Laptops for under $1500. What to choose?

[b2tf]

Time has come to buy a laptop for work, so I am now choosing what brand, system etc is best for me.

I will be using it for a mix of business and play, so I need good graphics and multimedia capability, as well as a reasonably large HDD - thinking 512MB with 80GB RAM as this is what i have at home.

I am looking to spend about $1500, and I refuse to touch Compaq or HP. Also not interested in leasing etc, will be purchasing outright.

A couple of "must haves" - DVD Burner, Large Screen, at least 2 USB ports. Anything else I can take or leave pretty much.

So, throw your recommendations at me!

[Bucknaked]

Just saw an ad on tv for a laptop for $750. I paid $3,000 for mine 3 years ago. Like anything. give it time and it will come down in price.

Good luck on your purchase. Laptops are great

[Racecraft]

I bought my parents the Dell Widescreen Laptop for Xmas, they love it,, have at look at the Dell Australia site.. I order it out of a flyer but Im sure the site will fill you in

[Bucknaked]

Get good deals if you order online. Like free delievery and double your memory or hard drives. They sometimes throw in burners.

[b2tf]

Yes Dell is what Im looking at at the moment, have specced up a good one for around the price I am after, just looking to see what else is available.

[Uncle_Ken]

I assume it has to be a PC and not MAC??
Does the size and weight of the laptop matter?
Uncle Ken

[b2tf]

Originally Posted by Uncle_Ken

I assume it has to be a PC and not MAC??
Does the size and weight of the laptop matter?
Uncle Ken

Must be PC and able to be connected to network and broadband internet, preferably wireless. Size and weight are a big deal but obviously i dont want to be lugging a brick.

[Sprint_ED]

for 1500, ur not gunna get anything decent in the big hdd and graphics area and ram

Dell would be a alright choice. I have a laptop with a 15.1" screen, and I so wish I had a smaller laptop.

Have a look at the HP Compaq nx6120. Not fancy looking but great quality.

[Uncle_Ken]

Are you happy to add external stuff? i.e extenal hardrive.
Sprint ED is correct that you wil get an OK laptop for 1500 but I see graphics as your biggest problem. Wireless and RAM can be added easliy. I'd look at what video specs you can get and work from there. The rest will probably follow. Down side is you'll pay for the graphics.
Uncle Ken

[b2tf]

Graphics dont need to be stellar, the most it'll get used for is powerpoint presentations, video/MPEG stuff and the occasional game. So im not going to go out of my way to get something super dooper, just something decent.

[Sprint_ED]

ur right ken the the ram hdd and wlan can be added but not graphincs, look if u wanna a good lappy i suggest also looking at ASUS, out of 5 brands that i used 2 u se they were the best, and there warranty is awsome, u take it 2 em and the fix on the spot infornt of your face, but yeah u wont see a good brand for that pice, i heard ALDI sent pretty cheap lappys, that had fast specs, even try them out

[Uncle_Ken]

Then you should be OK. See what DELL has online. Thye usually have double memory upgrades etc. Have a look at this one Specials last the next two days.
Uncle Ken (PS I don't work for Dell)
http://www1.ap.dell.com/content/prod...pecstab#tabtop

[Electric]

Another consideration is to be sure it has an M (mobile) processor as a few of the cheaper laptops still run normal pentium chips and the battery life is pretty poor.

Buy a Toshiba, they are bulletproof. I just bought the Mrs a Toshiba for about $1700 1.73Mhz 60Gb 512Mb. It is also a widescreen, so its good to watch the occasional DVD. It only has a 14" screen. But it is lighter and runs longer than the 15.4" that was another $200.

I would never ever buy a Dell laptop...I am writing this on one (but its a company laptop). It is the 3rd one I've had, as they are replaced every 18months.

The first one needed the motherboard replaced 10 TIMES : as well as the HDD, screen a few keyboards and top covers.

The next one only needed a motherboard replaced and this one hasn't failed yet....but I would never spend my money on one. Desktop yes...laptop NEVER.

[Rapid260]

Mate,

I work oversea's & weight is everything for me & storage space, i have gone through a few laptops over the years & this is what i think is the best combo, Toshiba, Tecra or better,(not sure if they are called Tecra any more) it's the way to go, they are about $1800 but you get a good operating system on them with 60GB RAM, burner & all the rest you are asking for, they are light for travel, robust & have good graphics, i would stay away from DELL, i have seen too many of them fall apart, everyone i have run into that has had one has not been happy with them, they are cheap crap.
Bugger the wide screen if your lugging it too & from work, you wont be happy 1 year from now, they are heavy.

As far as storage goes, well get an external hard drive, a 100GB RAM is about $300 but there are smaller ones, & that way if your storing movies or music it is seperate & they are small, plus if you dont want to take your computer somewhere, you can just load the external hard drive & take it & plug it into your mate computer or who ever has one.

I know this is the way I will be going in the future, i have a friend that does alot of traveling & all he has is a 100GB external Hard drive, it's the size of a large mobile Phone, well it is a phone as well, he just plugs in & works in the hard drive, to simple.

Mate good luck with it, i hope you get what you like & dont have any problems.

Kev.

