What do I need in a laptop (IBM compat)

[VladTepes]

Sorry Inc I can;t bring myself to buy an Apple.

I am looking for an IBM type laptop and would like:

- widescreen monitor

I will use it for:

- games
- watching DVD's
- browsing the net.
- photo editing, use with a digital SLR eventualy
- as well as word, powerpoint and other low demand applications.

Plan is also to set up a wireless network in the house with my cable desktop for www access.

I assume I'd need a decent size hard drive, a fair bit of memory, and v good video card.

What should I be looking for and (here's the catch) can it be purchased in the sub $2,000 price bracket ?

P.S. I like the look of the HP ones, but they ain;t cheap.
The Compaq Presario V6000 looks pretty good around the $2K mark:
http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/au/en/ho/WF05a/1090709-1116637-1123071-1123071-1123071-12436080.html


There seem to be some VERY good deals avail from Dell (online) but are Dell's any good ?

[waynep]

We use Dells Lattitudes exclusively at work - they seem to be fairly robust.
They come out with the Core2Duo processor now.
Remember if you are a wage earner you can package laptops as salary sacrifice. ( not desktops )

[incisor]

IMHO expect to pay $3400+ for a somewhat decent game capable laptop. a real gamers laptop costs $4000+....

that example you supplied doesnt cut it at all as a game playing puter.... cpu kills it... unless you play mahjong of course..... certainly will struggle bigtime with any thing in the newer game releases....

[Reads90]

We use Dells Lattitudes exclusively at work - they seem to be fairly robust.
They come out with the Core2Duo processor now.
Remember if you are a wage earner you can package laptops as salary sacrifice. ( not desktops )

I have a dell which i bought about 18 months ago. Great laptop. Has bounched around the back of the 90 round aus and will connect to the internet with anything. Great laptop and well worth the money. Dell do some great deals too. Would highly recoment them

[ladas]

For <$2k I wouldn't expect to get a laptop that beefy enough for games, all the other items you list would be okay

I run a old Presario X1031 and it's round the world a few times - connected wireless in some pretty odd places - and has never let me down - but I do not run games on it.

Photo editing, DVD, networked wireless when I am home. When I am in some weird place I use a bluetooth adaptor to connect to the web/email using the gprs on my phone.

HDD on laptops are getting bigger now, but I also use a usb external hard drive as I have to carry buckets of data with me when I travel.

[Blknight.aus]

Im using a toshiba sattelite m50 (its the wifes) and it handles my modest gaming needs well enough and I have an a50 for normal mobile work and the 440cdx for mobile number crunching in big red...

[Ace]

Hi Vlad, we ran some gaming machines for the shop when we had it. Scrap the idea of using a laptop for gaming, it will play current games for a few months and then newer ones will come out that require better graphics cards etc, if you want gaming a PC is the way to go, much easier and cheaper to upgrade and more parts available.

I have a LG Notbook i am selling, you can have it for $600 plus postage, it will do all of the other things you listed. I will even install windows XP Pro, XP Office and Trend Micro Internet Secrurity on it for you. The use the money you save and by and X-Box 360 for the games. Matt

[VladTepes]

I was afraid the gaming thing might be asking too much.



I have a LG Notbook i am selling, you can have it for $600 plus postage, it will do all of the other things you listed. I will even install windows XP Pro, XP Office and Trend Micro Internet Secrurity on it for you. The use the money you save and by and X-Box 360 for the games. Matt


Ace can you PM me details or better a link to specs so I can check it out see if its what im after cheers mike

[cornerofthegalaxy]

Hi VladTapes,

This may help you out a little, maybe not.

Earlier this week i asked my brother to work out what would be needed in a laptop if a laptop was to replace one of our workers' desktop PCs. It needed to be powerful and fast enough to run some CAD programs etc.

We did not consider a wide screen as this put the price up too much - however, it would have been good.

Prices are relevant to Dell website

The following Laptop is pretty much a DELL PRECISION M65 (see website) and came to a total of $3839.oo (price as of yesterday)

Processor - Core 2 Duo 2.0 GHz (or upgrade to 2.16 GHz for +$270)

Hard drive - 100 GB (7200 rpm)

Memory - 2.0 GB DDR2 667 MHz RAM

Battery - 9 cell Li-Ion (6 cells is usually standard)

Ethernet - Gigabyte 10/100/1000

Video Card - NVIDIA quadro FX-350M 512MB turbo cache open GL PCI-E (perhaps a better video card is needed for gaming??????)

DVD Burner
Bluetooth
Wireless network
Software - Windows XP , MS Office Basic

Screen - 15.4" wide aspect ultra sharp UXGA 1920 x 1200

Included is a 3 year next business day on site warranty Mon-Fri 9-5pm-----------------

Hope this is a little helpful.

