Best balance between performance & battery life?

[NTB]

Been thinking about getting a laptop for a while now, primarily for work. A netbook would be great for portability, but I'd like a larger/higher-resolution screen, and an optical drive would be nice, too.

All that said, I *don't* need a full-blown desktop replacement. Primary use for the machine would be programming & e-mail for work, and maybe the occasional movie. Might load a few lightweight games, but that would be it - I've got A Core2 Quad machine at home for any serious gaming I might want to do

Any suggestions?

Nathan

 

[IlllI]

price range?

 

[ecom]

I was in the same situation a while back. I ended up buying a Dell Latitude E4300. It's 13.3" laptop with a medium voltage Core2Duo. Performance of the CPU is similar to that of a E6700 desktop CPU. Screen resolution is only 1280x800 which is a bit low for my liking, but I have a 20" and 22" at home on my desktop. Weight with extended battery is 4lbs and lasts for about 5 hours.

Dell outlet is a good place to look if you're wiling to buy a refurb.

 

[Maximilian]

The acer 1810tz looks great, dual core, portable, good battery life, decent res on the 11.6" screen. Its a netbook with the power of a laptop basically, it can do HD.

 

[alimoalem]

My opinion is get the smallest thing that does all you need, within your price range. The E4300, as ecom recommended, is good (if you buy from the Outlet...it's pretty expensive otherwise). I think the sweet spot is 13.3-14.1". I have a Thinkpad T400 and think it's a good balance between portability/performance/battery life.

 

[alyarb]

http://www.anandtech.com/mobile/showdoc.aspx?i=3637

this isn't available in stores yet but some shops are taking preoders. it's a full blown ULV penryn with lots of RAM and cache and screen for you.

 

[ecom]

^ The screen resolution of the 15" is horrible. The 13" it might be ok, but even 14" I'd rather have 1440x900 or higher.

 

[Zap]

Maybe an Acer 14" Timeline? You can get Core Solo or Core 2 Duo, comes with DVD drive, really light for the screen size.