I know you all are probably very aware of the different options and choices when it comes to the types and brands of notebooks out there. I've been stuck on this old crappy inspiron for too long. What I want to know is what is the best VALUE for a good midrange laptop these days. I know Dell has rock bottom prices, but I know that doesn't make them necessarily the best. This is what I'm looking for:

-Fast processor (do I need Core 2 DUO or not)
-2 gig ram
-100 gig hard drive (5400 Rpm or 7200 Matter?)
-Video Card (need dedicated for good PF on Vista? - do i need vista at all? :))
- 14 inch screen
-HUGE BATTERY 12 cell or something

GOOD RELIABILITY

i'm basically asking you a bunch of questions, but I know that's what this forum is for... well.. it's not exactly a problem or issue, but I'm sure that doesn't matter a whole lot... If you got this far, I really appreciate it, your advice will saving me $$.I've been on this forum before, and I know how much you guys like to discuss stuff like this and get into arguments and hurt each other's feelings and on and on and on.. long after the first poster let it go... haha.. jk

...and I know how much you guys like to discuss stuff like this and get into arguments and hurt each other's feelings and on and on and on..

Not so the way you put it. Is this what you want to see happened again? We've been through all that before and don't feel like to start all over again.

All I can say is be smart & stick with what you have for the time being. Vista SP1 is in the work and the manufacturers have yet developed a mobo that earns Vista Certified logo. All current machines are branded either Vista Capable & Vista Premium.

i_XpUser

Its hard to recommend a computer manufacturer. A good computer manufacturer can still put out a not so good model. Right now Lenovo is doing a little laying off and have some good deals going to increase business. So you may want to look at them. Lenovo was recently bought by a Chinese company but most of the manufacturer is still being done by IBM and IBM is still the one offering the support for them.

Sony is suppose to be having a 1 week super sell to celebrate 25 years .. I think. You may want to look at those.

I am running Vista. I did just buy a Lenovo desktop a few months back. Vista seems to run just fine on a dual core processor (this is a 2.0 AMD dual core) and 1 gig of ram although I would recommend 2 gig.

I caught it on sale at Office Max for $599 after $300 in rebates and comes with a printer, 19" widescreen flat panel LCD monitor and 250GB harddrive. Of course this isnt a laptop but I havent had any problems with it .. Vista seems to be running perfectly. I cant say it is a big leap over XP ... but I couldnt see buying an older OS at this point. Which XP now is becoming whether we like it or not.

You want as much harddrive as you can afford. Vista loves to gobble up ram and harddrive space. I have long since passed using a 100gb.

"If you got this far, I really appreciate it, your advice will saving me $$.I've been on this forum before, and I know how much you guys like to discuss stuff like this and get into arguments and hurt each other's feelings and on and on and on.. long after the first poster let it go... haha.. jk"

I HATE YOU! :-)

In all seriousness, I don't have a problem recommending Dell when recommending laptops, as you're usually gonna have to go with a similar company. What you want to avoid is going with default gear within their configurations. If you take a basic config and don't take better stuff like a 5400RPM hard drive, or a better screen, that not only impacts your performance, but it also negatively impacts reliability.

For example, there's nothing wrong with an Inspiron 6400 if you get 7200RPM drive, a better screen, a 9 cell battery, etc. In a base configuration? No, I wouldn't touch it.

Sounds like you need something more than the 6400, but apply that same logic, and the Dell will be fine.

HP notebooks are also good. Toshiba also make solid notebooks...

As for Vista, I've been running it without any issues now that there are improved drivers and application hotfixes. I even just upgraded my wife's machine to Vista, and she has quite a few older odd and end applications she loves, and they run flawlessly. I don't see any reason to hesitate to go Vista. Unless you flat out know you have applications that won't run on it that you absolutely must use.

TECH-NO-LOGICAL ROMANCE!

http://www.homestarrunner.com/tgs12.html

Yeah, I probably should not have said what I said, but I'm glad everyone took it lightheartedly which was my intention. Anyway, thanks for the suggestions. The big question is: should I pay more for a Lenovo and get better quality or get an inspiron and a cheaper price all other things being equal - well not security stuff but hardware capabilities. THanks guys

I'm not familiar with Lenovo's enough to say how reliable they are.

TECH-NO-LOGICAL ROMANCE!

http://www.homestarrunner.com/tgs12.html

new laptop-Dell vs. Sony vs. Lenovo

Remember one thing - no laptop can beat the speed of a desktop unless you are willing to pay hefty for it.

As for Lenovo I dunno. IBM Thinkpads used to be good until China bought out the entire small computer division of IBM. As of this moment Lenovo is trying to bring themselves up to equal with Dellm HP, etc. They even offer recovery CDs with user options to bypass the crapwares.

i_XpUser

I have heard a lot of negative stuff about lenovo. I read one pc editor testing one of their laptops say that they are the new cheap brand of namebrand pc's like e-machines used to be until they got bought out by gateway.

I wouldn't go with them. I'd either stick with an HP or Dell for laptops.

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ OC 2.7ghz
4GB Dual Channel DDR 3200
Nvidia 7900GT
SATA II 2x 300gig 7200rpm 16mb cache RAID-0+1
Gigabyte Nforce 4 SLI

What a shame. Lenovo's precedessor - IBM ThinkPad - used to be the workhorse of laptops.

i_XpUser

I think I'm gonna get an HP dv2000, it does look really cool, and I'm sorry to say appearance is swaying my decision. It does have a Turion 64 which may not be the best, but that also means that it has a geforce 6150 which is exactly what I wanted - anything better than the GMA 950. Also, do I need 2 gigs of ram to start with, because I think it comes with 2 512 sticks which would mean I would have to replace them >:O what a waste!

No but your sinking under the 1gb mark, considering that the IGP in that laptop will take 128mb of memory. I mean you can adjust it to take less in the bios, but then you got to take into account of aero glass if you do make it to where the igp takes less video shared ram. So with that said you are better off upgrading to 2gb of ram that way you will have 1920mb of ram including the 128mb of ram your igp is taking and still run vista at optimal preformance.

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ OC 2.7ghz
4GB Dual Channel DDR 3200
Nvidia 7900GT
SATA II 2x 300gig 7200rpm 16mb cache RAID-0+1
Gigabyte Nforce 4 SLI