Basically I have no idea what to get.

I'm not looking for much at all, just something that has very good battery life. Not too concerned about price either.

It would be nice to have a high performance one, but gaming laptops seem very unsuitable because of poor battery life and weight.

Anyone able to give advice? Thanks.

KizZBG

u gotta skate8152 Posts

June 26 2008 23:54 GMT

Hey there.

First of all, budget?

Descent

1244 Posts

June 26 2008 23:57 GMT

x3 Any high performance notebooks you might get would most probably have low power features and modes...~

superjoppe

Sweden3686 Posts

June 26 2008 23:57 GMT

http://www.apple.com/macbook/

Pads

England3228 Posts

June 26 2008 23:57 GMT

He said he's not too concerned about price, KiZzBG.

goldrush

Canada709 Posts

June 26 2008 23:58 GMT

Good battery life for you is...? You can get a decent 14'' laptop from Dell that can run most games up til about a year/year and a half ago and, if you're only doing word processing/internet when not plugged in, can run for 4-5 hours just on battery. It wouldn't cost all that much either and is fairly portable.

Note that if battery life REALLY is a concern, then you can just guy another battery and, when one of them is low on charge, turn off the computer and switch the battery to the full one.

Nytefish

United Kingdom4282 Posts

June 27 2008 00:05 GMT

At the moment I'm thinking of getting a Dell laptop and just buying an extra battery.

Emptyness

Bulgaria1016 Posts

June 27 2008 00:06 GMT

From my personal experience:

- 15" display > 17" display if you want good battery life, also 17" laptops are bigger and heavier (a lot more)
- if you want Vista on it - better with 2GB RAM and some dual core 1.6 and higher processors
- do not buy laptop with intel video card (I know that Toshiba puts intel video card crap in their laptops and you can't play many of the latest games (my laptop is Toshiba, but I don't play games on it

(only Solitaire

)) - better watch the video card to be nvidia in my opinion (I had problems with drivers for ati video card on 1 Asus laptop

)). But if you are planning to seriously play games and not moving to much from 1 spot/chair/room - buy a PC instead => great PC at the price of average (or a bit higher) laptop in terms of performance

.
That's all I can say, but it's only from my experience and thoughts

. Good luck!

Pervect

1280 Posts

June 27 2008 00:29 GMT

I highly recommend something from Lenovo's Thinkpad T series. I have their highest-end model and can easily say it's far better than the multiple Dell's, Apple's, Sager's, and HP's that I have owned. Gets awesome battery life and you can get some nice specs on it. Would seriously recommend it.

Definitely grab 2GB of RAM, an Intel Core 2 Duo, and something from nVidia (nothing integrated) - the models you pick are dependent on how much you end up spending.

KizZBG

u gotta skate8152 Posts

June 27 2008 00:47 GMT

#10

On June 27 2008 09:29 Pervect wrote:
I highly recommend something from Lenovo's Thinkpad T series. I have their highest-end model and can easily say it's far better than the multiple Dell's, Apple's, Sager's, and HP's that I have owned. Gets awesome battery life and you can get some nice specs on it. Would seriously recommend it.

Definitely grab 2GB of RAM, an Intel Core 2 Duo, and something from nVidia (nothing integrated) - the models you pick are dependent on how much you end up spending.

What specs and how much did it cost?

I looked around this Dell XPS looks good value for money:

XP M1710

Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T7200 (2.00 GHz, 667 MHz FSB, 4 MB L2-cache)
Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium - English
1 Year Base Warranty
17.0" UltraSharp™ Wide Screen WUXGA (1920x1200) TFT Display with TrueLife™
2048MB 667MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM [2x1024] edit
Hard Drive 250GB Serial ATA (5400RPM)
256MB DDR3 nVidia® GeForce™ Go 7900 graphics card
Fixed Internal 8X DVD+/-RW Drive including software - Vista
9 cell Lithium-Ion Battery (80 Whr)

£899 delivered

haduken

Australia8267 Posts

June 27 2008 00:56 GMT

#11

Current T61 models cost you an arm and a leg... but i've saw some T61 with a T8100 chip selling at around $2000 dollar mark... pretty good value imo.

if you are not concerned with price.
get this:

Lenovo X300

10 hours of battery life with 64 GB Solid State Drive + Wireless Wan

Best buy for road warriors.

