Best laptop to buy in 2 months

[bixster2002]

Although I can put together a killer desktop with my eyes closed, I don't own a laptop. My son is going off to college in August and I want to get him one in July. Of course, he'd prefer some killer widescreen gaming rig. I want to find a lightweight fast machine with good battery life and XP Pro, and under a grand... maybe something like an Acer Travelmate.

I'm not up on laptop trends. I presume that core duo will push the price of the Ms and Turions down by the summer. Going to Best Buy yesterday didn't help at all.

So, if I'm gonna be buying in 2 months, what can I get him for under $1,000?

[jonny b]

Sorry but we don't want our future leaders playing games in College so buy him something so he can't play games on like a Celeron.

Unless of course he is going to college for Gaming software development.

[bixster2002]

Sorry but we don't want our future leaders playing games in College so buy him something so he can't play games on like a Celeron.

Unless of course he is going to college for Gaming software development.

Well he's headed to a liberal arts school, so he'll most likely be working at Wendy's after graduation anyways...;-)

It seems that the celerons are gonna seem quaint in a few months. I don't mind him having _some_ fun. I also want it to last a few years and not weigh a ton. I guess there's always Dell and Gateway, especially if there's a coupon...

[jimbo1763]

If you are interested, take a look at HP's business-end laptops. They have a Celeron one that is pretty low-priced-NX6110. Or, for a little more, you might want to look at the NX6125 (which is what I have)-Turion chip, and best of all, a three-year manufacturer's warranty. It may be just over $1,000, though. Don't see it on Newegg.

Here is the NX 6110 Celeron-needs more RAM, but not bad for the money. There are others of the same model more featured-up.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834147248

[jonny b]

Big screens = heavy.
I would stay away from Compaq and HP. I fix more of those than any other hardware product.
KRAP

[Leoslocks]

In two months, there should be a lot of good deals around. I would view the criteria a little different than Gaming vs School work.

Wide screens are not as big a deterrant as the Light Bright (see every reflection in the screen) screens.

Tech Support for the kid away from home would be a big factor.

Software bundle as well as OS would weigh heavily on my decision.

Wait around 6 weeks and look again.

[bixster2002]

I don't really need to buy until August, so I'll hold off. I just want to get a feel for what's about to happen when the nextgen stuff starts coming out in Q3

[jonny b]

U buy a Compaq or Hp and the monkey in the mirror will be, guess who?

[bixster2002]

Hey, maybe there will be a budget Macintel powerbook running OSX/XP by then. Of course, if there is, I'll grab that myself and stick the kid with a celeron...

[ThreeOnTheTree]

Yeah, the iBook Intel replacement should be coming soon, and I'd imagine it will have similar specs to the Intel-Mac mini. However, there's nothing wrong with HP or Compaq, or even Gateway. The sweetspot is 15.4" widescreen, and I suggest getting a Pentium M setup with the upgraded battery. I do like HP/CPQ's 14" widescreen notebooks as well. Nice combo of size and portability.

[DanceMan]

I like most of the HP NX package, but one HP/Compaq characteristic I don't like is the bios restriction they've written in to limit you to HP supplied mini-PCI wireless cards. Use a standard one and it won't boot. So if you ever plan to upgrade the wireless when the next protocol comes out, be prepared to pay.
Money-grubbing scum.

[jerseylil]

[QUOTE=jonny b]Big screens = heavy.
I would stay away from Compaq and HP. I fix more of those than any other hardware product.
KRAP[/QUO