I think you should consider getting a Dell (the Vostro line is pretty sweet). Where are you from btw? Since I know that getting a good HP lappy is pretty hard here in the Netherlands.... they only have the crappy ones out here.
Sooo Dell Vostro, Macbook, Sony FZ (not sure if it's within budget), Toshiba A200 or A205 are some models that might be attractive.
Not to further degrade this to Mac vs. PC, but I'll just say that I have been vehemently pro-PC for about 8 years, ESPECIALLY during my 2.5 years as a CS major.
I just got a new MacBook Pro two days ago, and after finally transferring all of my files and settings, I already don't miss Windows XP at all. AT ALL. The simple little touches that I used to hate for being "unnecessary flash and trimmings" actually make the day-to-day experience a hundred times more enjoyable.
I'm pretty sure that around 10% off of 1100€ isn't going to change my mind when I can still get a more powerful computer for less.
That said, I think I'm going zepto, unless something better grabs me by the balls and yells "NO!" in a loud voice.
Reminds me of the time I saw a mac graphics card for 300 euros....
It was a fucking X1600 XT, the equivalent of which I had gotten for my PC for around 100-150€
Don't even relate the price of these cards to the price of the Macbooks . Graphics cards for Apple systems are extremly "niche". Take a fraction of the PC market (Apple users), than take a fraction wich are the people who have an "Apple pro desktop system" (G4 towers; G5 or a MacPro). Take this as base and substract all the people who don't have a suitable system (Intel, PowerPC) or graphic card type (AGP, PCIe). Substract all the people who don't want to replace the graphic card in their Apple tower. See, thats one reason these graphics cards are priced so high, there isn't a mass market. Secondly, nVidia, ATI (AMD) and Apple (yes they are selling Apple branded nvidia or AMD graphic cards) like to shaft people who want to upgrade their Mac systems.
The price for the Macbook is alright IMO. My G3 700MHz ibook lasted nearly 4 1/2 years, until some asshole kicked it pretty hard. :x If the Macbooks have nearly the same quality then there is a reason that they get the support from various people.
That said, choose the model/notebook you like. The best thing is playing around with it "in real life". Even better if it is already in use by someone and set up correctly - Thats what I did when I was selling them to customers.
I got mine with a 8400 MGS, plenty of power for the games I care to play on a Laptop and great battery life (8+ hrs with lowest lcd brightness and minor use such as word/aim/surfing).
Edit: That's with the 9-cell battery. My 6 cell tends to last about 5 hours.
I'm pretty sure that around 10% off of 1100€ isn't going to change my mind when I can still get a more powerful computer for less.
That said, I think I'm going zepto, unless something better grabs me by the balls and yells "NO!" in a loud voice.
I don't have anything with which to grab you in the balls, but looking through the Zepto website and around the internet, the idea of purchase reeks with regret.
Build quality on the 6214W is fine when inspected visibly, but creaks a bit when pushed. The keyboard is nice and solid, but I can feel bend to the case when I push down on the palm rests or up on the bottom. The screen noticeably twists when pressure is applied to it. It's best to get a good notebook backpack to properly protect this notebook if you'll be carrying it around a lot.
...
For average internet/wireless use, I averaged between 2 to 2.5 hours of life between having to rush to find an outlet. Under heavy usage or gaming performance, I experienced battery life around an hour and a half. Nothing spectacular, but certainly not abysmal either. Good enough for taking to the local Starbucks for an hour or two, but not enough for a plane trip anywhere.
This is a trend. Some snippets from around the web from reviews of a few of their laptops:
Bad points: Poor keyboard and trackpad, Substandard battery life
The Znote 6214W is a solid laptop, and a respectable UK debut for Zepto. It doesn't qualify for an award, however: although there's nothing intrinsically wrong with it (aside from the poorer-than-average screen), there's nothing that really makes it stand out either
For: Strong graphics, Good screen
Against: Average keyboard
Verdict: Let down a little by its build, but otherwise a strong and decent-performing laptop
With the powerful core components on offer, we didn't expect record-breaking battery life, but the light-use time of 2hrs 37mins is respectable. Under intensive use, the time dropped to 1hr 33mins, so the Znote won't be a particularly practical machine for mobile business users. It's otherwise portable, though, with a footprint of 340 x 245mm and weight of 2.46kg.
Capable of running the most taxing of applications, the Zepto offers enough performance to satisfy most people. The performance comes at a price though and, along with the dual-core processor, the dedicated graphics card has an affect on battery life, which lasted just 160 minutes under test.
This is under the three-hour minimum we expect and restricts portability.
Pros: Solid and rigid construction, bright, uniform illumination and contrast on screen, Effective cooling system, Reasonably light for the class, A good choice of operating systems (or none at all), A powerful range of BIOS options (if only they were documented)
Cons: Poor keyboard action and looseness, Noisy fan at times, Heavy power supply, Mediocre audio, Battery life not meeting expectations
Battery life is one of the MOST important things in a laptop. Even if you think it isn't, unless you bolt it to your desk, poor battery life will annoy you and annoy you more every day. Zepto's build quality seems uneven so be sure to totally research the model you want.
