I'd ask Outlaw Audio proper to do it...but there not in the business!
Posted elsewhere a poll about “Whom prefer a laptop Vs desktop” for a toe in the water, and was treated to hilariously neck and neck responses. Many poster had valid and serious negatives to consider - I will NOT enjoy the price per performance value of a laptop Vs a DT, but I became satisfied that for what I desire to achieve I will give it a shot as soon as scheduling allows.

However I haven’t’ got time, and it KILLS me to purchase without exhaustive plodding research.
In a quick peak towards computer sites on the subject of laptops (never owned one) I can see, urghhhhh, it would behoove me to spend some time on this. I would greatly appreciate input (shortcut to lap top icon) type stuff from some names around I recognize and trust. (this is not to guarantee that I will go off half-cocked on a purchase due to time and convenience factors).

Okay right off the bat, I spot an article that mentions the Dell UltraSharp UXGA top of the line on the Insp. 8500 has the finest pixel pitch/bright etc of any. But I can’t find a comprehensive (comparison of models) article to confirm this.

Consider I’ am spoiled rotten by my recent forays into AV. So the first thing I’m looking for ,…is who makes the best display. (Its true- I’m ruined forever) but seriously due to long long hours of eyestrain, - I want the brightest, most contrast finest resolution (largest) available on a laptop.

Secondly what do I need to worry about in reliability in current processors available. I have not looked since last gutting my (self built (or change that to husband built) Athalon Thunderbird 1g CPU (chose this because early Pentium 1 and II just out around that time had ISSUES).

Immediately I ran into (one) if I check all the boxes on build my Dell I have it up to $3,800, And once $6100? (seems ridiculous when I consider the fact that a cagey KNOWELABE consumer can usually do MUCH better by knowing the in/outs of current systems). Years ago spent some time reading the overclockers crowd talk…the guys who really pay attention to what truly (specs aside) bench test ran the fastest and crashed the least. No time now for that currently.

I see an immediate concern with purchasing a laptop with a desktop CPU on board Vs a mobile architecture chip. And a concern for paying attention to things like Gezz, something called Smart something Vs Speed something…….(reduces your CPU processing by half (?) when on battery power). AVOID(?)

What ELSE do I not know….any recommends? Forget what I’ll use it for, I like the biggest baddest fastest (for headroom so to speak) and (most) important stable. If I can’t afford that I’ll go to plan B.

1: Who has the undeniably largest best Laptop display available.
2: Is it matched by architecture you could recommend or should I avoid? (Dell 8500?)
3: Wireless, never done that, will need to come equipped with all capabilities that direction. During this time will not be able to muck with setup will have to hire to get it up and running with my DT and both accessing my DSL line. (Oh dear just realized will this work with the DT running 98 and the new LT XP?)

J, since you mentioned the blurb about Intel just launching its next chip. I assumed you (and others) here might be up on current tech?!

If all other factors are equal, I'd really appreciate it if you bought an AMD chip instead.

Jeff

Ah, a thread right up my ally. I work for AMD in Sales and Marketing, so I of course would prefer you buy an AMD solution as well.

Stay away from desktop chips stuffed into notebooks, these are for joe consumer who doesn't want to ever move it around, the units are heavy and the power supplies that come with this are just as heavy, not portable. Nor are they laptops, their skin temperature on the case bottoms can exceed 45 degrees celcuis which is a might uncomfortable on the legs. Not to mention, with the Intel parts, even if they say it is a desktop 3.0G chip in the notebook, it is gets to hot, it will cut the chip speed by 50% and you have no control over this. When do they get hot, when you need them most like watching DVD's or doing some image editing/high end calcs, then you lose performance cause you opted for the belief that you are getting the fastest part on the market in you notebook to replace your need for a desktop. You will be making a sacrifice.

AMD makes the chips with portability in mind. Our PowerNow technology throttles the CPU speed up and down as you need it whether on battery or plugged in. This helps your notebook run cooler and quieter.

Now your issue is, you want the best screen, but they don't come unless your paying $2K plus. eMachines has a new AMD widescreen notebook that has a really nice screen and the notebook is fully featured for a price below $1200, worth a looksie. The rest of the AMD models have standard LCD screens.

Also, how much of an issue is portabilty to you? If you really want to be portable, Sharp has a "thin and light" AMD model at Circuit City that is also fully featured with the best 12.1" screen on the market, as Sharp is a pioneer in LCD tech. Fujitsu offers a model on their web-site, the S2000 which is also thin a light and very nicely priced. These are two great options for the truly portable user.

