[deep_eyes]

I have my eyes set on this kinda system specs:

DELL INSPIRION 6000 - $1,740+ Shipping
1.6 CeleronM
512 DDR
60GIGHD
64MEG DDR Radeon x300
CD-R/DVD
15.4Inch Screen

http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?c=us&cs=19&l=en&oc=i6000S3&s=dhs

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Dell Inspiron 9300 - $1,578+ S+H
Intel® Pentium® M Processor 730 (1.60 GHz/2MB Cache/533MHz FSB)
512DDR
60GIGHD
64meg radeon x300
CD-R/DVD
17inch screen

http://www1.us.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/inspn_9300?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&~ck=mn&~tab=specstab#tabtop

------------

Acer Aspire 3000 - $860 (799+taxes)
Mobile AMD Sempron™ processor 2600+ to 3000+ or higher (1.8GHZ)  Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition (Service Pack 2) Microsoft® Windows® XP Media Center Edition 15.4" WXGA Acer CrystalBrite color TFT LCD
15.4" WXGA color TFT LCD
512 MB of DDR333 memory  80GB
Choice of: 8x DVD- Dual double-layer drive + DVD/CD-R W combo drive

363 (W) x 278 (D) x 24/32.9 (H) mm (14.3 x 10.9 x 0.9/1.3 inches)
3.03 kg (6.67 lbs.) for 15" LCD model
3.07 kg (6.75 lbs.) for 15.4" LCD model


http://global.acer.com/products/notebook/as3000.htm

-------------------- circuit city deals lol------

My dad bought the ACER for himself and its technically more powerfull than the dells above, only prob is i cant get  a decent videocard for it. however for 860 bucks (nyc taxes etc) and i can buy it instore now, im debating whether its a good deal (hell it got a DVD BURNER!) for digital photography editing, Adobe photoshop cs2 (the whole CS2 SUITE), Office 2003, a multitude of Macromedia software (latest).

Can anyone suggest a system around the same power of the ACER for at the same price and or cheaper?

[Martinus]

[color=66ff00]I'd be wary about the Acer.
Some of their models are notorious for LCD failure. The backlight failed 3 times on my friend's in a year, a bit of googling suggested that he was not a lone victim.
[/color]

[deep_eyes]

ic... any other suggestions?

[Turnsky]

Originally posted by deep_eyes
ic... any other suggestions?

stay very far away from refurbished ones..  had to take a look at two since i started work... nothing serious, just service pack updates..... which i had to download myself

[IceFire]

Fujitsu.  Good reports on them...I like them.

[Kamikaze]

I'd go for a Thinkpad. They're solidly built and don't feel cheap like HP, Compaq or Dell laptops.

For example the Thinkpad R50's touchpad buttons are well built and it doesn't have the nasty, loud clicking noise of other touchpads (particularly Dell laptops). The touchpad itself is more responsive too.

Here's an example model:

Thinkpad T43 - $1749
Pentium M 750 1.86Ghz
512 MB RAM
40GB HD
15"
CD-RW/DVD-ROM
64MB Radeon x300

List of all models: http://www-131.ibm.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?categoryId=2302835&storeId=10000001&catalogId=-840&langId=-1

[Stealth]

you know, just a suggestion, but you might try buying a laptop off Ebay... i've had nothing but good experiences like that; and you can cut your price almost in a third.

you won't get the manufacturer warranty (usually) but if you pick the right Ebay seller, you'll be fine anyway.

[Martinus]

[color=66ff00]I bought a Thinkpad T21 off ebay, ended up being pretty economical and it's very well built.
[/color]

[kasperl]

Thinkpads are strong, durable and feel just right. Unfortunately, the only models I get to work on often are old school systems where the keyboards have been manhandled too severely.

Before you buy, ask yourself wheter you want a desktop replacement that is luggable, not portable, or something that'll let you work everywhere while not feeling it on your back, but'll have a 5 second battery life and is slower then anything, or a portable laptop with average specs and a long battery life.

Also, bigger screen = less battery.

[Swamp_Thing]

I´d advize anyone thinking of buying a laptop to think carefully if they really need it. Before i bought mine, i was like that, thinking a laptop is a great thing to have, great to take on a trip and stuff. But after i bought it, i used it for a couple of months, then i packed it in. It has been in the box for months...
I should have used the money somewhere else.
So think carefully if that´s what you really need. Remember the battery life is short, it can´t be used to play good games, has a small disk space capacity, and is very fragile.

If you really want to buy one, don´t buy Compaq. Worst mistake i ever made...

[Martinus]

Originally posted by Swamp_Thing
I´d advize anyone thinking of buying a laptop to think carefully if they really need it. Before i bought mine, i was like that, thinking a laptop is a great thing to have, great to take on a trip and stuff. But after i bought it, i used it for a couple of months, then i packed it in. It has been in the box for months...
I should have used the money somewhere else.
So think carefully if that´s what you really need. Remember the battery life is short, it can´t be used to play good games, has a small disk space capacity, and is very fragile.

