Laptop advice

[everwicked]

Hello everyone,

This is a quite crowded place of tech enthusiasts so I guess a lot of you will have laptops. Therefore I wanted to ask you for some advice on where to look for one given a few characteristics.

This laptop is meant to replace my desktop since I have been travelling a lot lately.

CPU: Most definitely a Pentium-M in the range of 1.2 to 1.6GHz.
RAM: DDR400 - 512MB or more
Graphics: Anything with good distinctness and video performance. I don't play games but I love my video/pics.
HD: 40-80GB. Any recommendations or anything to be looking out for?
Sound: I heard good things about M-Audio Sonica, I only need good playback
CD*: Controversial issue. I wanted DVD+RW but I hear the recording quality is crap for laptop recorders. Any experiences with this?

Other:
USB 2.0
WLAN
No modem preferably

I will be buying in the UK most probably, or in Greece as a second option.

Money is an issue to a certain extent but this is going to be my investment for a few years so i'd rather spend a bit more than regretting it later.

Suggestions are most welcome, just use some reasoning :)

Thanks in advance.

[ChristianHJW]

A couple of things based on my experiences :

- go search for a monitor resolution of about 1280 * XXX . I know this is hard to find, but i had both extremes, and they suck :
1024 * xxx gives nice big letter size, but you just done have enough res to keep good overview
1400 x 1050 ( i once had a DELL Inspiron with this res ) simply sucks, the letters are too small and soon your eyes will hurt after serious working with it
Important : Some laptop video card drivers support software resizing, but to be nice with that, its simply unusable .. never use a laptop TFT at any other res than its real, physical res ;) ...

- i tested a new 16:9 monitor laptop and gave it back the same day. If you wonna do more than just watch movies with it, its a no-brainer in fact as most apps cant deal with this AR correctly, and the 16:9 AR doesnt really comply with what you are doing with a laptop in real life, like writing a letter etc.

- HDD speed for laptops is crucial, and there are HUGE differences, other than for desktops

- check the noise of the laptop if the cooler starts, as you may have the damned thing in your bed or very close to it, at least sometimes. it was again my Inspiron 8100 that was waking the whole family is the CPU decided it was too hot .... it would start the 2 fans at full speed making a lot of noise, and would reduce the RPMs after a couple of minutes later ( the kids are awake then already :P - The new Inspiron 1100 is much better in this respect ).

- seen from a retrospective, my TOSHIBA's were still the best from an overall perspective, means in terms of
* driver support
* technical support
* price stability
* spare parts and options availability ( also in the net, like on ebay , because prices from Toshiba directly are just crazy :o )
* performance

But i never had a IBM or iBook, to be honest ... hope this helped a bit ...

[Doom9]

As I see the notebook resolution standards, you can pretty much forget about 1280x1024.. on a notebook you either have 1204x786 or 1400x1050 and nothing in between. I have a 1024x1024 15" Notebook at work and I don't particularly like it.. I'd actually prefer the 1400x resolution even though I know it's small. But there are people who say my 1600x1200 on a 20"/21" (work/home) is small as well and I wouldn't have that any other way.
In the 16:10 area there is 1280x800, 1650x and 1900x, mostly on 15.4" displays.
@Chris: resizing on a TFT is always bad, but when doing games or video you don't notice it too much (but working normally you definitely have an interest to stick to the display's native resolution... it's where a flatscreen really shines).

I wouldn't get an integrated Intel GFX controller.. it may work for Office stuff but for anything else, the performance is abysmal (I've had that chip in two notebooks now). I'd go for a Geforce 5200 or Radeon 9200 unless you need 3d performance (in which case the Radeon 9600 is your best shot at the moment).

I definitely cannot recommend IBM but I've only had one. My G40 is extremely slow at video encoding even though running at full speed and so far I've been unable to figure out what exactly is wrong. I thought it would reduce CPU speed to keep the heat and noise down but I'm using the full performance profile (and the fan hardly makes any noise).

I own a 2.5" Toshiba HD in an external case which doesn't seem to be too bad, but these days you can even get 7200 RPM HDs for notebooks (so far I only know about Toshiba models) so that might be worth looking into but I'm afraid most manufacturers are not exactly keep on writing down the exact technical specs of their devices.

I'd stick to a 1.4 - 1.5 GHz Pentium M, these currently have the best performance/price relation.

- i tested a new 16:9 monitor laptop and gave it back the same day. If you wonna do more than just watch movies with it, its a no-brainer in fact as most apps cant deal with this AR correctly, and the 16:9 AR doesnt really comply with what you are doing with a laptop in real life, like writing a letter etc. What do you mean about not dealing the the AR? I have a colleague who's had his Inspiron 8500 for a while now, even runs Linux on it (almost exclusively) and he never once complained. Why would an app not be able to handle different resolutions? I can resize my browser, Word, etc to a 16:10 window and it still works.

I don't know about integrated DVD burners but I have a friend who has just ordered (or will soon) an Inspiron 8600, I think the model with a DVD burner so I shall ask him about his experiences with the DVD burner. I do have a somewhat lower confidence in notebook drives, though.. The drives I have come across some to have a somewhat lower error tolerance than comparable standard drives.

For WLAN I'd make sure to get a 802.11b/g card rather than the Centrion crap they're trying to sell you. That Intel card is in no way better than the integrated stuff from the likes of Dell.. it's just a marketing thing with that Centrino logo.

I doubt you'll even get many notebooks without an integrated modem today.. these things are so cheap that they come preinstalled everywhere but nothing stops you from not using it. The same goes for an integrated NIC now.

Last but not least, if you think about connecting an external screen, make sure you check that before buying. Both my Notebook and desktop PC at work have the same integrated intel chipset with GFX card, but 1600x1200 looks alright on the standard PC (okay, I'd rather have DVI input to my TFT screen. unfortunately they ordered the PC without the DVI option) whereas the picture is really washed out if I connect my notebook.

[ChristianHJW]

Originally posted by Doom9 What do you mean about not dealing the the AR? I have a colleague who's had his Inspiron 8500 for a while now, even runs Linux on it (almost exclusively) and he never once complained. Why would an app not be able to handle different resolutions? I can resize my browser, Word, etc to a 16:10 window and it still works.

Sorry for being unprecise, of course this will work, but IMHO many software had to be adapted from their layout to be well usable on a 16:9, like adding more functionality into sidebars, etc. . Best example for that is M$ Word, all functionality access is concentrated on top/bottom, where you normally dont have enough usable height on a 16/9, while you have more than enough width ....

[Doom9]

but in many of todays programs you can take the menubars and move them around on the screen, sometimes even changing the alignment (turn a horizontal bar into a vertical one). But your argument also applies to large 4:3 resolutions.. for instance when I post in this very forum a large part of my screen estate (21" TFT screen @ 1600x1200) is unused. In OE, once again the screen is actually too large. I don't expect it to look more "out of place" than most things look on my screen because I'm already used to having a screen for which no program has been designed.