Help-Seeking New Laptop Advice

[clbsvi]

Please advise suggested specs for a new laptop with following guidelines:
No AMD; Intel Only. Wireless can be added via PC Card or USB Wi-Fi. Which Processor CPU type?? Intel 3.06 w HT or faster OR Centrino type Pentium<<What minimum processor speed here if Centrino CPU? Windows XP Home or Professional; not a Linux fan? Plan minimum 512MB RAM appropriate to selected CPU. Plan 40GB or larger hard drive-What drive speed. Picture processing not a big thing nor Music Down-Loading. Mainly want a fast desktop replacement w 15.0 or 15.4 screen width. Will mostly run from 115VAC line so battery life of about 2 hours is OK<< Usually buy a spare battery with larger no. of Cells/Max Watt-Hours. No Gateway or off-brand if possible. Partial to Toshiba, HP/Compaq or Dell, though Dell Centrinos seem to max at 1.5GB speed and 14 to to 14.1 screens. Want at least 3 USB 2.0 "powered" ports. Generally prefer PC card slots and USB accessories; am not a great fan of SD and similar memory cards technology. Price vs. Performance max is desired to be $1300 to $1600 US max. Am not adverse to buying on-line but otherwise will go to local Circuit City, Best Buy, Office Depot or Office Max type of store. All advice will be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[ADBrown]

The configurator on the right hand side here might help you.

http://www.notebookreview.com

[ntractv]

For what it's worth:

I just purchased a Toshiba Satellite P35-S611 Notebook to replace my desktop.

Specs are as follows:

Intel P4
3.33 Ghz with HyperThreading
512MB SDRAM
100 GB HD
3 USB 2.0 ports
1 Firewire connection slot
DVD +/-R, RW, DVD Ram and CD R/RW
Built in 802.11 b/g wireless
Hardon/Kardon Speakers
10/100 Ethernet
4 in 1 Card Reader (No CF)
PCMIA card slot
Windows XP Home Editions SP2
17 inch screen w/TruBrite technololgy

There more, but, it is a sweet machine. A little on the bigger side, but, I wanted that screen real estate.

There is a $100 dollar rebate on the system now at Best Buy (at least at my local) off the the $1,599 price tag.

Worth a look Toshiba P35 (http://www.toshibadirect.com/td/b2c/cmod.to?seg=HHO&coid=-28641&sel=0&rcid=-26367&ccid=1291021)

[clbsvi]

I appreciate the quick response from both of you. Am already leaning toward a Toshiba 3.06 CPU w HT or better. Ntractv's system is a smokin' machine. The price is pretty good, considering the big screen and other really good stuff. The hyper-threading CPu's seem to cost mostly in shorter battery life but make up with blazing, multi-window capabilities. Was surprised not to see any defenders of the Centrino CPU's, but tomorrow is another day. Again, thanks !!

[clbsvi]

This info ocurred to me while re-reading your post to me about your new Toshiba: Since you have a PC Card slot on your laptap, if you have any Compact Flash Cards you may wish to use with it, there are lots of CF-to-PC Card adapters on the market at pretty cheap prices. I currently use one such adapter in an old iPAQ slide-on external sled/brick, to house a 512MB CF Card in the sled's PC Card slot. I bought my adapter a couple of years ago from Mobile Planet (for an iPAQ 3675).

Noticed also that you gave your home base as map coordinates. Are you a fan of Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) toys used either with your PDA or your laptop?? I am a self-styled GPS "expert" and own about 7 different GPS units including a Garmin NAVTALK GPS Cell phone and the new-ish DeLorme Earthmate unit. IMHO Garmin has the most progressive US product line and I've also had great luck with the (US) DeLorme HW and SW products. Also IMHO, Magellan's GPS products suck wind like a deep space vacuum.

[ntractv]

Not really into GPS though I have tried. I just placed that there as a goof for myself. I don't really travel as much to really delve into GPS right now.