Looking For A New Laptop

warhammer online is only gonna be fore the pc, so he cant go by macbook.

Dual boot.

Simple answer and fairly easy to do. I'm doing that with XP and Vista at the moment and all my friends with Mac's dual boot with Leopard and either XP or Vista, usually Vista.

Mines working fine. Havent had a problem with it.

Sorry, while there may be other reasons why not to buy from a retail store, your HP dying on you cannot be added to the list.
If you buy a HP laptop from CompUSA, its not any different from the same model HP laptop you get online.

Personally, back when CompUSA was still in buisness around here, we bought several high-end(at the time) desktops from them, and bought the warranty also - We ended up using the warranty several times, and were quite happy with their service - Sure, it cost a bit more, but when your motherboard dies for no reason, its much nicer to be able to say "Here. Fix it."

Of course, now I buy everything from Newegg or ebay, and figure that if it fails on me I will either get Newegg to RMA it, or get out the soldering gun and fix it.

As a note, I am still running one of those high-end machines, although its in a different case and has some different stuff, basically its the same system.


Back to the subject of this topic, I first would ask if you *really* need to be able to game with the latest and greatest on your laptop - If it is possible, I suggest getting an older and cheaper laptop for when you need portability, and build a high-end desktop for gaming - You can get a *much* better system for the same amount of money that way.


-RobbieThe1st

If you plan on running any type of game, that hard drive is going to screw you over big time... check the coupons on the site i posted, they change around thursday if there isn't one for you atm. You definitely need a bigger hard drive.

And here is your disadvantage of the M series of graphics cards, they do not hav full driver support from either microsoft or Nvidia.

The cards themselves are fine, but most of the time you have to rely on the manufacturer rather than Nvidia or microsoft to provide driver updates (which they rarely do).

the last "Techie" I talked to from circuit city told me that the Intel GMA X3100 graphics card was good...

too bad they cost hell of a lot more than most pc's.....

Point 1) His Budget is $900

Point 2) These start to look really expensive when you factor in that you would need to install a new operating system.

Point 3) If you actually take a look at their proper spec list Here you will note that the 2 laptops you list both have:

"Intel GMA X3100 graphics processor"

Good graphics cards? I think not.

Point 4) A 13" screen is tiny, most other laptops offer a minimum of 15.4", preferably try to get one with higher than that too.

I have nothing agaisnt Apples/Mac's. I actually considered buying a Macbook Pro earlier this year to do some work on, but in the end you need to spend AT LEAST $2000 on one to get the spec level you would want.

Word. The last "techie" from circuitcity I spoke to told me that there's no such thing as a 2 way audio cable. I then took a browse in the computer audio section and saw a huge rack full of them. -.-

No offense cloverdude but u have to take in to consideration the GPU.

the intel graphics isn't too bad on a mac. Things are set up differently inside a macbook compared to a pc laptop. It's no Geforce 8000 series card but it does the trick....well for CS source, that was the most intensive thing I saw running on it.

Um OS's aren't expensive at all. Everything is free on the internet and I can direct you to what you need and how to dual boot.

And ya you won't find what you need in a $900 price cap. Anything in that range won't run anything but vista if you ask me.

Same here. Mind u, most laptops will come with a free OS included anyways. And the ones that don't aren't even worth buying anyways.

The vaio??? seriously???

yah my bro has one runs really fast

I'm sorry, you are now banned form this topic -.-

I'll second that motion. Sony = pain in the ass in every way with computers.

are u kidding me my bro has a vaio and my mom has a mac pro and i rather be on the vaio then mac but heys thats just me...

trust me i know my shit aswell (of course its more then 900 lol it was over 2k)

P.s. hard to buy a good laptop under 900 usd.. A amazing CPU is like 600+(easy) usd.. ALONE

Not true, an amazing CPU is more in the range of 300+
http://www.ncixus.com/products/27787/BX80569Q9450/Intel/

If your paying more than 500 ur just wasting ur money.

its a okay one im building a computer and im buying a Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9770 3.2GHz i think one of the best cpus out there and its gunna cost me 650

that processor will be old by the end of the year lol

thanks russel it still will be good ur point?

