Recommendations for a laptop

[apu95]

Hey guys

im in the market for a new laptop. im gonna switch to computer science soon and im gonna need one for coding on the go and stuff (possibly linux as well).

the must haves are:
- light weight (i think 5 lbs max)
- wifi connectivity
- long battery life
- decent to high performance
- dvd-r (or +r)

ive been thinking of getting a Dell Inspiron 700m, but I've read that the battery life sucks for a laptop.

any suggestions?

thanks in advance
Apu

 

[Weasel]

Apple PowerBook. Check out Toshiba and Acer, I think. But seriously, don't be afraid of the Apple.

 

[Elroy Jetson]

Hey guys

ive been thinking of getting a Dell Inspiron 700m, but I've read that the battery life sucks for a laptop.

Apu

I have a 700m with extended battery, and although the battery sticks out the back a bit (I don't mind) it now lasts 5 hours on the road. has all the things you need dvd-r/+r, brillian display, light weight, wifi, 2 usb2 ports, firewire ...

I got the 3 year warranty upgrade, which should be fine for most of your university life (and will get old and slowafter 3 years anyway, right?)

good luck.

oh: and have a google search for 700m reviews, and you will find heaps of information.

 

[NetRyder]

I agree with Elroy. The 700m fits all the criteria you mentioned. Just select the 65WHr battery when you're ordering the machine, and you'll get 5 hours easily.

Here's a review I did for OSNN a few months ago with a few pictures of the machine:
http://www.osnn.net/articles.php?action=show&showarticle=101
I posted a link to the review on Neowin and several other members who have the machine (and those who ordered one after reading the review) had good things to say about it.

 

[apu95]

sweet...i was having doubts about the machine, i read on a review that the performance was way lower than other similarly configured laptops.
anyways, as for the chipsets for the wireless connectivity, which one should i go for? i dont mind either one, but i'd rather have the one that is the most compatible with linux (ideally to use in a live distro at first, and then in a full installed one).

thank a lot for the input guys

Apu

 

[Mainframeguy]

one more MUST HAVE I would tack on is 512MB RAM

 

[Sazar]

you might also want to consider the 600M

weighs a little more than the 700M but a bigger screen... 14.1" v/s 12.1"

also costs a little less

its still in the 5lb class and the battery life is pretty decent

the centrino setups are basically the chipset/processor/wireless tech all in one so any system with a centrino setup is just ace...

 

[apu95]

yeah, the 512 megs are a must...luckily, dell canada is offering a free upgrade to 1gb from the base 512 megs of ram anyways

i considered the 600m as well, but the small size of the 700m convinced me. im gonna need to be carrying books as well, and ideally i wanna carry this all in one bag (im gonna get a nice foam padded thingy for the laptop).

so as for the intel wireless, it'll work with linux?