Help with finding a laptop

[shishio64]

Hi
im looking for a laptop that will be used mainly for university needs and oriented towards biology studies, which means it should be able to run basic applications such as Microsoft Office, biology (heavier) applications such as "Matlab" and Java for biologists and should include wireless internet capabilities.
in addition i would like it to be used for watching movies and listening to music and include a DVD burner.
my budget is up to a $1000

Thaks!

[clocker]

Hell, any laptop with a DVD-rw will do what you're talking about.

Of course, like many consumers you're asking for disparate features.
Presumably, "university needs" implies carrying it around to class, etc. which means the smaller/lighter, the better.
"Watching movies"- well, the bigger the screen, the nicer the experience but weight is the cost.

Prioritize your requirements and get the best you can with the budget.

[shishio64]

Hell, any laptop with a DVD-rw will do what you're talking about.

Of course, like many consumers you're asking for disparate features.
Presumably, "university needs" implies carrying it around to class, etc. which means the smaller/lighter, the better.
"Watching movies"- well, the bigger the screen, the nicer the experience but weight is the cost.

Prioritize your requirements and get the best you can with the budget.

size and weight dont realy matter, i just need the best laptop for standard needs within the budget i mentioned...
and when it comes to laptops, i dont realy know what to look for in the specifications, what company is considered good and whats the difference in performance, lets say, between Core Duo and Core 2 Duo.
so can you recommend for me some good models because i just get confused when searching for them...

[clocker]

Where are you located?

[Seedler]

Core2Duo > Core Duo by a long shot.

If weight is not a factor, then go for the 17" wide screen ones.

Any laptop brand will do, such as Dell, Acer, etc etc. Just go with the cheaper ones.

You want a Core2Duo >2Ghz so anything over a T7200 CPU will do. Along with 2 GB RAM as a minimum, and preferably with future upgrade capabilities to 3 or 4GBs. Harddrives are pretty much standard at 100-160GB for laptop at the moment, while you can get away with integrated graphics just for watching movies and running non-graphic heavy apps.

Just make sure to look for these factors when you shop, and just search on Newegg.com, Ncix.com, etc etc. for the one with the best performance / price ratio. Again, to me brand name isn't such a big factor.

[shishio64]

Where are you located?

i live in israel, where computers and any electronical hardware usually cost about twice than in the US and Europe...


Core2Duo > Core Duo by a long shot.

If weight is not a factor, then go for the 17" wide screen ones.

Any laptop brand will do, such as Dell, Acer, etc etc. Just go with the cheaper ones.

You want a Core2Duo >2Ghz so anything over a T7200 CPU will do. Along with 2 GB RAM as a minimum, and preferably with future upgrade capabilities to 3 or 4GBs. Harddrives are pretty much standard at 100-160GB for laptop at the moment, while you can get away with integrated graphics just for watching movies and running non-graphic heavy apps.

Just make sure to look for these factors when you shop, and just search on Newegg.com, Ncix.com, etc etc. for the one with the best performance / price ratio. Again, to me brand name isn't such a big factor.

why so much Ram?
and isnt the processing power too much for my needs?

[Peerzy]

Vista eats RAM for breakfast and after using my laptop for an hour on 1GB I installed an extra 1GB to give it 2GB and it's a lot better. 1GB will do you fine, but it'll take twice as long to do anything I found.

Aim to get any sort of Core2Duo, if you don't mind watching movies on a 15.4" screen then go for one of them, although the 17" is very nice.

[shishio64]

should i consider any AMD processors instead of an intel Core2Duo?

[Peerzy]

I've got a 64bit AMD in my new laptop and it's running great, don't just look at Intel's.

[Seedler]

My advice to you is, use GOOGLE, to find benchmarks for stuff you need.

For example, search for stuff such as Intel T7200 vs AMD TL-55, etc etc.

Then decide based on your price range, go for best price/performance ratio. Although looking at that $1000 budget and how electronic cost twice as much in Israel (really?), you might want to sacrifice CPU power in preference for RAM and HD size, as you'll watch movies and the 1GB extra RAM will do you wonders in vista.

