Name brand or not?

Hi there. Well, my HP Pavilion ze1210 died, and I'm in the market for a new laptop. At the moment I am stuck between a Dell Inspiron 9100, or a build-your-own from either Ausus or Sager, and I was hoping for some guidance.

My overriding concern is reliability and longevity. I've just started grad school, and will be buying the machine with borrowed funds - so when those loans come due in 2.5 years, I do not want to have to be replacing my laptop because it either malfunctions or is out of date.

Basically, the three systems are similar. I am trying to keep the price tag under $1800, and am primarily interested in a desktop replacement. Thin and lights are cute, but come on.

I'm looking for at least 2.5 ghz of processor speed (P4 or AMD?), 512MB RAM, 15" screen, 60GB hard drive, wireless 801.11g and Bluetooth (preferably internal), and no less than a 128 MB graphics card...in addition to the regular goodies (CD-RW/DVD, etc.)

As I said, I've priced out comparable systems through Dell, Ausus, and Sager. Which tend to be more durable? Reliable? Have better service? Run more comfortably (heat/noise)? Have longer battery life? Better displays? (is the Ausus ACE display better or different from the Sager WideAngles display?) One note about the Ausus lappys - only internal 801.11b and no internal Bluetooth could be a big detractor.

Anyway, thanks for humoring the new guy...I'm looking forward to your advice.

 

First I would suggest going with a notebook where you can get a 3 year warranty. This will cover you for the 2.5years and give you a bit more confidence. However I will say that with the way tech is moving at the moment, wanting a notebook that is still upto date 3year later is asking a bit much, I would lower my expectations to just running.
I can't comment on Sager as I don't know much about them but I can say that both ASUS and Dell should be around in 3years, thus either would be a good choice. Personally I think the 9100 is ugly as all hell and about as unportable as a laptop can get, I can only suggest this one if it is never ever going to leave your room. The ASUS ACE view is ment to be very nice: http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/asus_l5000ga/
This review compares the ASUS vs Dell as well which might be worth a read.

This is also another good review of the L5 series:
http://www.devhardware.com/c/a/Complete-Systems/ASUS-L5GA-Notebook-Review/

I would also say that I would choose processor based on needs and price. If gaming is important then AMD, if you need to sheed a few $$ then go AMD, if not P4 would be my choice. As for Gpu I would look for ATI over Nvidia, perfeably a 9700 or better.

I am surprised that the ASUS has no "g". There is no reason that they can't, as its just a case of putting in a different mini pci card. Most places that custom build these should be offering "g" and if they aint I would be asking why, and looking else where.
As for bluetooth, do you need it? If yes you can always get a usb etc addon later.
As you may have guessed I'm trying to steer you towards the ASUS. My reasons are 1)that I believe that the overall quality both inside and out will be better than the dell. 2) it looks so much nicer that dell thing is a beast from designer hell. 3)If biased towards ASUS
But I will close by saying that if you do go with the ASUS, shop around do some checking as you will be more dependent on the place of purchase for warranty/support then you will on ASUS.
Good luck
a


ASUS M6Ne 15.4" WSXGA 1.7 PM ATI9700 80Gb HDD 512Mb RAM

 

Thanks very much for that. I was worried about the Dell's portability - I don't take "desktop replacement" to mean "weighing as much as an actual desktop". I'll check out those review sites, and I'll ask about including a wireless g option.

As to use...lots of things, really - Photoshop, Illustrator, and Dreamweaver; I have an iPod and would like to use it; and I am a gamer. Still AMD then? And what about Pentium M? Sorry for all the question...I've actually just gotten back from the Peace Corps and so am out of the technology loop.

 

At the moment the major limit to gaming performance is the GPU. As a result you won't see much difference between all of the CPUs (ie PM vs p4 vs AMD) I think toms hardware or anandtech had a good review showing that performance was almost identical in games. That being said you will pay a bit more for a PM based machine, so if portablity is not a major requirement, then I would say go AMD or P4. Photoshop etc like lots of RAM so I would say that this would be one area that you may want to beef up. 512 would be a min these days, 1Gb would be best. I have an ipod with my M6n and it works great so that shouldn't be a prob.
a


ASUS M6Ne 15.4" WSXGA 1.7 PM ATI9700 80Gb HDD 512Mb RAM

 

Okay. Last one. Thanks for the patience and the advice. This will be my first time buying a non-name-brand computer, and the truth is I am pretty excited about it - getting a clean system without all the crap HP or Dell throws on it is a great prospect. My buddies have been advising me not to install Windows XP (which I have never liked), but Windows 2000 instead on the machine, which is supposedly compatible with XP software. Perhaps this belongs in another thread, but do you have any OS advice for this machine, and what I intend to do on it (graphics, games, etc.)?

Secondly, the reviews all mention heat and battery life as marks against the ASUS. My question is...how hot? And how short the battery life?


Thanks:

P

 

I can only comment on the ASUS ones that I have (M6Ne and M2N) both are PM and thus heat and battery life are pretty good.
I will say that DTR in general suffer from poor battery life, and heat problems. Its not suprising as they are using a desktop CPU which produces alot of heat, and would normally have a huge heatsink and 80cm fan on it.
Also ASUS aren't a no-name, they supply most of the big boys (sony, ibm etc) with motherboards etc for their notebooks. Their also the one of the largest 1st tier tech companies inthe world, and have been rated the best motherboard maker for the last few years.

As for operating system, windows 2000 is good barebones o/s, it takes up less memory... But it doesn't come with many of the extras that XP has eg system restore, extra secruity features of SP2, extra drivers. I have used both systems and used to be a big windows 2000 fan. But since sp1 I switched to XP and I love it, and would never go back, and SP2 has been great too.



ASUS M6Ne 15.4" WSXGA 1.7 PM ATI9700 80Gb HDD 512Mb RAM

 

All right. I'm about ready to pull the trigger. The more I look at this computer, the more I like about it. Am I right in thinking that I can replace parts in the future (update the motherboard/processor, or GPU)?

I'll take your advice about XP Pro. I was thinking about Linux, but I'm too much of a novice.