks are jelous
Vaio(Sony) - Cost...Cost...Cost (and the new models have a stupid keyboard)

decided on a laptop from LG :) pretty good specs :)