[shishio64]

I've got a 64bit AMD in my new laptop and it's running great, don't just look at Intel's.

what are AMD's processors that i should look at?
are they equivelant to Core2Duo?

[Peerzy]

I've got a 64bit AMD in my new laptop and it's running great, don't just look at Intel's.

what are AMD's processors that i should look at?
are they equivelant to Core2Duo?

To be honest I havn't kept too up to date with hardware but I went for an Acer Aspire 9302.

AMD Turion 64 MK-38 (2.2GHz, 512KB L2 cache)
17" Acer CrystalBrite LCD Widescreen
384MB Nvidia GeForce Go 6100
120GB HDD
DVD-/+RW
2GB DDR2 Ram (came with 1GB DDR2 Ram but I purchases 2 X 1GB faster Ram sticks to bump it up to 2GB)

This cost me around £450 ($800USD roughly) and I've found it really good, the extra 1GB of Ram cost an extra £60 ($110) however.

My laptop was brought to be used for University (Computer Science) and a few other bits and pieces.

[shishio64]

what are AMD's processors that i should look at?
are they equivelant to Core2Duo?

To be honest I havn't kept too up to date with hardware but I went for an Acer Aspire 9302.

AMD Turion 64 MK-38 (2.2GHz, 512KB L2 cache)
17" Acer CrystalBrite LCD Widescreen
384MB Nvidia GeForce Go 6100
120GB HDD
DVD-/+RW
2GB DDR2 Ram (came with 1GB DDR2 Ram but I purchases 2 X 1GB faster Ram sticks to bump it up to 2GB)

This cost me around £450 ($800USD roughly) and I've found it really good, the extra 1GB of Ram cost an extra £60 ($110) however.

My laptop was brought to be used for University (Computer Science) and a few other bits and pieces.

you see, here in israel the exact same model costs about 665£ ($1365) and this the cheapest price that i have found...
do you maybe know any computer store in europe, asia or the US that ships internationally (to Israel)?
also, after searching newegg.com and pricegrabber, i found that many models that are available in my country
(like HP Pavilion dv6510ej) are not available in the us and vice versa, whats up with that?
and thanks for the info above...

[shishio64]

ok, after doing some farther research on notebooks where i live, i came up with some models that im considering on buying, but feel free to throw in additional models that you think give best performance for the buck for my needs...
i also realized in my research that some models (like HP's Pavilion dv6510ej) that i found where i live are non-existent in the US or Europe or have different names and vice versa. Oh and i have raised my budget to $1375 Max (but cheaper is better....)
The models i found are:

HP:
Pavilion dv6510ej http://www.mashav.com/hardware/noteb...a.htm#DV6510EJ (http://www.mashav.com/hardware/notebook_data.htm#DV6510EJ)
(look at the specs in english) the cheapest price i found was about $1160
Pavilion dv6515ej http://www.mashav.com/hardware/noteb...a.htm#DV6515EJ (http://www.mashav.com/hardware/notebook_data.htm#DV6515EJ) (look at the specs in english) costs about $1350
Pavilion dv6514ej http://www.mashav.com/hardware/noteb...a.htm#DV6514EJ (http://www.mashav.com/hardware/notebook_data.htm#DV6514EJ) (look at the specs in english) costs about $1620 (its beyond my budget but im considering it...)
Compaq Nx6710s-GB883EA
http://www.mashav.com/hardware/noteb...ta.htm#GB883EA (http://www.mashav.com/hardware/notebook_data.htm#GB883EA)
(look at the specs in english) costs about $1265

Acer
Aspire 5104WLMI
http://www.officedepot.co.il/catalog...QJ5&id=3944147 (http://www.officedepot.co.il/catalog/catalogSku.do;jsessionid=0000ogNouxPyIx1jS4MpHdig0XP:12bbi68k5?N=2+535&pr=QJ5&id=3944147)
costs about $1215
Aspire 9302WSMI http://www.officedepot.co.il/catalog...901055&pr=&N=2 (http://www.officedepot.co.il/catalog/catalogSku.do;jsessionid=0000ogNouxPyIx1jS4MpHdig0XP:12bbi68k5?id=3901055&pr=&N=2)
costs about $1365