If you really want to buy one, don´t buy Compaq. Worst mistake i ever made...

[color=66ff00]It's brilliant for uni or long excursions. My thinkpad's a 800MHz P3, I added another 128MB of RAM to it making it 256. Mine's a refurbished one, looks like it hardly got any use (probably an old school or government one).

Thinkpads are a bit on the pricey side if you're buying a new one though but they've got good features. My battery lasts between 20 and 40 minutes depending on what I'm doing. I can't tell you how much it's been through before that so it may not be a good representation of a normal thinkpad's battery life.
[/color]

[Admiral LSD]

20-40 minutes is **** battery life for any laptop, you should be getting an hour or two at the very least. If it's a NiCd or NiMh battery then it's possibly built up a "memory" from poor charging in the past. It's possible to remove this with a series of deep discharge/recharge cycles. We have a couple of places here who either specialise in batteries or offer the service but I can't speak for your neck of the woods.

[Martinus]

Originally posted by Admiral LSD
20-40 minutes is **** battery life for any laptop, you should be getting an hour or two at the very least. If it's a NiCd or NiMh battery then it's possibly built up a "memory" from poor charging in the past. It's possible to remove this with a series of deep discharge/recharge cycles. We have a couple of places here who either specialise in batteries or offer the service but I can't speak for your neck of the woods.

[color=66ff00]Another Gentoo user.

Thinkpad's been pretty great for Gentoo, I still have to figure out how to get it to switch off the LCD's backlight (it only blanks the screen at the mo).
[/color]

[Admiral LSD]

Not so much anymore. I've pretty much thrown in the towel when it comes to Linux. I just got sick of the attitudes of Linux users and developers that were leading to software that was just as crappy if not more so than anything Microsoft could release so I just gave up. I just haven't been arsed changing the sig in every forum I use it in

[Martinus]

Originally posted by Admiral LSD
Not so much anymore. I've pretty much thrown in the towel when it comes to Linux. I just got sick of the attitudes of Linux users and developers that were leading to software that was just as crappy if not more so than anything Microsoft could release so I just gave up. I just haven't been arsed changing the sig in every forum I use it in

[color=66ff00]Ahh, no luck. I'm pretty oblivious to the whole thing, I just want a good OS and Gentoo does the job for the most part.
[/color]

[MatthewPapa]

Originally posted by Maeglamor

[color=66ff00]It's brilliant for uni or long excursions. My thinkpad's a 800MHz P3, I added another 128MB of RAM to it making it 256. Mine's a refurbished one, looks like it hardly got any use (probably an old school or government one).

Thinkpads are a bit on the pricey side if you're buying a new one though but they've got good features. My battery lasts between 20 and 40 minutes depending on what I'm doing. I can't tell you how much it's been through before that so it may not be a good representation of a normal thinkpad's battery life.
[/color]

I bought a T21 refurbished as well. Its a great machine, high quality and hasnt failed me (yet.) I got it with 512 RAM and it can handle a lot of different apps. The battery life for me was crappy at first until i bought a new one from IBM. My battery now lasts about 1:45.

[Kosh]

DELL INSPIRION 6000 - $1,740+ Shipping
1.6 CeleronM
512 DDR
60GIGHD
64MEG DDR Radeon x300
CD-R/DVD
15.4Inch Screen

$1700+ seems pretty steep for a Celeron system. Unless it is one of those lightweight designs......

20-40 minutes is **** battery life for any laptop, you should be getting an hour or two at the very least. If it's a NiCd or NiMh battery then it's possibly built up a "memory" from poor charging in the past. It's possible to remove this with a series of deep discharge/recharge cycles. We have a couple of places here who either specialise in batteries or offer the service but I can't speak for your neck of the woods.

I have yet to see a PC laptop with a NiCd or NiMh battery. Maybe some of the really, really old ones use them, but the only laptops that have them are Apples. The rest use Lithium Ions.

[MatthewPapa]

The NiCd memory problem probably prevents anyone from using them as a reliable backup battery.

[Grey Wolf]

I hate to do this, given the fact that I'm very close to being an AMD fanboy, but for a laptop, get a Pentium M. Admittedly they're Pentium 2 (i686-based) derivatives, as was the Pentium 3, but they give you the best balance of power and thermal properties, at least until AMD gets their laptop line (Turion, I believe it's called) off the ground.

[Admiral LSD]

It's closer to Pentium 3 than Pentium 2 but even Pentium 2 is a derivative of the Pentium Pro. Anyways, P-M is probably the best consumer-grade CPU Intel have released since about the P2-P3. In true Intel style though it's still ridiculously overpriced but it doesn't suck goat dick like the P4 does.