Ideal Laptop - where can I find it?

[Mize]

I've reached the point of complete frustration with my current laptop (Fujitsu P Series) as I'm doing too much image processing/html work for its puny 900 MHz Pentium M. It's great that it can run on batteries for 11 hours - I can actually work most of the way to and from Asai - but I have an X2 4400+ desktop at home and the speed difference at the office is killing me.

So now I'm off to find the ideal laptop and hoping someone can help as I cannot find it anywhere. For me the ideal laptop has the following characteristics:

1. Dual core cpu where one can be disabled for battery-powered work
2. High end graphics core (7800/1800 etc) that can be throttled for battery time
3. 2 GB of RAM
4. ~100 GB HD at 7200+ RPM
5. Slot-loader DVD+R

The closest I've found is the high-end VoodooPC notebook, but it's X2 dual cores and the battery life looks like crap. The Acers are nice but x700 GPUs aren't too snazzy nowadays.

Any suggestions? Whence comes the Turion x2?

 

[digitalwanderer]

No useful input from me, just wanted you to know I'm watching this thread from the sidelines turning all green with envy at your soon-to-be dream laptop.

 

[Mize]

Another option I'm toying with is a desktop and just keeping my Fujitsu laptop for "low powered' work (word/excel/email/surfing). The problem is I will often spend 1-2 weeks in China and have a web site that needs updating daily (including photos, etc.). Also, if I'm stuck in the a frequent flyer lounge for 5 hours it's nice to have games. The thing is that a good laptop like the VoodooPC is going to run in excess of $5,000 USD and have a battery life of about 20 minutes !

 

[Zaphod]

Workstation power and battery life doesn't go together very well when it comes to notebooks. Pick one, or compromise on both. I would have suggested the Inspiron 9400/E1705, but Dell recently removed the best graphics options from that model (probably to differentiate it from the XPS). The XPS M170 hasn't gotten it's dual-core upgrade yet (the current XPS is still a beefed up Inspiron 9300), but I expect this to happen soon. Overpriced and with frugly styling, but the best power/weight/performance tradeoff on the market.

Another option is the Asus W2J. Crazy sexy, if you can say that about a computer, but rather expensive and 'only' a X1600.

Forget a dual core AMD machine for now. In a couple of months; however, the Turion X2 (or whatever) should be out. Initial rumors about their power/performance-ratio sound promising.

 

[Mize]

The Acer Travelmate 8204WLMi looks decent on paper. Similar to the Asus but available (I can't find any place selling the Asus). I worry about Acer's build quality though. My last Acer laptop was in 1992 and it was a poor build - the speaker was wired backwards and I had to open it and desolder/resolder it!

Anyone have any information on how the Turion 64 x2s will fare as far as benchies and battery? Can any of these machine "turn off" a core while under battery power?

 

[Zaphod]

The Acer Travelmate 8204WLMi looks decent on paper. Similar to the Asus but available (I can't find any place selling the Asus).

It seems the W2J isn't out in the US yet. Newegg still stock the predecessor model W2V. I thought you wanted a 17" since you mentioned the Alienware luggable alternative. If a 15" is an option, you’ll have more to choose from. As for the Acer, I haven used this model, but previous Travelmate 8000-series have been fine (if unspectacular) computers. People generally seem to be happy with them. Personally I am not a big fan, but that's mostly an aesthetics issue.

I worry about Acer's build quality though. My last Acer laptop was in 1992 and it was a poor build - the speaker was wired backwards and I had to open it and desolder/resolder it!

The Travelmate 8200 is built by Quanta. It's never really proper to talk about build quality by brand these days, as they're often not made by the same company.

Acer restructured into a financial holding group running a non-manufacturing brand, namely Acer, around 2002. They split out most manufacturing, like what used to be Acer Periphials, now BenQ Corp. The manufacturing and systems design part of old Acer are now named Wistron. (The most well known Wistron notebook in the US would be the Dell Inspiron 700m, I guess.) Throw AOpen, Apacer and a couple other into the mix and you have most of the old 'we actually make everything ourselves' Acer.

 

[Mize]

I had a 16" (1600x1200) sony a few years back (radeon 7500) that I couldn't even open in coach! I'd rather have a bit smaller display and use my external monitor and kb at the office.

 

[DudeMiester]

I'd take a look at www.discountlaptops.com, http://www.discountcomputers.comthey carry stuff like that at a good price.

 

[the maddman]

The Acer Travelmate 8204WLMi looks decent on paper. Similar to the Asus but available (I can't find any place selling the Asus). I worry about Acer's build quality though. My last Acer laptop was in 1992 and it was a poor build - the speaker was wired backwards and I had to open it and desolder/resolder it!

Anyone have any information on how the Turion 64 x2s will fare as far as benchies and battery? Can any of these machine "turn off" a core while under battery power?

I've gotten to play with some of the newer Acers. This is what I saw:

Screen is good
They feel solid
The slightly curved keyboard is very comfortable to type on
The hard drive is in the wrist rest and gets quite warm

I hate the touchpad, but that's my personal bias against touchpads. I can't get it to track at all, but it works fine for others.

 

[Mize]

I hate the touchpad, but that's my personal bias against touchpads. I can't get it to track at all, but it works fine for others.

