Help me choose a laptop

legobuff · Posted: Thu Dec 04, 2003 12:46 pm Post subject: Help me choose a laptop

I am in the market for a new laptop. In the past, when choosing a laptop, I have opted for more memory and bigger hard drive and didn't worry about processor or xyz wizbang feature.

But now there are so many things that come built in, I am a little overwhelmed at how to choose one.

Here are my requirements:

>= 1 Gig of ram.
>= 60 GB hard drive
>= 15 inch screen @ 1280x1024
ethernet
USB
DVD/CDR
Wireless ( built in would be nice )
USB 2.0

I have no idea where the state of mobile processors are. I've heard a x.xxx mhz centrino is faster then an x.xxx mobile pentium. Is this true?

Like most people, I want the best bang for the buck. My current laptop in a 1 Ghz Pentium III Dell job. I am pleased, but the speed and lack of built in features gets anoying at times.

Weight isn't an issue to me, but heat is. When I am sitting on a plane or couch I don't want to scorch my lap.

Well any help or suggestions would be greatly welcome. I've ~ 1 - 2 months before I purchase, depends on how long it takes to sell the house.

Thank you,

-legobuff

klarnox · Posted: Thu Dec 04, 2003 5:05 pm Post subject:

The Pentium M processors are indeed faster than the Pentium 4M processors primarily because of the extra cache on the Pentium Ms. I haven't personally used any but from what I've read a Pentium M at 1.6 GHz is about equivelant to a Pentium 4 at 2.6-2.8 GHz.

Centrino is just a name Intel uses to distinguish laptops that use an Intel Pentium M processor, and Intel chipset, and an Intel 802.11b internal wireless card.

If you're concerned about heat I'd probably go with a system that has a pentium M processor in it. Since these CPUs were designed for mobile systems the heat production is quite a bit lower than the P4 processors. An additional bonus to this is extended battery life because of decreased power requirements.

As far as what brand of laptop, I don't have a whole lot of advice. I personally like Dell. They have quite a few choices for laptop systems and a good variety of options for configuring each laptop.

I've also used IBM thinkpads and they are pretty nice as well, though a bit more expensive for equivelant components. I can't really comment on other laptop brands as I haven't used any others.

That should at least get you started. You may also want to do a search on the forums. There are several threads on what brands and/or components people have problems configuring.

legobuff · Posted: Thu Dec 04, 2003 6:36 pm Post subject:

Thanks for the info klarnox.

-legobuff

kwiqsilver · Guru Joined: 19 Mar 2003 Posts: 360

QLi sells notebooks with gentoo installed (no windows tax).
http://www.gentoo.org/main/en/where.xml
You might also want to check out the crusoe based notebooks. The supposedly run cooler and longer than intel ones. If heat is an issue, you might want to avoid athlon notebooks.