[VladTepes]

Helpful but way more than I can afford.



So.. lets drop the gaming requirement, specify that I do want widescreen format for watching DVD's etc and now I need what ?

[Captain_Rightfoot]

Sorry Inc I can;t bring myself to buy an Apple.


Did you know that new apples can run windows?

Buy an Apple and get a virus and spyware free machine with a fast and efficient OS. You also get a machine that won't progressively slow down and need to be re-built after a year.

As a bonus the apple is supplied with photo and video editing sw as standard that walks all over windows. A friend is a budding pro photographer. I told her to get an apple but alas. They had troubles doing stuff (as expected). They came over and I gave them an apple demo. As usual all the functionality was built in and could do more than they had managed to coax out of their pc in 6 months. And her husband is a Network engineer who now admits they should have got an Apple....

If you have something you really need to run as IBM you can boot into windoze. When your windows gets hacked you can go back to the apple OS and get on with your life. It just doesn't have to be like it is!

[incisor]

what you quoted is fine if it has the widescreen layout ratio you desire.

make sure you get the optional manufacturers 3yr warranty package if you intend keeping it.

[ladas]

Something like this should suit at $1,999.00

http://www1.ap.dell.com/content/products/category.aspx/xpsnb?c=au&cs=audhs1&l=en&s=dhs

[ladas]

Or these

http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/au/en/ho/WF02a/1090709-1116637-1123071.html

[p38arover]

I've got a HP Compaq Presario X1404AP.

Do you know what really Ps me off?

The letters are only painted on the keys and they have worn off in less than 2 years. They aren't double shot moulded!

BTW, Vlad, can you salary sacrifice the laptop. We can.

Ron

[Captain_Rightfoot]

I've got a HP Compaq Presario X1404AP.

BTW, Vlad, can you salary sacrifice the laptop. We can.

Ron

That's the big tip there Ron. Vlad if you can salary sacrifice your computers you shouldn't have to pay for them. :)

Let's say you buy a $2k Apple. ;) You salary sacrifice it so it comes of the top of your income. I have no idea what that is for you but I'm sure it would be at least 33% so add medicare levy and let's call it 35%.

So by not taking the 2k and paying tax on it... you have only paid 65% of $2k, which is $1300. Still with me?

Now, because the salary sacrificing company actually bought the laptop you will get the GST back. So that's $200.

So, your laptop actually cost you $1100 not in fact $2000.

So, the trick is your allowed to salary sacrifice 1 laptop a year FBT free.

So, at the end of 1 year you sell your laptop. If you bought an Apple you should get 1000-1200 for it as they have good resale. I'm fairly sure a pc laptop will get you less after a year. What's more if you bought an apple when you take the new one home you just plug 1 cable in and come back an hour later and the new one will be exactly like the old one with everything safely moved over. end of job. PC people say after a year you need to start again, but Apples aren't like that. After a year the software is performing just like it was when new :)

So at the end it shouldn't cost you anything... :) :) Haven't got the money up front? Don't worry as most salary sacrifice people will hook you up with someone that will lease it. That's even better because your paying for the payments with before tax dollars which is much better than paying that money off your mortgage with after tax money :)

Did I mention because you are selling them each year the computer is always under warranty so you don't have to worry about repairs?

It's all good. Even if you buy a heathen box you're mad if you don't do this (try and check their re-sale first though). :D :D

[Ace]

Dont get a Dell computer, whilst they are a good price, and most likely a good computer when working if they fail or there is a problem Dell are the only people who can work on them. The dont sell parts to computer places so you need to pay for postage to send it away to Dell to get fixed, more trouble than its worth. Matt

[dobbo]

Dont get a Dell computer, whilst they are a good price, and most likely a good computer when working if they fail or there is a problem Dell are the only people who can work on them. The dont sell parts to computer places so you need to pay for postage to send it away to Dell to get fixed, more trouble than its worth. Matt


I have never owned a Dell so I may be wrong but I thought they were just a glorified packaging company and have others components in there box.

[incisor]

no, they get their stuff built to spec. like most, their gear is usually not to bad quality wise, their cheap is cheap and their good stuff is very good to a point, but the problem is support / repairs and then abismal resale value.

if you ever buy a 2nd hand dell laptop make sure you get the security code when you get the unit. their are other brands with this same problem it has to be said... toshiba for one...

i get so many people in here that have dell from ebay and the trading post they cant do anything with when something goes wrong....... and i constantly get to hear the horror stories and rarely the good stories so i get a little miffed with them....

[incisor]

whats the model laptop?

i will get a price on a new keyset