Buying a new Notebook: Questions

[DB7]

Im buying a new laptop for college and have several questions. Im looking to spend under 1500 (perferably less than 1300) I will be using it for games (alot), photo editing, and miscellaneous things. I'm looking mostly for 14-15.4, but size isnt nearly as important to me as performance.

1. What brand(s) are best, based on most bang for the buck, best customer service, and least garbage installed? Speciafically, how are HP and Toshiba, because my dad keeps insisting on them. Personally im looking into ASUS.

2. Should I buy one with Vista installed? Or should i stick with XP for now?

3. What are the best general midrange CPUs?

4. What are the best general midrange GPUs?

5. How much RAM would be best at my price point? Should i go with 2G, or stick with 1G and opt for a better CPU and/or GPU?

6. Should i shop at an online store such as Newegg, or go to a store like Best Buy or circuit city?

I'm considering this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16834220104

And this:
http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/HP-Pavil.../169877/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do#tabs

Any answers/posts are welcome. TY in advance.

 

[IlllI]

well you can always upgrade ram later. but things like cpu and gpu would be more difficult. if i had to choose between upgrading a gpu or getting an extra gig of ram, i'd go for the gpu.
for vista, i'd say 1 gig minimum.

as far as xp vs vista... well vista seems 'ok... but i didnt really see much of anything that wowed me. its prettier in some aspects, but also kind of annoying. a lot of things i tried to access kept giving me these security pop-up messages...which got really old really fast.

 

[Sasiki]

I just ordered the ASUS today from Newegg. You may want to check the forums at www.notebookreview.com

There is a wealth of information there about notebooks, including subforums for ASUS and other major manufacturers. It seems the general opinion of that forum is to go for the A8Js or A8Jp. One of them has the Nvidia 7700 go and the other, as linked above, the x1700. The x1700 is pretty much on par in performance with the 7600go, and typically a tad slower than the 7700. However, the A8Jp is like $200 cheaper than the A8Js, which was my determining factor.

Edit: forgot to answer the other questions in the post. I bought an FE880e/h from Best Buy Thursday that was preloaded with Vista. Paid $1600 after warranty and tax. Vista sucks. I'm paying a 15% ($200) restocking fee just to get the ASUS. Stay with XP for now. Wait until the bugs are out of Vista. As far as CPU goes, the T7200 is the lowest in the series with a 4mb L2 cache. As far as the best mid-range GPU goes, the x1700 and 7600 Go is all you've got unless you step up to the 7700 Go for roughly 200 bucks more. As clandren said, go for cpu/gpu. RAM is easy to upgrade. For the last question, typically retail stores don't have the enthusiast laptops with dedicated graphics. If they do, the prices are typically $1600+. I'm going out on a limb and trusting the tons of people on notebookreview.com in going with the A8Jp. The A8Jp also comes with a factory 2 year warranty versus 1 year on most all other laptops, another plus.

 

[Brainonska511]

Originally posted by: DB7
Im buying a new laptop for college and have several questions. Im looking to spend under 1500 (perferably less than 1300) I will be using it for games (alot), photo editing, and miscellaneous things. I'm looking mostly for 14-15.4, but size isnt nearly as important to me as performance.

1. What brand(s) are best, based on most bang for the buck, best customer service, and least garbage installed? Speciafically, how are HP and Toshiba, because my dad keeps insisting on them. Personally im looking into ASUS. Asus >>> HP and Toshiba; their customer service is pretty good and you most likely won't have to use it since they build pretty high quality notebooks (only stuff installed is a security suite and basic programs (like hotkey control, power program, wireless control)

2. Should I buy one with Vista installed? Or should i stick with XP for now? You choice. It might be easier to get a Vista notebook since all drivers would be pre-installed and you will have the latest and greatest OS. If you go with Asus, it would probably easier to get the Vista notebook too.

3. What are the best general midrange CPUs? Core 2 Duo, 667MHz FSB, 1.66GHz - 2.13GHz

4. What are the best general midrange GPUs? 7700Go >> MR X1700 = MR X1600 = 7600 Go

5. How much RAM would be best at my price point? Should i go with 2G, or stick with 1G and opt for a better CPU and/or GPU? IIRC, the Asus notebook you posted has 1x1GB preinstalled, so you can always pop in another stick if you need it.

6. Should i shop at an online store such as Newegg, or go to a store like Best Buy or circuit city? Personally, I'd rather buy online at a place like Newegg or Proportable (Asus Reseller) instead of a crappy B&M place like BB

I'm considering this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16834220104
:thumbsup:

And this:
http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/HP-Pavil.../169877/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do#tabs
:thumbsdown:
Any answers/posts are welcome. TY in advance.

My answers are in the quote (bold and thumbs).

 

[Nameless1990]

You say size isn't very important to you, and it probably isn't as important to you as the average college student. But I'd advise against getting a 17 inch laptop like that HP. Unless you plan on only taking it to class once a week. If it were me, I'd go with a 14.1 inch. I have a 15.4 inch laptop and it's not "heavy" but neither is it "light."

I've heard many good things about that Asus you posted and Asus in general. For that price I'd like to see 2 gigs of RAM. But no big deal, if you need more it's getting cheaper these days.

The HP is a good computer, I would highly reccommend you avoid a 17 inch laptop though, while it may perform well, you'll feel tired after lugging it around campus every day.

Of course (here it comes) if you're okay with Mac's there's always the Mac Book and Mac Book Pro. But the Pro would be out of your budget and the Mac Book doesn't have a dedicated graphics card.

 

[UncleWai]

A8JP is the way to go man. I've been eyeing for an upgrade to it for a week now. The one I am using is 14.1" Toshiba. 14.1" I consider it to be the limit for portable. I bought a 15" Dell 6300 before and the thing was huge. I sold it in two weeks, lucky for a profit.
AFAIK the A8JP has 2x512mb ram on it. For $1300 with that spec, you really can't go wrong with it.