Buying a Laptop

Que Pasa

Active Member
IBM Thinkpad T41

Whadya think? I got a massive change check from my student loans, and a tax refund, and I've been wanting a laptop for quite some time. Rather than be intelligent and save up the money, I want to buy a laptop with it. This is the best I've found. It's ugly as sin but light as a feather. I'd probably get the 512mb ram upgrade in the "Special Deals" section, for a total of 768mb of ram.
 
[b said:
Quote[/b] ]HOT!! DellHome - Inspiron 5150 Laptop with 3.2Ghz HyperThreaded P4, 15" 1400x1050 TFT, 512MB DDR SDRAM, 32MB Quadro FX Go5200 AGP, 30GB HD for $1191.45 after Rebate with FREE Shipping! (Posted by: Apex)
Looking for a laptop with the power of a higher end desktop? This Dell Inspiron 5150 comes with a 3.2Ghz HyperThreaded P4 processor! It also comes with a huge, high resolution 15" SXGA+ (1400x1050) TFT, a full 512MB of DDR SDRAM, 32MB nVidia Quadro FX Go5200 (Quadro is their workstation class chip, as opposed to their consumer line, the Geforce), 30GB hard drive, CD-RW/DVD combo drive, 10/100 NIC, 56k modem, and 1 year mail in warranty (the at home upgrade is very inexpensive though). This thing is STACKED! It`s all for $1637 - 15% coupon - $200 mail in rebate = $1191.45 with FREE Shipping (a $49 value).

Start here through the following link to this specific Dell Home Inspiron 5150 laptop. DELL INSPIRON 5150
Click on Add to cart
Click on Adjust Item right under the Inspiron 5150 in your cart
You can now select what upgrades you want. There aren`t a lot of things you can change though. Since we`re using a 15% off coupon at the end, you`re actually paying 15% less than you see posted. We would HIGHLY suggest upgrading to Mcafee from Norton`s horrible software. There are a few others you may want to consider, though they`ll raise the cost:
96 WHr Lithium-Ion Primary Battery [add $29 or $1/month] - (actual cost: $24.65. Great upgrade for longer battery life!)
1 Year Limited Warranty plus 1 Year At-Home Service [add $30 or $1/month1] - (actual cost: $25.50, normal price: $69)
McAfee Security Center w/ VirusScan, Firewall and Privacy, 90-day trial
Dell® Wireless 1350 Internal Wireless (802.11b/g, 54Mbps) [add $39 or $1/month] - (actual cost: $33.15)
Scroll to the bottom and click on Continue
Scroll to the bottom and click on Continue
Scroll to the bottom and click on Add to cart
Use coupon code: QSXHJ5919SQ?3N for 15% off $999+ Inspiron laptops (expires Tomorrow, 4/14/04). Use code EXACTLY as shown, with no space after the last letter.
Finish checking out. Send in the $200 rebate (expires 4/14/04)
 
according to my research emachines laptops are quite nicely priced for what you get. You should ignore the fact that they are emachines and at least take a look.
 
GotGoose - That laptop is about twice as heavy as the thinkpad I'm looking at. I'll have a look at what e-machines has to offer though. The Laptop that I would get from dell if I did shop dell would be the 300m. I really want something super light, less than 5 pounds bare minimum. I also have looked at getting an ibook, but thats a bit out of the reasonable price range, and OSX's Unix Shell stuff is really cool.
 
eMachines was recently purchased by Gateway. I have no clue what this means in regards to the future of eMachines computers. I tend to think they will get rid of the eMachines name, but who knows.
 
Hot!

I like this, 2.3lbs. That weighs about the same as a pair of IDE disk drives from my computer I think. All I can think of is 1/2 of those 5 pound bags of cheese we have at fazolis (haha).
 
i have a tosiba satilite and love it. never have had a problem with it. not sure of the exact weight but it is not to heavy. my only beef is it i has 2 usb ports... and i use a usb mouse/keyboard/printer ^_^ but if i wanted to i could fix that.

Also maybe try to get a vediocard upgrade if you can i know my came with a Gf4 440MX. it works well but doesnt play some of the newer games i would like (KoTOR)
 
i have an emachines desktop an it works fine.

also one of the networks guys here at works, has what he refers to as a 'fun job' with best buy an he recommends emachines nowadays.

they've changed alot since their inital offerings.
 
It looks nicer too, but the CD-Rom drive is external. I may have to go with the 300m in the end though. The Thinkpad still remains my top choice at the moment.
 
cd rom is external? hmm, that would stink to carry it around..
sad.gif
 
I have a Thinkpad A30 right now. It's about the same as the one you have linked except it's a bit heavier. I haven't had many problems with it, but I don't think the power is worth the price. If I could have bought my own I would have went with a lower-grade iBook instead.

If you can stand to wait a bit, hold out for Apple to release the new G5 Powerbooks and snag a G4, since they'll be dropping the price once it comes out.
 
Yeah, this isn't really meant to be a powerhouse laptop, it's supposed to be really thin and light. Easy to pack and carry around in my backpack or something. I don't know about using a mac however, as it doesn't run PC apps. So we've narrowed it down to the Thinkpad and the Dell. The Dell costs less, but the CD-rom drive is external, thinkpad costs more, and the CD-rom drive is internal.
 
Err the toshiba that I want is almost $2000, the thinkpad is $1600. Unless of course I ebayed for it. Thin/Light is the goal here. I think I'm going ahead with the T series unless someones got an outrageous price for a 300m, Portegere or whatever compaq's lightweight model is.

Thinkpad T Series


Toshiba Portege
 
Well, the screen has to be small for a laptop with small length and width dimensions. I've used my roomate's 12" iBook a couple times, and the screen isn't that big of a deal really. I think 14" will be just fine, most laptop screens are 15" right? Anyway, I order tomorrow, yay!
 
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