Ok... Have it your way Susan.. The new processors will put yours to shame, and really it isn't even a laptop processor that you are talking about, it is a desktop processor... So you are completely off topic by stating this. Your brother may have a nice Vaio, but I can guarantee that he paid more thnt he would have for a different brand with the same specs. You aren't adding any insight to this topic, and are no longer helping in any way. I would like to ask you to please only reply if you can stay on topic and actually offer some sort of help here.


As for the laptop situation, I guess you have decided not to go with a dell, but if you do, I believe you can get a 17'' inspiron for around your range with the specs you want, It really isn't that bad of a computer, It is the one I currently have now... which has much higher specs than the one you are looking for and I only paid $1150 for it.



Module Description Description Product Code & SKU Product Code & SKU
Inspiron 1720 Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T7250 (2.0GHz/800Mhz FSB/2MB cache) GT725HN [223-3178]
Operating System Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium Edition SP1 VHP31E [313-5195][420-5769][420-5924][420-6436][420-8566][420-7026][420-7622][463-2282]
System Color Jet Black BLK [313-5473]
MEMORY 2GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 at 667MHz 2G2D [311-7219]
LCD Panel Glossy, high contrast, widescreen 17.0 inch display (1440 x 900) 17XGAT [320-5503]
Video Card 256MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 8600M GT 256NV86 [320-5468]
Hard Drive Size: 160GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM) 160GB [341-4709]
Network Card Integrated 10/100 Network Card and Modem INTNIC [430-0493]
Adobe Software Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 8.1 ADOBER [420-7468]
Optical Drive CD / DVD writer (DVD+/-RW Drive) 8XDVDRW [341-4716][420-8183]
Sound Card High Definition Audio 2.0 IS [313-4783]
Wireless Networking Cards Dell Wireless 1395 802.11g Mini Card TM1395 [430-2680]
Camera Integrated 2.0 Megapixel Webcam DCAMERA [320-5681]
Misc Productivity Software Microsoft Works IWRK9 [420-8051]
Anti-Virus/ Security suite (pre-install) McAfee SecurityCenter with anti-virus, anti-spyware, firewall, 30-Days MC930D [410-1160]
Battery Options 56Whr Lithium Ion Battery (6 cell) 6BAT [312-0519]
Warranty & Service 1Yr Ltd Warranty and Mail-In Service ST111RR [960-2780][987-5457][983-3120][987-8119][990-7989]
Dial-Up Internet Access 6 Months FREE EarthLink Internet Access ERTHLNK [412-0934][412-0935][412-0933]
Dell Digital Entertainment No Entertainment software pre-installed NODE [466-3921]
DOMS Camera Mod Basic Black Matte LCD back color w Camera DBLKWC [320-5798]
Processor Branding Intel® Core™2 Duo Label IC2DNB [310-8319]
Labels Windows Vista™ Premium VPN [310-8628]
DataSafe Online Backup Included 3 GB DataSafe Online Backup for 1Yr

$825 basically has everything you want.
if you decide to go for this, 67HLP4BL8WV6TD < that is a code for $225 off the price, which is what brings it into your range.

Not a bad deal, but if he wants that laptop then I'm sure he'll need a link to the site selling it though.

Again, please READ what he is asking for.

You CAN NOT get a decent alienware laptop for 900 USD, please try to reccomend things that actually fit the request of the topic starter.

You CAN customize it down so it meets your specs + price

4 gigs of ram is a waste if you are getting it from the dell website... they do not offer the 64bit os that you need to use all 4... stick with 3

Does it really not make any difference?

4 GB is only $50 more than 3.

Edit: By the way, is it worth it to get the 2.5 ghz processor? It's $125 more than the 2.4.

I still say hold off till the new ones come out. If you still intend on buying one stick with the 2.4, it will work just fine. No need to waste the extra cash.

EDIT: btw, I love my 1720 =)

I also suggest using the coupons from notebookreview.com

We're a getting a deal by buying it through a college actually.