Laptop advice

[dilbert]

I'm thinking of getting a laptop, this will be my first.
I'm pretty impressed with the Dell XPS.
I am definitely the type who believes bigger is better.
They have two base models that you can customize.
M140 starts at 649 14.1" screen
M170 starts at 2,600 17" screen

There are obviously others, but if I were to consider screen size as a critical element, and never having a laptop before, will I be disappointed in a 14.1" screen? I have a 19" flat screen on my desktops.

Thanks for any advice.

[chrispadfield]

I personally think the screen resolution is more important than the actual size. Might want to compare that first.

[Scott MacVicar]

I have a Sony Vaio Z1SP and while its got a smaller screen its got a large resolution and I'm happy with it. My next purchase is going to be a Macbook as a new laptop, just waiting on Apple to release details about the new iBook before I make a decision.

I never see the point in getting a laptop with a large screen, it makes it very unportable and it will guzzle battery power.

[Zachery]

I'm happy with a 15/15.4 lappy, I've got a powerhouse replacement from dell thats over 4 years now and still runs well. Its max resolution and native resolution is 1600x1200 :D I love it.

[Floris]

I'm thinking of getting a laptop, this will be my first.
I'm pretty impressed with the Dell XPS.
I am definitely the type who believes bigger is better.
They have two base models that you can customize.
M140 starts at 649 14.1" screen
M170 starts at 2,600 17" screen

There are obviously others, but if I were to consider screen size as a critical element, and never having a laptop before, will I be disappointed in a 14.1" screen? I have a 19" flat screen on my desktops.

Thanks for any advice.
How can you be impressed with a nearly 4 kilo laptop? That's just a very thin iMac you can fold.

[TheMusicMan]

I too have a Dell, a Latitude with a mindblowing 1600 * 1200 screen resolution, and it's simply awesome. It's a solid, reliable workhorse (though heavy) that has served me well for nearly three years.

Having recently become fully self-employed and needing a new business class notebook, I am considering a new Dell - the Latitude D820 (http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/products/compare.aspx/latit?c=uk&cs=ukbsdt1&l=en&s=bsd) - which can have up to an unbelieveable screen resolution of 1920 * 1200... WOW!!! Mine will be ordered within the next week or two, can't wait.

[chrispadfield]

Yeah, I have a Inspiron 6000 which has 1920x1200 - Dell are one of a very few companies that put a 1920x1200 screen in a 15" laptop, so while it's hardly a light machine this is great.

I am waiting for sony to come out with a 10" based on the new low power Duo processor and might then get that as well.

[TheMusicMan]

Hey Chris - how do you find the Inspiron? They are somewhat cheaper than the Latitudes... thoughts?

[TalkMilitary]

I have an Inspiron 9100 with a P4 2.8. It is the same chassis as the (then) XPS). Great laptop with an impressive display. It is more of a desktop replacement than a truely portable laptop due to the weight. If you do not travel with it all that often, I think you will find it to be a great work horse.
Glenn

[dilbert]

I know the one I listed is heavy, it really won't travel that much, so I am not worried about the weight.
The Latitude does not seem to be available in the US.
Also, what about the processor? Do I want a Centrino, Pentium, Celeron, Athlon?????
The more I look the more confused I get.

[chrispadfield]

Hey Chris - how do you find the Inspiron? They are somewhat cheaper than the Latitudes... thoughts?

I am quite happy with it. I got it well specced with 2GB ram and the huge res monitor still for a very good price - nothing else out there could come even close in the value department.

The machine itself is fast, never notice any problems with it - but I don't play games on it and I can't imagine the graphics card is very good. The build I would say is average+ my main issue with it is that it's pretty thick. You are not buying a laptop that will turn any heads :)

But for a relativly good priced laptop you can't beat it. I was looking at the new Asus 8200 but had to buy something before that come out. For half the price I am happy I ended up with what I did.

Still will want to get a micro laptop some point though, this one is a bit trip to take on a day trip on the train for example at times.

[TalkMilitary]

I know the one I listed is heavy, it really won't travel that much, so I am not worried about the weight.
The Latitude does not seem to be available in the US.
Also, what about the processor? Do I want a Centrino, Pentium, Celeron, Athlon?????
The more I look the more confused I get.

