26 replies to this topic

[Iluro80]

Soon its the birthday of my father... and his old laptop seems a PC... (tft broken)... its a ************ AIRIS!!

We wanna buy a new one to him... but we don't know much about laptops... their processors, etcetc.

At the begining we want a HP (i think a toshiba or ibm could be right too) because it doesn't break as quick as other... and their battery isn't ***** after a year..

The idea will be a 'normal' laptop, powerful enought to run without problems the auto CAD 2k7 (and new autoCADs if possible jejeje). After a quick look i say that now many laptops come with DDR2 and SATA HD... something good jeje
We don't need 'strange/expensive' features like the security of 'finger recognison' (or how the hell it's said), etc...

Any idea about models please :?

Thanks!!

Ah, the screen about 15'', we doesn't want 14'' (or smaller ones) and about bigger... i'm not sure about... i should ask it.. but i don't think so.. jeje

[Charalambos]

The Fujitsu-Siemens e.g. the Amilo ones( like the one I have) have good specifications and are high-quality manufactured products( e.g. the touchpad is a metalic one in most of these models), you can take them into consideration also.

[Iluro80]

Thanks Charalambos

I only find quite hight prices puaj ://

Anyone knows more or less the equivalences between laptops CPUs or for wich ones i should consider the offerS :? I only know that CELERON is a ######... but the others models.... im really lost :|

[MaLing]

If your father uses for CAD, I think it consumes huge power of the processor and RAM, so it might not be a good idea to buy Celeron, and Intel should be better than AMD in laptop.

The amount of RAM for CAD is also very important, and since new laptops come with Windows Vista (which 'swallow' RAM much more) instead of XP, I think 2G is the minimum requirement. I do not think that you can buy DDR(1) RAM with new laptops, DDR2 is the only choice.

14" LCD is a bit smaller, for graphics operations, 15" is barely enough, maybe 17" is suitable provided it is within your budget.

Laptops are not like desktops, brand is quite important because we rely on the maintenance service more. I am not familiar with brands, but HP sounds good.

Edited by MaLing, 26 June 2007 - 11:25 PM.

[zamiel]

Toshiba Satellite

[Iluro80]

Yup, I'm looking both, Toshiba and HP... i've found some interesting offers... but hatting about 800€ grrr
We will remove VISTA and put XP (the same license we had in the old laptop that we will send to trash after removing the HD ).

I was looking about some laptop with only 1 module of ram instead of 2x512. But not many luck. Some Toshiba has 2x1024
I've found not many 17'' and very expensive... (or taking ACER... but... i preffer not taking it).

Now acad is running in a ***** with 512 ram jeje

MaLing any hint with CPU selection :? Not CELERON (of course) and Not Turion (i think it's the only AMD i've seen... and only in one model xD) :??

---edited---
What i should look for... the good ones are too expensive (prices with taxes)

Toshiba:
-Satel·lit serie A200-1C0 (15'') --> 777.20€
-Satel·lit serie A200-1DY (15'') --> 910.60€
-Satel·lit serie A100-914 (15'') --> 683.24€
-Satel·lit serie pro A120-10L (15'') --> 881.60€
-Satel·lit serie P100-450 (17'') --> 1032.40€
-Satel·lit serie P200-14J (17'') --> 1119.40€

Edited by Iluro80, 27 June 2007 - 02:41 AM.

[MaLing]

Intel offers Centrino processors for laptops, they are good. There are single core and double cores. You may have a look here:
Intel Centrino
Single core one is quite old, but the double cores ones are dearer.

If you manually install Windows XP on your own to the new laptop, there is one thing you may take notice:

Usually new laptops are equipped with some new components, but Windows XP is product of 2001, it may not included drivers for the new components, you need to manually install drivers.

However, laptops usually do not provide individual drivers on their CDs, instead they just supply restore discs, and the restore discs are just images of Windows Vista.

You may need to check with the manufacturer of your new laptop whether it provides Windows XP drivers. Without those, you new laptop may not properly fucntion.

I admit Acer is not a good brand, but it is cheaper, so mine laptop is Acer with 17" LCD.

