Laptop Question

[th3sandm4n]

I'm thinking of selling my current laptop(a bulky gaming one) for a compact one with long battery life(for classes)
Anyone ave any suggestions?
I would prefer a really small size, screen size etc. And a really good battery life(more then my crappy hour now lol)
I also don't NEED a monster, but enough power in it to play some old school emulators and mutlitask(notes,internet,chat) comfortably. Im going to load a Linux distro on it so it doesnt NEED windows specs, but I am going to use the GUI mostly.

But most important for my is compactness and battery life, and of course reliability

Oh and also, since I don't require some bad ass specs, hopefully a decent one for maybe a grand? Although I'm beginning to think this is impossible, all the lil ones I've found so far a costly lil fellas

Thanks guys, any input on the hunt would be very mucho appreciated

 

[phoood]

a quick google search of thinkpad should help you. but they are a bit expensive.

look for the dell inspiron e1505, but I hear it's on the heavy side. $999 though.

 

[tyasawa]

i always happy with my toshiba portege r-100, its really light about 1 kg even lighter than my bulky text books XD the battery life is about 8 hours at first.. but now its only 6 hours somehow.. its quite old now.. but still do its job..

yea those little laptop cost a lot .. ;_;..

i think asus have nice light notebooks.. '',.. http://au.asus.com/products2.aspx?l1=5&l2=25

 

[th3sandm4n]

Ya I was looking into Dell, but for some reason the page is down or something atm
The Asus would be nice too, but a bit out of the range(just like pretty much every one out there lol)
Do any of you guys know about "building" laptops from barebones? I think that this might be a neat way for me to tackle this since I dig building my own stuff

Something like this(first google search):http://www.avadirect.com/product_details_configurator.asp?PRID=5788
Then I guess buying the proc and ram and HD myself?

I am also not savvy about batteries, is the one listed there Li-ion 8 cells, 4400mAh pretty decent? Ive seen alot of 3-4 cells, so this seems intuatively bad ass

 

[Veho]

Toshiba Libretto (if you're in the money), or Sony Vaio TX series (ultraportable, with a battery life of up to 8 hours). Or a ThinkPad.

Or a cheaper solution: Fujitsu Siemens Amilo V3205. I'm getting that one

Intel Core Duo 1.7 GHz, 512 MB RAM, 60GB HDD, DVD dual layer RW, 4xUSB, 1xFirewire, PC card, card reader, WLAN, LAN...
And a 12" screen. Portable

 

[th3sandm4n]

Ya the Vaios are nice...but too rich for my college-going butt

I think i might give these guys a research, they seem good from what I've read so far: www.powernotebooks.com
So for anyone also interested. They have the best reseller rating I've seen on resellerratings lol

Thanks for the input guys

 

[Veho]

Do any of you guys know about "building" laptops from barebones? I think that this might be a neat way for me to tackle this since I dig building my own stuff

Making your own laptop from a barebone motherboard, and even a non-standard CPU (say, Transmeta or some power-efficient portable CPU) would be an excellent solution, because you can customize it to your needs, but parts can be expensive, and the end result could cost more than a store bought laptop.

 

[blueskies]

I absolutely love my dell latitude c400. It's really small (mostly because the cd drive is external, which is a pain, but I really don't use it. ever). I run Ubuntu on it, haven't yet intalled beryl or anything fancy, but it's really quick barebones. Looks like they're selling on ebay for less than $300

I have the 1.2Ghz/256MB model (might be 512, not completely sure), but some come with

 

[FAST6191]

I would be tempted to suggest something like this but I sense it is way over the odds for what you need (there are cheaper models mind):
http://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-Satellite-R2...74912774&sr=8-1
As it stands though most tablet PCs have just enough performance to handle GBA and everything 16bit era and before emulation wise and if notetaking (or more likely viewing PDFs/powerpoint stuff) is a priority a touchscreen is invaluable.

Battery life for most tablets like this is in the realm of 4 hours though, which you can probably up by dropping brightness and the like.

Be forewarned that linux on these sort of things can be a major problem (drivers mainly) so do yourself a favour and do some searching beforehand.

 

[Mehdi]

http://www.averatec.com/products/portable/.../1100Series.asp

10.6 inch screen thats super small!

 

[th3sandm4n]

Making your own laptop from a barebone motherboard, and even a non-standard CPU (say, Transmeta or some power-efficient portable CPU) would be an excellent solution, because you can customize it to your needs, but parts can be expensive, and the end result could cost more than a store bought laptop.

Yeah I can see how this can happen, and I've NEVER done a laptop before. But I mean, I'm sure I can build something for alot less then those little monster machines that are mainstream

I absolutely love my dell latitude c400. It's really small (mostly because the cd drive is external, which is a pain, but I really don't use it. ever). I run Ubuntu on it, haven't yet intalled beryl or anything fancy, but it's really quick barebones. Looks like they're selling on ebay for less than $300

I have the 1.2Ghz/256MB model (might be 512, not completely sure), but some come with

 

[blueskies]

The only thing I have extra is a Linksys wireless card, and it works well enough for linux. It used to connect automatically, but lately I've had to turn in on manually each time I start the computer. Oh, and there's one problem with the lid.. X crashes when I close the lid, instead of the laptop going to standby or hibernate. I haven't looked lately, but I'm sure there's a solution for it. This is on Ubuntu Edgy, btw. The problem wasn't in earlier versions, and hopefully won't be in future ones.
So, to sum, drivers haven't been a problem.

