Guide me..(In buying laptop)

[Newkid]

Hello frnds !

At the top, a very very happy new year to all of you. :D

Frnds, am about to buy a new laptop for myself. Please guide me which brand shall I go for ? There are so many brands in the market and every one is complaning that their product is good as compare to price and functionality. I went thru lots of website for product reviews but no where I could find information which can help to reach the conclusion. So, laptop experts please help me out..

Earlier, I had a IBM i Series thinkpad which is quite good and handy but my sister took it from I last month.

Basically, I need the machine for developing purpose. I need machine which is handy, light in weight, good resolutions, Wi-Fi, good backup and have configurations where I can run server like Apache, Oracle Application Server etc and etc.

So far so am leaning towards IBM ThinkPad T42( 5.7 lbs, Intel Pentium M 1.70 GHz, 512 MB DDR SDRAM, Price Range: $1589-1875). Will it be a good choice with respect to all (specially price) ?

Any comments and suggestions are most welcome.

[Notok]

IBM (Thinkpad) and Sony (Viao) are probably the best, next to that Dell is OK, stay away from Compaq and the others, though. Whatever you decide to go with make sure you call their support line and make sure that the support is not in India.. nothing against India, but I've heard too many bad reports about people trying to get support from staff that doesn't speak english very well.

Go with the Thinkpad if you can, though. Last I knew they were still the best :)

[Robyn]

I have just ordered the new Samsung M40 HWD 745 Notebook

Microprocessor : Intel® Pentium® Processor 1.8GHz-M
Display : 17" Widescreen LCD : at 1440 x 900, 16.7M Colours
Standard Memory : 512Mb PC-2700 333Mhz DDR RAM
Hard Disk Drive : 80 Gb
Optical Drive : DVDRW/CDRW
Graphics : nVidia GeForce FX 5200 with 64Mb DDR RAM
Multimedia : 2 x 1.5 watt stereo Natural Surround 3D sound
Modem : V.92 MDC Modem
Wireless LAN : Built-in 802.11b/g 54Mbit
I/O Ports : 3 x USB 2.0 Ports, 4-pin Firewire, IEEE 1394 Port, RJ-45/RJ-11 (Internal LAN/modem) DC input, CRT connector and S-Video out connector
Lithium ion Battery : Up to 6 hours with power management enabled
Dimensions (WxHxD) : 360.1 x 265 x 23.9

Weight : 2.99kg

I have added another 512Mb RAM to give me 1GB. I have seen the notebook and it is incredibly thin and ultra light as this was very important to me. I had the NEC Versa P440 but have only just placed my order today for this new one. Samsung screens are very good (I also have their TFT monitor for my desktop)
The keyboard is set back with good space in front for working.

I am not sure what the cost of this is in $ but it works out around £1750 for me. I will only be using this as a home user but thought I would post it in case it was useful. I know someone who has used this as a server/developing in conjunction with his main PC.

[bigbuck]

-{ Quote: "As far as i'm aware you can Not buy a Laptop dancer, you can Only hire them 4 a short time, and then you have 2 give them back. Shame but that's the rules !" }- Cheeky B***ard!
;D

[Blackspear]

-{ Quote: "Any comments and suggestions are most welcome." }-Just make sure whatever you purchase, that you ask about an extended warranty that covers all components (screen included), you can generally pick up a 3 year warranty for about US$200

Make sure it is a "Mobile Processor", these are designed specifically for laptops and will give you the greatest amount of battery life.

There are also various grades of screens, so worth checking out the specs.

Hope this helps...

Cheers ;D

[BlueZannetti]

-{ Quote: "Just make sure whatever you purchase, that you ask about an extended warranty that covers all components (screen included), you can generally pick up a 3 year warranty for about US$200" }-Yep. Excellent advice.

My story - bought my wife a laptop this year. Got a 3 year full warranty. She unwrapped it, pulled it out of the case, and dropped it on the floor, about a 3 foot drop. It had been in her possession for 2 seconds - at that point I felt like a genius for getting the warranty. A week later, a few things started to act up, one thing leads to another - next thing I knew it was time for a motherboard replacement. Service guy comes to the house at 6:30 AM, pops a new mobo in, makes sure it's working, and he's gone before we leave at 7:30 AM. All warranty covered. They do make sense for laptops.

Blue

[Blackspear]

-{ Quote: "...dropped it on the floor, about a 3 foot drop. It had been in her possession for 2 seconds..." }-Just make sure that the warranty covers “Accidental Damage”, as MOST do not. We sell 2 lines here in Australia that have 1, 2 and 3 year warranties that cover accidental damage. All the rest and I mean ALL, come with 1 year "Return to Base" warranty that does not cover physical damage.

Cheers ;D

[BlueZannetti]

-{ Quote: "Just make sure that the warranty covers “Accidental Damage”" }-Exactly the option I purchased - worth every penny!

Blue

[Newkid]

Thanks you all for your time and comments.

