Acer Ferrari 3200 or Aspire 2020.

The Acer Ferrari 3200 is by far the most powerful & feature packed of these two notebooks, and it's the one I'll recommend.

I suggest you look around these forums and see for yourself which cpu suits your needs. As for performance 1.8 Dothan and AMD 64 2800+ are pretty equall. DOthan however will give you better battery life plus in between these two notebooks I would recommend the Aspire 2025, although it is ~200 more than the Ferrari, which is a very nice machine too.
Here are some links to recent threads discussing Dothan vs. other cpus:
http://notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=38160
and some other useful advices:
http://notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=38254

The Acer Ferrari 3200 is a nice laptop but this is more than an exaggeration.
Madmanator, don't just blindly follow others in the dark.

the second I saw the title of this thread, I knew I would see snorre's response. Yes, the ferrari 3200 is a nice laptop, but snorre worships it like a god and feels it is the perfect solution for everyone.
Basically consider this: if you want a good quality screen and long battery life, go with the aspire, if not, then the ferrari is for you.

Doom3 plays just nicely, I have been test driving my ferrari the whole afternoon now, and I must say it's a beast

But for some reason I can't get used to the red look, dunno, maybe I need some time

What other 15" standard aspect ratio SXGA+ screen is any better?

Maybe he will always be near an outlet and wants 64 bit capabilities. Don't tread out blindly in the opposite direction of Snorre.

Snorre's laptop is sweet as all hell...but it won't come like that, which is why I went elsewhere. Slow hdd, and 512kb of ram are standard, and that's what turned me off. I can build my own computer...but I'm not opening my laptop and voiding my warranty (called acer to verify this) the minute I get it because I bought something that doesn't come the way I want it.

Both are sweet machines...but try and look through the paint and the name to compare both models and see which fits your needs.

Dude, you have no clue about laptops, do you? Ever heard of sony? Go check out their 15" SXGA screen and then get back to me.
I think it's disgusting that all the ferrari 3200 owners stick up for each other (ferrari 3200, exbonix3000, and of course snorre)
Yes, the ferrari 3200 is a very nice laptop, especially with the upgrades that snorre put into his, however, don't tell the creator of this thread that the 3200 is better when we don't even know what the guy is using his laptop for. Please, guys, don't be stupid. It's not fair, people put their trust in you to make a decision for them.

Tourney, seriously, he's asking to choose between an aspire and a ferrari, Dothan or A64. He never talked about Sony, just asked to chose between 2 models.
There isn't that much of a difference between those two.

Been tested on Toms Hardware that some games do like the AMD design slightly better than the Pent M. However, I don't think it equals increased performance across the board. Remember there are many other factors that contribute to gaming performance. Out of the box, the 3200's GPU is clocked higher than most others...that will help you with gaming performance. It also has a 4200rpm hdd...this will hurt your map loading...and the 512k of RAM will be somewhat slower all around. Either way...both machines will far outgame your current rig, but I think you should open your options up to other proven laptops...the CL56 and 3790 (sound like a broken record) are perfect choices in that basic size/weight category. I don't think you'll notice any real world difference at all between two lappys with same specs other than the proc anyway.

For both Doom3 and HL2 you will be limit by the GPU (MR9700) rather than the CPU so either will run those game at fairly close framerates. Having a 64bit processor really don't do you any good till most of what you run is going to be in 64bit. I think you'll be ready for a new laptop by then.

That's exactly why I went with Dothan. A few months ago I was crazy about getting an AMD 64 but this cpu is limited by the 32-bit apps and this seems to be the case for at least another couple of years. By then I will be looking around for a new lappy.

Shaping Up Nicely: Microsoft’s XP Professional X64 Edition

Phantom, you aren't sounding to smart right about now. Why don't you take the time to read the entire thread before pointing fingers.
Now I'll explain this very simply:
The creator of this thread was asking for help in deciding between two notebooks which are very different. He doesn't give us much else information. The truth is, we need to find out what his needs are. However, snorre, who is enthralled by his ferrari, decides to tell him to go with the ferrari 3200 (which is a very, very nice laptop, but once again, might not be what the guy needs)
What snorre should do is tell the guy that the ferrari 3200 will get slightly better performance, but at the cost of a much less battery life. What if the guy is going to use the laptop at college? Wouldn't the ferrari's battery be a little lame? And you might tell him to buy a spare, but with all the books he's lugging around, how could be possibly manage to add something more.
I love it when people like you try to prove others wrong, unfortunately, you aren't making much sense.
My reference to sony's better quality screens was made due to Ferrari 3200's inquiry if any better 15 SXGA+ screens existed besides the one found on the ferrari and cl56 etc. I gave him his answer. Nice pick up Phantom! Great work!

Oh really? Are you some kind of laptop genius? They are very different. I'll even list the radical differences
1.) the 2020 is widescreen, the ferrari 3200 is standard (as we all know, some people can't deal with one aspect or another)
2.) one is a 64 bit capable processor for future expandability, one is a 32 bit processor
3.) the 2020 has much better battery life (which is handy for some)

come to think of it, they are so much alike, it doesn't even matter which one he chooses

It is still under "construction" so to speak. It won't be out until at least a year from now and will take another year or two before X64 becomes the standard i.e. FUNDAMENTAL applications will be available for it. Until then the AMD 64-bit cpu is as good as a 32-bit one - AMD 64 is !!!bottlenecked!!! by the 32-bit OS and apps it is running now. The true value of the 64 cpu will become clear only when X64 is released. By then AMD 64 will change a lot especially the Mobile versions used in laptops.
There is no special need for AMD 64 now when everything is still 32-bit. I just don't see a reason why I should by a AMD 64 now when my cpu will be only slowed down by the apps it is running and when the 64-bit ones do come out my present AMD64 will be just an old version of AMD64 in 1-2 years and I will have to buy a new one anyway.

Desktop = A64

Notebook = P-M

nuff said.