Laptop advice

[Yoru]

Hey folks. I'll be doing a lot of traveling over the next few months, so I'd like to pick up a decent laptop that'll work well for both gaming and coding. I'd like to hear which manufacturers/brands you guys would recommend that I pursue.

Some considerations:

• 15" screen - widescreen preferable
• Durability - I want this thing to last 3-5 years
• Quality of battery - does it go from 3 hours to 30 minutes in two discharges?
• Availability of both 110V and 220V-capable AC adaptors
• Global support - if it breaks in Buttfuck, Bulgaria, can I get help?

I've already eliminated IBM/Lenovo based on past experience.

[SnakeCharmer]

Budget?

(Not that I can offer sound advice, just thought I'd help narrow it down for someone else to answer)

[Trippy]

I'd get a Mac. You might also want to ask your coworkers what they recommend.

[Yoru]

Budget?

(Not that I can offer sound advice, just thought I'd help narrow it down for someone else to answer)

Essentially irrelevant. Most manufacturers offer enough of a price spread for me to evaluate their offerings in my price range. But I'm looking at around 2 grand.

I'd get a Mac. You might also want to ask your coworkers what they recommend.

A Mac is, in fact, my default preference. I've specced out a Macbook Pro that will suit my needs if this thread bears no fruit.

[Roac]

I've already eliminated IBM/Lenovo based on past experience.

My main experience would be to reinforce this point.  I hate Lenovo.  That said, I absolutely a work Gateway I had a couple years ago - a replacement for another Gateway which also served me well for several years.  Durable, good battery, good US service (the lcd cable got frayed on the first one, sent for repair, got back in short order).  Can't speak to international service or 220v.

[OcellotJenkins]

A Mac is, in fact, my default preference. I've specced out a Macbook Pro that will suit my needs if this thread bears no fruit.

I just placed an order for one of the new Macbook Pros for a guy at work last week.  It should be here any day now so I'll be able to comment more on it soon.  We did configure it with 2 gig of memory for under 2 grand.  On paper it seems like a sweet machine.  Now that I think about it though, I believe it was the 15 inch screen not the largest one.

[Sky]

I just ordered the newly refreshed low end MBP yesterday for my boss. 2.4GHz, 2GB RAM 200GB HDD (that's stock for the low-end). Yowza.

I want the high end 17" model with 4GB RAM for a music workstation. And a windows partition for gaming!

[naum]

I've got 2 MBP and am generally pleased with them… …one does Parallels and one used to do BootCamp but these are 1+ year old models, and the HD on one of them is only 120G which has prevented me from running BootCamp (on the Parallels machine, have 30G partitioned for WinXP)… …battery life sucks compared to my old G4 powerbook, but it's good for 2 hours if you're not playing DVDs… …maybe it's the WiFi and all the other junk that drains it, but I don't get no 3+ hours like my old PB did… …mine are both 1+ year old, but 2.33Ghz, 2G RAM machines - it looks like the latest upgrades are slight improvements but may be more substantial battery sparing updates…

[KallDrexx]

Anyone here have experience with Pro Star laptops?  I've heard one good report from a trusted person about them (lasted 14-15 months) but I was wondering if anyone has seen/used/heard about them before.

specific laptop i'm looking at is http://pro-star.com/link/land_5729.html

[MahrinSkel]

Not specific about the laptop, but consider the new Verizon BroadbandAccess cards and plans if you're travelling alot.  I got it for my new laptop, it was about $100 for the card and it's $50/month for the service (beats the hell out of $10-15 a day for crappy hotel wireless).  It does give good broadband grade speed in most conditions (T1 equivalent), and has a pretty wide service area (I've been knocked down to the second-tier NationalAccess speeds, about as good as entry-level DSL, but never less).  Gaming it has one issue: built in latency of 90-100ms.  But it's a steady lag, with no packet drops, so it's still usable even for gaming and barely noticable for websurfing.

--Dave

[squirrel]

To pipe-in on the MBP love - I have the 2.33 MBP and I love it. It's a great box, moderate gaming capability under bootcamp. It's my second MBP - the first died after a GF spilled a glass of water on it. Good laptops in general.

[Trippy]

Not specific about the laptop, but consider the new Verizon BroadbandAccess cards and plans if you're travelling alot.

Will that work in Europe?

[MahrinSkel]

According to this page, it will, but only the ExpressCard/34 Interface is supported by either one (you can put it in an adapter for standard PCMCIA).  The first (v740) is the one I have, and it looks like it will work in the US and Europe but not Asia, while the second will work in Asia and Europe, but not the US.

--Dave

EDIT: Checking it more carefully, it looks like the first card is just for the US, while the second (XU870) is for anywhere else.  So if you travel a lot between the US and elsewhere, you probably have to buy both cards.

[TripleDES]

I've ordered a Dell XPS M1530 two weeks ago (it's only entered the production phase this friday :gonk: ), cost me like 1250 Euro and has these specs:

15" screen, 1680x1050 resolution
Intel Core Duo T7500 2.2GHz
3GB RAM, 200GB 7200rpm drive
8600GT graphics card with 256MB
DVD-Writer, 9cell battery and all that other jazz
--edit: Intel 4965 Draft-N 2.0 wireless

More or less on par with the MBPs for double the price. I wish it had a 512MB graphics card, but to screw around normally and play Spore sometime in future, it should be more than OK.

[KallDrexx]

I've ordered a Dell XPS M1530 two weeks ago (it's only entered the production phase this friday :gonk: ), cost me like 1250 Euro and has these specs:

Yeah I found that just now actually.  Not bad for $1700.

[TripleDES]

I'm sure the same configuration is cheaper than 1700$ over in the US, considering parts prices seem to be artificially higher here, even with the funky currency conversion rates.