In the market for a new laptop

[Phillip Dyson]

Its that time again...
I'm in the market for a new laptop. The mini's aren't quite my cup of tea as mine doesn't tend to be very mobile. But at the same time I don't think I want anything too large or heavy.

I'm currently using an HP Compaq nc6000 (http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=2081&review=HP+NC6000) running XP Pro with 2GB of RAM. I've been pretty happy with it to date. However, I've maxed out the harddrive, its gotten sluggish over time as windows does tend over time.

Plus I really want to upgrade to Vista. :eek:

In the past I've usually shopped around between Toshiba, Dell, and HP. This is my second HP laptop and I've no complaints.

I'm looking for a sub $1000 laptop, probably closer to $700 or $800.

I was briefly looking at the HP Pavilion dv5t series with a few upgrades to the tune of $790.00.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

[Phillip Dyson]

I am I alone out there? Surely there are others looking for laptops.
What are others looking at?

[Hooch Tan]

I've recently helped a co-worker buy a new laptop, and bought a used laptop myself.

I guess a large part of of the specifications depends on what you use the laptop for.

For example, my co-worker, being a sales oriented, needs it for office applications, presentations, some movies and general web surfing.

As such, he eventually got an Toshiba Laptop.
2.0Ghz Core 2 Duo
2GB RAM
15.4" 1280x768 screen.
250GB HDD (can't get much smaller these days though)
VGA Out

In contrast, my needs are slightly different. I have more developer needs, programming, system monitoring/operations, web surfing, data mining, reporting.

I ended up with a Toshiba Portege M200
Pentium M 1.5Ghz CPU
2GB RAM
12.1" 1400x1050 screen
60GB HDD

Yes, both laptops are Toshibas, but that's mostly coincidence. I have a strong preference for IBM/Lenovo and Fujitsu. But in this case, I opted for Toshiba for the screen resolution. My laptop is also a tablet which helps for data input. But with that high a resolution, I can switch it into slate mode and still have a wide enough screen to surf. My laptop, however, was used.

Current laptops, however, mostly tend towards dual core configurations, which I think is great! 2GB of RAM is a minimum, however, 3GB is better. No real benefit of going higher. HP is a OK as well, but wouldn't be my choice as they feel much more of a consumer brand (flashyflashy) and I'm very spartan in my tastes. :)