buying new laptop... (4 Viewers)

[Templar]

You know, two 5400 HD's with RAID would be pretty sweet.

I've seen two 7200 SATA in a RAID 0 configuration, with 2GB of dual channel RAM and a Geforce Go 6800. Now that's sweet. (Never mind the fact that it runs out of battery in less than an hour)

 

[pyko]

Hi there all,
Thanks for all the advice I think the way this discussion is going, I will get an Acer Aspire 1682WLMi...UNLESS Dell has one of their $1000 off specials like they did a few weeks ago on their Dell Inspiron 8600, Pentium M 2GHz, Radeon 9600, 80GB HDD etc...for around $2700 or so....so it all depends on what specials Dell will have within the coming month I guess.

Still keep the info coming, i might change my mind again!
thanks again!

 

[Slidey]

Battery schmattery. Laptops are always plugged in, right?

 

[MedNez]

Battery schmattery. Laptops are always plugged in, right?

Not if you're at Uni/On the train/Out ;P

Battery life is pretty important with a laptop if you take it places, but if it only sits around the house on your network then as long as it's plugged in, power isn't a problem.

 

[pyko]

hmm...just wondering has anyone here had any particularly bad experiences with Dell? as I mentioned earlier in this thread, I also posted a nearly identical post on whirlpool, and many people have had bad experiences with Dell - though some have had no problem. Just wondering if I could get more input on Dell....afterall, $1000 off is rather inticing...

 

[Templar]

I don't think Dell's customer service is first class, although I could be mistaken.

Go to www.notebookforum.com and there is an entire topic on Dell, most of it is about Dell US but it should reflect the level of service here as well.

 

[pyko]

hm, yes - Dell does seem a good option....but they don't have the $1000 off special this time (hopefully they will in Jan).

Though I have a question...
On this page of the Dell site: http://www1.ap.dell.com/content/products/compare.aspx?c=au&id=inspn_au&l=en&s=dhs
the starting price for the Dell Inspiron 8600 is clearly marked as $2098. And if you scroll down, you will see that the processor is listed as "Intel® Pentium® M Processor up to 765 (Processor Speed 2.1GHz, 2MB L2 Cache, 400 MHz FSB)"

When I saw this, I thought, wow, a 2.1Ghz laptop for $2000, I wonder if it comes with 512MB RAM and XP Pro...so I click into "Customise and Buy". But what comes up is disappointing....

The cheapest laptop displayed is $2299 (Pentium M 725) with the 'fastest' Pentium M 755 for $3499.

Now this is obviously VERY different from the initial display, and I was just wondering is it just me who is interpreting it wrong??? or haven't Dell updated their pages yet?

help?

 

[Templar]

Now this is obviously VERY different from the initial display, and I was just wondering is it just me who is interpreting it wrong??? or haven't Dell updated their pages yet?

As I said, customer service/interaction isn't first class.

 

[pyko]

guess what...went searching and 'found' another laptop...
BenQ Joybook 8100 V20
Pentium M 735 1.7Ghz
512MB DDR 333Mhz
64MB ATI Radeon 9600
60GB HDD
DVDRW
15.4" screen
XP Pro
etc...
and the first price I've found is $2615 at i-tech in Sydney....(which from what I've seen is a decent price for a system like this).

Just wondering, does anyone have experience with BenQ Joybooks? are they recommended?

I never thought selecting a laptop would be so difficult!

thanks all!

 

[pyko]

any comments on the BenQ laptop? and just as an update, I actually found that Umart QLD Milton is selling it for $2499. Just wondering, are the Umart stores "closely linked"? ie. will I be able to buy the laptop from QLD, and if anything should go wrong, take it to the Sydney store?

thanks!

 

[pyko]

just wondering, does anyone know the BenQ HDD's rpm specification?
On the BenQ Au site, it has in the battery section "Li-ion battery provides up to 4 hours of battery life" - does anyone have more info on this? number of cells? watt rating?

thanks!

 

[sunny]

just wondering, does anyone know the BenQ HDD's rpm specification?

For most laptop intents and purposes, the spindle speed of the hard disk is the least of your performance concerns. Spindle speed in laptops are usually not advertised because it is relatively insignificant

"Li-ion battery provides up to 4 hours of battery life" - does anyone have more info on this? number of cells? watt rating?

Knowing the number of cells or the wattage rating of the laptop's battery is utterly useless in comparing laptops.

