Laptop w/ DVI SXVGA LED backlight

[Sxotty]

I want a laptop with
1) DVI
2) high resolution display
3) something decent for graphics (not intel)
4) LED backlight if possible or alternately just a decent battery life.
5) Screen size <=15.4
6) <=$1300.00

I do not play games on my laptop except extremely rarely, but I still like having a real graphics chip, though I definitely do not need to latest and greatest card.

Anyone know of such a notebook.
For reference my previous notebook was
HP ze200z, but it had an athlon 64 not the sempron.

Now I was looking at.
ASUS F3 Series F3SV-B4

I know it doesn't have an LED backlight, and it has a relatively power hungry graphics chip. If anyone has suggestions let me know. I need to get it by may.


I looked in the other thread saw this so it might not be possible in time.

On the subject of 15" laptops with decent integrated video, I've looking at the Dell M1530 (with a 256MB 8600M GT) and the entry-level MacBook Pro (128MB 8600M GT). Then again, I think I'm just going to wait for spring refreshes with Penryn and such before I buy--I'm still really wanting a 15" LED screen at 1680x1050, and nobody seems to have those.

Edit: Added previous laptop to give idea

 

[{Sniping}Waste]

What is yor price range and would you like to build your own notebook? There are bare bone notebooks now made by MSI and ASUS. There very easy to work on and easy access to HDD, CPU, WIFI, ram, and on some video card ( called MXM cards and are upgradeable).

 

[Sxotty]

What is yor price range and would you like to build your own notebook? There are bare bone notebooks now made by MSI and ASUS. There very easy to work on and easy access to HDD, CPU, WIFI, ram, and on some video card ( called MXM cards and are upgradeable).

My price range is
<=1300.

I realize that is not terribly high, but it should be high enough.

I do not have a great desire to build a notebook, but I am not averse to it either. (in other words I can build it if cheaper, but would not pay extra to have the privilege). I have any software I might need so it can come with nothing if that is cheaper.

My motherboard in my current laptop died and I bought a broken one on ebay and swapped them out to repair it, so I have no qualms about building one. (As repairing the HP was far more difficult than just building a kit). If spare parts were more accessible it might be worthwhile though.

The key from my standpoint is I want
good battery life
a high res screen (this annoyed me terribly on my current laptop)
Competent graphics (I will be using Vista and thus the high res screen as well b/c it scales more nicely than XP).

Those seem to be going in opposite directions, but they are not so bad as it seems. Like I said previously I don't need to best graphics, IGP is fine if it is Nvidia, or ATI instead of Intel.

 

[{Sniping}Waste]

I have found a 17" WUXGA barebone but will cost around $1400 with CPU, 4 gig of ram, WIFI micro PCI-E, and 160gig HDD 5400RPM with out OS. There is no DVI port but theres a HDMI port. You can get a HDMI to DVI adapter cheap for that and the HDMI will pass both video and audio ( will only pass audio for movies and video files).
http://www.avadirect.com/product_details_parts.asp?PRID=9357

Here is the adapter.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812186019

 

[Sxotty]

Sniping Waste, thanks for your help, I didn't think about HDMI before. HDMI/DVI is the same difference to me though either is as good as the other.

I do not want a 17" notebook though, I use it to travel so I want 15.4" or less. There are many that have a high res display, just none with LED backlight. I don't think that exists.

ACER and ASUS, both have DVI notebooks and smaller screen sizes and DVI ports.

It seems that HDMI is associated with the monster notebooks (17" displays). Apparently they think you need to hook them up to an HDTV, but if that is the case why not small notebooks after all using a 13" notebook to play on your HDTV would be just as useful.

 

[{Sniping}Waste]

MSI does have a 15.4" notebook with HDMI but the LCD is a WXGA 1280X800.
http://www.avadirect.com/product_details_parts.asp?PRID=8903

I have used this barebone and its states max ram at 2gig but I have used 4gig in it with out any problems.

 

[Sxotty]

MSI does have a 15.4" notebook with HDMI but the LCD is a WXGA 1280X800.
http://www.avadirect.com/product_details_parts.asp?PRID=8903

I have used this barebone and its states max ram at 2gig but I have used 4gig in it with out any problems.

Cool thanks.

After thinking about it I have to admit HDMI+VGA may be the best option. I can keep the HDMI--<DVI adapter hanging off my large LCD then if I need a VGA connection to a projector for a presentation I don't need to remember an adapter. Although now that I think about it I think the DVI ones had DVI+VGA anyway....

I saw a really nice ASUS notebook MN41sn or something, but it turns out US version doesn't have Penryn, while offshore versions do ...