So then, I guess I need to find another laptop.
I was thinking Dell, but they are nigh impossible to find unless you order a custom one from Dell Finland. I was going through configurations, but it turns out I need the OS language to be Finnish, otherwise (And I wish I was joking here) the shipping documents won't be compatible with the configuration!
What the fuck?
I never, ever have my OS in another language than English. That's why I'm most likely formatting any laptop I get, since they usually come with Finnish OS
So, I'm fucked. I'm going to a local electronics shop tomorrow, they mostly have HP's so I guess it should be alright.I'm going to be working there for a month anyway.
I would not recommend Toshiba. As much as I want to love them, Toshiba Satellites get horrid battery life, even with their integrated video cards. My 2.5 M55-S139 got 1 hour new, one of my friends brother's with a model bought roughly at the same time had a similar experience. Maybe they've gotten better since then, because I know someone who one bought a Satellite about a year ago who got 3 new.
Plus, the case is pretty bad. I get buzzing noises occasionally from vibrations caused by a loose bit of plastic on the casing, and it creaks when I pick it up. There's a lot of discoloration where I set my hands to type (normal?). And the screen has started to flicker recently.
But yeah. Go Lenovo or MacBook. They are the only two laptop brands I've heard consistently good things about, and subsequently the only two I'd have peace of mind buying without major research right now.
Seriously, get a MacBook. I have no doubt that Ubuntu will be able to run almost flawlessly on the thing out-of-the box within three years. It went from a completely black screen on boot to almost 100% compatibility on my Toshiba in only two. And PCworld says MacBook Pro is the fastest laptop to run Vista on. Even with a less expensive model, how can you go wrong?
Lenovo is still leading the laptop reviews from the business machine angle and I fear I might be turning into some kind of fan boy. My T60p will be arriving in around 2 weeks, some kind of shortage of screen components apparently. Also the possibility that it will be bumped to a T61p but not holding my breath.
Lenovo Thinkpad R series is their cheaper line up (starts at $680), I don't know how it stacks up against Dell power for money wise but I would vouch for the build quality straight off the bat. They also make a less business like 3000 N series which is not exactly budget blasting, but I know bugger all about them. They look fairly generic.
Not much more than 900€
No Macbooks
No Acer
No Intel graphics
At least 1 gig of ram, 2 gigs preferred of course.
Less than 15.4"
Good compability with XP and linux.
Shipping without OS is a + but not required.
Good battery life is also a +, but I don't think I need more than a hour-hour and a half.
AVAILABLE IN EUROPE (No goddamn imports.)
That is all the information I've got right now. I need something that meets these specs.
I've been thinking about this too, but I want to go for a gaming laptop. My problem is I've been out of the Windows laptop market for a bit so I don't really know who is up/down. I was thinking the Toshiba x205 series, but the fuckers are not available in the UK yet, and I just know that the "you live in the UK tax lol" margin is going to be a good 20-30% whenever it does come.
You probably mean Lenovo not Levano . Anyway, I would check out www.notebookreview.com and they have nice helpful people at their forum.
Indeed. I've been learing a whole lot from their forums about the various ins and outs of laptops. The OP should probably go visit their What Laptop Should I Buy? forum.
To add to whats been said, Asus seems to have a pretty solid reputation, but a low profile. Some of their models appear to have pretty poor battery life though. I'd also recommend keeping an open mind about models that come with 1GB of RAM as a base, RAM isn't particularly expensive, and I don't think adding another 1GB stick is going to be difficult.
I wish I could help with retailers, but a lot of the popular American retailers won't even ship to us here in Canada. Also, when someone says they aren't interested in a certain brand, continually recommending that particular brand is pretty lame. Its like when one of those telemarketers who wont shut up when you say "Not interested" but they just keep talking.
Also, when someone says they aren't interested in a certain brand, continually recommending that particular brand is pretty lame. Its like when one of those telemarketers who wont shut up when you say "Not interested" but they just keep talking.
I was guilty of that in this case.
However, when that brand appears to fit the requirements perfectly, it's a bit hard to resist.
It's like if someone said: "I want a console with great online play, an established game library, lots of great FPSes and HD graphics, but not anything from Microsoft". It would be hard to resist recommending the 360 regardless.
But it turns out Mac are too expensive in his part of the world anyway.
Posts
Dell
HP
Apple
reasonably good:
Sony
Toshiba
I think you should consider getting a Dell (the Vostro line is pretty sweet). Where are you from btw? Since I know that getting a good HP lappy is pretty hard here in the Netherlands.... they only have the crappy ones out here.
Sooo Dell Vostro, Macbook, Sony FZ (not sure if it's within budget), Toshiba A200 or A205 are some models that might be attractive.
You can get a bit of a discount off Apple computers if you are a student by buying them from the Education Online Store in your country.
