A nice high end laptop

[ArnieB]

I've been searching for days and my brain is turning into mush. At first I was looking at Alienware and Voodoo, but right now Sager and Hypersonic are looking nice.

Here's my situation:

I'm looking to spend around $3,500 CDN on a nice notebook. I'll go as high as $4,000 though if it looks worth it. These are some of my minimum requirements,

16" SVGA+ or bigger/better display
2.4 GHz processor speed or higher
60 GB Hdd
512MB or higher ram.
Nice long lasting batteries.

All the Aviator's at www.hypersonic-pc.com look nice, and the 5680 and 4780 series at www.sagernotebook.com have also caught my eye. I don't really know whats the best deal for the buck though. I intend on watching DVD's, programming, and doing some art/multimedia work on it. I figured I would get something nice since it's christmas and I haven't treated myself to a pricey gift in awhile, and I'd like it to last for some time. I'm just hoping for a little direction from the pro's here, if you were going to dump $3500-$4000 ($2700 - $3000 U.S) on a notebook, what would you get?

 

[Frightcrawler]

alienware is a waste of money, IMO. you get a paintjob for like a thousand extra dollars.
i would get a voodoo, because their machines were designed for gaming.
if not, get a sager, their machines are good too.

 

[Tronoman]

The Aviator GX6 looks pretty nice but really for what you want to do you wouldn't need to go with any of those brands. Those are all geared more towards gaming, if all your doing is programming and watching DVD's you could go with something like an IBM T40 with a 5 year warranty for a similar price. The Aviators have more power but you pay a price in weight, and battery life. If you plan on traveling much with it, battery life and weight may be more important.

 

[Bateluer]

I hear Hypersonic builds a decent machine, but they have too few employees to handle customer support properly.

I just bought a Voodoo Envy M855, its waiting for me.

 

[GnomeCop]

hmm... the specs you listed contradict eatch other.... "nice long lasting battery" doesn't fit with the rest of those components.
battery life on a notebook of those specs is like 30 mins usually... maybe max 1hr if you just let it sit there.

 

[bunnyfubbles]

Originally posted by: GnomeCop
hmm... the specs you listed contradict eatch other.... "nice long lasting battery" doesn't fit with the rest of those components.
battery life on a notebook of those specs is like 30 mins usually... maybe max 1hr if you just let it sit there.

that or you end up sacrifcing several lbs for more battery and longer life (of which still isn't that great, maybe 3hours best just typing or browsing). The specs would require a 10+lbs laptop...

I "dumped" a little over $2000 into a Sager 5680 but I'm a gamer and getting the P4 2.8C with 1GB DDR400 in dual channel on a 865 mobo with a 128MB mobile Radeon 9600 and a 15" UXGA display was perfect for my needs. Getting the extra battery for the 2nd expansion bay helps extend the life but the system is heavy. I don't mind and I also don't stay unplugged for long enough to need "good" battery life.

 

[alexruiz]

See Bateluer new machine....

 

[Firus]

Dude!!!
Make sure you check out Eurocom they are based in Canada and if you don't live in Ontario you wont have to pay PST!!! I ordered the D500p (Clevo) with a radeon 9600pro, 2.6C w/HT etc etc....it is the best purchase i have ever made...ever.! The one I bought in Oct came to $3075 taxes/shipping all included in that price!!

Make sure you check them out...please

P.S. the prices are ever lower now!!! get on it man

 

[aZhE]

Sagers are the way to go. check this out

 

[Firus]

A Eurocom IS a Sager, (clevo) just seeing as he is in Canada, Eurocom is the way to go, that way he won't have to pay the Duty and extra shipping exchange etc....

 

[ceo2b]

How is the support/service from Eurocom. Even though I am State side, I really like that M375E Milano that will release next month. What are your thoughts on the build of the machine and Eurocom as a whole?

 

[thomsbrain]

i think you want a sager 8890. how does 16" 1600x1200 wide angle LCD, 3.2 GHz P4 Exteme Edition (2MB L3!), 1024 MB of Dual Channel DDR400, ATI 9600 Pro Turbo 128 MB, a DVD/RW, and built-in RAID 0 for under your budget sound?

of course, it would weigh 4 tons and suck batteries like a hungry hooker, but who cares when it's that fast?

 

[novowel]

what type of programming do you do?

I use my powerbook for all of the above

 

[TazExprez]

I just ordered an Inspiron 8600 with the following specs:
-P-M 1.7GHz
-7200RPM 60GB HDD
-128MB Radeon 9600 Pro Turbo
-Bluetooth
-802.11a/b/g
-256MB RAM (Soon To Be 1GB RAM)
-15.4" WUXGA (1920x1200)
-WinXP Home

I will get the 1GB RAM from Crucial, instead, because they charge about $260.00 for it, while Dell charges $550.00.

I got 9777 in 3DMark2001SE and 2769 in 3DMark2003. This was without any tweaks and with the out of the box settings using Windows XP Home. I will do a clean install of Windows XP Professional and update all the drivers to see what happens.

Hope this helps you.

TazExprez