Laptop suggestions and questions

[fizmeister]

I'm in the market for a new laptop, and I pretty much don't want to settle for anything below an IBM Thinkpad.

I see good deals on IBM's authorized E-Bay auctions, but I don't know why 1.13 GhZ PIII-Ms are still being sold...are they fast? I need it to last me for a couple of years, and all I do is photoshop and web surfing.

Are Thinkpad's extremely reliable where a 1 year warranty would suffice?

 

[Scatterpack]

Wrong forum !

 

[ojai00]

Thinkpads are pretty reliable. I was checking out the product specs of an A-series model and the outer casing has a layer of titanium on it. I dropped one of my older Thinkpads once and the outer casing didn't get damaged but the inside LCD did get damaged on the upper right corner. Some of the faster processors you see are desktop models that use up more battery power and tend to run hotter. There are laptops with processors that are 2.0 GHz and mobile processors but they're expensive. For a person like me, I'd settle for the 1.13 GHz PIII-M but try to get as much RAM as you can. Since you'll be doing photoediting, I think you should get a monitor with at least a 1400x1050 resolution (SXGA+). Of course, the higher the resolution you can get, the better. Good luck, and hope this helps.

 

[fizmeister]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3422119551&category=31554 -- Good deal? Would it suffice?

If there's no difference in battery life and heat between a PIII-M and a P4-M, I'd rather spend the extra $50 and spring for the P4. I'll buy a ram chip separately and add to the 256 (to get at least 512).

 

[ojai00]

Seems decent to me. I got a Dell Inspiron 8000 off eBay last week for $750 shipped. Came with 1GHz PIII-M, 512MB RAM, 10GB hard drive, 15" screen, 32MB Geforce2go, a DVD-ROM, and some extras.

I'd try to get at least a 15" screen and a 32MB or 64MB video card if you can. The resolution on that laptop is 1024x768. If that's fine with you, then you don't have to be worried about it. I deliberately looked for a 1600x1200 screen...just to be safe for the future in cause I want to get more screen real estate. The 3 year warranty and the cheap RAM prices are attractive.

RAM prices

 

[fizmeister]

Originally posted by: ojai00
Seems decent to me. I got a Dell Inspiron 8000 off eBay last week for $750 shipped. Came with 1GHz PIII-M, 512MB RAM, 10GB hard drive, 15" screen, 32MB Geforce2go, a DVD-ROM, and some extras.

I'd try to get at least a 15" screen and a 32MB or 64MB video card if you can. The resolution on that laptop is 1024x768. If that's fine with you, then you don't have to be worried about it. I deliberately looked for a 1600x1200 screen...just to be safe for the future in cause I want to get more screen real estate. The 3 year warranty and the cheap RAM prices are attractive.

RAM prices

I'd like something like an 8000, but it would be without warranty (if you get it off e-bay), no? That's my parents' main concern with purchasing a laptop for me...they don't want it to break and lose the $1000 or so they spend on it.

 

[ojai00]

Check out the 8100 and 8000 models. Some of them still have a year or two of warranty. When I was checking out the laptops, my budget was only around $700-$800. You should definitely be able to get a good laptop with warranty left for around $1000. If you can, try to get the ones with Dell CompleteCare warranty on it. It protects against accidental damage and they'll ship out a new one to you (as I understand it).

 

[odz]

I think everyone in the market for a laptop should read this from slashdot, whether you're going to college or not.

 

[fizmeister]

I'm getting a good deal on a Compaq X1000 with 1680x1050 WSXGA+ and a Radeon 9200--are these reliable notebooks or am I better off getting a lower-end Thinkpad? I'm springing for the 3-year Accidental Damage Protection Plan (the whole sha-bang)...

Any thoughts would be appreciated.