new laptop

[premedstudent]

hi,
i need to buy a new laptop....i'm looking for something lightweight...not too expensive....but should be latest and have an internal cd-rw/dvd

my sister recently bought a sony pcg-v505ex and she loves it

i was looking at some of the ibms...but they seem expensive

i'm thinking of buying the sony...does anyone else have any better ideas?

[goosew]

hi,
i need to buy a new laptop....i'm looking for something lightweight...not too expensive....but should be latest and have an internal cd-rw/dvd

my sister recently bought a sony pcg-v505ex and she loves it

i was looking at some of the ibms...but they seem expensive

i'm thinking of buying the sony...does anyone else have any better ideas?

Sony is great, if you enjoy paying for the name on the equipment. Too far overpriced as far as I'm concerned.

Dell has great customer service, but the parts they've been using in their laptops have become substandard for the last few yrs. You don't want a laptop to break down on you on the island. (my friend bought a dell 6months ago, and already she's had to send it in b/c the screen blew, touchpad stopped working, and the power adaptor fried).

IBM = same as sony

Compaq/HP (HP is owned by Compaq) - I've had bad experiences with Compaq so I would never buy another. Kept screwing up on me.

And FINALLY

Toshiba, the #1 manufacturer of laptops in the world right now (not talking about quantity). They actually are #1 in the market. Great laptops that can take a beating and still keep going. (but you still have to take care of it).
I just bought a Toshiba Laptop (M30 - 710) GREAT piece of machinery, and it will serve my needs well for the next little while.

Hope some of that helped.

[Jay]

Probably depends on your luck as far as reliability. I bought a Dell 600m late last year for term 1. The prices are great. Anyway, it took a lot of abuse last term. Never used the case either, just threw it in the backpack along with my books....hahah it's pretty scratched up on the outside.

IBMs are the toughest but you pay.

[IndianBabu]

Whatever company you decide to go with, make sure you get the Intel Centrino processor for amazing battery life.

Personally, Dell/Toshiba/Fujitsu/IBM are solid choices.

IndianBabu

[goosew]

Whatever company you decide to go with, make sure you get the Intel Centrino processor for amazing battery life.

Personally, Dell/Toshiba/Fujitsu/IBM are solid choices.

IndianBabu

Also light weight. and also integrated Wireless network.

[masti411]

Hey,

I would also suggest looking into Gateway comps...That is what I got and it is working great. They seem over prices, but you can negotiate the price with the online sales people. My brother was able to negotiate the price down by $300 on his laptop before buying it and got several accessories (lock, surge protector, carrying case, ...) for free. I also got $300 back on mine, but after a few phone calls and some work, since I had bought the laptop before finding out that they negotiate the price.

If you like one of there laptops, try to negotiate the price with the online rep. You have nothing to loose, and in the end can always say no. But do this only if you are seriously interested in buying from them that particular laptop. Don't want to stop Gateway from negotiating with other people or abuse this knowledge.

From previous experience, Gateway also has great customer support and I've rarely had problems with the parts they use. They are also very fast at replacing and fixing defective material.

Good Luck,
Anuj

[premedstudent]

thanks for all the responses
are all the laptops designed for 220 conversion?

[Silenthunder]

Pretty much all laptops have a step-down converter built into the power brick.

aside from that, the library, path lab, and various other places on campus have appropriate "north american" voltage, as do SD1 and SD2. if you're
in another dorm you may need an adapter, but not a transforemer (as you would for most other appliances)

Cheers,
Silenthunder

[eadeh]

is there a specific Dell laptop that anyone could recommend?

[CptPlanet]

Hi,

I bought the 600m, which is working nicely as of right now (mind you, I haven't taken it to Grenada yet!). The 600m series are lightweight (~5 lbs) and are fully loaded with mostly everything that you're going to need (i.e. centrino chip, dvd/cdrw, and a big hard drive). Plus, with all the stuff you get, the price is really reasonable, and Dell liberally give out rebates :D

[goosew]

Hi,

I bought the 600m, which is working nicely as of right now (mind you, I haven't taken it to Grenada yet!). The 600m series are lightweight (~5 lbs) and are fully loaded with mostly everything that you're going to need (i.e. centrino chip, dvd/cdrw, and a big hard drive). Plus, with all the stuff you get, the price is really reasonable, and Dell liberally give out rebates :D

You think you can put down your system specs?

[TopGunner]

is there a specific Dell laptop that anyone could recommend?

Don't get the Dell Inspiron series, get the Latitude if you do. Although, as someone pointed out, Dell has been cheaping out on their stuff lately, so although their service might be good I just don't want to deal with it in the first place.

I would suggest getting IBM b/c I've heard they've very good quality and don't cause many problems.

Not sure about Toshiba, but their laptops seem well priced, and I haven't heard any real complaints.

Compaq/HP - lots of complaints. Attractive prices and specs, but I wouldn't do it.

