I might need a new laptop... any good small light super fast centrino laptops?

[Typhoon]

I might need a new laptop... any good small light super fast centrino laptops? --with a really nice wide screen?

[hrbngr]

typhoon,

if you find anything out on this let me know. I love IBM laptops, but if IBM is planning on not making PCs anymore, then I am not really sure what laptop to choose.

otherwise, i am guessing it's gonna be hard to find a "small" laptop w/a wide screen, as a larger/heavier/wider screen would defeat the purpose of a small, light laptop, so i guess you should decide if you want a small, ultraportable or larger, desktop unit w/a widescreen.

finally, i always go to pcworld to see their top 10 recommended laptop list. that usually gets me started. good luck!

*update* here is review from anandtech.com on a dell wide-screen ultraportable, it might be right up your alley. Dell 700M (http://www.anandtech.com/mobile/showdoc.aspx?i=2296)

[Darius Wey]

I might need a new laptop... any good small light super fast centrino laptops? --with a really nice wide screen?

From personal experiences, I have found the Dell range to be quite good. Have a look at the Latitudes.

[Zoot]

small+superfast+wxga = oxymoron? or Sony? ;)

[famousdavis]

While it doesn't have WXGA, this Gateway offering has my pursestrings tugging at it. I want to give my Dell laptop to my kids (though I just bought it this summer, it's too heavy for my liking), and use this as my portable laptop computer instead:

Rebate: $200 Mail-In Rebate (Limited Time Promotion -- not reflected in price)
Operating System: Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition
Application Software: Microsoft® Works 8.0
Processor: Intel® Pentium® M Processor 745 (1.8GHz) ........[ +US$140.00]
Hard Drive: 80GB 4200rpm Ultra ATA hard drive ........[ +US$30.00]
Screen: 15" Ultrabright XGA TFT Active Matrix ........[ +US$20.00]
Optical Drive: Integrated 8x Multi-Format DVD Writer (DVD±R/±RW/CD-RW) ........[ +US$69.00]
Extended Service Plan Including Limited Warranty: Notebook Value Service Plan -- 1 year parts/labor/no on-site/1 year technical support
Carrying Case: Not Selected
Battery: High capacity lithium ion battery with AC pack and 1 yr. limited battery warranty ........[ +US$20.00]
Integrated Wireless Networking Adapter: Integrated 802.11b/g wireless networking card
AntiVirus Software: Norton AnitVirus 90 day introductory offer
Mobile Technology: Features Intel® Centrino™ Mobile Technology
Memory: 512MB 333MHz DDR SDRAM (1-512MB modules)
Floppy Drive: Integrated 4-in-1 card reader
Expansion Slots: One type II PC card slot
External Ports: (4) USB 2.0, VGA, IEEE 1394 (FireWire)
Video: Integrated Intel® graphics with 32MB UMA memory technology
Keyboard and Mouse: Full-Sized Keyboard and EZ Pad® Pointing Device
Multimedia Package: Integrated sound and stereo speakers, headphone/speaker jack, and mic jacks
Speakers: External speakers not selected
Modem: Integrated V.92 56K modem
Network Adapter: Integrated Intel® 10/100 Ethernet Adapter
Internet Service Provider: Six months America Online® Internet access
Part Number: 1008310


All for a net cost of $1300 -- which includes both tax and delivery.

[Darius Wey]

small+superfast+wxga = oxymoron? or Sony? ;)

You know... I had a look at the T-Series. They certainly aren't bad, but the low clockspeed of the Pentium M ULV processors may be a turn-off. Otherwise, the DVD+/-RW, integrated 802.11b/g and clear bright LCD are certainly nice.

[Vidge]

Well, I have to recommend the U750P. Posting from one right now :D

[ignar]

How come no one mentioned Fujitsu P7000 series (http://webshop.fujitsupc.com/fpc/Ecommerce/PrdBridge.jsp?pclass=P) yet?

[JustinGTP]

How come no one mentioned Fujitsu P7000 series (http://webshop.fujitsupc.com/fpc/Ecommerce/PrdBridge.jsp?pclass=P) yet?

Because you're the one to do it :D

[Stephen Beesley]

Well, I have to recommend the U750P. Posting from one right now :D

Now if I could just aford one of these then I think I would be in mobile nirvana! Would be my ultimate mobile office set up.

[uzetaab]

Don't be tricked by the Centrino branding.

All it means is that the processor, wifi &...damn. I can never remember the 3rd item. Is it graphics? Anyway, it just means that those 3 parts are fully compatible. Or in other words, the maker of these parts has payed Intel to test it. They do not necessarily work any faster or more reliably. Nor are they any more compatible than a laptop that has those parts inbuilt & doesn’t have the Centrino branding.