Gigabyte
W552U-DC20M2H12 http://www.gcomputer.co.il/pl_product~70520~189~0.htm (http://www.gcomputer.co.il/pl_product%7E70520%7E189%7E0.htm)
costs about $1310

Lenovo
3000 N200 TY2B2IV costs about $1385
3000 N200 TY2BNIV costs about $1420 (but they are butt ugly...http://forum.notebookreview.com/images/smilies/smile.gif)
3000 N200 TY2B3IV costs about $1360

Infinity
INF M665-N3 costs about $1425
INF FL91-CD1 costs about $1265
INF FL91-CD2 costs about $1480

HP's Pavilion dv6510ej is the model that i think is the best for my needs, but the fact that it comes with an integreted GPU (intel X3100) and has a max RAM capacity of only 2GB and includes only 1GB of 2X512 moduls, is a bit of a turn-off for me....

which do you think i should get? (you can recommend other notebooks that are not on my list, but not every model that is available in the US or Europe is available in Israel....)

Thanks!

[Seedler]

Go with 1GB RAM now, and feel the pain running vista later.

My only words of caution.

[fstrulz]

Here's a really good deal from Dell:

Dell Vostro 1500 Notebook - Core 2 Duo, 2GB DDR2 SDRAM, 120GB HDD, 128MB NVIDIA (http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/vostronb_1500?c=us&cs=04&l=en&s=bsd&%7Etab=bundlestab)

$699 + Free Shipping

:rolleyes:

[shishio64]

Dell's Vostro is not available in my country... and if it were im sure the price tag would be $1400....

anyway, right now im considering on buying either the HP Pavilion dv6510ej (couldnt find it outside of israel, maybe it has a different name):
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor 2.0GHz (T7300) ~, 800MHz FSB, 4MB L2 64 Bit (SantaRosa)
15.4" WXGA (1280x800)
1,024 MB DDRII 667MHz (up to 2 GB) (2x512)
120GB (5,400 rpm)
DVD R/W + Card Reader
Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator X3100 up to 256MB
Lan 10/100 + Modem+ Wireless 802.11a/b/g + Bluetooth + Camera
2.99 KG
Microsoft® Windows® Vista™ Home Premium
3xUSB 2.0, IEEE 1394, VGA, RJ-11, S-video TV-Out, RJ -45, IR, Remote Control (6-cell Lithium-Ion (Li-Ion) battery), 5-in-1 Card reader
costs about $1160

or the more advanced model HP Pavilion dv6515ej (ditto):
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor 2.0GHz (T7300) ~, 800MHz FSB, 4MB L2 64 Bit (SantaRosa)
15.4" WXGA (1280x800)
1,024 MB DDRII 667MHz (up to 2 GB) (2x512)
160GB (5,400 rpm)
DVD R/W + Card Reader
NVIDIA® GeForce™ Go 8400M with 128MB dedicated up to 383MB
Lan 10/100 + Modem+ Wireless 802.11a/b/g + Bluetooth + Camera
2.99 KG
Microsoft® Windows® Vista™ Home Premium
3xUSB 2.0, IEEE 1394, VGA, RJ-11, S-video TV-Out, RJ -45, IR, Remote Control (6-cell Lithium-Ion (Li-Ion) battery), 5-in-1 Card reader
costs about $1350

but does the extra $190 seem like a reasonable price to pay for the extra 40gb HDD memory and the dedicated Geforce 8400M GPU for my needs?
(remember that watching movies is one of my needs...)

[fstrulz]

Intel GMA X3100 256MB is integrated (shared), so you'd only be really getting only 128MB out of it.

So, the HDD and NVIDIA 256MB graphics card is worth it.

[Peerzy]

For a Vista laptop you need 2GB of Ram. This coming from a uni student who brought a 1GB laptop and then brought 2 X 1GB sticks to bring it to 2GB.

You will be waisting your money getting anything less than 2GB. Alternativly go for an XP laptop with 1GB, should be cheaper as well.