haduken

Australia8267 Posts

June 27 2008 00:58 GMT

#12

it's $3599 AUD atm. probably cheaper in the states.

haduken

Australia8267 Posts

June 27 2008 00:59 GMT

#13

did i mention it only weights 1.43kg? the only other machine that beats this is the toshiba R500 but X300 is a much better build quality

Pervect

1280 Posts

June 27 2008 01:23 GMT

#14

On June 27 2008 09:47 KizZBG wrote:

Show nested quote +

For whatever reason the Lenovo website is blocked at work, but it ended up costing about £1200 for my specs:

Intel Core 2 Duo T9500 (2.6GHz, 800MHz FSB, 6MB L2 cache) 45nm penryn as well
Windows Vista Home Premium
15.4" Screen
4GB PC2-5300 DDR2 (2 DIMM's)
250GB HDD 5400RPM
NVIDIA Quadro FX 570M 256MB (For what I needed this was better; but for his case the 7900 is probably better, although I don't know if Lenovo has that option on the T series).
Don't remember battery size, but it really lasts.

I can also say I have been the most satisfied with Lenovo as far as support and a few other little things. However, with all that being said I have heard nothing but good about the M1710.

haduken

Australia8267 Posts

June 27 2008 01:32 GMT

#15

O.o wtf you can get a quadro card on a lenovo?

nortydog

Australia3067 Posts

June 27 2008 01:37 GMT

#16

X300 is puuuuuuuuuuurfect for what you described bar price

Pervect

1280 Posts

June 27 2008 01:51 GMT

#17

On June 27 2008 10:32 haduken wrote:
O.o wtf you can get a quadro card on a lenovo?

Yeah, on the ThinkPad T61 Mobile Workstation at least. Not positive about others.

haduken

Australia8267 Posts

June 27 2008 03:25 GMT

#18

quadro card is great for CAD stuff but not for gaming. I wouldn't even get a laptop for gaming to be honest especially as you are looking for something with a good battery life.

T series lenovo is great for a all-round machine. they are quite, very durable + great warranty. if money is not an issue then definately get T series or X300 depending on how much you want to spend.

Leave out brands like sony and toshiba. HP 6710b is a good buy for something under $1500 mark.

P.S Trust me, you won't regret spending the money if you get X300.

haduken

Australia8267 Posts

June 27 2008 03:26 GMT

#19

On June 27 2008 09:47 KizZBG wrote:

Show nested quote +

No offense, but that machine is crap. The only good thing about it is the screen. But for 900 pounds, i would have gotten a mach better deal (non-dell)

Pervect

1280 Posts

June 27 2008 03:32 GMT

#20

On June 27 2008 12:25 haduken wrote:
quadro card is great for CAD stuff but not for gaming. I wouldn't even get a laptop for gaming to be honest especially as you are looking for something with a good battery life.

T series lenovo is great for a all-round machine. they are quite, very durable + great warranty. if money is not an issue then definately get T series or X300 depending on how much you want to spend.

Leave out brands like sony and toshiba. HP 6710b is a good buy for something under $1500 mark.

P.S Trust me, you won't regret spending the money if you get X300.

Agreed, and like I said (and haduken elaborated on) the Quadro card was nice for my specific workload but for something more general and gaming the GeForce series is better. Also, like haduken said, the graphics card can really, really be a battery life killer; so gauge that carefully.

Nytefish

United Kingdom4282 Posts

June 27 2008 11:35 GMT

#21

Actually I've decided to just buy a cheap (~£1000), lightweight laptop and get a more expensive desktop for games later. So all I'm really looking for is portability and good battery life, if it has vista then at least 2GB of RAM (1GB seems too slow for vista). If there's nothing suitable I might just get the Lenovo X300.

haduken

Australia8267 Posts

June 27 2008 12:15 GMT

#22

X300 is your best bet. 2GB of RAM and come with Vista Business.

mel_ee

2448 Posts

July 01 2008 10:47 GMT

#23

Hey this is one of the better threads and I thought I could ask a question here.

Basically I want similar things to what Nytefish wants except good performance with photoshop + illustrator (things like that). Of course it needs to be able to play sc2 on the go (not necessarily the best in graphics/speed as that is what a desktop is for).

X300 is nice but my wallet isnt so friendly. Ive heard great things about M1530 but have no idea about heating and other variables i cant comprehend.

If anything, is there some good forums to check out?

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