Please help! Thanks, appreciate it!

Hey there i'm currently deciding between 5 or so lappies, and would appreciate it if you can give me your vote, and any extra info you know... ive posted my main issues with each lappie underneath the specs, so if you have any input on that id really appreciate it

ive narrowed my choices down but still have reservations about each... please tell me any extra info about these lappies, like build quality, support, etc etc...oh and ive included the prices i can get, so ya have a look!

main purpose - taking notes and word processing at uni; lots of multitasking, and some games from time to time... but i wanna be able to play the latest games...just a general purpose lappie that will last for quite a while...

1) TOSHIBA TECRA A7 - $2600 Australian dollar AUD
- CD 1.83 GHz
- 512mb ram
- 100 gb 5400rpm
- ati x1600 256mb
- 2.7kg
* My main concern with this is battery life... i read in an australian forum that the maximum battery life without undervolting is 2 hours... 2 hours!!! i do need these to take notes from oh so exciting law school and 2 hours is seriously unacceptable eh... other ppl have said they have had probs with the fingerprint reader, some have got bsods... just generally not great reviews and although seriously all the friends i have asked has recommended toshiba i dunno im not impressed by this....

2) HP COMPAQ NC8430 - $3100 AUD
- CD 1.83GHz
- 512mb ram
- 80bg 7200rpm
- ati x1600 256mb
- 2.7kg
* For some reason i quite like this... i think hp lappies are better quality and more so this has the specs i want, a decent 3 and half hour battery life, as well as no heating problems which is my main concern with that asus a6... but it costs seriously a lot more as you can see and as a student i have to starve myself an extra week to be able to afford this... im not willing to lose any one of my fat rolls...

3) DELL XPS 1210 - $3500 AUD
- CD 1.83GHz
- 1gb ram
- 80GB 5400rpm
- Geforce 7400 256mb
- 1.3mp camera
- 2kg

4) ASUS A6JA - $2350 AUD
- CD 1.83GHz
- 1gb ram
- 100GB 5400rpm
- ati x1600 256mb
- 1.3mp camera
- 2.9 kg
* k for the price this is probably my laptop of choice but there is a major problem with this and its the heating... some posters have said it goes up to 75 degrees while playing games... could someone please tell me whether thats a safe temperature to be operating my laptop at? im not goign to put it on my lap and its not going to cause me any discomfort... but, the thing is if i get some hardware failure like a fried peice of ram or a melted harddrive as a result its not really worth it ya...

5) ASUS A8JA - $2350 AUD
- CD 1.66GHz
- 1gb ram
- 100GB 5400rpm
- ati x1600 256mb
- 2.4kg
* in australia for some reason the 1.8GHz version of this only comes with nvidia... i want ati!!! is that too much to ask!!!

look any input would really be appreciated... oh and does anyone know when core 2 duo will hit sydney and hit the core duo prices in a downwards direction hopefully with great force??

anyway, thanks heaps for taking your time to read this ya

 

Trying not to be biased here, but the A8ja or Dell 1210 may be ur best choices, because of the portability and performance they offer.

I would lean more towards the A8ja because of the GPU is 2x more powerful, but you stated you would like Nvidia.

You will not notice the difference in speed between the 1.6 and 1.8ghz that much so that would be ok, plus a slower processor would give you more batterylife too.

With the A8ja you can expect close to 3.5 hours of battery life.

 

I would chose with no doubt A8Jm(14"), W3J+(14"), F3Jm(15") or Z96J(15").
And you are going to say "Oh an asus fan", well kinda because after my research i found out that this are the better notebooks vs price and built quality.
I was olmost in the same place as you, I'm a student i want it for all my college stuff, sometimes playing games(latest), portable and a decent battery life.

I was considering M1210 too but I compared prices and quality after that i would go for an asus.
M1210 is around 1.98 kgs very close to a 14" laptop.
Now look 14" notebooks w/ that power and 3d card gets a little hot but nothing really important, about the temperature you were saying, 75°C is safe.

So my advice is get one of those notebooks, they really worth it.
I'll buy W3J+ but I want to wait till last day so I can see if merom comes soon.
I hope this can help you to decide, you can watch the reviews here.

 

go for hp nc8430 with out seeing any other options top notch build quality because its a business class note book no problems like heat e.t.c nice battery and best graphic card for gaming u will get this dude

 

i didnt know that notebook, seems good.

 

ooo guys thanks heaps... just regarding that hp, could someone tell me whether its really good enough to be worth that money?? its a lot more expensive than the asus eh...

anyway thanks again

 

I've also been considering the NC8430, but it's so **** ugly.

On topic: I'd personally also recommend to have a look at the ASUS V6J...

 

go to www.p4laptops.com.au
u can get the z96j at a very good price

 

NC8430 actually looks very clean and professional in real life. Much better style and very very thin compared to my Dell machines. Looks a little similar to a thinkpad.

I also like the A8JM in the 14.1" range. If I was choosing a 14.1", that would be my first choice.