weight/performance laptop considerations

[dbhertz]

Ok, this is carried over from the other thread I started where I asked about the relationship between advertized and actual weight for notebooks.

Some people asked if a PDA or tablet pc would work for me. Unfortunately, the answer is no. Or rather, that's not really what I'm looking for. I want a portable computer which will be useful for writing code on, using as a mobile workstation, and acting as a fun toy from time to time

At home I have an Athlon64 with 1GB Ram, decent video card (128MB radeon 9600Pro, I believe, or possibly just 9600, but sufficient for my needs), with a nice 19" flatscreen crt that I run at 1280x1024. At work I have a slightly inferior monitor, but it still runs at that res, and my computer there is a quite decent P4 linux box. So neither of those are things I really need to replace with the laptop, so to speak. However, I am well aware of the fact that, if I had a laptop, I might want to use it more often, and therefore want to have more of my basic needs met by it. My suspicion is that once you get used to having mobility, you tend to want to use it, so to speak. Oh, and the house I live in has WLAN, which a number of my other housemates make liberal use of by being able to sit around the living room (or lie in bed, etc.) using their powerbooks (yes, I'm surrounded by macophiles ).

My office mate (the one with the powerbook) uses that as his workstation at work, and it has become his main computer, I believe. However, having recently upgraded my computer at home (in August), and being fairly content with my system at work (certainly not unhappy enough that I want to spend lots of my own money rectifying it). Having said that, I certainly would like being able to use a laptop at work. I do spend a reasonable amount of time in meetings, or simply working in different locations, so having a laptop would be good. Also, I'm getting to the point where I'm likely to be having to give talks and make presentations, for which my own laptop would be extremely useful.
I should note that anything cpu intensive is not going to be run on a hypothetical laptop, since we have farms for that at work.


I saw two basic routes when I was originally contemplating this purchase. The first was to go for something as light and small as possible. I'll admit that the new iBooks had some appeal, if only because of their relatively low cost (particularly the 12") and the fact that OS X plays well with unix systems (leading to a large army of mac-believers at work as well ). Other ones I considered were the ASUS M5/S5, and a couple of IBM models, although those seem to be prohibitively expensive.
The other route was what I ended up leaning more and more towards, namely something slightly larger, but also correspondingly more powerful. I was partly pushed in this direction because of a desire for a better screen, and partly because they seem to be of approximately the same cost as a considerably inferior, somewhat lighter system.

As far as graphics is concerned, I am not really likely to be doing much graphics-intensive gaming. The only game I play with any frequency is NeverWinterNights, and I have no particular desire to launch into 1st person shooter gaming again (too much time wasted on that in the past). Some friends of mine are big fans of Rome Total War, which seems like it could be interesting, but that is more the style of game I would be playing. UT, Doom3, HL2 etc. are not going to be anything I'll be playing anytime soon. And certainly not on a laptop. On the other hand, I don't want something that will be antiquated within six months. Realistically, however, what sort of graphics capability do I need to have in order to run NWN or rt strategy games? Oh, and the GIMP or similar apps.

Good battery life is a must, of course.

I think that partly I'm somewhat torn between the desire for a nice new toy (yes, I'll admit that this is part of it), and worrying that it's an unnecessary extravagence. However, it is a genuine concern being able to remain in contact with work while away, and while I've managed to talk them into lending me a notebook (Compaq Evo N600c) while I'm away at the moment, that's unlikely to be something they'll do in the long term (can you tell I'm trying desperately to justify this to myself? ) On another note, given the recent events in Asia I do feel kind of icky spending a lot of money on something that's not a matter of life or death, but that's a different matter entirely .

So all in all, I've done a lot of thinking about this and read a bunch of people's reviews and comments, and am still very torn about what sort of system to lean towards. I was hoping that people could offer some suggestions based on their experiences with their systems.

As for pricing, I am (like everyone else) trying to stay below the magic $2000 number. I was able to put together an extremely nice system from ViciousPC (1.8GHz Centrino, 15.4" WSXGA, 1GB Kingston PC2700 ram, radeon 9700 256MB, 60/80GB 5400 HD) for $1720/1760. So I've sort of mentally been comparing other things to that, so to speak... I can build a corresponding CL56 at rjtech for the same, although that's an SXGA+ screen rather than WSXGA, of course.

Specific questions I've been asking myself include:
How much difference will it make with the different weights, given my intended usage?
Do I really need a top-notch graphics card?
What sort of capabilities do I really need, and what do I merely think I need? (this one is obviously virtually impossible for someone other than me to answer, of course...)

(Ok, this was a very long post, I hope it's sufficiently coherent to warrant responses).

[dbhertz]

I don't know whether it's bad form to bump one's own thread, but here goes in any case.
I realize that my first post was rather lengthy, but I'm still hoping people have something to say about it all

[pstrisik]

Sorry your not getting much for response. I think it is a good topic. Unfortunately, I think alot of your struggle comes down to subjective issues, that is, there is no correct answer.

Since you are getting notebook to use for a bit, use that as a benchmark for a few things. See how the weight and size is. See if you could tolerate a heavier one. I think the compaq is 5.5 lbs closer to 6.5 if you carry the floppy drive with it, most of the 15.4" screen models run about 6.5. How is the 14" XGA screen for you over time? Need higher resolution? bigger screen? Unfortunately, I think that model is too old to make meaningful comparisons on graphics and processor performance.

If the games you are talking about are not the latest, graphics intensive, reaction time dependent ones, the ATI 9700 64MB card is probably fine. Even the 9600 would probably be fine.

My sense, from your post, is that it will come down to the screen for you. Bigger and heavier computer for bigger screens. Lighter for smaller. Maybe keyboard layout, too, though you didn't mention it. The smaller computers make compromises like haing Pgup/dn/Home/End a Fn+key affair.

Hope that helps!

[pstrisik]

BTW, I think a judicious bump now and then is acceptable. I think it's annoying when people bump their own threads after three hours (and some do!).

[pstrisik]

Sorry to dominate your thread..... but you did want replies!

Here's a new Asus option that may be interesting to you. 14.1" widescreen WXGA with ATI 9700. Brand new. Looks similar to the M6BNe with slightly smaller screen and lighter weight.

http://www.asus.com/products/noteboo...n_overview.htm
http://www.digit-life.com/news.html?112123

[dbhertz]

I don't in the least mind you hijacking the thread. As you said, I was asking for some replies. And yes, you're right that it's obviously the kind of question to which everyone will have slightly different answers because of personal preference etc.
The new ASUS looks very interesting, though. The link seems to be broken on their end of things, however. I'll have to try to look again after I get home.
I've been in Denmark for Christmas and am headed back to the States today. Once I can take a closer look at the W3, I will no doubt have much to say about it It looks like it might very well be exactly what I'm looking for.