Get a notebook that has these features at least:
256MB min, you can upgrade really cheaply with another 256MB aftermarket module.
30-40GB drive
Screen depends on what form factor you want.
CPU also depends on what form factor you want, but I am running a 1400 right now and it performs fine, most on the market are 1800 or greater right now.
built in combo DVD/CDRW drive
USB 2.0 ports
Firewire is a good extra, but not as critical as USB
Wireless 802.11b or 802.11g integrated. The wireless will come in handy when you have a cable modem or dsl and multiple computers at home. Many people connect their desktops via wireless now by way of USB, but the notebook should have it integrated if possible.

The new Intel Centrino is nothing more than a revamped PIII core that bundles the wireless and other hardware so that Intel gets more of the computer real estate at the expense of their competitors and the consumers believe the hype and pay the premium. You can find similar configured notebooks for $200-$400 less that perform the same as the Intel Centrino offerings.

Nuf for now, what else can I say to help you?

And I worked for Intel until they laid me off, so I too of course would prefer you buy an AMD solution.

Jeff

Geeze Louiese...

I cant tell you to much about laptops, however I can say that if you're ever interested in building another computer...give me a call. I can happily say that I built my first one from scratch and will NEVER go back to Dell/Gateway/HP/Compaq or any other manufacturer.

It's just to much fun to build your own. (If only you could do the same things with a laptop).

Jason

Thanks All!
I can happily say that I built my first one from scratch and will NEVER
same here I have never purchased a DT (whole) from anywhere! Unfortunately our hardware gutting days are over for a while. Life for the foreseeable future will not allow the time it requires. Therefore my first foray into buying something bundled (and my first laptop).

Was very happy with AMD's Athlon/Thunderbird SocketA last time we gutted. Speaking of price drops my husband just HAD to break the 1G barrier, when 1G’s first hit the market. In the past we had always gutted staying 2nd /3rd generation back for the price break.
He paid about 1K for that chip and you should have seen the price drop in the next 6 months!.

It is the CPU I’m running now and has been VERY stable, (until I let the web trash my computer). When it launched it was much more reliable than the Pentium peer equivalents on the market at that time.

Now your issue is, you want the best screen Yes and largest
Stay away from desktop chips stuffed into notebooks Thanks you just confirmed what I thought I noticed on a quick surf. Stay with the mobile architectured chips, for heat reduction among other issues. (Heat= enemy of electronics in my book, + My LAP!)
Also, how much of an issue is portability to you? not an issue. This LT will be used for its portability in my home office (very rarely to travel with). So I’m not factoring weight, and size (since I desire the largest display) is locked into largest.
Yes has to be Wireless (totally new territory for me!) I need it to talk to my DSL from other rooms.
Who has the fastest (stable) CPU currently in laptops which runs with least degradation while on battery?
(not specs ….real life crunch tested)
Which runs the coolest (now know stay with M chips to help this area)
Whats the most Ram a LT can hold?

Most laptop battery specs are based on real life crunch tested using benchmarks to back up the claims. Most fall in the 2-3 hour mark for normal home boxes. You will find some that may exceed, but they are likely stuffing more battery into the box.

The price range of solutions in $1000-$1500 will net you your best bang for the buck in solutions with all the features spoken. New replacement models come in July and many more laptops will have wireless in them.

With Win XP you won't see much performance gain going above 512MB, diminishing returns for you $$'s spent. Most laptops go to 512MB of DDR memory, look for DDR when checking the memory.

on bench test specs, I was referring to CPU preformance vs battery life(although battery extended life is important would not like terrible preformance in that area when needed, - but will be on AC much of the time).
I think I'm trying to grasp this whole area on CPU preformance in a LT
Our PowerNow technology throttles the CPU speed up and down as you need it whether on battery or plugged in.

I thought I saw (another issue besides heat) that if a DT CPU is used in a LT these are often throttled back in BIOS and you cannot adjust, negating the CPU spec since all that preformance is never really available to you. The reason for this throttle possibly connected to, if run at full speed the box might melt?!
In other words you could purchase a LT advertised at 2G CPU, not realizing that if its a DT CPU this might be throttled permantly to 1G or on a Speed controled system you might be a 1G while on battery. IF I spot some possible issues correctly.

