CHALLENGE! - Recommend me a laptop (medium budget)

[Odin Eidolon]

Hi all, i'm gonna buy a laptop for university.

This is a challenge for you all. The one that will suggest me the laptop i'm gonna buy will get either some 120mm fans, and/or misc stuff like that (only stuff you need of course . I have fans, fan controllers, filters, cables, old processors and mobos, old power supplies and so on. You pay shipping) or 10€ on your paypal account.

i'm not an expert in laptop field, so i'd like you guys to give me some advice...
my budget is 700-800€, which should be around 1000-1150$. Considering electronic stuff costs more here in EU, 900-1000$ would be a nice USA price. I will use Linux on it.

This is what i'm looking for (bold for important stuff):

- Good computing power, but nothing extreme
- INTEL dual core processor, possibly 40nm (use less current)
- list of preferred graphics cards (not in order of preference, those are MOBILITY graphics chips):

4650/70
4860
GTS250M
4830
GT240M
(dedicated graphics memory not less than 256mb)

- wide or non wide screen, dont care
- DVD burner
- good screen
- no need for exceptionally good sound
- silent! (i will use a custom built cooling pad)
- between 13" and 16" (1400x900 maybe?)
- great build and components quality: it has to last long. Good plastics, anodized aluminium would be amazing
- good battery life: 2 hours watching a DVD are required
- minimum of 2gb of ram (DDR2 800 or DDR3 1066 at least), if only 2gb, expandable
- minimum of 250gb 5400rpm HDD
- built-in wireless
- SD card slot

the latest and greatest:
- if this is possible, and i hardly believe it is, room for TWO 2,5" HDDs


thank you all in advance, and good luck!!!

[tzitzibp]

You are either too lazy or too busy!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834117940

or

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834147919

[Odin Eidolon]

Originally Posted by tzitzibp

You are either too lazy or too busy!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834117940

or

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834147919

lol, probably both

problem is that vaios are pretty expensive here in EU, and i didnt even consider them. The one you proposed costs about 1000€ in EU, from what i can see, which is a bit too much for me. Vaios are like Macs and Ipods, you pay more for the trademark than for the product... in EU, at least. The hp is too big for my likings and costs around 1000€ as well here.

[tzitzibp]

is there no way you could order in the us and have it shipped to... Italy!?

[Odin Eidolon]

Originally Posted by tzitzibp

is there no way you could order in the us and have it shipped to... Italy!?

sadly the shipping would kill me... and the package would be subject to taxes once it arrives here. add 20%

i was eyeing the toshiba satellite A500-14F

[tzitzibp]

you could buy it using a friends address and then have send it to you (declare it as a present: 0% tax)..... just a thought!

[IINexusII]

with the shipping im sure itll still be cheaper than buying here in europe, max should be $50 shipping

[mlee49]

Asus makes a great $1000 laptop, the max resolution is a 16:9 ratio of 1366 x 768 but it has a 240M:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834220566

2.5GHz dual core processor
4GB memory DDR2
320GB 7200rpm HDD

But if you want a full 1080HD screen jump the price up by $300 for this beauty:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834220576

Full 1080HD screen
260M gpu, which scores nearly 10k in 3d06
and my personal choice if I were buying a new gaming laptop

[Odin Eidolon]

Originally Posted by tzitzibp

you could buy it using a friends address and then have send it to you (declare it as a present: 0% tax)..... just a thought!

Yep, but if something goes wrong? if i have to RMA i cantr ship it back to Asus USA! I've already bought tons of stuf in the USA, but nothing so expensive... i'm scared to do that!

Originally Posted by mlee49

Asus makes a great $1000 laptop, the max resolution is a 16:9 ratio of 1366 x 768 but it has a 240M:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834220566

2.5GHz dual core processor
4GB memory DDR2
320GB 7200rpm HDD

But if you want a full 1080HD screen jump the price up by $300 for this beauty:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834220576

Full 1080HD screen
260M gpu, which scores nearly 10k in 3d06
and my personal choice if I were buying a new gaming laptop

those are interesting! Problem is, i'm using only linux... the games i'll play will work fine even on a simple 4570/4650. My main concern with this laprop is durability, portability and battery life. I'll be using it only as a University laptop, while i'll probably keep my current desktop rig for gaming.

I've seen the (fairly) new Dell Studio 1555, seems good (review of one of the possible configurations). Very sturdy, and up to 6hrs battery life! (with 9 cells battery). There are some better valued notebooks, but not dell quality...
This is good too, nice hardware, but poor chassis (review)

opinions?

[Odin Eidolon]

actual possibilities i've spotted till now:

Compal KHLB2 (840€)

P8800, HD4650, 3gb DDR3 1333MHz, seagate momentus 320gb 7200RPM. Review. Bad Screen and mediocre build quality

toshiba Satellite A500-14F (800€)

P8700, HD4650, 4GB DDR2 800, 320gb 5400rpm (SATA-150). cant find any review.

Dell Studio 1555 (750€)

P7350, HD4570, 4GB DDR2 800, 250GB 7200RPM. Very long battery life and sturdy chassis. No proper reviews found

Dell Studio 1555 (850€)

P8600, HD4570, 4GB DDR2 800, 250GB 7200RPM, Very long battery life and sturdy chassis. No proper reviews found. Color ruby red .

HP Pavilion dv6-1240el (800€)

P7350, HD4650, 4GB, 500GB 5400RPM. Unknown info. With remote control.

ACER Aspire 6930G-844G32Mn (650€)

P8400, 9300M GS, 4GB DDR2, 320GB (?). Unknown info. With remote control.

[Kenshai]

You could try Sager Notebooks I believe they ship internationally have great prices. They don't gouge on upgrade either.

[n-ster]

ASus has an international warranty! So take that out of the equation... Buying the asus& a 9 cell extended battery and you're good to go!

[Odin Eidolon]

Originally Posted by Kenshai

You could try Sager Notebooks I believe they ship internationally have great prices. They don't gouge on upgrade either.

configured one... they seem to be good! do you have any info on the battery life/quality of the chassis?

Originally Posted by n-ster

ASus has an international warranty! So take that out of the equation... Buying the asus& a 9 cell extended battery and you're good to go!

Didnt know that, thanks... i dont really like Asus and Acer, i've had both of them and both werent very sturdy. But the experience from one product cant tell for all. My brother's dell on the opposite is incredible... he went over it with a car... and only the screen was broken, they replaced it under warranty (accidental damage warranty (+60€))!!!

[n-ster]

omg... I had the exact opposite experience but in larger quantities... I have a whole bunch of friends into comps... laptops and desktops alike. They may not be that smart for comps but they love em lol.

ALL without exception of dells that I and my friends had, weren't sturdy, had at least 1 hard drive failure in the 1st year, and battery problems after 3 yrs and a monitor prob after 3 too. That is 6 dells... all inspirons

4 of my friends have ASUS laptops, no problems, all OCed them too (against my recommendation).

But in general, I did LOTS of research, and ASUS IS like the best laptop company... HPs and Acers are good too. I had WAY to many friends of friends ask me to fix their dell...

I don't know about desktops though,, since I've never bought a prebuilt desktop

Seriously though, if you do the research, you can see that ASUS are godly