suggestions for a ~$350 lappy?

Faust · Post by **Faust** » Fri Oct 02, 2009 9:35 pm

trying to see what i can get that isnt Atom-based. the Atom's a great CPU within its intended purpose, but im looking for something with a little more grunt. on the other hand, since this will be something im toting with me regularly i want it to be somewhat disposable.

dell outlet has some Inspiron 1545s for $320-$340 (specs below) with a dual core Pentium. newegg's comparable lappys are about $50 more. yall think the below spec'd laptop has a better alternative? CPU and mem are my biases. vga or mammoth storage not so much. domain logon a plus, but not necessary when it comes to the OS.

whatever is left over after $350 will go to the "buy Scott a replacement acoustic guitar" fund.

Inspiron 15 - 1545
(System Identifier: EJPPEBZG)

* Inspiron 15 (1545) Laptop: Intel Pentium Dual Core T4200 (2.0GHz/800Mhz FSB/1MB cache)
* Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium

System Price : $319.00

Operating System
Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium

Memory
2 GB DDR2 SDRAM 800MHz (2 DIMMs)

Hard Disk Drive
160 GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM)

Video
Intel Integrated Graphics Media Accelerator X4500HD

Web Camera
No Camera

Hardware Upgrade
6 Cell Primary Battery
65W AC Adapter

Base
Inspiron 15 (1545) Laptop: Intel Pentium Dual Core T4200 (2.0GHz/800Mhz FSB/1MB cache)

Media Bay
8X DVD +/- RW w/dbl layer write capability

Software Upgrade
Windows Live
Microsoft Works 9.0
32BIT Operating System CD
32BIT Operating System CD

Network Interface Card
Dell 1397 802.11B/G Wireless Mini Card

System Color
Jet Black

Laptop Screen
15.6 WXGA Laptop Screen Display with TrueLife

Sava700 · Post by **Sava700** » Fri Oct 02, 2009 9:40 pm

watch Techbargains for deals...and don't purchase the laptop till after Oct22nd... you would rather want Win7 instead of Vista from the get go for obvious reasons.

Faust · Post by **Faust** » Fri Oct 02, 2009 9:51 pm

Sava700 wrote:watch Techbargains for deals...and don't purchase the laptop till after Oct22nd... you would rather want Win7 instead of Vista from the get go for obvious reasons.

ah, thats right! forgot about MSs upgrade for machines purchased after then.

great advice, bud. thanks for pointing that out.

BOWTYE8 · Post by **BOWTYE8** » Fri Oct 02, 2009 10:07 pm

alot of the laptops I have seen lately are offering win 7 upgrade for free.

Actually my bud just bought a Acer aspire one(its atom based) But tiger let it go for 299.00. For tooling around its decent. Been on it noe for about a hour. Claims 6 hrs batt life. We'll see.....

Sava700 · Post by **Sava700** » Fri Oct 02, 2009 10:25 pm

BOWTYE8 wrote:alot of the laptops I have seen lately are offering win 7 upgrade for free.

Yes they do..but the point here is you have 3more weeks til Win 7, why fool with the time and effort on upgrading when you will get it already loaded right out of the gate. Best to just wait for it

Post by **YeOldeStonecat** » Sat Oct 03, 2009 7:39 am

What is it you want the laptop for? Like purposes?

On the budget...I can point to a few sources...

*Dell factory outlet
*IBM/Lenovo factory outlet (this is where I get most of my personal laptops, to me a used Thinkpad is a better deal than a brand new cheaper make/model)
*Acer...they actually make some decent laptops.

To me, to define "portable"...one I take all the time, 14" or smaller. My primary laptop is always a 14 inch model. Big enough for a decent resolution, yet still small 'n light enough to drag around everywhere 'n whip out.

You doing technet or MAPs anyways? Regarding Win7.

Faust · Post by **Faust** » Sat Oct 03, 2009 10:01 am

as far as purpose outside of the basic, primarily using it as a portable bench machine... running scans on slaved drives, troubleshooting network problems and such. that sort of thing. also music and movies on the occasions when i travel. beyond the scans nothing that intense.

ive used Dell outlet for years. typically for other folks (i stopped building them myself when i realized i would be supporting them for the next 10 years). didnt know lenovo also had an outlet. ill be checking that out for sure. i kinda ruled them out due to budget, but that was going on their prices new. if given a choice they would get my pick as well.

thanks for the tips

oh, and just basic technet atm. budget has been super tight this year, so havent been able to upgrade like i wanted.

Post by **YeOldeStonecat** » Sat Oct 03, 2009 10:17 am

Any laptop will do fine for scanning drives of other PCs...to speed things up such as scanning, as you know, boost up the RAM. The key for using it to scan other rigs drives is having a selection of external drive adapters.

