Time for a new laptop

[Messiah]

My business laptop died and I will be replacing it. My needs are primarily business/office apps, surfing, light gaming.

Any thoughts on this this laptop?

I need the full keyboard with number pad, the size is right for me, and the battery life is outstanding. My concerns are screen resolution and processor strength.

I am sure this will meet all of my needs, but I want to make sure I am making a solid purchase for the money.

[Whizbang]

If you're looking for a solid and reliable business laptop, I'd recommend the Lenovo Thinkpad series. A great laptop that has a strong performance benchmark for a reasonable price. We use the T400 and T500 series here at the office. They are light in weight with a full-size keyboard. Configs can range anywhere from about $800 up. We're buying ours for about $875 a piece with the following configs:

2gb RAM
2.4ghz P8600 C2D proc
250gb HDD
Mobile Intel Series 4 integrated graphics

[Iyeman]

It really depends on what you consider "light gaming"

1.3ghz processor even if it is a core 2 duo sucks majorly, even for just light office apps i wouldn't go with anything under 2ghz these days, the 4gigs of ram is nice but the 5400 RPM HD...once again fine for light office apps but id try and get a normal 7200RPM drive, but both of these increases are whats going to shorten that battery life so really it all depends on what sort of balance you want...battery life or performance.

I cant vouch for MEch's recommendation but here at my company we are DELL and i use dell for personal use as well.

[Messiah]

1.3gHz was my concern with the processor. That concern is mitigated a bit because the laptop automatically overclocks to 1.8 when needed and was clocked at 2.1 in some trials. It has a dedicated graphics processor which can be utilized to increase performance and alleviate CPU load. Seems like it has a good bit of flexibilityis choosing between power management and performance.

I'll never play a shooer on it, but it had average performance benchmarks on UT III. Maybe I'll play some Civ IV or Total War, but nothing much more serious.

Honestly, the biggest selling point for me is the battery life. 9 hours of potential battery life while using it for most of my daily tasks is fantastic. I am just having trouble convincing myself to sacrifice performance for power management at that price point.

[Iyeman]

you know looking at the charts again it looks like HP Pavilion dv4-2165dx is the same price and beat the asus in all the tests on that second page. especially the video playback of over 5.5 hrs on battery.

But I really dont have much experience with specing a laptop for battery use as i only use my laptop on battery for more than an hour maybe 4 times a year (when i fly cross country).

[Messiah]

Yeah, I actually looked at that HP when I was at Best Buy. It has a 12 cell battery which is a great power supply, but the battery is very bulky and actually protrudes from the bottom of the unit by almost an inch - it won't lay flat.

Mech, I think yopu are getting a really good deal on those Lenovos. I coudn't find them for under $1200, which is out of my budget.

[Iyeman]

I like the fact mine doesn't lay flat as it helps the airflow through since mine sucks air up from under the laptop and blows it out the back, if it was flat with the surface it would have a harder time sucking the air up. I have a dell m1330 which is a nice size for taking on an airplane in economy and the battery is a 9 cell and lasts around 2 hrs watching video which is for the most part long enough to watch one movie in the time they let you have electronics out flying between atlanta and vegas.

Sounds like the laptop is everything you want it to be so don't think you will find a better one that meets all the requirements you want.

[Messiah]

Sounds like the laptop is everything you want it to be so don't think you will find a better one that meets all the requirements you want.

Yeah, I am overanalyzing it. There are a dozen laptops at that price that will do what I need. Thanks for playing the foil.

Is Atlanta home? There are a few of us in ATL.

[Iyeman]

Washington, GA im about a 2hr drive from the ATL airport, closer depending on traffic.

[Futile Resistance]

Marietta, GA here.

www.notebookreview.com

is what I normally use.

[BlackDove]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6834115733

[Messiah]

Good find BD.

[BlackDove]

Oh I know.

You may call me "The Magician".

It was $750 when I put the link up too IIRC.

That thing looked just about the best you'd find for that price.

[Inquisitor]

That is a good find indeed.