Notebook hardware general questions..

GHoosdum

I need some help picking out a notebook PC for my fiancee. I want to get her something that is decently light, but also fairly powerful. So far, the only thing that fits the bill is the Dell Inspiron 600m. However, I can't configure one well and get it under 1000 bucks, even on the EPP site (then again, that one has the 4 year warranty). I'm going in 50/50 with her mother buying it for her, and her mother's budget is around $400, while mine is around $500 (my tax refund!).

All the other PCs I've looked into have the freaking Intel Extreme Graphics 2 in them, and I doubt that they'd cut the mustard... I'd like her to be able to play her favorite games on this thing, like AoM...

Any ideas of decent notebooks at decent prices these days? Or any leads into a cheaper 600M? Or any promises that the lower spec'd PCs (usually around a Celeron-M 1.3 and Intel Extreme Graphics) could run any games at all?

muddocktor

GH, I think that you will have a problem configuring any laptop that can run games for less than $1000. You might check the Best Buys and places like that to see if they are running any specials on laptops, but generally those involve mail in rebates. Good luck on your quest though.

GHoosdum

My quest is fulfilled. I bought her Circuit City's deal for this week: A 1.3Ghz "Celeron-M" (1MB L2 cache) - I think this is just a renamed Banias chip? Toshiba with a 15.4" widescreen, 60GB HDD, 512MB RAM, free Canon printer and free Belkin 802.11G router for $599 AR. It came to $685 AR with tax, but $1037 before rebate. It's just a hundred bucks short of being 1337 because it has integrated craphics, the Intel "Extreme" Graphics 2 chip. With whatever the video RAM is set to right now, though, she can run the one game she cares about (Age of Mythology) at maximum graphics settings. This one's a winner!