I just got a new MacBook Pro two days ago, and after finally transferring all of my files and settings, I already don't miss Windows XP at all. AT ALL. The simple little touches that I used to hate for being "unnecessary flash and trimmings" actually make the day-to-day experience a hundred times more enjoyable.
That said, I think I'm going zepto, unless something better grabs me by the balls and yells "NO!" in a loud voice.
Don't even relate the price of these cards to the price of the Macbooks
The price for the Macbook is alright IMO. My G3 700MHz ibook lasted nearly 4 1/2 years, until some asshole kicked it pretty hard. :x If the Macbooks have nearly the same quality then there is a reason that they get the support from various people.
That said, choose the model/notebook you like. The best thing is playing around with it "in real life". Even better if it is already in use by someone and set up correctly - Thats what I did when I was selling them to customers.
I got mine with a 8400 MGS, plenty of power for the games I care to play on a Laptop and great battery life (8+ hrs with lowest lcd brightness and minor use such as word/aim/surfing).
Edit: That's with the 9-cell battery. My 6 cell tends to last about 5 hours.
I don't have anything with which to grab you in the balls, but looking through the Zepto website and around the internet, the idea of purchase reeks with regret.
Firstly, I found these gems:
This is a trend. Some snippets from around the web from reviews of a few of their laptops:
Battery life is one of the MOST important things in a laptop. Even if you think it isn't, unless you bolt it to your desk, poor battery life will annoy you and annoy you more every day. Zepto's build quality seems uneven so be sure to totally research the model you want.
I was thinking Dell, but they are nigh impossible to find unless you order a custom one from Dell Finland. I was going through configurations, but it turns out I need the OS language to be Finnish, otherwise (And I wish I was joking here) the shipping documents won't be compatible with the configuration!
What the fuck?
I never, ever have my OS in another language than English. That's why I'm most likely formatting any laptop I get, since they usually come with Finnish OS
So, I'm fucked. I'm going to a local electronics shop tomorrow, they mostly have HP's so I guess it should be alright.I'm going to be working there for a month anyway.
Plus, the case is pretty bad. I get buzzing noises occasionally from vibrations caused by a loose bit of plastic on the casing, and it creaks when I pick it up. There's a lot of discoloration where I set my hands to type (normal?). And the screen has started to flicker recently.
But yeah. Go Lenovo or MacBook. They are the only two laptop brands I've heard consistently good things about, and subsequently the only two I'd have peace of mind buying without major research right now.
Seriously, get a MacBook. I have no doubt that Ubuntu will be able to run almost flawlessly on the thing out-of-the box within three years. It went from a completely black screen on boot to almost 100% compatibility on my Toshiba in only two. And PCworld says MacBook Pro is the fastest laptop to run Vista on. Even with a less expensive model, how can you go wrong?
These are the only ones I would buy.
T-Series Lenovos and Macbooks are my personal favourites. However, I think both are probably out of his budget.
Lenovo Thinkpad R series is their cheaper line up (starts at $680), I don't know how it stacks up against Dell power for money wise but I would vouch for the build quality straight off the bat. They also make a less business like 3000 N series which is not exactly budget blasting, but I know bugger all about them. They look fairly generic.
Sig images by FooB
$399 US/CAD (for the 4g), <1kg in weight, already runs linux with a 8g/1gb ram model comming out later this month (or so they say)
No Macbooks
No Acer
No Intel graphics
At least 1 gig of ram, 2 gigs preferred of course.
Less than 15.4"
Good compability with XP and linux.
Shipping without OS is a + but not required.
Good battery life is also a +, but I don't think I need more than a hour-hour and a half.
AVAILABLE IN EUROPE (No goddamn imports.)
That is all the information I've got right now. I need something that meets these specs.
http://fantasy.premierleague.com/my-leagues/
The join code for the CLASSIC league: 214755-65927
The join code for the HEAD-TO-HEAD league: 5294-3346
Indeed. I've been learing a whole lot from their forums about the various ins and outs of laptops. The OP should probably go visit their What Laptop Should I Buy? forum.
To add to whats been said, Asus seems to have a pretty solid reputation, but a low profile. Some of their models appear to have pretty poor battery life though. I'd also recommend keeping an open mind about models that come with 1GB of RAM as a base, RAM isn't particularly expensive, and I don't think adding another 1GB stick is going to be difficult.
I wish I could help with retailers, but a lot of the popular American retailers won't even ship to us here in Canada. Also, when someone says they aren't interested in a certain brand, continually recommending that particular brand is pretty lame. Its like when one of those telemarketers who wont shut up when you say "Not interested" but they just keep talking.
I was guilty of that in this case.
However, when that brand appears to fit the requirements perfectly, it's a bit hard to resist.
It's like if someone said: "I want a console with great online play, an established game library, lots of great FPSes and HD graphics, but not anything from Microsoft". It would be hard to resist recommending the 360 regardless.
But it turns out Mac are too expensive in his part of the world anyway.