Buying Laptop

rame · 01-24-2006, 02:06 PM

Hi,

I am looking my first laptop. I am a web developer and would need it to be quite fast.As I have never used laptops before I have no idea of their efficiency and how to judge them.

Can any deveopers or anyone help me what kind of processor and memory specs should I look for.
And what else should I look for in a good laptop.
Also I wouldnt want to pay more then $2000 - 2200.
Can it be possible that I can completely replace my PC with laptop in relation to my work at this price?
Does 2.0 GHz see with 1GB memory sound a good enough spec for running visual studio and developing huge projets??

Any suggestions welcome.
Thanks a lot

[-0MEGA-] · 01-24-2006, 02:21 PM

I would get a Pentium M with 1GB of DDR2. The Pentium M's dont have very high clockspeeds, but they run extremely well. I'd say get a Pentium M between 1.73Ghz - 2.16Ghz. And you can get a very good laptop with a PM for under $1500.

celsdogg · 01-24-2006, 05:56 PM

i would also pay great attention to the hard drive, and i dont mean the drive space.

a lot of laptops come with 4200 rpm hard drives with only a 2mb cache. i would at least try to get one that is 5400rpm and definatly and 8mb cache. the cache is key.

of course, if u cant find one that comes with a larger cache, you can replace it later. newegg is ure friend

LaptopExtreme · 01-24-2006, 06:33 PM

As a web developer, you may not need the fastest hardware on the market. Which can lower your budget by half. But if you're looking for style and future-proofing for a little while then, I guess you might as well get something in that price range. Do you have any preferences? I take it that you want a normal ratio screen (non-widescreen)? glossy or matte? 15" okay or 17"? Card reader, etc...

Syphr · 01-24-2006, 06:53 PM

in my working with visual studio, i have noticed that although it does not require large amounts of ram, i would not run it with under a gig, especially if you are running other programs, for databases for example. As for the processor, a pentium m mobile processor would be your best bet, like geoff suggested. Visual studio will not push your processor too hard unless you are running many processes along with it.

still keep in mind that visual studio 2005 is out, and the hardware requirements are naturally slightly higher than those of the 2003 edition

rame · 01-25-2006, 04:56 AM

Thanks and sorry I meant the AU $2000 not USD. So that would probably be about 1500 -1700 USD.

Also I wanted to ask if it is possible to upgrade a laptops processor?
Is there really much difference between 1.7 or 1.8 or 2 GHZ processor given that I have same RAM becuse their seems to be considerable price differnece.
I was thinking of buying 1.7 and getting 1GB or 2GB RAM what do you think?

LaptopExtreme · 01-25-2006, 05:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rame

...Also I wanted to ask if it is possible to upgrade a laptops processor?
Is there really much difference between 1.7 or 1.8 or 2 GHZ processor given that I have same RAM becuse their seems to be considerable price differnece.
I was thinking of buying 1.7 and getting 1GB or 2GB RAM what do you think?

You may not notice a difference between 1.7 & 1.8, you will see a difference between 1.7 & 2.0. Same thing with 1gb & 2gb. I would go lower with the 1 gb and up the 1.7 to a 1.8. And yes, you can upgrade your mobile processor in the future.

rame · 01-25-2006, 05:43 AM

How does this system look? For AUD $2200 thats about $1700 USD
Intel Pentium M Processor 750 1.86GHz, 512MB RAM, 80GB HDD, 15.4" TruBrite Widescreen, DL SuperMultui DVD burner.

Features: PROCESSOR - Intel Pentium M Processor 750 1.86GHz with Enhanced Intel Speedstep Technology (533MHz FSB)
MEMORY - 512MB DDR2 (533) 1 free memory slot. Total memory expandable to 2GB
HARD DRIVE - 80GB (5400rpm) SATA
OPTICAL DRIVE - DVD SuperMulti Double⁄Dual Layer Drive
READ AND WRITE SPEED - Read: CD-ROM, DVD-ROM 8x, Write; CD-R 24x, CD-RW 4x, HS CD-RW 10x, DVD-R 8x, DVD-R DL 2x, DVD-RW 4x, DVD+R 8x, DVD+R DL 2.4x, DVD+RW 4x, DVD-RAM 5x
COLOUR DISPLAY - 15.4" TruBrite Widescreen WIDEview XGA (CSV High-brightness) Active Matrix colour display
RESOLUTION - 1280 x 800
VIDEO - ATI MOBILITY RADEON X700 SE with 128MB dedicated video memory with hyperMemory (PCI Express 16x)
TV-OUT PORT - S-Video
AUDIO - AC '97 Software Sound with Direct3DSound
LAN - 10⁄100 Base TX Ethernet, Integrated Intel Pro 2915 802.11abg wireless LAN
MODEM - International V.92 data modem + fax
SPEAKERS - Premium harman⁄kardon speakers
CARD READER - 5-in-1 card reader adapter
DISKETTE DRIVE - Not specified by Manufacturer
USB PORT - 3 x Hi-Speed USB 2.0
PARALLEL PORT - Not specified by Manufacturer
SERIAL PORT - Not specified by Manufacturer
PC CARD SLOT - One PC Card slot supports one Type II PC Card, Express Card
IEEE1394 PORT - Yes
INFRA-RED PORT - Not specified by Manufacturer
BLUE TOOTH - Toshiba Bluetooth V2.0 + EDR (Enhanced Data Rate)
SECURITY OPTIONS - Not specified by Manufacturer
SOFTWARE - Microsoft Windows XP Professional SP2 (OEM), Toshiba Assist, Toshiba Console & Utilities, Toshiba Touch & Launch, Microsoft OneNote 2003, Record Now! Basic for TOSHIBA, DLA for Toshiba, ConfigFree, Toshiba Speech System, Intervideo WinDVD, Intervideo WinDVD Creator 2 Platinum, Norton Antivirus 2005 (90 day subscription), Adobe Acrobat Reader
ESTIMATED BATTERY LIFE - To be confirmed
WEIGHT - Approximately 2.71kg
WARRANTY - 1 year international parts and labour warranty
CONTACT NUMBER FOR WARRANTY, SERVICE & SUPPORT - 13 30 70