I would not get the Pentium if I was to do this again. Battery life is just OK, but the cooling fans do run quite a bit. They really start spinning up when I use firefox.. go figgure. :)

[Floris]

Centrino or p4, don't go celeron. And I've never been a fan of AMD

[Zachery]

I like the Pentium serries mobile processors, the centrinos are wonderful. I'll give AMD mobiles a shot when they are widely supported.

I'd get a Dell though, I love their laptops.

[DirectPixel]

I got a Dell Inspirion E1505 last week, and it's been awesome.

It's running a speedy Centrino Dual-Core with 1GB of RAM. The battery life is 4 hours on the default battery and the screen is great (About 14"-15", don't recall exact size). The weight is pretty good, too. About 5-6 pounds. I upgraded mine to 1.5GB of DDR2 4200 RAM, and it currently runs faster than my desktop (P4 3.4GHz, 1GB RAM).

And it only cost me $800. :)

If you want to go with XPS, I'd personally prefer the M140 over all the others, simply because it's the only one that actually has a decent battery life (Just under 6 hours, the longest of all laptops, I believe). Of course, I value battery life a lot. If that's not your thing, then I'm sure the other XPS models are pretty good too. ;)

[andrewpfeifer]

Like DirectPixel, I just ordered an e1505 on Wednesday evening.

Using some coupons, I ended up getting $850 off of the total price. I later got my shipping upgraded to next-day for free after only asking about my shipping status on their online support system.

Here are coupon codes that should work for you (on Inspiron notebooks configured over $2,000):

$750 coupon: ZRFVGS97PK1F1?
$100 stackable: 43shs371z9m09r

I ended up ordering my e1505 with the T2500 Core Duo (2.0ghz), 2.0gb RAM, 80gb hard drive, and the x1400 256mb graphics card. The graphics card is the only thing I'm worried about. Although not bad, it's definitely not top of the line.

Good luck, and I will post a quick review of mine when I get it.

[filburt1]

I had a Dell 9300 at work. That thing was a tank: WUXGA+ (or whatever; 1920 x 1200) and must have weighed 11 or 12 pounds, and of course got 1.5 hours of battery life, probably because of the Geforce 6800 and 7200 RPM drive I had it configured with. It wouldn't even fit in my backpack designed for carrying laptops.

It was a tremendous development machine, but only due to the high resolution. So I agree with the comment that 1920 x 1200, which is even higher than 1080p, must be heaven in a 15" form factor.

My main personal portable--the one I own--is a Toshiba Portege M200 tablet PC. 1.5 GHz Pentium M, 1.5 GB RAM, 12" screen at 1400 x 1050 overlayed with an actual Wacom tablet digitizer. I'm very partial towards convertible tablet PCs and would have even considered upgrading to the newly released Core Duo M400 if only they didn't butcher it by taking out the Geforce FX 5200 Go and replacing it with worthless Intel Integrated GMA950 graphics. Despite being slower in nearly every other aspect, my M200 gets a higher 3dmark rating than an M400.

[Joe Gronlund]

I have a Pentium 4 Compaq Presario R3000, i love it , its a great laptop and the hardware is supported by XP and Windows Vista. But if i was to buy another laptop, i would likely buy a Dell.

[Vile]

I just got an M170, and although the physical size is fairly large, it's really not too heavy, considering the hardware under the hood; 8.5 lbs IIRC. Since it can run such heavy duty apps & games, it was well worth it for me.

[dilbert]

Like DirectPixel, I just ordered an e1505 on Wednesday evening.

Using some coupons, I ended up getting $850 off of the total price. I later got my shipping upgraded to next-day for free after only asking about my shipping status on their online support system.

Here are coupon codes that should work for you (on Inspiron notebooks configured over $2,000):

$750 coupon: ZRFVGS97PK1F1?
$100 stackable: 43shs371z9m09r

I ended up ordering my e1505 with the T2500 Core Duo (2.0ghz), 2.0gb RAM, 80gb hard drive, and the x1400 256mb graphics card. The graphics card is the only thing I'm worried about. Although not bad, it's definitely not top of the line.

Good luck, and I will post a quick review of mine when I get it.

Thanks for the info. What are the coupons you refer to? Where do Iget them, or use them?

[Zachery]

There posted right there, ammount type: coupon