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!!!!!!!!!!!!

what about the mitac 8050?

Can u tell me, where did you find the price for the Asus?

Wow, this thread is on fire.

I think the asus comes out less than the mitac.

For built quality Asus has very few oponents out there.
The Mitac 8050 is also a great choice for your needs but I would also check out the new Sager 3790 - it comes with 15.4 WSXGA and optional WUXGA.
Go to the Sager portion of the forums and see that FIRST review on this laptop.
Right now I am on almost the same page as you - Asus M6 vs. Sager 3790.

Acer aspire 2012wlmi. a slower cpu and HD but you get a DVD Burner and XP Pro for ~$400 less. Take the saving and drop in a 2.0 Dothan after the Oct price drop.

You should also consider the Acer Ferrari 3200, it's really gives a lot of bang for the buck

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.

As I said, can't beat the Asus. For more gaming optins go and check out the Sager 3790

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]

This is exactly where I am - Asus M6N vs Sager 3790. And I don't care about the GPU for I do NOt game at all. My only concern is the WSXGA screen of the Sager, otherwise the Asus is ahead in all other apects sooler and more silent, better battery life, and such.
Sager bareboes you can find at rjtech.com, I think

the choices aren't hard... (edit: obviously these are simplified comparisons, there's small issues like vid card differences, etc)

m6bne vs 8600: build quality vs better screen
m6bne vs 3790: battery life vs better screen

you have to know what you want... some people see specs thrown around the place, and can't decide... if u know u don't really need 128mb vram, or if u know u don't really need wsxga, then you can eliminate choices

once u figure out what u need for sure, then choices are easy

*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.

rule of thumb for Pentium M cpu's are you keep going up in MHz.GHz untill it costs $100 dollars to get to the next step, thats when you stop