LaptopExtreme · 01-25-2006, 06:29 AM

Looks good, but may be a little pricey for a Toshiba. You may get it a little cheaper on an HP DV4000 w/ x700.

rame · 01-25-2006, 07:03 AM

Hi,
Here's another deal I got 2.0GHZ, 1GB RAM. But the brand is Clevo is it any good.Price is the same.

01-24-2006, 02:06 PM	#1 (permalink)
rame New Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 4	Buying Laptop Hi, I am looking my first laptop. I am a web developer and would need it to be quite fast.As I have never used laptops before I have no idea of their efficiency and how to judge them. Can any deveopers or anyone help me what kind of processor and memory specs should I look for. And what else should I look for in a good laptop. Also I wouldnt want to pay more then $2000 - 2200. Can it be possible that I can completely replace my PC with laptop in relation to my work at this price? Does 2.0 GHz see with 1GB memory sound a good enough spec for running visual studio and developing huge projets?? Any suggestions welcome. Thanks a lot

01-24-2006, 02:21 PM	#2 (permalink)
[-0MEGA-] VIP Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Concord, NH Age: 20 Posts: 27,389	I would get a Pentium M with 1GB of DDR2. The Pentium M's dont have very high clockspeeds, but they run extremely well. I'd say get a Pentium M between 1.73Ghz - 2.16Ghz. And you can get a very good laptop with a PM for under $1500. __________________ Core 2 Quad Q9550 @ 4.1GHz Asus Rampage Formula X48 ATI 4870X2 2GB GDDR5 (800/1900) 4GB (2x 2GB) DDR2 960 (6-6-6-18) 750GB SATAII w/32MB Creative SB X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty SilverStone 750W +12V@60A 3DMark06: 22605

01-24-2006, 05:56 PM	#3 (permalink)
celsdogg Gold Member Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Maryland Age: 26 Posts: 306	i would also pay great attention to the hard drive, and i dont mean the drive space. a lot of laptops come with 4200 rpm hard drives with only a 2mb cache. i would at least try to get one that is 5400rpm and definatly and 8mb cache. the cache is key. of course, if u cant find one that comes with a larger cache, you can replace it later. newegg is ure friend __________________ VALERIE - AMD Athlon XP Palomino 1800+, 1GB DDR SDRAM, nVidia GeForceFX 5700 128MB DDR, two 160GB Seagate HDD, two 250GB Seagate HDD, WinXP Pro SARAH (Toshiba Laptop) - Intel Pentium 4 2.8ghz, 512MB DDR SDRAM, Trident Cyberblade XP2 32MB, 60GB Samsung HDD, Ubuntu Linux 7.10 MARGARET - AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+, 2GB Corsair XMS DDR400 Dual Channel, nVidia GeForce 8600GT 256MB GDDR PCIE, 80GB Seagate SATA, 60GB Maxtor PATA, 60GB WD PATA Ubuntu Linux 7.10 + WinXP Pro

01-24-2006, 06:53 PM	#5 (permalink)
Syphr Silver Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Toronto, Canada Posts: 126	in my working with visual studio, i have noticed that although it does not require large amounts of ram, i would not run it with under a gig, especially if you are running other programs, for databases for example. As for the processor, a pentium m mobile processor would be your best bet, like geoff suggested. Visual studio will not push your processor too hard unless you are running many processes along with it. still keep in mind that visual studio 2005 is out, and the hardware requirements are naturally slightly higher than those of the 2003 edition __________________ :cool: Syphr --------- AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ Asus A8N SLI Premium NVIDIA Mobo 1536MB Corsair PC3200 DDR 400MHz Memory 480GB (160GBx3) WD Caviar SE (SATA,8MB,7200) Dual (SLI) GigaByte GeForce 6600 PCI-e 256MB WinXP PRO/WinVista BETA 2 //Coming Soon Laptop Last edited by Syphr; 01-24-2006 at 07:04 PM.

