Hmm...so I want to buy a notebook computer...

Less than $1500

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I'm probably not going to be using it for heavy gaming...mostly online stuff (lots of wi-fi access points here at the UW) like browsing the internet, IRC, im...homework, listening to music...etc (maybe playing some games, but I doubt anything that requires extensive cpu power...).

I'm thinking about picking this up for the summer, so I'd like to buy it sometime before July (so in case some new stuff is coming out in a month which would change the market or etc..)

Any suggestions as to a) what I should get or b) where to check for reviews and stuff would be appreciated.

Thanks.

 

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I'm quite happy with my acer travelmate.

but it is already almost a year old. I don't know what the current model has.

But I do basically what you say you want to do.

and lots of photoshopping and illustrating.

 

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For reviews there was a site called toms hardware or something.

edit: it's www.tomshardware.com (wow how could I have not guessed that

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)

 

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Occasionally Winbook has decent models. Avoid Toshiba as possibly the lowest quality of materials (solely from what I recall from user reviews which may not be applicable to all models). HP and it's wholely owned subsidiary, Compaq, seem to be getting some bad reviews in the support category.

Now, get some prices from Winbook and maybe Sony or something and then from Dell's website and then call Dell. Make sure to hem and haw with Dell a lot as they have cash discount and free offers they can make that they only resort to to help make a sale that make them, often, the very most bang for the buck. Their support is okay, from my experience. For that price you ought to be able to get something pretty state of the art.

tomshardware is pretty cool though it can take a bit of digging to get to what you want. Do a search in Google on "laptop reviews" and you get lots of sites.

Make a big display of highest possible resolution and most state of the art graphics card and memory, supporting dual monitors in extended desktop mode as a priority. You can have your face close to such displays so you come to appreciate the high resolution fast. Finding another 19" or 21" monitor at cheap cost, refurbished or used, on down the line, can be nice, quite helpful to simplify and speed tasks, from entertainment to education to business.

I got just a straight DVD drive in my Dell Inspiron portable desktop and then got a half height 5 1/4" external firewire to IDE enclosure and then added a cheap DVD+R/RW drive that also handles CD+R/RW. I bought my case locally on sale for about $35. A second battery and the option to run with two for 5 hours operating time, topped things off. Direct S-Video TV out is nice.

 

Even though Compaq computers have been getting some bad reviews, My laptop has been perfect for the few months that I have owned it. It rules for Online stuff and I can do some gaming too, and it is inexpensive (mostly because it is 1.5" thick which isn't too bad if you have a good case). I can't give you the link because my exact model has been discontinued. Here is a good site to get an affordable powerhouse: http://www.directpc.ca/portable-pc.ref

 

Thanks for the help.

Right now I'm thinking about a Dell (600M, I've heard good things about these from a lot of people)...I wonder if they do special stuff if you buy more than one machine from them (my mom is planning to buy a new desktop sometime within a month...). But I'll continue to read reviews and etc.