Choosing A Laptop

[jblitz277]

The Mrs is going to buy me a laptop for X-mas and asked me to pick one out,I have been browsing but, I have never had a laptop and know nothing of the brands. What I was looking for was a dual core 320gb HDD a decent burner. And a dedicated video card.I was hoping for the 750-1000 range. Any suggestions are much appreciated.

[doctorhardware]

Stay away from Nvidia chipset and Nvidia video chips on the laptop system board. There is a law suite against them. You can do a search on the board and google and read the articles. Or what you can do is to buy an extended warranty. Although I do not recommend buying them. It is pure profit for the store. But in the case of the Nvidia chipset over heating causes the laptop to loose video or not to power up at all. I would probably consider it. That is one thing that I would not try to repair.

[atifsh]

what i have realized after few laptops is...

1: do u really need a dedicated graphics ? and what for

2: new x4500 is better then the x3100 which was way better then the older 900 chips

3: new amd laptops are coming with integrated 3200 graphics which suppose to be good or better have to check benchmarks

4: get dedicated amd graphics, if u must.

5: look if x4500 is cooler or HD3200 is, because im assuming x4500 will be more efficient in both battery and coolness.

[gonwk]

Hi JBlitz,

Like the other guys said ... if you are not a GAMER ... you really don't need a "dedicated GPU card" ... and if you still you think you want one then by all means Stay AWAY from nVidia ... all of their card have Terrible Heating Problems ... HP, Sony, Dell, ... name t they all had to post BIOS updates to make the CPU Fan to kick in lot sooner just to keep the GPU from Cooking Up and toasting the MOBO.

As atifsh mentioned you be surprised how good is Intel 4500 onboard Graphics ... you can play some light-weight games.

For GPU for sure get ATI card. A decent startere would be like my "ATI Mobility HD 2600 with 512MB memory" ... pretty decent card and it can be OverClocked to act as a XT ... and runs cool!

For CPU get INTEL ... and at least a Core2Duo with 2.0GHz or more ... in your $700+ price I think you might be able to get a T8100 (2.10 GHz) or even a P8400 (2.260 GHz) ... if you can afford it a P series Intel CPU is better since it runs a little "cooler" and uses less "power" if Battery power length is important to you (ain't much of a gain may 10 percent or so).

As far as Burners in laptop go ... they are all the same ... 8X speed burners ... if you are planning to do a lot of burning I would set myself up with an External Burner of my choice ... better idea ... otherwise you will have to deal with "HEAT" issues in the laptop.

For your price ... you can configure one on HP website and then also try Costco website for the same config laptop ... if within few $ then I would opt for Costco ... since you have 90 days to return if any problem and also they have Conceirge to deal with ongoing warranty issues.

I bought a Gateway M-6862 in a Closeout from Best Buy and so far is A-OK ... I got it Cheaaaap ... and I threw in the $129.99 GeekSquad warranty for 3 years just in case. So BB is an option also ...

BTW, DELL has been putting out some deals ... website ... also selling in Best Buy at low prices.

Best advice is go to BB and Fry's and Physically look at these laptops and see HOW it feels to you ... the Keys, the Screen, and so forth ... then decide.

Hope this was of some help!

G!

[jblitz277]

FW250J/H is what I got?? Any feedback?

[gonwk]

FW250J/H is what I got?? Any feedback?

Hi JBlitz,

YOU must have been GOOD this year if Mrs. Santa gave you this lappy.

"Sony VAIO VGN-FW250J/H 16.4-Inch Laptop (2.26 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo P8400 Processor, 4 GB RAM, 250 GB Hard Drive, Vista Premium) Gray"

http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&categoryId=8198552921644570896&parentCategoryId=16154

You've got it all ... a pretty darn fast CPU (I am jealous ... mine is only a T5750 @ 2.0GHz), maxed out on RAM, pretty good size HD, Vista ...

1) If the machine did not come with Original VISTA OS software disc ... Make sure before you start playing with it ... Make your Restore DVD.

2) If they did not give you your Drivers for everything ... go to Sony web page and download all of the drivers that apply to your machine NOW ... sometimes Manufacturers take down Drivers after awhile.

Other than that ... it is a nice machine. The only thing about Sony laptops they look SHARP but changing Components on it ... it is a nightmare if you are not used to (like lil ol me).

MERRY XMAS! & Enjoy your New TOY!

G!

[jblitz277]

That is exactly what the firedog at Circuit City said is they suck to work on. It was 879 so I gave the Mrs 100 cash towards it instead of getting an HP. Can anyone tell me a freeware antivirus to use untill I buy one?

[gonwk]

.... Can anyone tell me a freeware antivirus to use untill I buy one?

Hi JB,

Use the following freewares and you will be set ...

- AVIRA (for Antivirus) Personal Free Edition

http://www.avira.com/en/download/index.html

Make sure you download their Updates at least once a week. I do it Manually ... you can let it do it automatically.

- Comodo Firewall PRO ... download but only opt for the Firewall and DO NOT install their Antivirus. When installing Comodo ... opt for Defense Plus.

http://www.personalfirewall.comodo.com/

Same with this check for updates regularly ... but not once a week!

G!