(another) HELP! Choosing my notebook now! M6BNe? Dell? Other?

So, it's time to build that laptop I need for school. I know it would be great to wait a little while because some big things will be happening in the mobile market soon, but school starts in a few weeks. I have easily read over 150 threads on this stuff and 20+ articles on laptops and I need some final input from you guys(and girls).

I need to keep this under 2k.
I will be using it for gaming. GO HL2! (if valve ever releases it )
I don't want a beheamoth that looks like UNIVAC was it's father.
UXGA will kill my eyes for the time I spend looking at it.

Here is a possible config I put together:
Asus M6BNe 15.4" WXGA (darn u aussies with your WSXGA )
Radeon 9700 64MB
1Gig Kingston pc2700 Valueram
M6 DVD/CDrom combodrive
60gb/7200rpm HDD
1.8 Dothan
2200 B/G
Bag
Bluetooth(pending viable solution )
Arctic Silver 5
$1822 ~

I'll be building this myself.

Is the WXGA screen on the Asus crisp? Is there any ghosting? I haven't read anything about ghosting on this screen so far.

Also is this screen glossy? I saw some glossy covered screens at Circuit City and they reflected everything!Glare from the lights and even a reflexion from the keyboard. It was terrible viewing IMHO.


Another possible config:
Dell 8600 15.4" WSXGA
1.8 Dothan
Radeon 9600 Pro Turbo 128 MB
Bluetooth built in(not sure if it has HID profile, anyone?)
60/7200 HDD
24X CD-RW/DVD ComboDrive
2200 B/G
256mb Mem
Win XP Home
Dell 7200 printer(free)
1yr mail in warranty
$1739
Sell XP Home -50
Sell 256 mem -25
Sell Printer -?
Buy 1G Ram +175
$1839 ~

Does this have a glossy screen? Any ghosting? I know there used to be a problem with the screens. There's a 200 page thread on dell forums.



Add another $100 for an ATI TV tuner USB 2.0.


Thank You!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wow, this thread is on fire.

I think the asus comes out less than the mitac.

Acer aspire 2012wlmi
$1,403.00 (newegg)
Sell XP Pro(got it) -100
sell ram -40
Sell HDD -90
Sell CPU -125
Buy Ram +174
Buy Hdd +182
Buy CPU +425
Buy AS5 +6
==1,835

Seems like too much trouble...

The ferrari would cost too much( def over 2k) after I got the 1G ram and 7200rpm drive.

Hmm.... no dell people yet hehehe, maybe they spend too much time fixing their notebooks instead of using them (yes, i'm trying to provoke them )

I'm really leaning toward the asus. the sager is a bit ummm looks challenged as well as weight challenged with the 12cell battery. I can't find any good pics of it. the ones in the review are dark. without it the uptime isn't that great. anyone know the cheapest place for the barebones sager 3790?
At DL I configed it like the asus, but it has WSXGA and the 128 ATI for $1911. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm {brick wall head bang here]

*sigh* I think I like the asus. I might go the dothan 1.7 instead of the 1.8 to save $120 and upgrade to the 2.0 in a year or so.
I haven't seen a closeup pic of the WXGA screen, only the sxga screen on the forums and web.
I wish I knew the right model # for the combodrive though, see thread here.

Well, the 1.7 is $295 and the 1.8 is $425 at Newegg, so it looks like i stop @ 1.7
I think I just like even numbers though, everyone does unless you're an ODD person!

OK, terrible try at being funny <me>

When the resellers get the whitebooks, they get the drives separate. They can then add whatever the customer orders from asus's options I think. They almost never have an option for "no drive" because they realize it's a custom fit drive for the asus with the carrier. I opened up a new asus box at computerbrain(retail store, sxga type, no working display though) and the drive or the carrier were NOT in the box. There are some other internet stores that sell the whitebook w/o a drive as well. I just can't determine which drive is the right one to buy because there are no descriptions, see the thread I mentioned a few posts up about someone else having the same problem.