On the other hand, the Centrino’s individual parts tend to have lower running power, so battery life on these components is generally longer.

To sum up, you’re just paying extra money to get that little logo on the box. Not that I’m suggesting that you shouldn’t buy a Centrino, just don’t let it influence your purchase. Stick to the things that are important, like processor, screen, ram & weight.

The other thing I want to mention is that the Pentium M is probably the way to go. There are two main reasons. Firstly, they are mobile processors designed specifically to run longer on battery.
The other is that these days clock speed is becoming less & less important. I’m not enough of a techhead to care how, but I do know that processors are processing data in different ways now. What it boils down to for me is that the Pentium-M 1.6GHz performs comparably to the Pentium 4 2.66GHz. That’s almost half the clock speed for the same performance. What you need to consider with processors these days is price & benchmarks.

Without much fanfare the clock speed has become less important over the last 5 years or so. It’s happened so quietly, that a lot of people haven’t realised.
AMD Athalon to Pentium 4.
Pentium 4 to Celeron.
Those are examples of other types of processors where the first can outperform the second at lower c/speeds.

[FrozenIpaq]

I would go with the HP Pavillion notebooks, they have a wide selection and 17 inch wide screens, plus more, but it all comes at around 10 lbs, and serves as a portable desktop, with 3.2 ghz pro, and more, friend has one and its good cpect if you are going to do alot of traveling.

[Darius Wey]

Without much fanfare the clock speed has become less important over the last 5 years or so. It’s happened so quietly, that a lot of people haven’t realised.

There's been a greater focus on cache memory these days. The newer brandings of the Pentium M processors are the Dothans, equipped with 2MB L2 Cache. The major CPU manufacturers are now looking to make dual-core processors and what not, which will ultimately allow for faster response times when processing applications, etc. Also, the increase in micro-architectural processes will help boost clock speeds too.

[famousdavis]

Well, uncharacteristically for me, I went out to Best Buy and bought a Gateway laptop! (I usually agonize and research and sift and consider and ponder these decisions).

For $1150 (included a $150 instant rebate), they had a lightweight Gateway (model 4530GZ) w/1.6Ghz Pentium M, 60GB HD, 512MB RAM. With tax at 6%, it came to about $100 less than the online offer, although the processor was a little slower, and the HD space 20GB less.

But then I noticed the 4-month-old, discontinued 4520GZ model: 1.5Ghz Pentium M, same HD and RAM, a DVD reader, not a writer like on the model above. The tag said $1099, which was not really a good deal, but since the floor model was the only one left, I bought that for $150 less. Net cost before tax: $949! :-)

The best part was using Best Buy's Internet connection to do my on-the-fly research. Based upon what I read (some excellent, detailed reviews on Epinions), it seemed like the Gateway was a good value.

The laptop is great! I've spent more than a few hours running the restore CDROM, adding all the Windows patches, installing Norton Internet Security, Office and patches, ActiveSync, etc. But thus far, aside from some light scuffing on the underside and a small surface scratch on the cover, the thing is perfect! Very happy.

While I stewed over whether to buy the latest-n-greatest Gateway model, or the floor model that was available for a discount, customers around me shopped, too, and by the time I was ready to decide, one customer bought the only available Gateway 4530GZ laptop which was the display model! By default, then, I "chose" the discontinued floor model for myself! ;-)

I saw other smaller laptops, but they were either extremely expensive (read: Sony) or they were a brand I'd never heard of before (read: Avertec, at Circuit City). I've had a 3-year-old Gateway desktop, and am comfortable with Gateway's support and product reliability.

So, your best deal might be looking at a discontinued model. The Best Buy dude I talked to said that Best Buy rotates their stock three times a year, so their computing devices aren't likely to stay on the shelf for more than four months.

BTW, Best Buy salespeople strong-armed me to buy an extended warranty, which I repeatedly refused to do. They must reward their employees for the number of extended warranties they sell.

One last matter: Seems like all the newer models of laptops have replaced the antiglare screens with "Ultrabright" screens which supposedly have better color depth. My experience, however, was that the high-gloss screen of the "Ultrabrights" yielded a terrible viewing experience, as the screens reflect all the ambient light and finger smudges show up terribly on the screens. That's not just a Gateway-specific issue, either, as it seemed like all the makes of laptops now sport high-gloss screens.

At any rate, the 5.5lbs Gateway is much easier to tote around than my desktop-replacement Dell which I bought only this past summer.

