Wanted: one powerful, yet balanced, notebook

Hey to all of you out there! I'm going to college in the fall (as a frosh), entering into an architecture program. I need a power4ful, reliable notebook that can handle AutoCad, Revit and anything else my instructors might throw at me. It'd also be nice to hae some side features (wireless net, DVD/ CD burning, etc.). I'm sure those are easy to add opn, though. At any rate price is not a terrible issue as my most of my non-immediate family is going in on it. I also don't think I'll be taking it to class too much. I might at first, carry it with me everywhere for fear of someone taking it...

Is it possible to have an uber-powerful laptop that is lightweight?

 

HP NC 6000[ ]
I have it for a month now and i can confidently say it rox!

http://reviews-zdnet.com.com/Thin-and-light_notebooks/4521-6527_16-5021302-2.html?tag=txt

Check out the above link its listed way up there at the top

PROs [^]
- Radeon 9600 Dirext 9 graphic card supports external high res Monitors as well
- Bluetooth
- Wireless 802.11/a/b/g
- 60 GB
- 5.5 Pounds (very light)
- 5+ hours on battery
- DVD CDR with TV out res of 1024x768x32 (awesome DVD quality on TV)
- SD/IO card slot
- 3 year warranty coverage

Cons [V]
- Radeon 9600 has 64 bit 32MB, Games still look awesome and play extremely well, since i chose a regular xga screen with 1024x768x32, i dont miss the extra graphic ram (you can choose 128bit 64mb version)

Final words: just cant go wrong with this machine!

HP Compaq NC6000
Pentium M 1.6
Radeon 9600/32
mb 512MB/60GB/DVD-CRDRW/SDIO
Giga LAN/Wireless 802.11/abg 54mb/Bluetooth/IR

 

another good one for the price is the Compaq R3000T dedicated, for some reason the identical HP only has the option of a ATI 9200 anymore, but if that is all you need than it is a great machine as well.

zx5000 :: 2.4M :: 512 DDR :: 40gb 4200 RPM HD :: 15.4" :: Radeon 9600 Mobilty M10 :: Aquamark3 22,856

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by Daisy May
Is it possible to have an uber-powerful laptop that is lightweight?
<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'></font id='quote'></blockquote id='quote'>

Actually, yes, you can. It also depends on you definition of Uber-powerful. If you're looking for a P4 or Mobile P4 system, then they tend to be oon the heavier side. But they you can also get a high powered Dothan based Pentium M in a lighter package.

HP has the NC8000 & NW8000 models which are their workhorse models for the Buisness Line. These units can have upto a 1.8Ghz Pentium M Dothan CPU & upto 128MB of video memory. From these 2 models, the NW8000 is more suited for power since this is their Workstation model, hence the W in the model name. The video card in this unit is an ATI Fire GL T2 which is comparable with the 9600 CPU but more suited for high-end business graphics. All this power in a package only weighing approx. 6.5lbs.

-Vb-