And that there are diffrent methods of acheiving power conservation on M CPUs, - IE: "PowerNow" which affect (how) speed is handled while on battery. Wondered what stats the guys who grab these things and run massive Games/applications on them have determined was the best application of CPU power handling (truly quickest smoothest most reliable) during consumer usage.

Not sure what I'm asking since I'm just beginning to grasp the possible questions (to ask).
Thanks for the DDR stats!

Hi Lena:
I'm new here and stumbled on to this thread. I've been researching laptops in hopes of building my own line in the future and found out somthing you might find interesting. Most of the big companys, Dell, HP, Sony and the like don't make there own notebooks at all! Read this article:

We often get questions about the differences between "Name Brand" and "Clone." So, we are going to try to clear up some of the confusion. Xtremenotebooks.com does not sell clone notebooks. In fact, we sell the same notebooks that many of the name brand companies such as Toshiba and Dell sell.
It all comes down to the different levels of manufacturing. First, the Original Design Manufacturer (ODM) are manufacturers who actually cast and assemble the main unit which includes the motherboard, outside casing, and display. A few examples of ODMs are Compal, Clevo, Arima, Inventec, Mitac, Asus, Uniwill, and TwinHead. You may not have heard of these companies before but you have definitely seen their systems out on the market. These companies are usually located somewhere in Taiwan or Asia, and have warehouse distribution centers in the US. They distribute their product to Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs). These companies then add the ram, processor, software, and hard drive to the systems. The OEMs stick their label on it, and call themselves manufacturers. So, really you can call them assemblers or service providers. Their products are then sold directly to consumers, or through dealers like Xtremenotebooks.com.
So, who makes Toshiba notebooks? Toshiba actually buys their product from several ODM manufactures such as Compal, Clevo (Prostar 5600 & 8800 Series), and Mitac (Xtreme XJ-88 and Xtreme XO-35). They do make a few of their models themselves, but most are bought from other manufacturers, and relabeled and serviced by Toshiba. Compaq, has a similar story. They have had a huge contract with ODMs such as Mitac, Inventec, Arima and have gained strength in the notebook market because of them. DELL buys most of their systems from Compal, the Xtreme XE-77 and Xtreme XL-22 are identical to the Dell Inspiron Series. Dell didn’t even change the look at all. Compal also manufactures the Xtreme XR-45. Sony, HP, Sharp have all had, or still have contracts with TwinHead.
Alienware®? You may have seen the great reviews about the Area-51M notebook. Guess what? It is also built by Clevo.
What about IBM? Apple? The companies that do in fact make their own laptops include IBM, Apple, Twinhead, Acer and Asus. The rest buy laptops from OEMs...JUST LIKE US


I did some reasearch on these ODM sites and what is said in this article is very true. I guess what I'm saying is don't get stuck paying for the name brand. Just like Outlaws Idea: the same quality for less money by shoping around Oh and do a search in google for Clevo they just released a notebook with a 17" monitor!!

Hope this helps
Lasher

I'm new here

Hi, and Welcome.

Hate to disappoint D & A. (and thanks for the help!) but I did go ahead and purchase (coughs discreetly Intel chip and ordered it, -the slightly less traditional route. (Chembooks)
I really like my AMD Thunderbird chip in my DT, (and had better luck with stability of the system with it than everyone else I knew at the time who went with early generation Pentium) but went with CB’s on a recommendation by a friend who happened to be purchasing around the same time who has been through a few LT’s. I was going to go highest resolution 17” 16.9 ratio Dell, just because I wanted the screen. But shied away since it’s my first LT purchase.

Normally who is BEHIND (OEM’s) is exactly the kind of research I do. But this time I just did not have the time. Since the purchase I’ve barely done any work on the LT and still need to familiarize myself with it. But have had some family (in hospital) keeping life crazy…that’s starting to settle down, so mayhap I can play with it more very soon, where I can actually become productive on it!

Went with 15 SXGA DVD/CDRW drive. IntelPM 1.3GHz 2x512 MB DDR Ram. 60GB HD 64MB video Ram. (like the video ram  ) It’s the Centro level without the designation due to the 802.11 a+b config.

I think I’m always own a LT in future, I like the purchase just need time to get cranking on this one soon. Right now the work I have I’ve been in a crunch (don't even have time for learning new tech in AV (big frown just browsing the forums to keep my hand in) ... I have to type fast and can't hunt for control keys in different locals!

By the way I love the name, (I’m named after a horse and a male one at that ). You don’t happen to be the personal demon to a lot of female witches do you?!