Laptop Purchase

[Fingolfin269]

*EDIT* This is actually for my boss at work, so help me look like a knowledgable underling.

Hey fellas I'm in the market for a laptop and need some advice. I can get what is supposedly a 'deal through work :

IBM R51
Pentium M 1.5
14.1 XGA TFT
256 Megs
30GB HD
DVD/CDRW Combo
Gigabit Ethernet (integrated)
802.11B (integrated)
32 MB ATI Radeon 7500
3 year warranty
XP Pro
Weighs in at around 4.5 lb (travel weight)

~$1300

Now, I really know nothing about laptops but can honestly say that this will only be used for business type purposes... and the occasional DVD viewing on an airplane. Can anyone suggest some alternate that I might want to look into? I checked out Dell's site but the prices weren't really comparable and the only M processor I saw was included on some super small widescreen laptop that I don't really need.

Thanks for the help.

 

[ActuaryTm]

Am about to logoff for the evening, but thought I would suggest perhaps this machine (only list the CompUSA site as it has a decent deal, but certainly this machine can be found elsewhere). Only slightly heavier than your desired specifications. Extended warranty could likely be purchased as well.

May revisit this thread in the morning when more time is at my disposal.

Pavilion zt3302us Notebook
Intel Pentium M Processor 705, 1.5GHz, with Centrino Technology, 256MB RAM, 40GB Hard Drive, 15.4-inch WXGA TFT Display, DVD / CD-RW Drive, Windows XP Home Edition"

Specifications:

Processor Brand: Intel
Processor Class: Pentium M Processor
Processor Number: 705
Processor Speed: 1.5 GHz
Bus Speed: 400 MHz
Centrino Enabled: Yes
L2 Cache Size: 1 MB

Memory Speed: PC2700 (333MHz)
Memory Technology: DDR-SDRAM (DDRRAM)
Installed Memory: 256 MB
Maximum Memory: 2 GB

Hard Drive Capacity: 40 GB
CD-RW Write Speed: 24 X
Included Drives: DVD/CD-RW Combo

Sound Support: Digital Audio (16-bit)
Video Chipset: ATI® Mobility RADEON? 9200
Installed Video Memory: 32 MB
Resolution: 1280 x 800
Display Size: 15.4 in
Display Type: Active Matrix LCD (TFT)

Port Connectors:
3 Universal Serial Bus (USB) 2.0
1 Parallel SPP/ECP (25-pin)
1 Video - VGA (15-pin)
1 Video - TV-Out (S-Video)
1 RJ-11 (modem)
1 RJ-45 Ethernet (LAN)
1 Port replicator connector
1 Audio - Headphone Out
1 Audio - Microphone In
1 IEEE 1394 (Firewire)
1 FIR (Fast Infrared)

Card Slots: Secure Digital(SD)/MMC
Type I CardBus
Type II CardBus

Network Support: Ethernet (10/100 Mbps)
Wireless Protocol: 802.11b, 802.11g
Modem Speed: 56 Kbps

Input Devices: Keyboard, Touchpad
Number of Batteries: 1

Installed Operating System: Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition
Included Software: Symantec? Norton Antivirus? (complementary 60 days Live Update), Notebook Help & Support, Adobe Acrobat Reader, HP Camera and Printer Drivers (Deskjet, All-In-One & Photo printers), Restore CDs, Microsoft® Works, Microsoft® Money, MSN® Encarta® Plus, Intuit® Quicken® New User Edition, Microsoft® Windows® Media Player, Microsoft® Windows® MovieMaker, RecordNow, InterVideo WinDVD, InterVideo Home Theater. Muvee? autoProducer, HP Image Zone Plus photo and imaging, Apple iTunes and Apple iTunes Music Store

Height: 1.24 in
Width: 10.0 in
Depth: 14.0 in
Weight: 6.5 lbs

Limited Warranty: 1 Year (12 Months)

 

[saltedeggman]

the HP weighs 6.5lb....

if he's looking for sub 5lb range...it might not be suitable for him

 

[ActuaryTm]

Originally posted by: saltedeggman
the HP weighs 6.5lb....

if he's looking for sub 5lb range...it might not be suitable for him

May want to reread the original message posted. Bolded below the applicable portion from above:

"Am about to logoff for the evening, but thought I would suggest perhaps this machine (only list the CompUSA site as it has a decent deal, but certainly this machine can be found elsewhere). Only slightly heavier than your desired specifications. Extended warranty could likely be purchased as well."

Fingolfin269: still have a few more suggestions in my mind. Should be a bit later this afternoon before I can summarize them.

 

[SuepaFly]

Hey Fingolfin269, the IBM laptops are really good. R series is kinda the budget, but its a nice laptop overall. Plus, that is standard price for it, its an IBM Express model (I work at a reseller). Standard retail is $1299 for this exact model.

From my system:
R51 PM 1.5/256/30/COMBO/WL/14"/XPP/EXP IBM $1,299.00

Here is another R51 deal you might want to look at:
R51 CEN 1.5/256/20/COMBO/WL/15"/XPP/EXP IBM $1,329.00

$30 for the larger screen is not to shabby. The trade off is the hard drive size.

(The EXP at the end means its an IBM express laptop, preconfigured and sold at a special price).

 

[cheesehead]

I would look at an Ibuypower. For that price, you can get a thin-and-light battallion with a 1.6 Dothan, plenty of RAM, and a nice-sized hard drive. Best of all, it only weighs 4.1 lbs!

 

[Justin216]

I haven't heard the best things from Ibuypower personally..I was looking into them before I bought my T42, but their resellerratings.com customer feedback wasn't very good at all...

 

[Frightcrawler]

IBM R51 series!
This ($1299)
or
This ($1329)

Personally, I would get the latter. 30 bucks for a 15 inch screen!
Everything else is the same, except the screen.

Something interesting about these particular models is that they are the beginning of the Dothan models for the R series. The Intel Pentium M 705 is a Banias (they will trick you if you dont look closely at the cache).
These models have a 715, which have 2mb of L2 cache.

It's an excellent price for what you get.

 

[fbrdphreak]

Definitely go IBM. The awesome customer support and built quality are worth it alone. One thing I would invest in if you do with those pre-config models is another 256MB RAM. 256MB is kinda weak for XP Pro, 512MB will improve performance a lot and save a bit o batt life since it won't be paging to the HDD too much. But otherwise, good laptop!