Need A Little Advice

[gooseman]

Hi all, I need a little advice and what better place to come to.

My niece wants to buy a laptop/notebook computer to use at school. Of course she came to me because she thinks I know everything about computers(where would she get that idea )
I stay pretty up-to-date on desktops since I build my own and upgrade often, way too often if you ask my wife, but laptops are not my specialty. I have a few questions:

What are the best brands? Compaq, HP, IBM, Toshiba, ???

What is the difference between a P4, a P4m and a Centrino? What are the advantages of one over the other and is it better to go with a slower P4m or Centrino than a P4?

Do all laptops come with 4200 RPM hard drives?

She is looking to spend no more than 1500.00, less is better, and she wants one as light as possible since she will apparently be lugging it all around campus.

Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
William

 

[Pandaren]

Pandaren here, with answers to all your mobile computing questions

Brands: Machine quality varies significantly, even within the same brand. For example, HP/Compaq consumer machines are generally pretty shoddy IMO, while HP/Compaq business machines (like the nc6000 series) are very well designed & constructed.

I personally favor IBM ThinkPads - they cost a bit more than average, but the build quality is good.

Pentium 4:standard desktop part generally used in heavy desktop replacement machines
Pentium 4-M: lower voltage Pentium 4 with speedstep ability. It runs a bit cooler but is still kinda power hungry

Pentium M (Centrino Platform): completely different architecture than Pentium 4. Performance curve is similar clock per clock to the AMD Athlon, but the power consumption is very low. This cool runnning wonder of a chip is quickly becoming the standard for thin-and-light notebooks like the IBM ThinkPad T40 and the Toshiba Tecra M2.

I would say that for all but the most demanding users, the Pentium M is the best choice. The performance is excellent and machines based on the Pentium M are both lighter and cooler running than Pentium 4 machines.

Centrino is Intel's name for a bundle of components: the Pentium M, 855 series chipset, and Pro Wireless miniPCI card.

Notebook Hard drives go up to 7200RPM now, but most notebooks have 4200 or 5400 RPM drives.

Not sure what one can get for $1500. A midrange IBM T41 will cost about $1800-2000, while a heavier R40 series can be had for about $1500. The Fujitsu S series, HP Compaq nc6000, and Toshiba Tecra M2 all look like decent machines to me. The Gateway 200X (Samsung design) is also very nice.

 

[gooseman]

Thanks Pandaren, making notes as I type!! So, would you say it is better to go with a little bit slower Centrino Platform than with a higher clocked P4? Sounds like her desire for a smaller notebook would correspond better with the Centrino.

Any other opinions out there?

 

[dsaewra]

should also consider 12" ibook with edu discount. Max out the ram, get a wireless card and she'd be set.

 

[tefleming]

Originally posted by: gooseman
Thanks Pandaren, making notes as I type!! So, would you say it is better to go with a little bit slower Centrino Platform than with a higher clocked P4? Sounds like her desire for a smaller notebook would correspond better with the Centrino. Any other opinions out there?

Yes, the P-M is like an athlon, more efficient per clock cycle, so definitely go with a P-M (even though it will be 1.3-1.8 GHz, while P4's will go from 2.4-3.2 GHz)

 

[Tommouse]

I would also suggest the Pentium M laptop. I've been in the market for a laptop for a while and Pentium M is too good to pass up for me. The Pentium 4's are fast yes, but they throw off a lot of heat, use a lot of power, and in general come in bigger bulkier laptops. They also tear through the battery leaving you with 2 hours battery life if you're lucky.
The Pentium M is based off the Pentium III, and was designed specifically for the mobile market so they made battery life one of the top priorities when working on it. The Centrino normally comes with intergrated graphics. Not the best choice for more demanding users (like myself). There are a couple Centrino laptops out there that have 9600 Mobility chips in them. Yet they are out of the range that you are looking to spend.

So Pentium M is for the people who want a highly mobile Laptop, but arn't as demanding a computer user.
The Pentium 4 laptops are the bigger heavier stay at home type laptops.

Hopefully this is helpful to you.

 

[replicator]

I would say that Pentium M is the best choice for laptop. Weight, temperature, battery life for the performance you get is unrivaled in comparision to the other chips.

On my T40 PM1.6 512 RAM, Radeon 9000, I do development using Visual Studio 2003, SQL Server, and IIS. Also, I still play games like UT2K4 with good framerates.

edit:spelling

 

[gooseman]

Well, thanks to you guys who responded. I talked with my niece today and she opted to go for an emachines 5309. It has an AMD Athlon XP=M 2500+ processor. (all those questions about pentiums for nothing, at least I learned something about them)

I know emachines makes some crappy desktops but hopefully they put a little more effort into the laptops. As long as she enjoys it, that's all that matters.

Thanks again for your input.