[uzetaab]

Extended warranty. Yep most retailers give the sales person an extra commision for the extended warranty. & they are a high gross profit item because your paying money for little more than a promise & a piece of paper. For example:
A $200 warranty gives the shop $50-100 profit
compared to a $1000 notebook that gives the shop a $200-300 profit.
The sales person gets $5-10 for the warranty & the same for the notebook. So it's all about money.

Having said that though, most sales people really believe the warranty is a good buy for the customer too. Having the warranty outlast the expected time you will use the notebook before upgrading just seems logical.

The companies that actually fix your device if it breaks down are betting that they will make enough money off the ones that don't break down to cover the ones that do.

OK in case you haven't guessed, I work in a retail shop & sell extended warranties with notebooks, PDAs & other things. Just to show that I think the warranty is worth getting, I bought one with my $500 PDA. But I don't think it's worth getting one for an item that you would replace if it broke down rather than fix. So I wouldn't get one for a $50-100 printer.

[Kowalski]

well you need a light and small sized notebook with widescreen and you need power as well.

i use an asus s5n. the notebook has most of the requirements you mentioned:
-small and light with 12" screen and less than 1.5 kg
-powerfull with 1.6 GHZ dothan processor, 333 mHz system bus
-well built and durable with carbon fiber casing and full sized keyboard

but not widescreen

my first advice will be the thinkpad x40, but i couldnt buy the thinkpad because i also wanted a good battery life. i bought my device with an extended battery plus the standart one, keeping the size and weight at minimum and runtime max.

[maximus]

Let me recommend these two :

ECS g556e (no wxga, but it has centrino, dothan 2.0g, 400mhz FSB and mobility radeon 9700 with 128megs RAM)
http://www.ecsusa.com/products/g556.html

ACER Travelmate 3200 (almost the same with above, but with mobility radeon 9700 64 megs version)
http://global.acer.com/products/notebook/tm3200.htm

I am currently using the ECS g556e for several months now. No complaints.

[mattsmith0622]

Well, I have to recommend the U750P. Posting from one right now :D

I second that!

[shaxs]

wow, surprised no one has mentioned the compaq x1000. I have had one for a year now and slugged around every day to work or around school with no problems. Its an amazing little beast that I could not live without. I prefer the screen on mine as it is the highest quality you can get. It can do resolutions up to 1900x1200. It laos has a standalone 64 meg radeon 9200, so I can play games as well. The widescreen is amazing for dvd and writing code.

My brother has the Gateway m505x which he loves. Its a great little computer, except the screen does not go very high.

I got my Compaq for 1k used and my brother got his for $1050 new. Take a look at those two machines.

[xxpinballxx]

Well as for me I decided to break down what I wanted and decide on the importance of each.

Light- anything I can lift with one hand would suffice...even if it meant another set at the gym.

compact-anything smaller than my alienware system with surround sound would be nice. Especially if they make a bag that fits it.

wide screen-im a big video and movie watcher so 17" nothing less

power-long as the its not dropping frams left and right and has upgradalbe ram I am game

Name recognition-I love sony and have never had too many problems with all the equipment i own from them.

Therefore i picked the sony Vaio A190 media center. Its really a desktop replacement but I can handle it seeing as how i am 6'5" and 300 pounds!

Upgraded the 512MB to 2Gig of ram and then set the replicator up near my line in for cable and then its "what's a tivo?" I record all my shows I don't get to see from working and in the morning throw the thing in my car! Voila! Mobile roadshow. ALthough I do not recommend this. I have gotten pulled over 3 times that I can recall at night with the glare from the screen casting all over the interior. Cops frown upon that for some reason!

I know its totally the opposite of what you are loking for and talking about but it's mine! Wouldn't have it any other way.....except for the cop thing i could live without that!

[Typhoon]

small+superfast+wxga = oxymoron? or Sony? ;)

lol yea, Sony always comes to mind. It is the best option for what I want...but also very expensive.

[Typhoon]

Ok. I'm back. Back because I should, in another month, have the money I need for another laptop. Anyone know how well the Intel Extreme GPU set 64 MB performs on laptops?

[Typhoon]

Ok. I believe what I want is a laptop that is small w/around a 13" or 12" screen that is like Sony's XBrite, user swappable HDD, weighs less than 5 pounds, centrino, decent battery life, and decent GPU. I know the Sony S-series and Dell 700m are good examples. Anyone know of any other brands out there? Sorry, I wanted to ask because there are *so many* brands out there that it is hard to really fully find out what is out there.