Laptop A might run on a battery that has 8 cells and has a rating of 3AHr. Laptop B might run on a battery that has 4 cells and has a rating of 2AHr.

It doesn't then automatically mean laptop A's battery will make laptop A run longer - laptop A may simply consume more power and run down faster than laptop B.


You are starting to look in the figures too deeply - its getting to the point where its not going to help you decide anything.

 

[= Jennifer =]

i heard acer is really crap is this true? i have never experienced an acer computer

 

[MedNez]

i heard acer is really crap is this true? i have never experienced an acer computer

That depends on who you ask, but a majority would say "Yes". Don't get an Acer =)

 

[pyko]

Really? don't get an acer? The impression I got was that Acer was good :| ... there is a whole thread on Whirlpool that says the Acer Aspire 1681WLMi is good....

One thing i like about the Acer is that there is the 2hr warranty thing, i can see it coming in handy when the laptop does stuff up.

I went to the shops today and had a look at the BenQ laptop - it was ok, though the Acer one still looks better. So, so far, I am between Acer and Dell (depending on the special they will provide in Jan)

Though just wondering, can anyone elaborate on the "acer is really crap" comment? don't want to get a crap laptop!

thanks all!

 

[MedNez]

The Acer Aspire 1681WLMi isn't too bad - but their laptops have had heat related issues with motherboards in the past, as well as bad battery life (however the specs for the Aspire do say 5 hrs at a time). Benq are considerably better - perhaps they have a similar model you're interested in ?

EDIT: Or IBM. They're built pretty sturdy, too.

 

[ben7]

Ok everyone.. im in the market for a laptop for uni next year as well and also want to play half life 2 on. I think I found the best solution.

You can find ALOT of info on laptops at http://notebookforums.com/

For those of you after alot of battery life go to http://digitalstar.com.au and check out the 'Centrino' line of laptops. The one I will probly get is the CL56.

It has PM 1.7Ghz (much cheaper than 2Ghz and VERY little performance difference)
1024MB Ram (more ram the better eh?)
128MB 9700 ATI graphics (only thing better is Gforce PCI express, big $$)
60gig 7200 HDD (Yes hdd speed does make alot of difference for large files like divx movies, mp3, pictures etc)
a SVGA+ 15" screen (high resolution)
Build quality is great.
XP Pro
4hrs battery

all this for about $2700

Im buying mine when the shop opens back up on 4th of Jan.

There is a review here. The CL56 is sold in America under the name Sager and Compal, so if you ever see a review or coment about those they are talking about the same laptop.

If you really need battery life there is a laptop there that says it will last up to 7hrs!! that should be more than enough for a lecture or study group etc

Another thing.. Warranties are very important, computers DO break down, even the expensive ones can have problems like dead pixels in the LCD screen and keyboards and those finger pads not working. Where ever you buy your laptop from get at least 2 years warrenty. I am goin to get a 3 year warrenty and at digital star it costs like $150 very worth it.

Thats my 2 cents.
Happy shopping

 

[Templar]

as well as bad battery life (however the specs for the Aspire do say 5 hrs at a time).

Acer has one of the longest battery lifes of all laptops. With all power management off, and all devices (maxing out CPU, GPU, HDD, optical disk, screen full brightness etc) working at highest power possible, the battery for that model will last 2 hours. In real life it's a lot longer.

 

[MedNez]

The heat related issues of their older laptops is what kills their batteries. Li-ion batteries die with extensive exposure to heat. They are great because there is signficantly less (perhaps no) memory effect on the batteries, but the heat from the laptops will kill them.

At least one of their previous models (1802WSMi) had a pretty bad battery life, hence why I brought it up. It's hopefull Acer have fixed these issues - note why I mentioned the battery life of the 1681WLMi as being nice at 5hrs.

 

[pyko]

hmm, from reading around it seems that to help the laptop stay cool, its best to either
a) use the laptop on a hard surface
b) 'elevate' the laptop a bit so there is space underneath
I'm planning to do the latter when I can, so hopefully that will help with the heat.

I think I will end up getting the Acer Aspire 1682WLMi, if the prices stay the same I will be able to get it for about $2500 (including upgrading to 512MB and XP Pro) - just in my budget. Now I'm just waiting to see what specials Dell will have, if they're too good to refuse, I guess I might go for a Dell.