If you wish to watch movies/DVDs...I recommend getting an upgraded graphics card. Performance will be substantially smoother than that with an integrated. Windows (Vista and 7) also run quite snappier on dedicated graphics, since desktop visuals can be crunched by the GPU.

My current laptop is getting long in the tooth...it's a Thinkpad T60P. First round Core 2 Duo, 256 meg ATI FireGL graphics, 4 gigs of RAM (although weird BIOS limitation allows OS only to work with 3) , 7,200 rpm drive. Intel Centrino. She ran Vista fine, runs 7 very well. When I purchased it, it was a factory outlet deal, but still "sealed in the box" new. Probably a return from a lease, or cancelled order. Brand new price was over 2,000, but I paid about 660 for it.

For my workhorse laptops, I have preferred Thinkpads...you can beat the crap out of them. Important for me because I'm always on the go so much with them, often very rushed. Very strong hinges for the LCD, rugged chassis, well known for one of the best keyboards of all laptops. Typically not as flashy as many other brands..but that's not what Thinkpads are aimed at, they're the "Checker Taxi Cabs" of laptops...good reliable workhorses.

Of Dells models, as you probably know..I prefer the Latitude line over the Inspirons. Sure Precisions are great, but pricey.

One other mention, Asus has been doing very well with their rather new laptop line. They do make laptops for many other brands (ODM). Been keeping a lazy eye out for one as I start to think about retiring this current T60p I'm typing on right now.

Post by **YeOldeStonecat** » Sat Oct 03, 2009 10:45 am

Some Q3 in a bit?

Faust · Post by **Faust** » Sat Oct 03, 2009 11:14 am

YeOldeStonecat wrote:Any laptop will do fine for scanning drives of other PCs...to speed things up such as scanning, as you know, boost up the RAM. The key for using it to scan other rigs drives is having a selection of external drive adapters.

yup. atm i use an external AIO bridge/adapter ( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6812119152 ) which pretty much covers everything desktop/laptop-wise short of scsi. great handy item. very portable.

i definitely dont want less than 2gb of memory. 3 or more would be super. only other additional expense i anticipate would be a ssd for battery life, but even that isnt an immediate priority.

as far as vga device, i would agree and would prefer dedicated. tbh music and movies will only be useful maybe 2x a year tops when i make any trips long enough to "need" them. aside from occasionally dragging it over to a friend's BBQ to use as a jukebox through his HT receiver, its kinda frivolous. a plus if i can eek it in the budget, but not a deal breaker.

ive seen a few Asus laptops around, poked one at school but havent known anybody with one for any amount of time. being naturally scared and suspicious of the unknown i havent even considered them. since ill be waiting another month before i buy, ill do some reading around on them as well.

if i could afford one, i really would prefer Latitude-tier, but that may be down the road. i look at this kinda like sunglasses or cigarette lighters. if some day i prove to myself i can handle the responsibility of a "nice" one (going at least one year without losing or breaking it/them), ill give myself the budget. until then ill stick with something that i can afford to break

Faust · Post by **Faust** » Sat Oct 03, 2009 11:15 am

YeOldeStonecat wrote:Some Q3 in a bit?

sure. i need to clean up the area here for about 10 minutes, but gimme a time so i dont leave ya hanging and ill be there.

Post by **YeOldeStonecat** » Sat Oct 03, 2009 11:23 am

Faust wrote:sure. i need to clean up the area here for about 10 minutes, but gimme a time so i dont leave ya hanging and ill be there.

I'll prolly be on after 1pm my time....gotta go drop boy off at the mall, and mebbe stop by the local guitar shop or pawn shop to see what I can hock my Strat for.

Faust · Post by **Faust** » Sat Oct 03, 2009 11:26 am

cool. that gives me enough time to stare at the overflowing trash can for awhile and decide to empty it later. count me in.

Faust · Post by **Faust** » Fri Oct 23, 2009 12:34 pm

wound up getting the same lappy i listed in first post, only it was $339 (has 1 2 gig sodimm instead of 2 1 gig. 2nd slot is open). prolly wont run quakelive for snot, but thats ok. main rig serves that purpose.

so far as i can tell ill get the win7 upgrade. not sure what that will will cost (site is down).

now just need an additional 2GB sodimm and a cheap carry case.

Faust · Post by **Faust** » Fri Oct 23, 2009 8:28 pm

$#^$#&^ misread it. left had column on a dell PO shows 1 for everything, but had (2 DIMMs) after the memory type.

maybe put up a FS in marketplace.

whatd be fair asking for 2x1GB DDR2 800? $20 or so? wont know the timings till the laptop gets here.