-{ Quote: "IBM (Thinkpad) and Sony (Viao) are probably the best, next to that Dell is OK, stay away from Compaq and the others, though...." }-
Notok, If you little bit specific about Sony model then it would be great.. I have heard that it comes with 13.3-inch screen size.This is not out of line with the product's price, but is smaller than the average notebook on the market today. As far as Dell is concerned then yesterday, I had read lots of bad reports about their service. No doubt, in price they are really cheap as compare to other brands..

-{ Quote: "
Just make sure whatever you purchase, that you ask about an extended warranty that covers all components (screen included), you can generally pick up a 3 year warranty for about US$200

Make sure it is a "Mobile Processor", these are designed specifically for laptops and will give you the greatest amount of battery life...

Just make sure that the warranty covers “Accidental Damage”, as MOST do not." }-

Will do Blackspear... Thanks for this wonderful tip... :thumb

-{ Quote: "
I have just ordered the new Samsung M40 HWD 745 Notebook.... it works out around £1750 for me." }-

Robyn, first of all am not a gamer and secondly your machine appears little bit costly in my eyes. May be it suits your requirement... Anyway.. Thanks for your input.

Guys am more concerned about the cost, functionality and service. I had seen few models ( specially DELL and HP-Compaq) are providing almost the same functions as IBM have at a very low price tag. But, I also read lots of bad reports about their support and services which is real worry for me..

Below are the specification of IBM Thinkpad T42:
-{ Quote: "Processor :Intel Pentium M
Clock speed 1.70 GHz
RAM installed size 512 MB DDR SDRAM
Max supported RAM 2 GB
Memory speed 333 MHz
Hard drive size 40 GB
CD / DVD Read-Write(24X) drive CD- RW / DVD-ROM Plug-in module
Battery technology Lithium ion
Mfr estimated battery life 4.4 hour(s)
Cabinet (Chassis) Built-in devices Stereo speakers, Wireless LAN antenna
L2 Cache size 2 MB
Mainboard :Chipset type Intel 855PM
Data bus speed 400 MHz
Graphics processor ATI MOBILITY RADEON 7500
Video output interface type AGP 4x
Diagonal size (inches) 15.0 in TFT
Max resolution 1024 x 768
Data link protocol Ethernet, IEEE 802. 11b, IEEE 802. 11g, Fast Ethernet, Gigabit Ethernet
Networking compliant standards IEEE 802.11b,IEEE 802.11g
Remote management protocol CIM,DMI 2.0
Mobile technology Intel Centrino
Max operating temperature 88.3 °F
Min operating temperature 41 °F
Video RAM installed 32 MB
Service & support type 1 year warranty
" }-

Will it worth @ $1700 ? Is anything anyone would like to add in it ?

[Blackspear]

-{ Quote: "Is anything anyone would like to add in it ?" }-Make it a single stick of RAM as you can add another 512 at a later date if you want, remember there are only 2 RAM slots in a laptop. And check those warranty fine print details ;) ;D

Cheers ;D

[Notok]

Indeed, warranty and service are very important. I've heard nothing but good reports about Sony's Vaio (Viao?) line (including quality of product), but I had no particular model in mind.

[BlueZannetti]

-{ Quote: "As far as Dell is concerned then yesterday, I had read lots of bad reports about their service. No doubt, in price they are really cheap as compare to other brands." }-Actually, my wife's laptop is a Dell. I'd assume that field support is subcontracted and I can see that the quality could be variable. In my locale, it seems first rate from my experience.

Blue

[Newkid]

-{ Quote: "Make it a single stick of RAM as you can add another 512 at a later date if you want, remember there are only 2 RAM slots in a laptop. And check those warranty fine print details ;) ;D

Cheers ;D" }-

Sure.. I'll do.. :) The max supported RAM in this machine is 2 GB.

-{ Quote: "
I'd assume that field support is subcontracted and I can see that the quality could be variable. In my locale, it seems first rate from my experience." }-
May be Blue... I never used DELL made laptop. What I had mentioned here, I knows only by browsing. Majority of people who bought DELL machine are not in good shape with respect to their support and services. For the last couple of years, I've been using IBM Thinkpad i Series which are really good in terms of all. That is why am prefering IBM machine.

Being younger child of the family have to obey the elders orders.. so I gave that machine to my elder sister with a promise that in new year( obviously 2k5) dad will buy a new one for myself...:D

[BlueZannetti]

-{ Quote: "Being younger child of the family have to obey the elders orders.. so I gave that machine to my elder sister with a promise that in new year( obviously 2k5) dad will buy a new one for myself...:D" }-Well, if those were the orders I received, I'd darn sure be first in line to obey - and the Thinkpads are first class pieces of hardware.

Blue

[Newkid]

Thanks you all..

Today, I had receive the IBM ThinkPand T42 by post.

Moderator please close this thread.

With Thanks!

[bigc73542]

Thread closed by the originator of the thread

bigc

[BlueZannetti]

-{ Quote: "Thanks you all..

Today, I had receive the IBM ThinkPand T42 by post.

Moderator please close this thread.

With Thanks!" }-And with that, we close....

Blue