Battery life is around 2-3 hours, but a new batt would last longer I'm sure. This one is a few years old. Plus the whole laptop was free, so I can't really complain.

 

[th3sandm4n]

THe one I have on CD is Ubuntu 6.10, when I ran the live cd on my current laptop everything worked just fine, so I can only hope that it works fine on whatever I decide to get

I'm not too keen on which is a great linux distro, I just found Ubuntu
Since I've never really used Linux before, I want to force it on a laptop I will use everyday so I can learn it (even though starting out it'll be all about the GUI lol)

 

[blueskies]

Two things: the laptop screen issue I'm dealing with wasn't present in the live cd, but was on install. Again, I'm sure it's fixed by now, I've just been lazy about it.

I like Ubuntu because it's pretty much brainless to use, and there are so many tutorials online (ubuntuforums.org is huge). I've gone through the somewhat painful installs of Debian and Slackware, and got things working, but realized it really isn't worth it to me in the end. I'd rather just have something stable that I can use and customize, but won't fall apart because I was messing around with config files.

 

[th3sandm4n]

Ah I see, I'm sure by the time I actually end up purchasing a laptop a new version will be out

Hopefully my cousin will want to buy the laptop off me so I don't have to deal with eBay or anything like that. But if not, then oh wells

 

[nintendofreak]

Ah I see, I'm sure by the time I actually end up purchasing a laptop a new version will be out

Hopefully my cousin will want to buy the laptop off me so I don't have to deal with eBay or anything like that. But if not, then oh wells

Of course, Even if you buy the "BEST" computer or laptop, as soon as u take it out of the box, its "outdated"

 

[Veho]

Of course, Even if you buy the "BEST" computer or laptop, as soon as u take it out of the box, its "outdated"Â

It will get outdated as you are taking it home from the store... You'll look up, and there, in another store, you'll see a newer version. With more RAM. Oh well.

I'll re-recommend the one I'm getting, Fujitsu Siemens Amilo V3205. It's $999

 

[Hitto]

If you're going to use a linux distro, let me give you one piece of advice, find the cheapest piece of kit you can, why not try and buy one used, or do you know someone with a suposedly "not working anymore" laptop (by that I mean it's bloated with spyware and the user doesn't care enough to fix it)? Between three to four years of age maximum, though, make sure you've got at least 256 megs of ram ;p

I use a HP pavillion ze4700 laptop (I *said* it's old) with ubuntu on it, it's an outdated piece of shit that wouldn't run windows anymore that my kid sister gave me when she bought her macbook, it takes like a minute to boot, but it's the only gripe I have with it.

It's my main "work" computer. It's fast enough for movies and whatnot (haven't tried beryl yet but let's not push our luck...), plus Ubuntu recognizes loads of harware nowadays (there wasn't ONE issue I couldn't resolve without googling for more than ten minutes). So ask your family and friends if they have some old laptop with dead batteries or with "it's too slow I can't run internet explorer on it anymore!" problems - I guarantee you will save heaps of cash.

Although you will be hard pressed to find anything small and lightweight, you just can't beat free (and Free)!

 

[th3sandm4n]

Of course, Even if you buy the "BEST" computer or laptop, as soon as u take it out of the box, its "outdated"Â

I'm not looking for the "newest" thing on the market, because I don't wanna spend alot. I just want something that is fast enough not to be annoying, and with expandable memory for the future.

If you're going to use a linux distro, let me give you one piece of advice, find the cheapest piece of kit you can, why not try and buy one used, or do you know someone with a suposedly "not working anymore" laptop (by that I mean it's bloated with spyware and the user doesn't care enough to fix it)? Between three to four years of age maximum, though, make sure you've got at least 256 megs of ram ;p

I use a HP pavillion ze4700 laptop (I *said* it's old) with ubuntu on it, it's an outdated piece of shit that wouldn't run windows anymore that my kid sister gave me when she bought her macbook, it takes like a minute to boot, but it's the only gripe I have with it.

It's my main "work" computer. It's fast enough for movies and whatnot (haven't tried beryl yet but let's not push our luck...), plus Ubuntu recognizes loads of harware nowadays (there wasn't ONE issue I couldn't resolve without googling for more than ten minutes). So ask your family and friends if they have some old laptop with dead batteries or with "it's too slow I can't run internet explorer on it anymore!" problems - I guarantee you will save heaps of cash.

Although you will be hard pressed to find anything small and lightweight, you just can't beat free (and Free)!

I'm planning on 512mb of ram, so that should be enough

But yeah, I know no one with a laptop they will give away lol, and I don't mind buying used as long as its small and has good battery life

QUOTE(veho @ Mar 27 2007, 08:05 AM)I'll re-recommend the one I'm getting, Fujitsu Siemens Amilo V3205. It's $999Â

It's weird, it's like only Europe has that laptop