[Paxton]

If you are not going to be gaming, and are not going to be using it as a laptop, or in other words, as a Desktop Replacement, get a Dell. They are a better quality laptop than they have been, however, don't get an X-Brite screen. My latitude has one, and I hate it. I much prefer my PowerBook screen. Just make sure it is a Centrino, and has a dedicated graphics card, not Intel Extreme graphics, and you will be set.

Uncle_Ken, its Mac, not MAC, which stands for MAC Address. Mac is short for Macintosh.

[max^power]

Originally Posted by Rapid260

i would stay away from DELL

Agreed.

Originally Posted by Rapid260

they are cheap crap.

Agreed. Thats why they're cheap, You get what you pay for. If you want it for <12months - go for it.

If you're planning on keeping the thing any longer than the warranty, up the budget and get a better brand like ASUS, NEC or Toshiba. If you dont want to waste alot of money (who does?!?!), get the external drive Kev was talking about and change the notebook about every 9 months. More than that and you risk failures, if it's under warranty, it can be annoying as you'll be without a machine while they're fixing it. Although replacing it all the time is annoying. At least you only lose a couple of hundred bucks if you're lucky.

If you decide to go with dell, make sure you read the terms of the warranty. you wouldn't want to be stuck without the machine for weeks!

[the_scotsman]

I would go Dell....they have great offers online as you have seen...

I just bought a Dell Inspiron 9300....couldnt not be happier with the laptop or the service....

And I do not see how Dell are "cheap crap" but to each their own I guess...

A great site to pay a visit http://www.notebookreview.com

[Deadman]

Originally Posted by Uncle_Ken

I assume it has to be a PC and not MAC??

MAC's will pretty much be PC architecture within a year anyhow. :monkes:

You should be able to get an Intel Centrino notbook for under $1500 with a DVD burner etc. Centrino (well, Pentium M) processors are awesome gaming chips in notebooks, they also have great battery life, intergrated wireless and lower heat output (doesn't fry your leg when you sit them on your lap).

Originally Posted by Rapid260

Toshiba, Tecra or better,(not sure if they are called Tecra any more) it's the way to go, they are about $1800 but you get a good operating system on them with 60GB RAM, burner & all the rest you are asking for, they are light for travel, robust & have good graphics, i would stay away from DELL, i have seen too many of them fall apart, everyone i have run into that has had one has not been happy with them, they are cheap crap.

Dell might be cheap crap, but Toshiba are expensive crap :

Our company dumped Toshiba after 18 out of the 40 Notebooks we purchased from them had to go back at least once each for some kind of repair (most were hard drive failures) within the first year we had them - and they aren't getting lugged around very much or being put in conditions where you'd expect this.

Since then we've used IBM and DELL and haven't had any problems (well, 1 of the IBM's needed a replacement screen, but that's it). Everyone will have nightmare stories about particular brands. You can never be sure no matter what brand you purchase. :(

[max^power]

That site has dell coupons... how fair do you honestly think the reviews are going to be? (http://www.notebookreview.com/dellCoupon.asp)

Tell me in Feb 07 how the machine's going, if the board hasn't gone the HDD would have failed. I'm not really saying dont buy dell, im recommending the machine be changed before the usual failure time (9-15 months from what i've seen)

Also how much use its going to get and where is a big factor. I mean if it's being used in a bus/train travelling all the time, compared to sitting on a desk during business hours, its going to put more stress on the machine being on the bus/train.

[TuMor]

The Best value laptops are tpg ones, hands down.

They might not be a name brand, but ive had one for 2 years now and never had a problem. Its been turned on crunching seti units most of its life too, runs 24/7.
And they have a 15.4" Widescreen LCD.

Current offer:
AMD Turion™ 64 ML-32 1.8GHz (35W)
1GB MEMORY
60GB HARD DRIVE
DVD RW+/- DRIVE
WINDOWS® XP HOME
FREE WIFI (PCMCIA)

$1398+$99 Delivery

http://www.tpg.com.au/online/

Best bang for the buck in my opinion.

[Uncle_Ken]

Uncle_Ken, its Mac, not MAC, which stands for MAC Address. Mac is short for Macintosh.[/QUOTE]
True, old habit.

[Uncle_Ken]

As you can see everyone has had varying luck with all brands over the years.
I use only work laptops so I never have to worry about brake downs etc.
Laptops are a bit like cars, they all seem to offer the same but sometimes you get a Lemon. If you know someone who can "fix" a certain brand for free or cheap, go with that brand. Extended warrenty could be a go but its usally back to base etc.
Uncle Ken

[Sprint_ED]

i saw a real good deal today

Fujitsu lifebook, they are really well built, centrino 1.8, 80gb hdd, 512 ram and dvd burner for bout 1700, thats a steal for that price as the last ones i sold like that are 2500

[MRJUCY]

I bought a HP laptop yesterday for around $2000. I'm not mch of an IT guy so I don't really know but it seems like a good package for the dollars. It's this one http://www.cworld.com.au/product_info.php?ID=118544

[Josh_XC]

Man the dell site prob has the best laptops for a decent price, but if ur looking for one just for work man with out a big graphics card, u can get a decent work one for around 800 dollars or so