help finding cheap non gaming laptop!!?

[wideLoad]

I'm looking for a laptop and i never play games:

Priorities are as follows:
1) Cheap -- definately under 1200, hopefully close to 1000 or less
2) Nice big screen -- i.e., 15 or 15.4 and greater than 1024x768 res
3) Build quality and reliabilty -- i really don't want a POS w/ some screen that looks wack and a keyboard that is jacked up. That would get old yeah??
4) Portable, but doesn't have to be really portable. I.e., 7 lbs is OK i think -- but i don't want a monster either like the Dell 9100 (not to diss the 9100 just too big for me).
5) Vid card doesn't matter at all to me .

In terms of battery life -- i guess i need at least 2 hours but really antyhing more than that and i'll be looking for a plug sooner or later anyways so not that important.

The main things i will do w/ this laptop -- run apps like visual studio, surf the web (wifi neccesary), run office, play videos/dvds/mp3s. Some photoshop/dreamweaver apps, email.

Hopefully i don't have my head in the clouds and most of these criteria can be met at my price range?? I guess i just don't know.

I noticed that almost all posts in this "Notebook General" area revolve around the pentium-M chips. So i guess that means that most people here really want to have good batter life? Because to me processing power probably takes priority over long battery life (to a degree). I.e., if i can get a Pentium 2.66 that only has 2 hours of life but can haul ass over a Pentium-M 1.5 and is a cheaper laptop that is prbly cool.

I've been watching the bargain sites for a while trying to find this baby -- but they seem to focus mainly on Dell, which i guess could be OK. But alot of people also say Dell quality is bad. And then i came here......

You guys blew me away w/ the # of ODM's that you check out -- so i need to learn more.

Ok enough ranting... any suggestions??

Thanks a bunch!!!!
w.

[Enderet]

Sorry I didnt see your post sooner.

While there are other options... you might want to consider some of these notebooks.

http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/sh...omize_start.do

5/6 are under 1000 after rebates.

[wideLoad]

The HP's look OK and do fit my budget i guess. I need to read up on them more.

Here's one of the Dell deals i was checking out. I guess this is definately a little bigger (its a fatty) then i was hoping for -- but it is so hard to turn these specs down for such a retarded cheap price.

Inspiron 5150 Desktop Replacement Notebook - Mobile Pentium-4 2.66GHz, 15" XGA, 256MB DDR/30GB, Free 24x CDRW/DVD, GeForceFX 32MB Video Card, 10/100 Ethernet, 56k Modem, Word Perfect/MS Money, XP Home, 1-Yr Warranty, 8.2lb $999 - 10% off code = $899, free shipping.

What you guys think about that emachine 6805? I wonder if i can find that for cheap.

What about these ODM's -- are there any dog-ass-cheap ones that i should be looking into?

Thanks for input enderet!!
w.

[Tourney2112]

that Dell 5150 configuration is pretty good. However, the video card is practically useless. Don't expect to play anything more advanced than "age of empires." The emachines is a much better decision. the lowest you can get it for is $1250 after rebates but Im sure there are plenty on ebay. this system comes with the athlon64 which generally gives a 2.5 hour battery life. The ATI 9600 64mb video card will allow you to play any game out now and coupled with the athlon64, this is one very sweet machine. Definitely a much better decision than the dell. It will last you longer and do more for you.

[Tommi]

2) Nice big screen -- i.e., 15 or 15.4 and greater than 1024x768 res

This is very hard to get in that price range. You must almost definitely to limit yourself to XGA (1024x768) screens. SXGA+ screens costs a lot and WXGA screens are not especially cheap either.

[grahamisded]

that emachines will do you good for video editing or photshoppish stuff as well. and its got a dvd-burner. its probably the best laptop value around.
also look at these:
gateway - m350
ibm - r40
toshiba - a45
but the emachines is unspeakably cheap for such a wicked sweet notebook.
cnet liked the a45 and from my experience with it at best buy its also a nice machine that should suit your needs.

[wideLoad]

Tourney, you are definately right about the vid card on dell -- the only thing is though that i *really* never ever ever play video games on the PC. So having a totally "craptastic" video card really doesn't mean anything to me.

I do like the fact that the athlon is a true "mobile" processor -- so hopefully less heat and a 2.5 hour battery like you said.

But according to "the authority" CNET (hahha -- sick joke i know) they say the 5150 can get 254 minutes of battery life according to BAPCo MobileMark 2002. I don't know if that is total BS or not though of course.

All in all i agree that emachine is prbly a better quality machine. So many people say the dells are like fisher price toys when u get them -- big hunk of ugly plastic.

I will have to look into how to get emachine M6805 for 1250.

Are there any other laptops that are about 1200 or less that I should be checking out?

Thanks again -
w.

[flashram]

Like someone else suggested, HP/Compaq has some quality machines (zt3000, x1000, zx5000, r3000t) in that price range. They also have two AMD64 machines now (R3000Z and zv5000z) at very nice prices.

[wideLoad]

Ok so after a bit of digging i'm wondering why everyone and their brother hasn't gotten the M6805 eMachine? Is it because the name is eMachine and they used to be the cheapest POS computers known to man? I guess that is an OK reason.

The other notebook that seems to rock is the HP zt3000. Looks pretty smooth. But as soon as you bump up the processor to 1.7 (to compete w/ the fast AMD chip in the M6805) and add 512 megs and blah blah -- the HP price starts to get up there.

So what gives -- am i missing something regarding the M6805/M6809 or are these machines pretty friggin awesome. People have said build quality is as good or better then HP/Compaq/Dell ( i guess prbly not IBM but can't beat them all ).

I found that deal for 1250 after 2 Mail-in-rebates for the M6805 (but it is expired now).

I'm thinking the next big sale like that for 6805 and i'm on it.

Thanks for all the input people and lemme know if there are any other great "bang for the buck" models I should be looking into!!

w.