Even using Windows XP, I do not think 512MB are enough for CAD, 1GB seem to be more suitable.

Wish you will get a valuable one.

[Ljugtomten]

As asked in another thread, I paid 10500SEK for my laptop.
Accoring to http://www.xc.com/ucc

Live rates at 2007.06.27 14:59:16 UTC
10,500.00 SEK = 1,133.79 EUR
Sweden Kronor Euro
1 SEK = 0.107980 EUR 1 EUR = 9.26099 SEK

It's a wonderful laptop And it's got Gbit LAN even though it only says 100Mbit in many specs.

If I remember correctly, Windows Vista gave it 4.6 or 4.7 in its performance test. (More than my ordinary computer, Athlon64 X2 4200+ @2420Mhz, 3GB DDR PC3200 RAM, GeForce 7900GT 256MB)

[Jito463]

Just to clarify, Centrino is NOT a processor. Centrino refers to an entire Intel package in laptops (the CPU, chipset, graphics, wireless card, everything is Intel). The processor inside is either Core or Core 2 (in Solo or Duo options).

[Iluro80]

MaLing i need something 'strong' for my father.... sometimes he has to move a lot and needing something consistent... ACER isn't a good option :'( (we've a lot of ACERs to repair where i worked for about 3 months because of a studies subject :/ ).

Ok, it's an all in one
http://www.imfacil.c...spx?IdObjeto=16 <-- where i'm taking a look to try to choose something (tuesday i will try to go to BArcelona and look the shops jeje).
If there's any to have in consideration with a good price...

I think tomorrow i've not much more to do than finding it

[duydaniel]

Just to clarify, Centrino is NOT a processor. Centrino refers to an entire Intel package in laptops (the CPU, chipset, graphics, wireless card, everything is Intel). The processor inside is either Core or Core 2 (in Solo or Duo options).

Thanks for that info... I was confused before.

I bought a Dell with Core 2 Duo T5200 1.6 Ghz + 2GB Ram + 120 GB Hard Drive + 15.4 widescreen. It was Inspiron 6400 for $800. Its battery can run upto 6 hours. It is about 6.5 or 7 lbs.

Everything is nice... except Vista... really suck. It was Home Basic and I did a clean install before install any other apps... Ms Vista eats 600 MB of Ram by itself.

You may need to consider the portability of the laptop... how much does it weight, but having solid and strong structure. My uncle bought a gateway 17' but it is lighter than my 15'. It was $700 and Pentium Dual 1.7 Ghz. 1GB Ram and 160 GB Hard Drive. I notice that Windows Vista gave the processor Pentium D 1.7Ghz 4.6 and my Core 2 Duo 1.6 4.7 points. Which does not make sense to me.

With Dell Laptop... as I know... there are 2 streams one for home (named Inspiron) and other for business (named Latitude). The Latitude, I believe, is tested more and has better anti-shock structure...

But... if you want a real good laptop? you would need to check around with Ebay and avoid which models listed most as used.

Edited by duydaniel, 27 June 2007 - 03:53 PM.

[MaLing]

Jito, thanks for the clarification.

[Iluro80]

duydaniel very good price!! And i should buy between those companies :/ (and the prices here are higer i think jeje).

What about the
TOSHIBA SATELLITE A200-1C0 DC/T2350-1. 120GB 1GB 15.4IN DVD RW/RAM VHB 779,99 €
TOSHIBA SATELLITE PRO A120-190 CD/T2250 80GB 1GB 15.4IN DVD RW VHB 757€

:?? What do you think :?

[duydaniel]

duydaniel very good price!! And i should buy between those companies :/ (and the prices here are higer i think jeje).

What about the
TOSHIBA SATELLITE A200-1C0 DC/T2350-1. 120GB 1GB 15.4IN DVD RW/RAM VHB 779,99 €
TOSHIBA SATELLITE PRO A120-190 CD/T2250 80GB 1GB 15.4IN DVD RW VHB 757€

:?? What do you think :?