 

[INKster]

I have a european specs HP dv2500 series laptop that seems very close to that (except for the LED backlit screen, but mine is not the current model already, so there might be one with it, along a "Penryn" class Core 2 Duo).
It has HDMI, VGA, TV-out, ExpressCard/54, 8-in-1 card reader, webcam, microphone, fingerprint reader, Firewire, remote control, dvd writer, USB 2.0, Ethernet, HD-Audio, 160GB 7200rpm SATA hard drive, 802.11n WiFi and a 14.1 inch LCD.
It comes with a Core 2 Duo T7300 (2.0GHz, 4MB L2, 800MHz FSB), 2GB 667MHz DDR-2 and a Geforce 8400M GS with 128MB of 1.2GHz GDDR3.

It has suited me well ever since i got it, and now runs Vista 32bit and Ubuntu 7.10 64bit in dual boot with ease (in fact, Ubuntu comes with more drivers for my hardware than Vista does, even the induction-type shortcut/media buttons are recognized automatically).

Recommended.

 

[Sxotty]

I looked it up and it looks pretty good, only missing a high res screen.

At least the review I saw said 1280*800

I would prefer 1440*X on a screen that size. It might be an option though.

 

[Tim Murray]

new MacBook Pro meets your needs, I think. except for the price range, because AFAICT the MBP is the only LED 15" screen that is not 1280x800. if you drop the LED requirement, look at the 14" Thinkpad T61.

 

[Sxotty]

new MacBook Pro meets your needs, I think. except for the price range, because AFAICT the MBP is the only LED 15" screen that is not 1280x800. if you drop the LED requirement, look at the 14" Thinkpad T61.

I don't do macs so oh wel.

Does T61 have hdmi or dvi? The ones I looked at before did not have it. The NV140s is perfect though as it is 8400 equivalent so has longer battery life.

Edit:
PS. Anyone know what ATIs equivalent is to the 8400?
Also I realized my current laptop is 1024x768, so perhaps a 1280*800 would be ok as even that would be a step in the right direction.

 

[Tim Murray]

if you're interested in something smaller, look at the Dell M1330.

 

[Tim Murray]

full disclosure: i am probably going to buy a new MBP tonight.

 

[Sxotty]

full disclosure: i am probably going to buy a new MBP tonight.

Well enjoy it. I just don't like some things about the company so I don't support them.

It does boggle my mind though that the major players Dell/HP/Lenovo seem so clueless and ASUS/Acer/MSI etc can figure out what people want.

 

[Albuquerque]

Did you look at Dell's M1330 like Tim suggested?

 

[Tim Murray]

if I didn't buy a MBP, I would have bought the M1330. the time it was going to take for the M1330 was a killer for logistic reasons, plus I really wanted a MBP to do CUDA dev on all possible platforms.

But yes, having seen the M1330, it is very nice and I would happily own one.

 

[Albuquerque]

One of the guys I work with bought one for his wife, and it's sexy. Very fast with Vista 64, very light, very thin, very portable, excellent screen, excellent size and did I mention sexy? Oh, and unlike the Macbook Air, it has a slot-load DVDRW built right in.

Sexy

 

[Gerry]

One of the guys I work with bought one for his wife, and it's sexy. Very fast with Vista 64, very light, very thin, very portable, excellent screen, excellent size and did I mention sexy? Oh, and unlike the Macbook Air, it has a slot-load DVDRW built right in.

Sexy

Got one of these a few weeks back. Very nice machine. Not that pricey either.

 

[Sxotty]

Did you look at Dell's M1330 like Tim suggested?

Yeah I have, the problem is it is a little pricey in comparison to other models.

Still it is on my short list.

The other is Asus, they have many superb laptops that offer far superior hardware, but their battery life is systematically crappy.

 

[Graham]

You can't go wrong with HP's business models (stay *way* clear of their consumer models). My next laptop will be their 8510w (or it's followup), which is a 15" laptop with a WUXGA display (1900x1200) and a 8600GT quadro - I've seen the 17" version and the display is very very good. (the 'w' line is workstation, 'p' is professional - so not quadro/firegl)

Most consumer level laptops skimp on the display since it's one of the most expensive parts (and has the most room for cost saving). If you want a good view angle and non-glossy, I'd seriously consider hp. Asus also have some good ones, but they are hard to find.

I've had the 'pleasure' of having to use an hp consumer laptop with a glossy cheap screen. It's unbearable. anything over ~5 degrees and it's too dark to read (it was already crazy dark), and you are constantly staring at your own reflection.