Recommend a Laptop

[shivadee]

So here is the scene ppl.

I flying out to Florida to do my second degree in Digital Entertainment and Videogame design. Im looking for a laptop in the 1200-1400 US dollar range. Must have a DVD Burner in it, dual layer. Some nice RAM and a decent graphics card (to play guild wars). Something on the light side would help too.

thanks.....kno its a tall order. help me out plz.

[W1nTry]

check out those Acer Ferrari laptops or I believe its HP sells A64 laptops as well. If you wish to go centrino or Dothan.. well I would say just about any large retailer is as good as the next and it doh matter once its up to ur specs. A decent Centrino will prolly run u more than 1400 though...

[Czar]

Extremely tall order...I was in the market for one myself as I will be heading to DeVry in Canada around Oct...I say was cos I've since decided to go with a desktop

But I had similar necessities in mind...i.e. DVD Burner, plenty RAM, good gfx card etc...however, I was willing to compromise on the weight...cos basically I needed a DTR (Desktop Replacement)...but regardless of how I configured it, the damn thing always ended up over US$2000

I doubt if you'll be able to go Centrino with that budget...especially if you want plenty RAM and good gfx. But if you go P4, you'll need a spare battery for that power hog and a thermal pad for your lap to avoid getting burnt

But seriously, $1200-1400 is more than a tall order...it might end up being an impossible order...unless you hit eBay or your local spranger...best of luck!

[trinigamer]

How about an ibook? US$ 1,299.00. Or PowerBook from US$1,499.00?

[TrinireturnofGamez]

  You can get a good HP for   1600 US , but they force a p4 on you in order to get okay ish gfx ( x600) , Alienwares are even worse for price and heat . ... if i were you i would look into  building an SFF system and lcd , its almost as portable but alot cheaper /faster ... only problem is you'll need to find power wherever you go  ...

[Kaizen]

well the trinitheremc u just beat the purpose ....u see u need a versatile computer even them small towers not as mobile
ive been through this site they have both high end and low end
www.prostargaming.com ...i have not seen anything beside alienware on this par
http://www.prostargaming.com/index.cfm?mainpage=productdetail&model=4764
heres a lil taste of it ..might be a lil over the bucks you wanna shell out but they have more options 

[trinigamer]

This looks OK for US$1,099.00.  You can upgrade on the site.

DISPLAY LCD : 15.4" WXGA WIDE-SCREEN TFT LCD DISPLAY Max: 1280x800 PIXELS
CPU : AMD MOBILE ATHLON™64 2800+ CPU w/ Hyper Transport Technology
MOTHERBOARD : SiS Chipset Mainboard
MEMORY : 512 MB PC3200 400MHz DDR MEMORY (Standard Major Brand)
HARD DRIVE : 40GB 5400RPM ULTRA ATA 100 HARD DRIVE
VIDEO CARD : MOBILE ATI RADEON 9700 PRO 128MB VIDEO
OPTICAL DRIVE : 8X DVD & 24/16/24 CDRW COMBO DRIVE
SOUND : BUILT-IN AC 97 SOUND

http://www.cyberpowersystem.com/highendsystem/ntbkx648000.asp?v=d

[Kaizen]

ah yes thats a great find tringamer lovely laptop think i will be purchasing one of those

[W1nTry]

Here's a decent Turion notebook at a decent price from newegg. Its JUST below the 1400USD limit, have a look.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16834115196
Here's a P4 laptop with some decent specs:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16834114142

[shivadee]

nice too bad. I like Newegg. good ppl.

[TrinireturnofGamez]

very nice deal @ newegg...
  Best thing would probably be to get a barebones ish laptop eg. 256 or 512 ram , cheap hard disk etc. and upgrade it yourself , prices of RAM and hard disks from retailers can be half the price than from a company like HP or Dell

[shivadee]

Well i have 2 options. Either a pretty ok laptop with a gfx card that can handle some gaming

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7267879&type=product&productCategoryId=cat15107&id=1117177857975


or a cheaper one with really just some decent RAM and a DVD burner but with the change i can get me an iPod.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7267799&type=product&productCategoryId=cat01174&id=1117177721941


oh. Someone explain this Centrino technology for me. I seein 1.7 Ghz an ting. Thats the real speed or the speed on the centrino which differrnt or somethign? I dunno.

[Czar]

1.7 is the actual speed yes...but don't compare that directly to a P4 3GHz and think it's way slower...cos it's not! The Centrino chips are much akin to the Athlons in that they can do more with less...so for example, a 2GHz Athlon might be better known to you as a 2400+...or something like that, but you get the idea...it's clocked lower, but can compete with a 2.4GHz P4...roughly speaking...what I'm getting at is a 1.7GHz Centrino is plenty fast.

In terms of what Centrino is...it's Intel's mobile platform that comes with wireless technology built in...802.11g/b if I'm not mistaken.

[TrinireturnofGamez]

  centrino is a Pentium M / celeron M cpu + wi-fi + other network stuff . 
 the pentium M is probably THE fastest cpu on the planet , only thing thats holding it back is lack of desktop mobos for it and no 64 bit capability , a 2ghz/2.2ghz cpu will match a 2.8ghz Athlon Fx or a 3.8ghz P4  in gaming,  but is slower for encoding etc. and no 64 bit support atm .