Should I keep my 1-year old laptop?

Hi Guys,

I bought my current laptop, a Compaq X1000, about a year ago before I went to college. It is a great machine, and it has served me extremely well this past year, except for one thing. Read on.

Here are the specs:
Pentium M Banias (715?) 1.5 Ghz
768 MB PC2700 RAM - 256 MB default, 512 MB from newegg
30 GB 4200 RPM hard drive (soon to be replaced by a Hitachi 60 GB @ 5400 RPM)
Intel 2200 b/g wireless card
15.4" WXGA screen
64 MB ATI Mobility Radeon 9200 video card (4x AGP)

That last point is what's making me consider buying something more powerful. It won't play BF2, which is a shame, because it looks so good. Other than that, it's just been great.

I've been looking around recently for what's on the market, and I've seen a couple nice machines, but none so far that would make the upgrade worth the money. I'm just wondering if I shouldn't stick with the X1000 for a little while longer. I have a couple questions that I hope you could answer:

1) How much could I sell the X1000 for now, approximately?
2) I don't care too much about visual effects, as long as I can play the games (ie the 9200 would still be acceptable if it could play BF2). How long should I be able to keep up with the games if I get a machine with an X700? I would hope for at least 2-3 years. (I think that was my biggest mistake last time, buying a graphics card that was outdated technology by the time I got it. The X700 is still at the top of the pack right now). How much longer should I expect to be able to keep up with the games if I stick with the 9200 (Besides BF2)?
3) Would it be a smart move to get a better laptop? I know my warranty is about to expire, if that matters.

Also, you can recommend a machine that meets the following specs:

• Pentium M Processor
• Mobility x700 or better
• good battery life (at least 3.5-4 hours)
• reasonable size weight (less than 6.5 lbs, not much thicker than 1.5" )
• SXGA+ screen (15.4" WSXGA+ widescreen preferred, but not required)
• full sized keyboard (with the ctrl key to the left of the Fn key - BIOS swap is fine)
• and probably the hardest parameter, no more than $1500, and that's already the top limit

Or maybe a laptop with an upgradeable GPU that fits most of the other specs. I know the rest of my laptop is excellent, it's just the graphics card that's holding me back. If I could just upgrade the GPU, that would be great too.

Thanks a lot.

Yeah, I've seen the refresh, but unfortunately it has the Fn/ctrl keys swapped. That would drive me crazy, so unless there's a fix for that (which I was told there isn't), I wouldn't get it.

But yeah, it does fit my criteria almost perfectly.

That actually looks like a really great deal. What's the downside?

And what's a Turion? I have been out of the loop for a while, is that like the AMD equivalent of the P-M?

Well I want to get one that will last me longer than a year now (like 2-3 years would be nice). The GPU in mine now prevents me from really benefiting from my current laptop, so I wanted to get one with a fairly future-conscious GPU so I could keep it for a while.

I don't quite agree.

What I did with my current laptop is that I bought outdated technology. When I got it a year ago, the 9200 was by no means a great card. I should have gotten something like a 9600 or a 9800, which would still have been able to play BF2 for example. If I had done that, I don't think I would be wanting to upgrade now.

When is that supposed to be?

Here is what else I was thinking of getting.

I know, I know, it's a dell, but... for the price, I'm getting a whole lot. I've configured it as follows:

Inspiron 9300
Pentium M 730 - 1.6 Ghz
XP Home
17 UXGA screen with TrueLife
256 MB DDR2 RAM
256 MB GeForce Go 6800
40 GB Cheapie HD
DVD/CD-RW
Intel 2200 b/g wireless
6-cell battery (53 WHr)

I would replace the HD with a Hitachi 60 GB @ 5400 RPM from newegg that's on the way to me now.
I would probably also get 2 sticks of 512 MB DDR2 RAM from newegg for dual channel goodness.

Total cost for me would be about $1225. This is after 40% off coupon, and 3% cashback from Fatwallet, and adding in $90 for the hard drive and $120 for the two sticks of RAM (and subtracting $20 that I could probably get for selling the 256MB stick).

That is a great price. However, it's also a pretty big laptop.

If I really wanted, how long would it keep up with the latest games? I don't mean full screen AA etc with all the detail up, but at least playable.

Is there any reason that I should not get this?

Or I could keep my X1000 and build a desktop. I hadn't really thought about that, because the occasional mobility of a laptop is nice when you're living in a dorm (Mini LAN parties in another room).

That's what's so good to me about the 9300. It's a solid performer, one that I could live with for at least 2 years, it's not that much more money (if I sell my X1000, the total price I would pay to get the 9300 is about $6-700 or so). Plus, it has the mobility of a laptop with the power of a desktop (mostly, heh ).

I really want to see one in person though, just to see how big it REALLY is. I think I will wait a while, check around for some more deals, and see if I can see a 9300 in person. After that, I can decide if I would want one.

(If you have a 9300 and want to share your experiences about it in terms of heat, size, etc, please feel free).

That's the thing. It's not THAT bad. I was happy with it playing all of the games I tried. I just had to turn the graphics down. Unfortunately, battlefield 2 proved too much for the Radeon 9200.

I'm not planning to upgrade RIGHT now, I'm going to wait a little, look at the Inspiron 9300 in person, and decide what I want to do. If I am going to get the 9300, it would probably be in a month or two.

Anybody here have the 9300 and can comment on its size/weight/height?