Help Me Select a Notebook

edcentricedcentric near Milwaukee, Wisconsin Icrontian
edited November 2006 in Hardware
I am looking at a Toshiba A100, but willing to consider others.
This will be my office machine 100% of the time. I need a portable DTR machine.

Desired specs:
15"-15.5" screen
C2D CPU
dedicated GPU

everything else is negotiable.
tks ed

Comments

  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited November 2006
    I'm no laptop expert, but bump for a good guy. :)
  • edcentricedcentric near Milwaukee, Wisconsin Icrontian
    edited November 2006
    Thanks Prof.
    Maybe I need to be clear, THIS WILL BE MY COMPANIES MONEY.
    I just want to make sure that I get everything that I can.
  • Sledgehammer70Sledgehammer70 California Icrontian
    edited November 2006
    http://www.notebookreview.com was a great resource when I was looking for laptops.
  • BuddyJBuddyJ Dept. of Propaganda OKC Icrontian
    edited November 2006
    2.16GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
    1440 x 900 pixels (15" screen)
    1GB memory
    120GB hard drive
    6x double-layer SuperDrive
    ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 graphics with 128MB SDRAM
    $1,999

    Just install Boot Camp and a copy of XP ;)
  • Sledgehammer70Sledgehammer70 California Icrontian
    edited November 2006
    Hey Buddy Jesus What brand is that? - link to Mac, so i am guessing it is a Mac?
  • BuddyJBuddyJ Dept. of Propaganda OKC Icrontian
    edited November 2006
    That's the MacBook Pro's base model. There are two others to chose from, and then you can customize them a fair bit too. The 17" screen model looks tasty, but I don't know if it's worth the extra cash.
  • shwaipshwaip bluffin' with my muffin Icrontian
    edited November 2006
    In the past, I have been unimpressed with toshiba's offerings. My little brother's laptop had nothing but problems. This is about 7 years ago, though.

    Also, I haven't had problems with my compaq evo, but as it was required that my class buy them, I have heard that lots of people had problems with them.
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited November 2006
    I am a firm supporter of Sager notebooks. My brother purchased one of their DTRs, and not only is it a beautiful laptop in my opinion, it was such a breeze to work with.
  • NiGHTSNiGHTS San Diego Icrontian
    edited November 2006
    HP's laptops (Compaq as well, but if its the company's money might as well go HP) have the best standard warranty in the business, IMO. One year, with the ability to upgrade that to a maximum of 3 years. An accidental damage warranty is available for purchase, as well.

    Not sure if they offer what you're looking for, but still a good bit of knowledge to have in your back pocket.
  • WeAreNotAloneWeAreNotAlone
    edited November 2006
    NiGHTS wrote:
    HP's laptops (Compaq as well, but if its the company's money might as well go HP) have the best standard warranty in the business, IMO. One year, with the ability to upgrade that to a maximum of 3 years. An accidental damage warranty is available for purchase, as well.

    Not sure if they offer what you're looking for, but still a good bit of knowledge to have in your back pocket.

    I would second the above.... if not with HP, at least another mfg "business" line of notebooks.

    In most cases a "business class" notebook is going to be more stable due to the longer R&D time, plus the fact "heads will roll" if something isn't "right" on a "business class" notebook, compared to a "consumer" notebook that if something isn't right the mindset, is "oh well", maybe the next version will be less buggy.. No sense in putting too much time in xyz consumer type notebook as it's only going to be in production for a few months...

    Business class notebooks using more "stable" tested versions of hardware, the consumer line being used as the test bed to weed out the good and the bad.

    Add to that better warranty service... faster turn around.


    .
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited November 2006
    Very good points, WeAreNotAlone. :cheers:
  • WeAreNotAloneWeAreNotAlone
    edited November 2006
    profdlp wrote:
    Very good points, WeAreNotAlone. :cheers:

    Hope I explained that right without stepping on any toes...

    Another aspect on the business, vs consumer grade products is that on the consumer grade units they are sometimes "pushed" to production to A: beat a competitor, or B: Meet a deadline, for example the "Back to School", or Christmas season.

    Business models of course having deadlines, but the mfg's know that "Businesses" aren't going to put up with un-stable machines.... I mean, really think about it... a business is using a machine, and the machine crashes and big $$$ data, work is lost. While it can be said we all have important data... in most cases percentage wise a business machine that is unstable, or is constantly breaking down is going to not tolerated by a businesses due to the big $$$ money involved, both in data loss, lost employee time...


    I was on another board and a poster had ordered a Alienware "gaming" machine as his only machine to use in his "business"...:banghead: Don't remember the details word for word, but the initial order got screwed up causing a delay ... The poster had called them several times getting the run around... on a order placement! The poster wasn't too happy with the run around he got. I'd hate to depend on them if service was needed,unless that is the exception to the rule.

    Fine machine and all, but for business you need to consider service, the amount of downtime over the latest gee-wiz go fast stuff. Regardless of which mfg you choose.

    Example of HP Business class service:
    http://www.notebookforums.com/post372325-5.html

    Ah, here's the thread on the Alienware: http://www.notebookforums.com/thread171755.html


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