Hey, I currently have about a 2 or 3 year old Gateway 600xl notebook (my first and only). The thing is just getting to be too big and is developing too many little problems. I'm a freshman in college and I'm looking to replace my 600xl with something more mobile. Here are a few of my key points that I want to hit:
The notebook MUST (this is an absolute after having this gateway) be of good quality, and must have good support in terms of service and warranty.
I want it to last through college and still get what I need done 3 or 4 years from now.
I want to keep it under 2k if at all possible
That said here's what I use it for:
not heavy on gaming, but I do watch movies and do some work with video and photoshop/illustrator. (So I'm thinking a 32 or 64mb gfx card..I have a desktop if I really need to do heavier stuff on it)
any and all MS Office uses (haha yea, any notebook here, I know)
heavy multi-tasking (is the Gig of ram really much better over 512?)
I have a website and a small business, so I'll be using it for webpages, and internet, but more importantly here are that everything works without complications. If I have to send the notebook in for repairs or spend hours on the phone with tech support, I'll consider the purchase a failure.
I've seen a lot of debate on screens, and honestly, all I need out of the screen is the ability to have multiple windows open and not spend several seconds trying to position them so that I can see more than one at once. This is not to say, however, that I want the maximum resolution possible. I don't have perfect vision, and being able to read the screen is important too. Any opinions or pics of which screen to go with would be much appreciated here. All I know is that I can't stand to have a 1024 x 768 resolution on a 14.1" screen.
as far as the processor goes, I'll be buying it early to mid next year, so any information or links to intel's projected CPU releases around then would be helpful. Also, I would like to know about how much more performance I would get between a 1.7 or 1.8 Dothan...or even a 1.8 to 2.0 for that matter...how big of a difference is there really?
size and weight are important. I'm sick of lugging around my 9 lb, thick, wide, and deep notebook. My main problem here is that I'm not sure how small to go before the screen size limits my ability to multi-task. Definitely not smaller than 14.1, but if I can get a truly mobile machine with a 15" screen, I would.
battery must be able to last at least 2.75 to 3+ hours with normal use, and with the screen not on the dimmest setting.
ummmm, I think that's all I really wanted to point out right now, but I've been looking at an IBM T42 because of the whole quality and service points... Any recommendations as to configuration, discounts for IBMs, or anything else would be much appreciated. Thanks!
The notebook MUST (this is an absolute after having this gateway) be of good quality, and must have good support in terms of service and warranty.
I want it to last through college and still get what I need done 3 or 4 years from now.
I want to keep it under 2k if at all possible
That said here's what I use it for:
not heavy on gaming, but I do watch movies and do some work with video and photoshop/illustrator. (So I'm thinking a 32 or 64mb gfx card..I have a desktop if I really need to do heavier stuff on it)
any and all MS Office uses (haha yea, any notebook here, I know)
heavy multi-tasking (is the Gig of ram really much better over 512?)
I have a website and a small business, so I'll be using it for webpages, and internet, but more importantly here are that everything works without complications. If I have to send the notebook in for repairs or spend hours on the phone with tech support, I'll consider the purchase a failure.
I've seen a lot of debate on screens, and honestly, all I need out of the screen is the ability to have multiple windows open and not spend several seconds trying to position them so that I can see more than one at once. This is not to say, however, that I want the maximum resolution possible. I don't have perfect vision, and being able to read the screen is important too. Any opinions or pics of which screen to go with would be much appreciated here. All I know is that I can't stand to have a 1024 x 768 resolution on a 14.1" screen.
as far as the processor goes, I'll be buying it early to mid next year, so any information or links to intel's projected CPU releases around then would be helpful. Also, I would like to know about how much more performance I would get between a 1.7 or 1.8 Dothan...or even a 1.8 to 2.0 for that matter...how big of a difference is there really?
size and weight are important. I'm sick of lugging around my 9 lb, thick, wide, and deep notebook. My main problem here is that I'm not sure how small to go before the screen size limits my ability to multi-task. Definitely not smaller than 14.1, but if I can get a truly mobile machine with a 15" screen, I would.
battery must be able to last at least 2.75 to 3+ hours with normal use, and with the screen not on the dimmest setting.
ummmm, I think that's all I really wanted to point out right now, but I've been looking at an IBM T42 because of the whole quality and service points... Any recommendations as to configuration, discounts for IBMs, or anything else would be much appreciated. Thanks!