My church's Laptop is Toshiba... since it is Celeron 1.4 512MB Ram, it is not very smoothly running XP. I think in general, every Laptop is good, and Toshiba is also a good choice too. I don't think there would be a problem with the hardware in the laptop, yet the screen quality is something you should concern. I see people who throw away their laptop due to screen broken quite often. With Toshiba, I think it comes with Toshiba screen, which is very good in my opinion. I used Sisoft Sandra to check my Dell, it reports that the screen's manufacture was Samsung/ Seiko Epson, date of manufacture in Sunday December 25 2005, though I bought it in April 2007.

About 2 Laptops you asked, I think they are very identical... and 3Kg weight is very nice!!! I think, most laptops are equipped with 2 memory slots. And if you go with 1GB, your chance of having 2 x 512 MB modules installed is quite often. Which eliminate your chances to upgrade more Ram in future. Duo Core and Core 2 Duo are good choices. 80 GB is economic... to save money, since you can buy portable storage later...if need.

So my best suggestion is:

Core Duo is very fast yet save money, (Core 2 is not much better but more expensive).
Hard Drive 80 GB to save money... can buy external portable hard drive later if need.
Memory, should be 2GB ==> eliminate all upgrade nightmare.
Wireless
3 Kg weight is lovely.
screen quality should be concern.
Digial camera card reader slots should be concern if your dad has digial camera...

Good luck

[Iluro80]

22€ of difference... isn't too much at the end .

Yup, i've looked a lot and nothing... all with 2 ram :'( i've found some with 2gb ddr2, but it's too expensive... about 1k€

I'll try to say about adding 1GB ddr2 and they change me the two modules for one.. or have a price arrange for the unused module... but i think i'll have no luck ://

--
We've the card reader in the other PCs and i've a small lan in home, so will be no problem about it

The laptop we now have it's a ****** AIRIS, with the tft broken (so it isn't a laptop now xD)... it's one of the reasons we're looking for something 'good' and we know that HP and specially Toshiba are strong ('strong' is the word :?)

thanks!!

[Iluro80]

MM What about 'HP Compaq 6710s Notebook' ??
Intel Core 2 Duo T7100 1,8 Ghz
2x512mb DDR2-667/PC2-5300
120 GB Serial ATA 5400 rpm
Intel GMA X3100 384 MB DDR2 SDRAM (shared memory)
TFT 15.4''

Windows Vista Home Premium ( :'( )

For 729.88€ + transport

[duydaniel]

MM What about 'HP Compaq 6710s Notebook' ??
Intel Core 2 Duo T7100 1,8 Ghz
2x512mb DDR2-667/PC2-5300
120 GB Serial ATA 5400 rpm
Intel GMA X3100 384 MB DDR2 SDRAM (shared memory)
TFT 15.4''

Windows Vista Home Premium ( :'( )

For 729.88€ + transport

It sounds good to me. 1GB Ram is not bad to use Vista... but if you can set the shared graphic memory to lower... you then have more memory to run better. I don't like eye candy in Vista... so I disable all these visual effects... so it looks like Windows 98 now and it runs faster.

Yeah... I am pretty sure that your dad will enjoy the new laptop... Core 2 Rocks

[mmattera]

Sager make nice hi perf laptops. I do CadCam work and it offered the best system for the specs I wanted. It wasn't cheap. Search for Sager on the web. I had mine built by http://www.xoticpc.com but others build on the Sager platform.

Mike Mattera

[MaLing]

Iluro, your laptop looks excellent. However there are only 1GB of memory and they are shared with the display system, so they should be just barely enough for CAD jobs. It would be better if extra slots were available for adding memory in future.

Your father will like it a lot.

Edited by MaLing, 02 July 2007 - 09:48 PM.

[duydaniel]

Iluro, your laptop looks excellent. Although there are only 1GB of memory and they are shared with the display system, the laptop runs Windows XP instead of Vista, so they should be barely enough for CAD jobs. It would be better if extra slots were available for adding memory in future.

Your father will like it a lot.

I would think if you could go with Vista, since they are fixing it... it will be better off after few months.
Since Ms. Vista has Readyboost... it will be helpful to "upgrade" usb memory... and Superfetch (manage memory... better). At this time, it sucks... but won't suck long

1GB mem seems like "dead end" for memory upgrade in XP... then readyboost could help... just a few thoughts...