Laptops

[Mike]

Thanks for the help guys.

As far as the DVD drive, I'd like to keep that. I would hate (in the event I have to reformat) to have to make backups on 10 CDR's, I'd much rather use DVD's. Plus, I'll probably watch some movies on it too. It's more convenience than priority, so I'll look into getting just a CD-RW drive and a faster HDD.

Battery life isn't too much of a concern for me, most of the work i'm going to be doing on it will be at school, home, or competitions. 2 hours is more than enough battery life for me.

Weight is also a minimal issue for me, I won't be traveling much with it... it's mostly a desktop replacement.

Originally, I was questioning how good a 4200 RPM would be... but on some sites I found they were saying 4200 RPM is normal for laptops to keep down heat/noise. I'll look into a 5400 RPM.

Thanks again for the help guys


EDIT: Starting to lean towards the Pavilion, from your guys requests. I toned down the DVD drive, and upped the HDD. Here's what I came out with:
Pavilion ZV6000
Processor: AMD Athlon(TM) 64 3200+ (2.0GHz/512KB L2 Cache)
Screen: 15.4" WXGA BrightView Widescreen (1280x800)
Graphics Card: 128MB ATI RADEON(R) XPRESS 200M
RAM: 1.0GB DDR SDRAM
HDD: 80 GB 5400 RPM
Optical Drive: DVD/CD-RW Combo Drive
Price: $1,253
HP has a 1 year parts/labor warranty on their Pavilions.

[MrToast]

If there's any way you can get an extended warranty for it, GET IT!

There are two things in life you should absolutely without question buy extended warranties for: cars and laptops.

My iBook doesn't have an extended warranty, and I greatly regret not having one.

I can't stress enough how useful they are.

Dave

[Ashley Weed]

Originally Posted by MrToast

If there's any way you can get an extended warranty for it, GET IT!

There are two things in life you should absolutely without question buy extended warranties for: cars and laptops.

My iBook doesn't have an extended warranty, and I greatly regret not having one.

I can't stress enough how useful they are.

Dave

Actually, for the price of extended warranties, they just aren't worth it and the hassle and what they cover. I have mine covered under my homeowners insurance. So, if ANYTHING EVER happens to it, as long as I am paying insurance on it, I get the full purchase price back - no questions asked. This includes things like theft, spills, me getting angry and throwing it, or running over it with my Jeep.

[Joe Ross]

Originally Posted by Ashley Weed

Actually, for the price of extended warranties, they just aren't worth it and the hassle and what they cover. I have mine covered under my homeowners insurance. So, if ANYTHING EVER happens to it, as long as I am paying insurance on it, I get the full purchase price back - no questions asked. This includes things like theft, spills, me getting angry and throwing it, or running over it with my Jeep.

I'd be very interested in reading the terms of your homeowners policy and riders, as well as knowing how much it costs to insure against intentional damage. Does it cover manufacturers defects as well?

[team222badbrad]

How about a Dell?

I personally have a Inspiron 8600 series, which I got in January.

The 8600 is no longer being produced, but 6000 might be in your price range, depending on how you build it.

I have not had any major problems with it so far, besides some keyboard keys popping off, which I simply popped back on. It's no wonder that all of them are not off from all of this CD forum stuff!

[Conor Ryan]

Originally Posted by team222badbrad

How about a Dell?

I personally have a Inspiron 8600 series, which I got in January.

The 8600 is no longer being produced, but 6000 might be in your price range, depending on how you build it.

I have not had any major problems with it so far, besides some keyboard keys popping off, which I simply popped back on. It's no wonder that all of them are not off from all of this CD forum stuff!

I looked heavily into dell, since my dad gets an discount from work there. But the problems I found with them were, 1. more expensive processor upgrades and 2. hardly any Video power, very few models had dedicated memory for the video and even those that did got pretty expensive

If I had the money I'd look into Toshiba and Fujitsu, they have great notebooks that start around 1200. Also Acer usually has some hidden deals in its notebooks too. Gateway is also a worthy mention too.