My personal choice is Apple. I have a PowerBook G4. Of course, I'm not on Grenada, so I'm not sure how it would sync with the school's equipment. I've had it for 3 years, and not one serious problem. (I dropped it a few times, it chipped a little, but the thing works perfect).

If I had to choose a PC laptop, it would be IBM.

[docks]

I've got a toshiba laptop that I bought last year and it has been working marvelously with no problems yet. Centrino is sweet stuff. Don't buy a laptop without it. Intel has some newer Centrino processors that run at a slower speed (1 GHz I think) to help bring down the cost and the power requirements (aka even longer battery life with less heat) but I don't know if they're in the stores yet.

I concur with the popular opinion on this thread. Get IBM if you have the budget. You won't be sorry. I've found Toshiba to be a nice alternative. I've also started hearing good things about Averatec (really cheap alternative). While this is all hearsay regarding Averatec, it might be worth investigating.

As far as Dell goes, I got an Inspiron over five years ago now and it was working strong for the most part. The screen died but they replaced it within a couple of weeks (including sending in and getting it back). Other than that, I didn't have problems with the computer.

- Docks

[5th Termer]

I bought a Powerbook G4 after seeing an SGU professor and a visiting professor using the same model for their powerpoints. It worked fine in Grenada and St. Vincent. I wasn't alone; lots of students were using Powerbooks and i-Books.

I did a lot of research before buying mine. I wanted a subnotebook weighing under five pounds, because I carried my laptop every day. It was indispensible for 4th term and all those Path slides. The footprint is the same size as a piece of paper so I save on size and weight without having to squint.

Good luck.

[eadeh]

Hey again...
I am now deciding between ibm and dell, and was wondering if anyone could recommend a specifc IBM laptop (knowing it needs the centrino technology)... any noticable difference bewteen 1.5 and 1.7ghz processor speed? thanks!

[docks]

Hey again...
I am now deciding between ibm and dell, and was wondering if anyone could recommend a specifc IBM laptop (knowing it needs the centrino technology)... any noticable difference bewteen 1.5 and 1.7ghz processor speed? thanks!

For daily usages (Internet, MS Word, PowerPoint, E-mail, etc), 1.5 GHz is plenty fast. The jump to 1.7 GHz will probably be almost unnoticeable for those applications. I use a 1.4 GHz and it's quite jiffy. You can get the lowest Pentium-M/Centrino and be plenty happy. The only people who absolutely must fork over cash for the top line models are people doing computer graphics or other heavy multimedia apps or gamers or people with a fat checkbook.

FYI, ignoring technicalities since they're not the exact same processors or design focus, 1.4 GHz Centrino (Pentium M) is supposed to be approximately equivalent to a desktop with Pentium 4 ~2.6 GHz.

Approximations, as reported by http://www.cpuid.com/PentiumM/index.php:
Pentium-M 1.3 GHz = Pentium 4 2.4 GHz
Pentium-M 1.4 GHz = Pentium 4 2.6 GHz
Pentium-M 1.6 GHz = Pentium 4 3.06 GHz

Note that the Centrino uses the Pentium-M, which should not to be confused with Mobile Pentium or Pentium 4-M.

- Docks

[NickyMD]

If anyone is looking for a very, very light laptop (3.5lbs) and still fully loaded...ecost has a deal for the HP nc4000 $1199...in my opinion this is a steal at this price...my roommate has it and he paid around $2100 about 7 months ago..check it out..

Configuration:
Intel Pentium-M processor 1.6GHz
1024MB 266MHz DDR SDRAM memory
40GB 5400rpm hard drive
External USB DVD/CDRW drive
integrated 802.11a/b/g wireless LAN
56K modem/NIC
12.1" color TFT XGA display with 1024 x 768 XGA resolution (16 M color)

Microsoft Windows XP Home
Weight (lbs) 3.5
3-Year world-wide Warranty

Price: $1199+tax(CA)+$11.99 Handling fee
Free shipping


http://www.ecost.com/ecost/shop/detail.asp?DPNo=475361

[Hobbes1845]

I have used apples all my life, but I figured there would probably be an large compatibility issue with it. I run into those problems all the time in the U.S. It would be hard to believe that the same problems would not show up in greater quantity outside of the U.S. Too bad though, I love Apple's...and getting used to a PC is probably gonna be rough.

[JB79]

I have used apples all my life, but I figured there would probably be an large compatibility issue with it. I run into those problems all the time in the U.S. It would be hard to believe that the same problems would not show up in greater quantity outside of the U.S. Too bad though, I love Apple's...and getting used to a PC is probably gonna be rough.


I fI get accepted I will still go with an macintosh, even thought I MIGHT have a compatibility issue (I've never had one in under grad except for sending files over AIM) I would rather work on a macintosh with out having to deal with security issues, viruses, daily patches, and things just not working. I've had my iBook for 2+ years now and I haven't seen a slow down of the system how many people can say that about their PC heck I've only had to reinstall the system three times, twice because I upgraded my OS and once because I installed a new HD (that was a pain in the *** trying to disassemble and reassemble a laptop) But hey its your headache.