Need laptop recommendation

[TheUltimateNewbie]

I'm looking to get a laptop for schoolwork. I want a thin and light notebook for easy travel but I also want a laptop with a long lasting battery. These three are the most important to me. I was looking for laptops under 1000 but the more I searched the higher my price range got. I started looking at the Sony Vaio FS series. I found it for 800 at CompUSA but they said they sold out and I can't find the Sony Vaio FS series anywhere. Then I kept looking and found the Sony Vaio T series and the TX series (I don't know the difference between the two). These two are extremely expensive but they are extremely light, very small (if not almost too small) and I have read that the battery life is up to 9 hours. Another laptop was the Toshiba R200, like the Sony T and TX, it is extremely light and small with a long battery life (not as long as the T/TX). I wanted to get some advice from people who know more about computers than me. I'm having a great deal of difficulty picking a laptop (I've been looking since Christmas). If anyone can help me pick a laptop, give me suggestions and/or advice that would be great. Also if there are some good rebate deals or any kind of deals on these expensive laptops, it would be nice to know

 

[IlllI]

i would take those battery life numbers with a grain of salt. 'up to' usually needs quite a bit of conditions in order to meet those numbers, such as an extra battery etc.


also, you might also want to take a look at Fujitsu laptops. if you want one REALLY thin and light Text
no idea on the price though

 

[Commodus]

How about a 12" iBook?

People may groan about software availability, or that Intel-based equivalents to the iBook are coming later this year, but don't hold off if you need the laptop right away. If you don't need any Windows-specific software, it meets all your criteria: fairly slim, long-lasting battery (4 to 4.5 hours in real-world use is a realistic figure), and relatively cheap amongst 12" laptops - $999 regular price (less if you're a student). If you need something thinner and lighter still, the 12" PowerBook sells for $1499 and shaves off both size and weight, as well as adding a whole bunch of extras (DVD writer, larger hard drive, and so on).

If you don't need the hardware until the fall, though, wait - whether you get an Apple laptop or not. Spring refreshes, increased availability, and special summer deals may make it easier to get what you really want when you actually need it.

 

[Slicedbread]

Sony is coming out with the TX2 line that claims to have 7.5 hours of battery life but will probably be super expensive.

If you looking for notebook deals check: http://www.notebookreview.com/deals/ and http://www.laptoplogic.com/deals/index.php

 

[thespeakerbox]

I'll sell you my dell 700m for under 1k.

Its Widescreen, weighs next to nothing, and the battery lasts for 6+ hours.

 

[TheUltimateNewbie]

I'm down to a couple of choices. Please tell me your opinions on them.

Sony Vaio TX Series (TX650), Sony Vaio T Series (T350), Toshiba Portege R200, and Sony Vaio FJ 180.

 

[IlllI]

a couple of Portege R200 reviews i found


Text

Text

 

[pikachu656]

I don't suggest Viao's, they break real easily. How about Dell's?? My girlfriends sister just got an Inspiron 700m for school with the extended battery. 12 in widescreen, weighs about 4 pounds or so and battery seems to last forever.

 

[TheUltimateNewbie]

Decided to go with the FJ 180. Got it for arond 1250 after rebate at CompUSA. I'm still a little too scared to open it since it's my first laptop.

 

[HamSupLo]

remember to do a clean install of XP since Sony puts a lot of bloatware

 

[Marc Rader]

I am very happy with my HP pavilion dv5000 series. It weighs 6.6 pounds. The battery life is very good. The most important thing to me was to get something with a 64 bit processor so that I would be forward compatible. You can get a rather nice one from hp.com for under 1000.