Critique this notebook please!

[IdioticBuffoon]

Notebook

I posted it earlier in the General Hardware section and it confirmed my suspicion that the hard-drive is too slow. Is there anything else wrong with the system?

I know the battery is pretty good. What about the graphics card? Are there any other important ports that are not included here?

Any GOOD deals you guys know of?

Thanks in advance!

I'll use it mostly for -- technical computing, reports, some music, surfing, etc.

 

[simms]

That's pretty heavy.

 

[OdiN]

I wouldn't buy a Compaq/HP/Sony notebook personally.

 

[IdioticBuffoon]

Originally posted by: OdiN
I wouldn't buy a Compaq/HP/Sony notebook personally.

Any specific reason? Do you have any other good deal in mind?

Thanks.

 

[ajikan]

Dell has some OK deals once in a while.
1300 can buy something pretty good with % off coupons @ dell.

 

[fbrdphreak]

He's in Cananda, that limits his options a bit.

Nothing wrong with that machine. ~2 hours batt life, pretty fast performance. HDD is slow, I'd upgrade that yourself. It won't be very portable, but otherwise just fine.

 

[IlllI]

i wouldnt get it b/c

ATI Radeon Xpress 200M IGP


would be a bad choice for gaming. but then thats just me

 

[lazybum131]

Here's some Dell Canada deals that end today (Dec 5th).

You'll lose CPU performance on any of those configs compared to the compaq, but they're all significantly lighter and thinner.

The 15.4" Inspiron 6000 can be configured with a higher resolution screen as well, you might find the increased desktop real estate to be useful. It also comes with a 9-cell battery that should provide about 5 hours of battery life. The Intel GMA900 integrated graphics is slower than the X200, but the X300 option is a bit faster (the 128MB X300 is comparable to the MR9600).

 

[cheesehead]

I'd go with something lighter. I have an Inspiron 9100 (which is slightly heavier), and I've so far spent over 80$ on shoe inserts to fix the fallen arches that carrying this thing around was giving me. (Yes, I can attribute them to carrying around over 12 lbs. worth of laptop on top of 20 lbs. worth of books.)
Needless to say, my new laptop (which should get here today) only weighs 3.5 lbs.

 

[pkme2]

I recommend the Dell Inspiron 6000. My student just took advantage of the I6000 with 35% off coupon and paid $1400 for a video editing machine. It had 2GHz, 1GB RAM, 128MB Radeon Video, 60GB 7200RPM, DVD burner & Win XP Pro. It weighs less than the heavier I9100, for sure. The rest of us have I600Ms, but Dell's coupons make the I6000 more attractive with its 15.1" LCD TFT.

 

[nfamous]

Originally posted by: OdiN
I wouldn't buy a Compaq/HP/Sony notebook personally.

I'd recommend HP's business line...if you can get them cheaply. If you buy it direct from HP then they are way too expensive. IMO the build quality is very good, and it comes with a standard 3 year warranty (at least last time i checked).