I think they suck too, but then I've never had a laptop solution that worked well. I always take an optical mouse along when I travel and only use the touchpad when I have to work on the plane (or watch a ripped DVD).

I don't like overheating wrist rests...

 

[the maddman]

I think they suck too, but then I've never had a laptop solution that worked well. I always take an optical mouse along when I travel and only use the touchpad when I have to work on the plane (or watch a ripped DVD).

I don't like overheating wrist rests...

The hot wrist rest (I can hardly stop myself from typing 'wrist wrest') affected both Acer laptops I have used. It's not burning hot, but it does make me nervous. However, that was with the Ferrari laptops with A64's and Mobility 9700pros. I hate buying something this expensive without seeing one first.

On the pointing device, I love my Thinkpad X30's Trackpoint. I can hold my own in Q3 with it I won't be railing anyone, but I don't suck with it either.

 

[Mize]

I'd take a look at www.discountlaptops.com, they carry stuff like that at a good price.

Has anyone here had experience with Sager laptops?
It's too bad the only Core Duo units they sell *don't* have high-end video as I'd much rather have core duo than pentium m.

 

[Zaphod]

I had a 16" (1600x1200) sony a few years back (radeon 7500) that I couldn't even open in coach! I'd rather have a bit smaller display and use my external monitor and kb at the office.

Personally, I find even a 15" too cumbersome for economy airfare use. If you plan to use the laptop while traveling, and with an external keyboard and monitor while officebound: I'd look at 14.1" widescreen models. You get a full size keyboard, decent power, and a travel weight below 2.5Kg. I own an Asus W3N myself (Dothan 1.8Ghz, DDR, 9700). I love it, and I've been trying to talk myself into upgrading it to the W3J (Core Duo, DDR2, X1600) to play oblivion on the road. Doesn't seem as if that model is available in the US either (still stocking the W3V), but they recently launched the A8Jm which looks like good power and features in a travel friendly package. A-series Asus chassis' aren't as sleek as their W-seies, though, and with all that stuff in a confined space I guess it's not going to be the (literally) coolest notebook around. Even so, a pro-Asus argument is their build quality, which are at the top of the class. (A negative in the US would be that they're still building the brand there, so ease of warranty returns and the availability of tech information would be worse than picking up, say, a Dell. Good user community, though.)

Has anyone here had experience with Sager laptops? It's too bad the only Core Duo units they sell *don't* have high-end video as I'd much rather have core duo than pentium m.

Sager notebooks are built by Clevo. The ones I have used have been good machines. Not my taste for look an feel, but fine computers noetheless. A friend of mine has the equivalent of the NP5720 and is very happy with it. I'm sure that will be upgraded to support dual core eventually, but many manufacturers seem to be a bit vary of the Core line of processors as it appers as they (Yonah) will be a short lived transitional step towards the Memrom later this year. BTW: The Sager NP9750 is the same as the VoodooPC you mentioned in the first post, and many other (smaller) whitebook vendors stock the same machines under different names. Check out Notebookforums for more info from Sager users.

 

[Sonic]

If you're looking for a Core Duo and a 7800 class GPU in a notebook then you're very limited in your choices. As mentioned earlier Dell had the 9400 and its counterpart but took out the 7800 GPU.

Gateway has a 17" model with a Core Duo and 7800 GPU for around $2,000. I'm not sure what features come with it but here is a link.

http://www.gateway.com/products/gconfig/prodhmseries.asp?seg=hm&gcseries=nx860&clv=Btn1

There is also a model with a 7600 GPU.

 

[Mize]

I'm liking the looks of that Asus W3J: small enough for economy class with some battery life, decent graphics and dual core. Etailers are saying late April and I suppose I can wait

 

[Zaphod]

I'm liking the looks of that Asus W3J: small enough for economy class with some battery life

Pretty good battery life, actually. With the optional modular bay (a nice feature) battery + the standard 8-cell it should easily last 6 hours for normal office work.

 

[Mize]

Pretty good battery life, actually. With the optional modular bay (a nice feature) battery + the standard 8-cell it should easily last 6 hours for normal office work.

I'm assuming the modular battery takes the place of the DVD so I just have to master ripping DVDs in *frickin' English*! Nothing like firing up the latptop and finding out Frodo speaks French. Fortunately one of my others ripped in English for that trip...

 

[Zaphod]

I'm assuming the modular battery takes the place of the DVD

Yes. They ship with a 'travelers drawer' whose only purpose is to reduce travel weight by eliminating the ODD. Either an additional battery or an adapter/drawer for an additional HDD are possible extras. At least the battery and the ODD are hot-swappable (edit: unless the main battery is empty). Don't know if they use S-ATA for the modular HDD on the later models (only P-ATA on my W3N) so that it can be hot-swapped as well.

 

[suryad]

I would recommend Sager notebooks. Really go and get one of those. You wont go wrong.

 

[Frank]

AMD64, 2GB, x700 and 1280x800. That's the most optimal configuration nowadays IMO. Everything more than that will just kill it or the battery life even faster. Games on faster/better ones only work when using external power, a flat surface, fan and airco.

And you do want to see what's on the screen and be able to carry it, don't you?