01-25-2006, 07:03 AM	#10 (permalink)
rame New Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 4	Hi, Here's another deal I got 2.0GHZ, 1GB RAM. But the brand is Clevo is it any good.Price is the same. Last edited by rame; 01-25-2006 at 07:24 AM.

01-24-2006, 06:33 PM	#4 (permalink)
LaptopExtreme VIP Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Los Angeles, CA Posts: 880	As a web developer, you may not need the fastest hardware on the market. Which can lower your budget by half. But if you're looking for style and future-proofing for a little while then, I guess you might as well get something in that price range. Do you have any preferences? I take it that you want a normal ratio screen (non-widescreen)? glossy or matte? 15" okay or 17"? Card reader, etc...

01-25-2006, 04:56 AM	#6 (permalink)
rame New Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 4	Thanks and sorry I meant the AU $2000 not USD. So that would probably be about 1500 -1700 USD. Also I wanted to ask if it is possible to upgrade a laptops processor? Is there really much difference between 1.7 or 1.8 or 2 GHZ processor given that I have same RAM becuse their seems to be considerable price differnece. I was thinking of buying 1.7 and getting 1GB or 2GB RAM what do you think?

01-25-2006, 05:43 AM	#8 (permalink)
rame New Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 4	How does this system look? For AUD $2200 thats about $1700 USD Intel Pentium M Processor 750 1.86GHz, 512MB RAM, 80GB HDD, 15.4" TruBrite Widescreen, DL SuperMultui DVD burner. Features: PROCESSOR - Intel Pentium M Processor 750 1.86GHz with Enhanced Intel Speedstep Technology (533MHz FSB) MEMORY - 512MB DDR2 (533) 1 free memory slot. Total memory expandable to 2GB HARD DRIVE - 80GB (5400rpm) SATA OPTICAL DRIVE - DVD SuperMulti Double⁄Dual Layer Drive READ AND WRITE SPEED - Read: CD-ROM, DVD-ROM 8x, Write; CD-R 24x, CD-RW 4x, HS CD-RW 10x, DVD-R 8x, DVD-R DL 2x, DVD-RW 4x, DVD+R 8x, DVD+R DL 2.4x, DVD+RW 4x, DVD-RAM 5x COLOUR DISPLAY - 15.4" TruBrite Widescreen WIDEview XGA (CSV High-brightness) Active Matrix colour display RESOLUTION - 1280 x 800 VIDEO - ATI MOBILITY RADEON X700 SE with 128MB dedicated video memory with hyperMemory (PCI Express 16x) TV-OUT PORT - S-Video AUDIO - AC '97 Software Sound with Direct3DSound LAN - 10⁄100 Base TX Ethernet, Integrated Intel Pro 2915 802.11abg wireless LAN MODEM - International V.92 data modem + fax SPEAKERS - Premium harman⁄kardon speakers CARD READER - 5-in-1 card reader adapter DISKETTE DRIVE - Not specified by Manufacturer USB PORT - 3 x Hi-Speed USB 2.0 PARALLEL PORT - Not specified by Manufacturer SERIAL PORT - Not specified by Manufacturer PC CARD SLOT - One PC Card slot supports one Type II PC Card, Express Card IEEE1394 PORT - Yes INFRA-RED PORT - Not specified by Manufacturer BLUE TOOTH - Toshiba Bluetooth V2.0 + EDR (Enhanced Data Rate) SECURITY OPTIONS - Not specified by Manufacturer SOFTWARE - Microsoft Windows XP Professional SP2 (OEM), Toshiba Assist, Toshiba Console & Utilities, Toshiba Touch & Launch, Microsoft OneNote 2003, Record Now! Basic for TOSHIBA, DLA for Toshiba, ConfigFree, Toshiba Speech System, Intervideo WinDVD, Intervideo WinDVD Creator 2 Platinum, Norton Antivirus 2005 (90 day subscription), Adobe Acrobat Reader ESTIMATED BATTERY LIFE - To be confirmed WEIGHT - Approximately 2.71kg WARRANTY - 1 year international parts and labour warranty CONTACT NUMBER FOR WARRANTY, SERVICE & SUPPORT - 13 30 70

01-25-2006, 06:29 AM	#9 (permalink)
LaptopExtreme VIP Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Los Angeles, CA Posts: 880	Looks good, but may be a little pricey for a Toshiba. You may get it a little cheaper on an HP DV4000 w/ x700.

Thread Tools
Show Printable Version Email this Page
Display Modes
Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode