Need Laptop Recommendation

[Derek]

$1,500 budget, 14' and above screen size, DVD drive not necessary, CPU and memory speed is very important, doesn't have to look fancy. Thanks

[galapogos]

You might wanna consider the number of I/O ports such as USB/FW/eSATA/Expresscard/etc as well as battery life.

What are you using it for? Personally I don't think CPU speed is a big factor for laptops. Memory maybe, but once you get 2GB or more it's ok methinks.

[Weib]

get mac book la.

[h]

NOT DELL

[xarope]

Thinkpad R400. Cheaper than T400, albeit heavier (about 1lb), still rock solid components. Stay away from Acer, Dell (the non-business versions i.e. inspirons), etc. I bought a bunch for the office for around $1200+GST, but not the latest models.

[KEVIN LIM]

is Dell that bad? I dun really know much about comps.

[Derek]

You might wanna consider the number of I/O ports such as USB/FW/eSATA/Expresscard/etc as well as battery life.

What are you using it for? Personally I don't think CPU speed is a big factor for laptops. Memory maybe, but once you get 2GB or more it's ok methinks.

Mainly for work and casual surfing of the Internet only. No games or movies on it.

Yah memory I'm definitely getting at least 2GB.

get mac book la.

Against my religion to do so.

Thinkpad R400. Cheaper than T400, albeit heavier (about 1lb), still rock solid components. Stay away from Acer, Dell (the non-business versions i.e. inspirons), etc. I bought a bunch for the office for around $1200+GST, but not the latest models.

Just checked the R400 out, does look sufficient for my needs. How about the R500? So you bought the R400 at $1200+GST each?

[galapogos]

You might wanna consider the number of I/O ports such as USB/FW/eSATA/Expresscard/etc as well as battery life.

What are you using it for? Personally I don't think CPU speed is a big factor for laptops. Memory maybe, but once you get 2GB or more it's ok methinks.

Mainly for work and casual surfing of the Internet only. No games or movies on it.

Yah memory I'm definitely getting at least 2GB.

In that case you don't need a fast CPU. Pretty much any dual core you can get now is fast enough. You do however need memory if you're running Vista/Win7(Vista is probably the only choice nowadays anyway). 2GB is good, 4GB is better. What kind of "work"? Again, the applications you run determine the specs you should be looking at.

And yes, screw the Macbook.

[xarope]

Don't know about the R500, sorry.

I purchased several R400 w/p8400 (2.26Ghz), 80GB HDD, 2GB RAM, 4 cell, Intel 4500 int. graphics, for $1280+GST. Then later on I got the same but 160GB HDD and 6 cell btty for $1338+GST.

These were corporate purchases, I think if you buy at SLS or Funan, you should be able to get a better deal w/better specs or free gifts, or if the poly's/other educational institutions still have the special deals for laptops (hwzone had lots of people trying to flog those at one stage; might even have been T400's which would be a great deal, with the discrete ATI graphics).

[xarope]

is Dell that bad? I dun really know much about comps.

The business models are good (latitude), especially with the same-day service warranty they give companies. But considering in the space of one year I had to get the Dell technician in 3 times to repair my laptop, I'd take reliability over $200 cheaper, especially when you don't get the same level of service, and your laptop (which you do the majority of your work on) ends up being out of commission for a week.

[h]

we get dell late6400 for work...
it's not that bad... but i've never been impressed with dell's service. (while i personally haven't had the need for it... i would say you have about 1/4 chance of calling dell to get your shit reparied)

then again, i've only had 3 brands.

[nakorius]

But but my acer has served me fine...

Never had to repair my former and current Acer laptop

[Twxian]

last time my fujitsu lasted me for around 5 yrs and it was on almost 80% of the time during the 5 years.....

[xarope]

My wife's first fujitsu is still working (P5000 or some such), but the 2nd one was a disaster (P7000 I think), poor use of plastic for the hinges, cracked after 6 months, had to argue with them to waive charges for the repair (even though under warranty) as they claimed it was misuse etc.

Cracked again a few months later, despite my wife being extra careful when opening/closing the lid. Sitting at home waiting for the older fujitsu to die. Could be just that one model, or that particular laptop, as my wife has used everything from the aforementioned fujitsu, sony SZ, IBM 701 "butterfly" (what a kewl keyboard) and T21, and currently an everun note, without such problems with the hinges. Whatever the case, she refuses to buy fujitsu again (and I don't blame her).

LG might be another potential buy, they don't get much advertising and media time, but they don't look half bad. The P300 model w/Nvidia 9600 looks good (not sure if the models in Singapore are the 9400m still), although there's all that overheating kerfuffle with the 9x00 mobile series in general.

[Twxian]

maybe can try asus heard some good things about it

[Derek]

Okay thanks all. Will go check out the R400 as recommended by Phing as it seems to be the one that's most suitable for my current needs.

You might wanna consider the number of I/O ports such as USB/FW/eSATA/Expresscard/etc as well as battery life.

What are you using it for? Personally I don't think CPU speed is a big factor for laptops. Memory maybe, but once you get 2GB or more it's ok methinks.

Mainly for work and casual surfing of the Internet only. No games or movies on it.

Yah memory I'm definitely getting at least 2GB.

In that case you don't need a fast CPU. Pretty much any dual core you can get now is fast enough. You do however need memory if you're running Vista/Win7(Vista is probably the only choice nowadays anyway). 2GB is good, 4GB is better. What kind of "work"? Again, the applications you run determine the specs you should be looking at.

And yes, screw the Macbook.

Mostly MS Office on Vista, but I predict I will use memory intensive stuff like Photoshop should the need for me to do copying arise.

Have always been a PC user since I was seven; you just can't beat it.

[galapogos]

OK, would advise as much memory, battery life, HDD space and I/O ports, and you can scrimp on CPU & graphics. Personally I like Thinkpads.

[nakorius]

Photoshop?

Alienware is your buttie~