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On a search for a notebook

Poll Results: Who makes the best notebook?

 
  • 64% (11)
    IBM
  • 11% (2)
    HP
  • 17% (3)
    Toshiba
  • 5% (1)
    Compaq
17 Total Votes  
post #1 of 14
9/25/04 at 5:23pm
Thread Starter 
Okay, I have had a Compaq Presario 1825 for the past 5 years. My father purchased it for himself and gave it to me so I had no idea what it took to pick a decent notebook. Now I have no choice because my mother spilled water on my notebook and killed it plus the a: drive does not work anymore. I am a student so I need a notebook with a lot of memory. I also like to play The Sims so I need something that can take the game. I also want wireless connection and a light notebook. Do they still make notebooks with a: drives? I know that I do not want a Dell. I know that they are relatively inexpensive but as my father is a computer technician he advises me against those. Can anyone help me? Oh, and I would like a notebook with a sound recorder on it.
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post #2 of 14
9/25/04 at 5:25pm
http://www.notebookreview.com/
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post #3 of 14
9/25/04 at 6:18pm
Thread Starter 
Thank you, Tummy. I will check that out now.
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post #4 of 14
9/25/04 at 6:28pm
What else are you going to do? Just word processing and such? If so, you can get an ultraportable notebook. The Sims takes very little power to run.

IBM makes the best notebook of those listed. They have the best build quality and reptuation. But they are expensive because they are so well known. Toshiba is also a very good company. Other good companies are Acer and Asus.

But, the question stands, will you be doing just internet/word/etc or any 3DGames/CAD/photography etc...?
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post #5 of 14
9/25/04 at 6:40pm
About the sound recorder, you need just a good microphone, but since all sound cards on nbs are not good for professional use, you probably need a good external one.
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post #6 of 14
9/25/04 at 7:27pm
you forgot the best one, Sager.
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post #7 of 14
9/25/04 at 8:20pm
Thread Starter 
I will be doing only the basics. Using Word, PowerPoint, the internet, playing the Sims, transferring recording from my digital recorder to the computer, downloading music onto my MP3 player, and I think that is about it. I have been looking at Fujitsu, are they any good?
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post #8 of 14
9/25/04 at 10:15pm
For what I've read, they are very good, and have a very good screen, too.

YOu probably want a quite light system. I think any notebook with a fairly good graphics card will do it. However, i think fujitsus have only integrated graphics...
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post #9 of 14
9/26/04 at 1:59am
Thread Starter 
What does integrated graphics mean? What's the difference?
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post #10 of 14
9/26/04 at 2:02am
Thread Starter 
DDDa, nevermind, I just clicked on your link and read your post. Wish I would have gone there first.
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post #11 of 14
9/26/04 at 2:47am
Thread Starter 
Okay what about a Compaq? This is what I am looking at so far because price is an object for me. I may want the Fujitsu or IBM but they are much too expensive and I do NOT want a Dell because I have been looking at reviews and they seem to be cheaply built. In addition, my mom has a Dell and though it seems not to have any problems, I do not like the setup but it has a clear screen.


Compaq Presario R3000T-dedicated series customize notebook
- Microsoft(R) Windows(R) XP Home Edition
- Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 2.80 GHz
- FREE Upgrade from 15" XGA to 15.4" WXGA (1280x800)
- 64MB ATI Mobility Radeon(TM) 9200
- 512MB DDR SDRAM (2x256MB)
- 40 GB 4200 RPM Hard Drive
- DVD/CD-RW Combo Drive
- FREEUpgradeto54g(TM) Broadcom 802.11b/g WLAN !!
- Microsoft(R) Office 2003 Basic
- 8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
- Built in 3.5" Floppy Drive

How does this look for my needs which are relatively simple?
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post #12 of 14
9/26/04 at 7:19am
That cpu is meant for a desktop, so it'll run warm and have a much lower battery life than Pentium-M systems. The graphics card won't run much anything that came out recently, but if you only play The Sims, you won't mind that either. Sim 2, now - that's a different story. The hard drive is slow, but I have one myself and it doesn't bother me. For that size though (40GB), it shouldn't be hard to find something faster.

The upgrade is just from a regular screen to widescreen, you just need to personally decide which one you want. Some people hate widescreen, some people hate normal...
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post #13 of 14
9/26/04 at 8:03am
A couple of HP Compaq Business notebooks to consider:

HP nc6000
• 14.1-inch XGA (1024x768)
• ATI Mobility Radeon 9600 graphics controller /w 32 MB VRAM
• Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional
• Intel® Pentium® M processor 725 (1.60GHz, 2M L2 cache, 400MHz FSB)
• 256MB DDR SDRAM (1 DIMM)
• 40GB SMART hard drive (5400 rpm)
• DVD/CD-RW combo drive
• 802.11 b/g wireless
• 3 Year worldwide limited warranty (carry-in)
• As light as 4.96 lbs and 1.27 inches thin (this is without the optical drive)
• Dual pointing devices
• 2 USB 2.0 connectors
System price: $1,499.00
(This system needs an additional 256 or 512 MB RAM, which makes about $50 or $100 more.)


HP Compaq Business Notebook nc8000
• 15-inch SXGA+ display (1400x1050)
• ATI Mobility Radeon 9600 Pro graphics controller /w 64 MB VRAM
• Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional
• Intel® Pentium® M processor 725 (1.60GHz, 2M L2 cache, 400MHz FSB)
• 512MB Shared DDR SDRAM (1 DIMM)
• 40GB 5400 RPM hard drive
• 24X DVD/CD-RW (fixed)
• Integrated Intel® Pro Wireless 2200BG Network Connection (802.11bg)
• 3 Year worldwide limited warranty
• One fixed optical and one MultiBay drive
• As light as 6.5 lbs, and 1.6 inches thin
• 2 USB 2.0 connectors, 1 Firewire/1394 Connector

System price: $1,849.00

nc8000 is my favorite because of its SXGA+ screen, but it's little more expensive (and a bit bigger). Both are excellent systems.
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post #14 of 14
9/26/04 at 6:53pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks, Tommy and Sanna. I will check out the HPnc600 because that is more in my price range. However, I know that people say that floppy drives are outdated, I personally would like one because I still use them. Once I have used all my floppy disks, I may move to CDs but not every computer that I may work on has a CD-RW drive. Sanna, I think I may just get a normal screen, I do not believe I care much for a widescreen. Is the computer relatively quiet? My old Compaq was quiet, never really had any problems with it except when I crashed the system one year trying to upgrade Windows 98 and ending up putting Windows ME on it which sucks. I do not have Sims 2, just all of the regular The Sims. Maybe I will see about updating the graphics card.
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