War said:
I was finally able to sell my iPod locally through craigslist. I put it up for sale here in temp, but no one wanted it. I figured I wouldn't be losing anything by putting it up in craigslist, and sure enough, about a week later (yesterday), a guy called me and bought it from me. I'm glad it worked out that way, because not only did I get 120 out of it (I asked for 100 when I put it up here) but I also didn't need to pay for shipping or anything.
All I have left to do is sell my PSP. I really thought it was gonna sell a lot faster, but I guess people just aren't interested in PSPs at the moment because of the DSi (the economy might have something to do with it too). I'm gonna stay positive though, cause I'm sure someone out there wants it.
Which netbook are you looking at? If you can swing 550-600 I'd have to say go with an ASUS N10J series w/a dedicated nVidia 9300M GS(also switchable on the fly to the chipset provided Intel 945 IIRC for additionall battery life). From the N10 User's Forum the thing overclocks pretty nices to c. 2.1GHz for most people, although some can only overclock to c. 1.8GHz.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16834220385
hmmm oops, these are WAY more now, $679, better off with that MSi GX630 IMO...
Also MSI has a nifty 15.4" gaming series nb, GX630 (AMD x2 w/9600M GT GDDR3 512MB GPU),
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16834152073
drawback is that the LCD panel is only WXGA, 1280x800... (they seem to have these on sale for c. $600 every now and then...)
Probably going way out of the price range, but the GT627-216US isn't bad either,
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16834152095
but again only the WXGA panel, 1280x800. 9800M GS, 1GB GDDR3 15.4"
...and to keep on going up a little more even, and maybe really worth saving for the
GT627-218US WSXGA+ (1680x1050), Intel P8600(2.4GHz) + Blu Ray DVD(read only)/DVD+/-RW is c. $1300 (no BIOS support of quad cores, GT628 with DDR3 system memory will be out in a few months)
and my favorite
GT725-074US (17") WSXGA+ (1680x1050), Intel P8600, Super multi DVD+/-RW, ATI Mobility Radeon 4850HD 512MB GDDR3 $1350 (I picked up one, little large for carrying around, but the 4850 is an awesome GPU, and unlike mobile nVidia parts it has all shaders intact with a slight core/mem clock lowering v. desktop part, still I almost wish that I had gone for a 627 for easier portability c. 10500 3DMark06, 5500 Vantage, currently capable of supporting up to QX9300 quad core, but only ships with P8600 or P9500 ATM. Q9000 IIRC is in the pipeline for end of the month, but more $$$ and lower clock, 2GHz IIRC. ATI X11 driver(linux) still are sucktacular, so if you're going to run linux + X11 or *BSD +X11, etc. go nVidia -- compositing on causes opengl windowed apps to flicker annoyingly, some video playback freezes system, etc. IOW amateur hour drivers)
Another drawback with these MSI's are that in the US they only give a 1y warranty.
You may also want to hunt around the web for deals on discontinued Sager/Clevo model custom notebooks. They might drop low in price.
If you want to build your own search ebay for MS-1651 and/or MS-1722 barebone notebooks, search for 2.5" SATA hard disk drives, Intel Core 2 Duo CPUs (stick with the P series or known ompatible CPUs), some memory from somewhere, optical drive if the barebones lacks it as some people at notebookreview.com have been able to put together systems for c. $500. (The MS-1651 is, basically, the same chassis/mb as the GT627 but with the 9600M GT 512MB GDDR3. The MS-1722 is a 17" similar chassis to the GT725, same mb IIRC, but again with the 9600M GT which is plenty good enough to run recent games at decent detail at 1400x900 or below(forget 1680x1050 for gaming though).)
ASUS has the G50VT (IIRC) with a 9800M GS 512MB GDDR3, P8700 (2.53GHz), 2yr warranty with the 1st year including accidental damage, capability for running 2 hdds in RAID, but the chassis is incredibly bulky like a 17".
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16834220483
In any case, I STRONGLY reccomend making use of the "what notebook should I buy" forum at notebookreview.com, and maybe looking around the forums of the notebook/netbook manufacturers that you are considering buying from.
Also, if you decide to go with a real notebook, you may want to wait until summer when mobile Nehalem chipset + CPUs come out(they got pushed back so that vendors could clear out montevina stock(see all notebooks listed above all P45M + ICH-9M Intel mobile chipset, aka motevina "update", also note NONE of these notebooks allow hot switching between the P45M's builtin Intel GPU and their dedicated, excepting the N10J which is using an entirely different notebook chipset + CPU combo)) which should be nice with integrated memory controller and removal of the front side bus on the CPU. Failing that, I'd bet that there will be even better deals on the above then. (I couldn't wait, so I sprung for the 725...)
Misc. EDITS updating bits and pieces.
Last comment, the GT725 is really good enough to be a decent desktop replacement machine, and the GT627 could almost be but only the WSXGA+ model IMO. 1280x800 is just to low res to be a good desktop replacer. All the MSI models use MXM GPU slots, so it is, potentially possible to upgrade their GPUs, but you'll most likely need to have some decent technical knowledge, and in many cases be able to fashion a suitable heatsink. ASUS notebooks have a reverse pinout MXM slot, so they're more difficult to upgrade the GPUs, again you'll likely need to be able to fashion a new heatsink. (There are about 4 or 5 different heatsink attachment layouts for MXM GPU crads, plus they all have the chips that need to be cooled arranged differently so that the chances of the stock heatsink working with a newer model GPU are slim. The GT627 supports up to MXM Type III cards IIRC, while the 725 can support up to Type IV IIRC. Also note the 627 comes with a 90W power supply, and the 725 with a 120W PSU so you may also want/need a new PSU to go with a more powerhungry newer GPU card. nVidia AND ATI drivers both way downclock the GPUs when running on battery, so don't expect to run the latest games unless you hack the drivers/BIOS to override that, and then expect really low battery runtime.)
All models (excepting the netbook) have socketed CPUs as well, so it's possible to upgrade those providing a socket compatible CPU AND BIOS support. (MSI is CRAPPY in that they provide ZERO notes with their notebook BIOSes, so you never know for sure what the "fixes" are or what CPUs are really supported unless you or someone else tries them out.)
Lastly if you can take Intel integrated GPUs, there are some decent full-size notebooks with GMA3100s and 4500s for $500-600, 13-15" range. There are also some ASUS and other nbs with 9600M or 9500M nVidia GPUs, plus some ATI 4670s coming out in the 13-14" range, but they won't be as cheap as Intel integrated GPU notebooks. All up to how much gaming you do, how long you want it to be reasonably gaming useful, etc. i.e. gaming not so important and/or you can live with lower res + graphics detail Intel integrated would be OK, but I'd really look at nbs with dedicated nVidia and/or ATI GPUs, but remember the ATI poor linux driver support if that matters. (Hoping that they improve rapidly myself or some decent OSS drivers with RV770 support come out by the end of the year...)
(I went from:
looking at maybe a PSP slim + hax -> Open Pandora -> netbook -> full blown notebook based upon looking at prices + features + overall usefulness + neccessity)
