Hi there (FAQ below)...
In a few months, I'll be looking for a notebook for college. I currently have a Dell Inspiron 5150 with a Mobile Pentium 4 with 3.06 GHz, 512 mb of RAM, a 60 gig 5200 RPM hard drive, CD Burner & DVD Player, Wireless (B) Card and an NVIDIA GeForce FX Go5200 graphics card. It's from about three years ago and has survived with all of today's programs exceptionally well. In fact, in the coming months, this computer will be passed on to my brother. My only complaint is a compatibility issue with the NVIDIA card which renders graphics in IE as a person might see them in any other browser while severely under the influence and similar strange renderings occur throughout Windows (yes, I have the most recent drivers and SP2 for XP). When I bought this computer, I was obviously looking towards the future, knowing that laptops are nearly impossible to upgrade and I plan on keeping my new computer around for a long time, probably around four years.
Currently, I run programs like Photoshop and Dreamweaver and would do some minor video editing if I could find a good, free/open-source program and do some minor audio work. I also use this computer for heavy web-browsing (I have 19 tabs open in FF at the moment ) and word processing. I rarely do gaming and not having the newest/best graphics card wouldn't bother me too much. Currently, Command and Conquer: Generals is one of the few games I play and I'll probably pick up the sequel and am always looking for something fun so while graphics aren't paramount, I'd like them to be decent. I also have a large collection of MP3's and have almost filled my current (60 gig) hard drive with them and software and pictures. I plan to continue using my system for these tasks and anything else that might come along in the next four years.
So far, my feeling has been to shy away from Dell and the other big companies because of the crappy service I've come to expect from them... but an incredible deal could pull me back. Tech support on the software side is usually useless for me anyway since I rarely have issues and find most of my answers online. Hardware issues and build quality are another issue entirely. This Dell's (built-into-motherboard) sound card died from plugging in headphones a dozen or so times but I got it repaired from an outside company since the warranty was long gone. I'm not qualified to compare the service I might get from a Sager-like company to that of Dell so help in that department would be much appreciated. Although I doubt it would happen, I would like to hear people's opinions on the company's reaction when a computer arrives DOA or severely messed up (if I had the same graphics compatibility issue with IE in the new computer, I would return it).
School starts in August but with Vista and Core2 Duo around the corner, it just doesn't seem like a safe time to be buying a laptop for the long-haul. Some technologies I've held off on for are 64 bit mobile processors like Merom and Turion 64 X2 (though I don't know if they're overkill), 802.11N and Vista. My guess is I won't be getting this computer 'till Vista's out anyway (early '07 at the earliest) since re-buying an OS seems like an awful waste of money and a lot of effort in order to preserve all the files. I definitely want a DVD burner, would like Bluetooth and am willing to consider a Mac, though Windows would probably wind up on it. I've also read that a 7200 RPM hard drive can greatly improve performance and know I need a bigger hard drive but would like to hear opinions on that front. Since RAM is getting cheaper and cheaper and I probably won't be getting this for a half year, I wonder if 2 gigs is excessive to look for. Though this obviously fits in the "desktop replacement" category, something within a 15" +/- 1" category would probably be best.
If you've read through all this... thanks! If you have any ideas, comments, whatever, I'm happy to hear anything.
General Questions
1) What is your budget?
<$2000
2) What size notebook would you prefer?
Around 15"
3) What tasks will you be performing with the notebook?
See above
4) Will you be taking the notebook with you to different places or leaving it on your desk?
Occasionally - not a big issue
5) Will you be playing games on it; if so, which games?
Occasionally - see post
6) Are there any brands that you prefer or any you really don't like?
Not really - haven't been in love with Dell but don't mind a bargain...
7) How many hours of battery life do you need?
No less than 3
8) Do you mind buying online without seeing the notebook in person?
Nope
9) What country are you buying this in?
U.S.
Screen Specifics
10) Would you prefer standard or widescreen?
No major preference
11) From the choices below, what screen resolutions would you prefer?
SXGA/WSXGA or UXGA/WUXGA
12) Do you want a glossy/reflective screen or a matte/non-glossy screen?
No major preference
Build Quality and Design
13) Are the notebook's looks and stylishness important to you?
Minimally
14) How long do you want this laptop to last?
About four years
Notebook Components
15) How much hard drive space do you want; 40GB to 120GB?
Something like 100 gigs - see post
16) Do you need an optical drive? If yes, a DVD-ROM, DVD-CD/RW or DVD-RW drive?
Yes, I was thinking dual-layer DVD burning but dunno about how popular it is, what it's used for, etc...
Click to expand...
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.
... anyway... I'll leave you the description I left in the other thread and suggestions from Asus (preferably with specs since I can't get them online, grr) would be much appreciated!
