Need Help!!!laptop From Best Buy!!!!

[Michael Blaszkiewicz]

I need help, I have to buy a laptop for university quick, all i need is something that can play most games that have already come out and can barely play new ones, I dont really care. I need a half decent portable type writer. I'm thinking of grabbing this laptop from Best Buy, http://www.bestbuy.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?sku_id=0926INGFS10077402&catid=20354&logon=&langid=EN#

If you guys have any advice or a different laptop to get please help, i can spend JUST over a grand. Thanks, fast help would really be welcomed. Bye:smile:

 

[Zaphod]

That HP won't be much good for the latest games. If you really want a 17", go dig up a Dell cupon and get the Inspiron E1705/9400. It can (with the right cupon) be had for not much more than that HP with a 1.83GHz Core Duo, 1GB, 120GB HD, and a X1400. Not stellar, but the best bang for the buck in that class.

Personally, though, I'd aim for better portability for college use. There are some >$1500 13.3"/14" options, like the Asus W7J and A8J, which should be good for both work and play.

 

[Michael Blaszkiewicz]

I agree with you but the reason why i like the best buy laptop is cuz it apparently has 5 hours battery life, i need something with atleast 4+ hours battery life. I will check dell.

 

[digitalwanderer]

If longer battery life is what you're after as well as gaming I'd drop the idea of getting a 17" and get a 13.3"/14".

Easier on the juice and pocketbook, and you can put the extra money into some better graphics to run it.

Go for a Dell deal, Zaphod speaks wisely. You can almost always find some good Dell coupons floating about with a little Googling, and you have a much better choice of components in the Dell. (Read that as you can get a laptop with a half-way decent graphics card in it from Dell )

 

[mkillio]

What are you doing for 4+ hours that doesn't offer an outlet somewhere?

 

[Zaphod]

I agree with you but the reason why i like the best buy laptop is cuz it apparently has 5 hours battery life

No, it doesn't. HP spec for that model is up to 3:28, so your probably looking at two and a half hour with Wi-Fi and moderate use.

If you want decent battery life and better than IGP-graphics at a bargain price look for a 'last gen' setup. There are still 'clerance' higher-end Pentium-M models with decent enough graphics (often X600 or Go6600) in the channel that are selling at good prices.

 

[Zaphod]

Another thing. Depending on your campus setup you might want to stay away from XP Home, as you quite possibly won't be able to hook it up to the university network. Check that stuff and get XP Pro or buy sans-OS (student discounts and uni. site licenses can save a lot) if that's an issue.

 

[Cartoon Corpse]

do most universities encourage laptop note taking now? they didn't when i was there...(key clicking overwhelming the lecture).

only reason i could think you need 5 hours battery life. unless you're a poet who has to create/write underneath an oak tree or something.

who games in the forest? i thought we gamed as an alternative to being in the forest?

 

[Michael Blaszkiewicz]

I did check the Dell site and it seems to be quite a good deal, has anyone actually owned one of these laptops or had any experience with them. i would like to know how much battery life they really get. Supposedly its just over 3 hours.

 

[Cartoon Corpse]

well hopefully you'll get one that doesn't explode.

i took an older dell (4 years, company owned) to san fran last week. it's solid, but achingly slow (plays halflife1 at 600x800). takes like 5 minutes to boot up, but it does have some company installed apps and protection software and stuff on it. (that im not allowed to turn off, don't have admin login on it)

 

[_xxx_]

I agree with you but the reason why i like the best buy laptop is cuz it apparently has 5 hours battery life, i need something with atleast 4+ hours battery life. I will check dell.

Marketing blabber aside, I've yet to see a laptop which will work for 5 hours straight while not sitting idle. (of course, besides the monsters with extra battery packs or such)

 

[Mize]

get the HP nc8430 from Newegg - it's in stock, has Core Duo and an x1600 gpu for about $1600

 

[KimB]

I just bought an HP dv8000t laptop for $1400 about a month ago, and really love it. The GeForce 7600 Go graphics are a little bit slow, but I'm still able to play Oblivion okay at lower resolutions. Battery life is about 2-2.5 hours under moderate usage, it's a huge laptop, and has a numkey pad on the keyboard (a rarity).

Anyway, I don't think it's really possible to buy one laptop that is good at both gaming and portability. For portability, you want a small laptop that has very low-power components (which often means no high-end GPU). For gaming, you want a big screen, big keyboard, and higher-power GPU. Buy something like the dv8000t if you're willing to sacrifice portability for gaming.

Edit: By the way, I'm personally really happy I got the laptop with a 17" wide screen. I use it all the time now, much more often than I thought I would. I use it a lot in front of the TV, for example

 

[RussSchultz]

I did check the Dell site and it seems to be quite a good deal, has anyone actually owned one of these laptops or had any experience with them. i would like to know how much battery life they really get. Supposedly its just over 3 hours.

I have a D600 (and recently had my battery replaced).

I use it all the time on business travel, though with WiFi it does drain pretty quickly.

 

[zsouthboy]

my XPS M170 gets about 3 hours on a battery, and it's got a 7800gtx in it.

Everyone running a pentium M or higher lappy needs to look into CHC, which has been renamed NHC (notebook hardware control)

It allows you to modify the voltage provided to the processor at each mulitiplier step - most of the time, you can drop the volts down quite a bit!


IMO it's a must-have. (You can't touch the voltages in the Dell BIOS, that's for sure)

 

[Zaphod]

Anyway, I don't think it's really possible to buy one laptop that is good at both gaming and portability.

There are several 14" models around with Go7600 or Mobility X1600 graphics, so portability and gaming need not be diametrically opposed to each other. These tend to be a bit above the original posters stated budget, though, especially for the moddels with enhanced battery options such as modular bays.

Everyone running a pentium M or higher lappy needs to look into CHC, which has been renamed NHC (notebook hardware control)

Or RM Clock. Sadly, they're both a bit less useful with the Core Duo since the minimum VID is locked (intel protecting their LV and ULV lines?).

As far as battery goes, the Inspiron E1505/6400 is cheap (again with a cupon) and can last up to 5 hours with the 9-cell 85WHr option under light loads.

 

[Cartoon Corpse]

consider waiting? the new conroe architecture is supposedly less power hungry than Pentium. certainly they'll produce a laptop cousin right?

maybe that'll give you the longevity you're interested in.

 

[Zaphod]

consider waiting? the new conroe architecture is supposedly less power hungry than Pentium. certainly they'll produce a laptop cousin right?

Less power hungry than what? P4? A Core Duo system (Yonah+i945PM) uses more power than a Pentium-M (Dothan+i915PM) one, and reports also indicate that Intel is struggling somewhat with the power consumption on their next generation mobile chipsets. I wouldn't expect a mobile Core2 Duo (Memrom) to be more power efficient than a similarly specced and clocked Core Duo (Yonah), but performance should, of course, be better.

 

[KimB]

There are several 14" models around with Go7600 or Mobility X1600 graphics, so portability and gaming need not be diametrically opposed to each other. These tend to be a bit above the original posters stated budget, though, especially for the moddels with enhanced battery options such as modular bays.

Yeah, I was more talking about the lack of screen and keyboard space than the GPU, to be honest.

 

[Cartoon Corpse]

Less power hungry than what?

dunno. i just read it in one of those "maximum pc" type magazines i bought at the airport last week for the flight.

they made a blanket statement, they said (paraphrase) intel conroe uses less power than does pentium chips. PLUS it's more powerful.