Laptop Purchase

[fu5ion]

I am in the market for a laptop for my freshman year of college. I plan to spend a maximum of $1,500 including tax and 3 year full coverage warranty (so the price before would probably be around $1,100). I have already built a desktop with a AMD Athlon 64 3400+, 1 GB of RAM, 200 GB SATA HD, 128 MB graphics card, & DVD RW. My major in college is going to be Computer Science. I plan to use the laptop simply for taking notes in class, accessing wifi hot spots in the library, etc. My school has a 12% student discount for purchases from Dell, but I was more interested in a Toshiba. Just curious as to which of these brands I should go with, or if I should go with a different brand. Also, I'm curious as to whether I should get a Pentium M processor, Centrino Technology, or simply a Pentium IV Processor. Also, in all the reviews that I have seen the Pentium M is faster than the Pentium IV, would someone please explain how that is possible since the M's have lower bandwidth. Your help and guidance is greatly appreciated.

 

[Shadowmage]

Pentium Ms kick the balls off of P4 processors.

Pentium M processors do more work per clock and are EXTREMELY efficient.

Centrino = Pentium M

Intel advertising sucks lol

 

[fbrdphreak]

For $1100 here are a couple options for you:
HP dv1000: 14" widescreen, Centrino, 5.5lbs, 6-7 hrs batt life w/12-cell battey, academic discount available
Dell 700M: 12" screen, Centrino, DIRT cheap with a good coupon (right now Dell is running a $750 off $1899 coupon)
Gateway: They have several 14" widescreen or 15" models around that price; good for the money, but I have yet to hear anything good about their tech support. Check them out @ Best Buy and buy BBY's warranty instead of Gateway's

That's all off the top of my head

 

[fxsts]

If you are going to be carrying around a lot, buy something very light w/ Pentium M, especially when you have a powerful desktop. You can get a super light one from Sharp or Fujitsu (check their online stores).

I have been using different Dell laptops for the last 7 years, and I hate them.

I just got an iBook for my wife, and I am pretty impressed with it, even though I am not usually a Mac guy.

 

[fu5ion]

thanks everyone for your help. Another thing that I have noticed in my search for a laptop is the Pentium M and the Mobile Pentium 4 what is the diff. between these two, and the regular Pentium 4

 

[Fenuxx]

The Mobile P4 uses "less" power than a regular P4 (by how much, I'm not sure). THe Pentium M is an entirely different chip though, and quite honestly, is the only Intel chip that, IMO, doesn't suck ass. I'm loving my Inspiron 9300 by the way (with a 2.0GHz Dothan, 533FSB) .

 

[WackyDan]

Originally posted by: Shadowmage
Pentium Ms kick the balls off of P4 processors.

Pentium M processors do more work per clock and are EXTREMELY efficient.

Centrino = Pentium M

Intel advertising sucks lol

P4's however own (excuse me... Kick the balls off) the Pentium M in numeric intensive environments.

 

[fbrdphreak]

Originally posted by: WackyDan

Originally posted by: Shadowmage
Pentium Ms kick the balls off of P4 processors.

Pentium M processors do more work per clock and are EXTREMELY efficient.

Centrino = Pentium M

Intel advertising sucks lol

P4's however own (excuse me... Kick the balls off) the Pentium M in numeric intensive environments.

Unfortunately the 100W+ TDP and thus high heat output make them paperweights as far as mobile computing is concerned

 

[fu5ion]

Ok, so I've figured out the differences between the processors. Now what brands do you guys recommend. Thanks for the help.

 

[ssvegeta1010]

Dell 9300- for 17" screen and gaming power (6800 ultra available)
Dell 6000- for 15" screen, less power, more portability (X300 graphics)
Dell 700m- for 12" screen, ultimate portability, untegrated graphics

 

[WackyDan]

Originally posted by: fbrdphreak

Originally posted by: WackyDan

Originally posted by: Shadowmage
Pentium Ms kick the balls off of P4 processors.

Pentium M processors do more work per clock and are EXTREMELY efficient.

Centrino = Pentium M

Intel advertising sucks lol

P4's however own (excuse me... Kick the balls off) the Pentium M in numeric intensive environments.

Unfortunately the 100W+ TDP and thus high heat output make them paperweights as far as mobile computing is concerned

true... very true...

 

[fbrdphreak]

Originally posted by: fbrdphreak
For $1100 here are a couple options for you:
HP dv1000: 14" widescreen, Centrino, 5.5lbs, 6-7 hrs batt life w/12-cell battey, academic discount available
Dell 700M: 12" screen, Centrino, DIRT cheap with a good coupon (right now Dell is running a $750 off $1899 coupon)
Gateway: They have several 14" widescreen or 15" models around that price; good for the money, but I have yet to hear anything good about their tech support. Check them out @ Best Buy and buy BBY's warranty instead of Gateway's

That's all off the top of my head

 

[hopejr]

I know you may not be interested, but I know a hell of a lot of CS, IT and SE students going for Apple, because it's great for development (especially seeing many universities use linux on which development is similar), the machines are quite sturdy, and battery life is good. I'm especially referring to the iBooks which aren't all that expensive, especially with the education discount.