What laptop brand should I buy?!

My parent's are going to buy me a new laptop with the new Centrino 2 processor (T9400) My current laptop is a Toshiba Satellite A100 with the Centrino T1350 processor, which is really, really slow :-[ Which brand should I get? Toshiba has been a pain for me, in terms of battery life. Sony is overpriced but has great battery life. Dell is OK with low price. HP, Compaq look SEXY!!! . I've been told Fujitsu is really good and is made in Germany/Japan, I've looked at the 15.4" ones and you can put two batteries in there . Asus look powerful at a decent price. Acer are made of mostly plastic with pretty decent battery life. I can't think of ther brands for now, besides NEC which I have been told to stay away from.

So what should I get? My budget is 2400AUD and I think I'll order the laptop in August because that's when the Centrino 2 laptops are out for sale, in America of course, who knows when they will be here in Australia, probably in the next year or so :. I'm looking for 3-4 hours of battery life which I think is appropriate with the new processors. I'll be using the laptop to do homework, surfing the net, downloading heaps and heaps of Chinese TVB TV series and a bit of Gunbound aimbotting here and there. Maybe I'll dowload GTA4 if it comes out for the PC as well. So overall I'll use the laptop for homework, surfing the net and playing a bit of games. I want a reliable laptop as well, since I have to move around quite a bit.

I've had a great experience with my HP Pavilion ZV5410us notebook, it's very sturdy and works exactly as it should - I even had a problem with the LCD leaking a lot of light and they replaced the entire top half of the notebook and shipped it back with 3 day shipping at no cost as it was under warranty.

It doesn't have good battery life but I knew it wouldn't when I bought it due to the components. Hope this helps.

go with a dell xps laptop. there all you will need

Dell XPS's are really good as desktop replacements, though as laptops go they're heavy and hot and have short battery life...

If you're looking for a small, lightweight, but powerful laptop, I've had really good experiences with LG laptops.

Whatever you get, don't get the cheapest model of any brand... all the crummy experiences I've had with shoddy laptops have been ones with MSRP's under $800... for that reason I prefer getting used laptops that cost $2000 a year ago but now the rich businessmen who own them are selling them for under $1000 because they're "obsolete"...

On the other end of the spectrum, if you're really strapped for cash, I've heard really good things about the Asus EEE... At $400 they're a great deal for anyone who just wants a laptop to surf the internet, listen to music, write emails etc. They're a little underpowered, though they're frickin TINY!

IBM for the win. Haven't had much experience with lenovo, but IBM was tops. Look into that.

Holy crap, your parents are giving you $2400 to buy a laptop

I've always had to buy my own, and I need laptops for my job... My parents were so nice to me, but boy were they stingy it seems...

I'd say get a Dell XPS, you can configure them to exactly what you want. When you buy them, you select or deselect heaps of options, several of my friends have got them

Murudai said:

Holy crap, your parents are giving you $2400 to buy a laptop

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Do you need a significantly older brother? Most of my brothers are dead now, so I am available

I could use a new laptop.

Peace,
dave

Murudai said:

Holy crap, your parents are giving you $2400 to buy a laptop  

I've always had to buy my own, and I need laptops for my job... My parents were so nice to me, but boy were they stingy it seems...

I'd say get a Dell XPS, you can configure them to exactly what you want. When you buy them, you select or deselect heaps of options, several of my friends have got them

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I'm getting $2400 because I got A's for maths and science in semester report. When I got the interview for the subject selection for year 11, the teacher said my report was one of the best so my parents were happy.

So mostly people here recommend me get a Dell XPS. Does anybody know if Dell USA ships to Australia? It will take ages before Australian laptops have the T9400 processor available. Should I get the 13.3" or the 15.4"? Which one would have better battery life?

I bought a Dell XPS M1530 a few months ago. It is a great laptop and the battery life isn't real bad. I suggest getting the higher capacity battery though for cooling reasons. The 9 cell battery lifts the back of the laptop up. This allows more air to get to the cooling fan which helps a lot if you set it on your lap, bed or somthing similar.

Here are the specs for my purchase.

Dell XPS M1530
C2D T9300 (800Mhz FSB 2.5Ghz 6MB cache)
3GB dual channel 667Mhz DDR2
1680x1050 15.4" display with built-in webcam...
256MB GeForce 8600M GT
250GB 5400RPM hard drive
Vista Home Premium
Integrated Sound Blaster Audigy HD Software Edition
slot-load CD/DVD RW
Intel next-gen wireless N
Trend Micro Internet Security 15-months
6 and 9 cell Lithium Ion battery
2Yr In-Home Service, Parts Labor, 24x7 Phone Support
Finger Print Reader XPS M1530
Verizon built-in cellular mobile broadband (EVDO Rev A) (I had no choice to get rid of this. I just hope I don't get contacted about signing up for the service)
Dell Wireless 355 Bluetooth Internal (2.0+Enhanced Data Rate)

I paid a little less than $1,700 after a discount. They didn't have a 1920x1200 screen when I ordered mine. They do now which irks me a little bit. I got the 1680x1050 screen which doesn't appear to be an option now.

To be honest, I don't think you'd notice a difference between the T9300 and T9400.

freshert said:

I'm getting $2400 because I got A's for maths and science in semester report. When I got the interview for the subject selection for year 11, the teacher said my report was one of the best so my parents were happy.

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I got straight A's in most of my subjects through out grade school. I even got an award at the end of Grade 12 for being one of the top few in the school, and I was one of the top in the state. I got in to the best university in my country.

I guess my 'reward' for all this was a place to live. My parents pay for my Uni accommodation and food budget (since I need to live interstate). So that's nice of them, though I still would of liked an awesome laptop!

After your uni degree, you won't need your parents to buy you anything.

I just looked at the Australian Fujitsu site and this laptop seems pretty nice. http://www.fujitsulifebook.com.au/1...ook-Intel-Core-2-Duo-T9300-with-Vista-Bus.php
What do you guys think? It's in my budget!

EDIT: It has Turbo memory!!

Damn, that things got some really nice stats.

But the video card only has 128mb of memory. That ain't much.

I'm not going to be using the laptop for gaming anyway so that I don't think it would matter that much. :-/

This one looks nice as well, its in Australia and it has the Centrino 2 processor
http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/au/en/ho/WF25a/321957-321957-3329744-64354-64354-3745837.html