Trying to get a Laptop

RWBRWB Icrontian
edited December 2004 in Hardware
I'm not completly sure what I am looking for in a laptop, never owned one myself. Just a moment ago I had my miind set on a Sager of some sort from Powernotebooks, however, my mother surprised me when she mentioned she could get an Educators discount, she is a teacher for a highschool and a college, plus she mentioned she gets special discount through her school becuase of some deal they have with Dell. So maybe a Dell would be best.

I was just looking at their prices and they atually seem somewhat lower than Sager, I haven't done too much searching and research yet. I thought some of you could give me some better insight.

Firstly, this is for my Digital Media work, while I may play games on it, I think I'd be doing most gaming on my desktop. I just want a laptop so I can do some work while sitting on my couch, or visiting friends at their place. One of the biggest reasons of getting this lappy is so I can go to my buds place again and not be thinking of all the work I oculd be doing, while he sits there on his lappy doing whatever he wants.

So one of the biggest things I need in this laptop is 1GB of RAM, about 3GHz of computing power and the equivalent of a 9600XT. I have to watch the price though, I can't go spend crazy so things can be adjusted if needed, but I need 1GB of RAM at the least, in fact I may need more than that later on, but I figure I'd buy a new laptop by then.

A 17" screen would be great though too. If anyone could help out in figuring out notebook with me, I'd appreciate it.

Comments

  • TheBaronTheBaron Austin, TX
    edited December 2004
    dells are cheap
    sagers are top of the line
    ibms are durable and expensive (but arguably the best you can buy)

    there :D

    if you can get an educators discount on a dell, you can put yourself together a pretty nice system.

    from dell:
    this guy has a pentium M

    from sager:
    i like this A64 setup

    but looking at your requirements, nothing you get is going to be exactly "portable." more like a 10 ton weight you carry in a bag

    in order for anyone to be more specific, we'll need a price range
  • MadballMadball Fort Benton, MT
    edited December 2004
    I've been playing that damn Delf game and got this promotional code for $200 off of any notebook over $1499.

    1$G$25S1CNQ8C7

    Feel free to use it.
  • RWBRWB Icrontian
    edited December 2004
    I'd say $1700 but now it looks like it may be a couple months, :mean:
  • maximusbadmaximusbad The Burg
    edited December 2004
    here's a code

    $250 off an Inspiron Notebook at $1499 or more

    Code: 1$FJHP7SQJ8WBL
  • gibbonslgibbonsl Grand Forks AFB
    edited December 2004
    if you want a vid card that is the equivalent of an 9600 XT you will need to get the 9700 moble

    those are about the same speed

    a dell 8600 or a sager 4380 would meet your requirments

    under 1700 dollors to
  • RWBRWB Icrontian
    edited December 2004
    Well the idea I had from my mom is that she would help, I think since I have to wait now, that I'll splurge a bit and go with a top notch sager, probably sell off my desktop :p Maybe not though...

    My old roomate had one, the Sager 4860 or something high end as of 6 months ago. The damned thing got HOT HOT HOT, you couldn't keep it in your lap without sweating your ass off.
  • gibbonslgibbonsl Grand Forks AFB
    edited December 2004
    well if you are going to wait now you might want to look at this
    http://pctorque.com/9860.php

    it is heavy tho, 12.5 lbs

    the laptop with the best GPU out right now
  • RWBRWB Icrontian
    edited December 2004
    The 9860 is what I was looking at, the reviews I found show it to be FAST FAST FAST!!! PCI Express NVidia 6800, a gig of PC533 DRR(maybe two if I can) a Raid array and everything, but I don't think it'sa hardware raid array... anywho, it's very nice.
  • gibbonslgibbonsl Grand Forks AFB
    edited December 2004
    as far as i know it dose use a hardware RAID array

    yep it does use hareware RAID with both 0 and 1 supported

    NP9860 Feature Overview

    -Dual HDD & Dual ODD coexisting

    -SATA150 Interface

    -Latest PCI-Express 16x modular Video Card from ATi or NVIDIA

    -Intel 915P + ICH6 Chipsets supporting LGA775 processors

    -Four So-Dimm sockets supporting Dual Channel DDR2 400/533

    -Intel High Definition Audio

    -Front Panel Audio DJ with MP3 compatibility

    -Mini-PCI TV-Tuner with Remote


    More details:

    Processor
    Intel® Pentium® 4 3.0/3.2/3.4/3.6GHz (LGA775, 800FSB) w/HT
    1024KB On-die L2 Cache

    Core Logic
    Intel® 915P chipset + ICH6

    Memory
    Dual Channel DDR2 400/533 (2 or 4 DIMM required for Dual channel mode)

    Bios
    4MB Flash ROM BIOS

    Disk Storage
    - Hard Disk Drive
    PCI Local Bus Interface
    2x Detachable 2.5” 9.5mm SATA150 or ATA100 Hard Disk Drive
    - Hardware Raid-0 or Raid-1
    - Floppy Disk Drive
    Ext. USB 3.5” 1.44MB Floppy Disk Drive
    - Built-in 7-in-1 Card Reader (MS/MSPro/SD/MMC/CF/MD/SM)

    Display
    17” WSXGA+ TFT 1680x1050 (Glare-Type)
    256MB DDR2 Video Memory
    PCI-Express 16x Modular Video Card from ATi or NVIDIA
    Dual-View Display Capability
    Built-in Mini-PCI TV-Tuner with Multi-Function Remote

    DVD or CD-ROM Drive
    2x Optical Drive Bay
    Interchangeable with DVD/CD-RW Combo drive or DVD±R/RW Combo drive
    ATAPI Interface

    Audio System
    Built-in 8ch Azalia Sound System (with 8 external speakers output without Ext. decoder)
    S/PDIF Digital output
    SRS WOW support
    Audio DJ Access Front Panel with MP3 playback compatible
    1 Built-in Microphone
    4 Built-in Speakers
    1 Built-in Subwoofer

    PCMCIA Slot
    PCMCIA 3.0 Standard Compliant
    1 Type II PCMCIA Slot

    Pointing Device
    Integrated Touchpad With Scroll Up/Down Slider

    Keyboard
    Full Sized Keyboard with Numeric Keypad
    Windows 95 2 Hot keys
    Integrated with Hot Keys for LCD Brightness, Suspend, Panel/CRT Display
    3 Hot Keys for E-Mail, Web Browser. And AP-Key

    Interface
    Infrared Communication, FIR, SIR and ASK Compliant
    1 16c550 Compatible Serial Port
    1 Parallel Port, with ECP/EPP Support
    1 External Keyboard Port
    1 DVI Port
    4 USB 2.0 Ports
    4 multi-function Audio Jacks
    1 RJ-45 LAN (10/100/1000Mbps)
    1 RJ-11 Modem
    2 IEEE 1394a Fire Wire
    1 S-video TV-Out
    1 S-video Video-in

    Power System
    1 Lithium-Ion Battery
    Full Range Auto-Switching 100V/240V AC Adapter

    Power Management
    System Management Mode (SMM)
    Suspend to HDD / DRAM
    Full features of SMI Power Management, Doze, Sleep, Suspend/Resume Mode

    Physical Characteristic
    12.5lb with 2x HDD and 2x ODD
    15.5”w x 11.75”d x 1.95”h

    Standard Options
    Internal 802.11g Wireless LAN Mini-PCI interface
    Internal 802.11g & Bluetooth combo card Mini-PCI interface
    Build-in Digital Video Camera
  • gibbonslgibbonsl Grand Forks AFB
    edited December 2004
  • gtghmgtghm New
    edited December 2004
    Pentium M is the way to go, IMHO
  • edited December 2004
    Just need to know, does http://pctorque.com/products.php or http://www.powernotebooks.com do monthly payments?
  • gibbonslgibbonsl Grand Forks AFB
    edited December 2004
    not sure about powernotebooks, but PCtorque does not

    they take CC, money orders and wire transfer.
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