Help with buying a laptop

[ihavenoname]

I am looking at getting a laptop, I am considering Gateway, Hp/Compaq, and Dell.

For the Dell I am caught between a few things.

The inspiron 1405
which is a 14.1 inch screen, and is supposed to have a battery life between 6 -8 hours on the 9-cell lithiom ion battery.

The Inspiron 1505
which is a 15.1 inche screen and much of the same things. Though it does have a 256MB NVIDIA® GeForce® Go 7300 TurboCache video card which looks to be really cool. Though in this area I don't know what the difference is.



The processors have me REALLY confused.
Here are dell's offerings
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T5500 (1.66GHz, 2MB L2 Cache, 667 MHz FSB) [add $125 or $4/month1]
Intel® Core™ DUO T2350 (1.86GHz, 2MB L2 Cache, 533MHz FSB) [add $40 or $2/month1]
Intel® Pentium® dual-core T2080(1MB Cache/1.73GHz/533MHz FSB [Included in Price]

What is the deference between the one on the bottom and the Core Duo and the Core 2 Duo? Is it really worth it???

Also, should is the difference between the intels and the AMD's in terms of battery life and performance great or not. (Not which one is your favourite, which one performs better in those to areas).


I am mainly looking at dell but I am keeping an eye on some similar Compaq/Gateway deals. Which company do you think is better. I was told that Dell had a lot of proprietary parts (but I don't know if the Best Buy dude was the best person to ask since it's his job not to sell dells. Though he did insult some of the computers they had as well.)

FINALLY! Is there a difference in battery life between when you have a nvidia card or an intel card or is it the same. Also, how about linux usage (for the same question).

[%hMa@?b<C]

I am looking at getting a laptop, I am considering Gateway, Hp/Compaq, and Dell.

For the Dell I am caught between a few things.

The inspiron 1405
which is a 14.1 inch screen, and is supposed to have a battery life between 6 -8 hours on the 9-cell lithiom ion battery.

The Inspiron 1505
which is a 15.1 inche screen and much of the same things. Though it does have a 256MB NVIDIA® GeForce® Go 7300 TurboCache video card which looks to be really cool. Though in this area I don't know what the difference is.



The processors have me REALLY confused.
Here are dell's offerings
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T5500 (1.66GHz, 2MB L2 Cache, 667 MHz FSB) [add $125 or $4/month1]
Intel® Core™ DUO T2350 (1.86GHz, 2MB L2 Cache, 533MHz FSB) [add $40 or $2/month1]
Intel® Pentium® dual-core T2080(1MB Cache/1.73GHz/533MHz FSB [Included in Price]

What is the deference between the one on the bottom and the Core Duo and the Core 2 Duo? Is it really worth it???

Also, should is the difference between the intels and the AMD's in terms of battery life and performance great or not. (Not which one is your favourite, which one performs better in those to areas).


I am mainly looking at dell but I am keeping an eye on some similar Compaq/Gateway deals. Which company do you think is better. I was told that Dell had a lot of proprietary parts (but I don't know if the Best Buy dude was the best person to ask since it's his job not to sell dells. Though he did insult some of the computers they had as well.)

FINALLY! Is there a difference in battery life between when you have a nvidia card or an intel card or is it the same. Also, how about linux usage (for the same question).

c2d is better than the pentium, it runs cooler uses less power. thats about all I can give for advice in this area.

[ihavenoname]

c2d is better than the pentium, it runs cooler uses less power. thats about all I can give for advice in this area.

Is the Core 2 duo much better than the Core Duo?

[tehkain]

Is the Core 2 duo much better than the Core Duo?

Yes. Yes. Yes. FSM Yes. C2D are amazing. They are more then much better.

[ihavenoname]

Yes. Yes. Yes. FSM Yes. C2D are amazing. They are more then much better.

Ok, what about my other two questions.

Nvidia or Intel video card

Dell, Hp, gateway, other?

[R3linquish3r]

Go with the NVidia so you can have 3D Accel and pretty dekstops :)
I have a Dell laptop as does my uncle and we both run Ubuntu on it with little/no problems. Though my next laptop will most likely be a System76...

[tehkain]

System76 :)

Um depends on what you want to do. They are far apart in power and need. The nvidia card will need a closed driver to work with the the 3d stuff, while the intel has a good 3d open driver. So if your gaming the nvidia will be on top(a low top tho since its a low end chip). So what do you plan on doing?

[ihavenoname]

System76 :)

Um depends on what you want to do. They are far apart in power and need. The nvidia card will need a closed driver to work with the the 3d stuff, while the intel has a good 3d open driver. So if your gaming the nvidia will be on top(a low top tho since its a low end chip). So what do you plan on doing?


I will be running beryl etc. Plus some games. I have no problems dealing with the closed driver, though I prefer the open ones. My main issue is that I heard that if you have linux and a video card with an open driver battery life has a tendency to increase when using linux. But if you have a video card with a closed driver battery life will decrease on linux compared to windows. Anyone know? also how much will did it decrease by for you?

[ihavenoname]

In terms of battery life, those of you with dell inspirons how long does the battery last (with and without beryl if you can).

[LollYouSuckZor]

My Suggestion:

Don't buy a laptop. I've never been a fan...

[ihavenoname]

haha yea I have often looked at laptops and desktops and felt like laptops where too expensive, but it appears I need it for collage....

[Bagster]

Hi,

I've got the Dell e4105 (It's called the 640m in the U.K) and I'm generally very happy with it. I got the screen resolution upgrade, and the battery life upgrade, and and running the low end core 2 duo with 2GB of ram. Battery live is good, generally lasting well over 6 hours with compiz running using the high capacity battery, and the screen is great - there is slight light leakage at the bottom, but nothing too significant. The only downside in my opinion is the intel grphics driver. This is perfectly good for everyday use, running beryl (and aero glass, but who cares?) perfectly well, but if you want a gaming laptop, you will need a better graphics card.

By the way, go for the core 2 duo. It is significantly faster than the core duo. Despite the similar names, the core 2 and the core duo are extremely different. A core duo is more like a pentium M than a core 2 duo....

Incedentally, the laptop nearly passed the "Just Works" test. Everything except the screen resolution, including wifi, ad the function buttons worked out of the box. To get the screen working I had to install the later version of the intel drivers ( xserver-xorg-video-intel ), or the 915 resolution hack (both worked, but later driver probably a better idea)

Overall, I'd say that you probably won't be able to find a better value laptop than the dell - I couldn't - and you certainly won't find a laptop with as good a screen resolution without doubling the price. Build quality is quite good too. Although I don't like the dell styling on larger laptops, on one of this size it actually looks quite good!

[Bagster]

Oh, yeah, and the small 14'' size is a godsend if you are lugging it about campus, well worth sacrificing the graphics card for :P

[ihavenoname]

Oh, yeah, and the small 14'' size is a godsend if you are lugging it about campus, well worth sacrificing the graphics card for :P

Excellent advice, and that is actually the laptop I was looking at. The only thing is about the processor, adding the extra few bucks to make it a core 2 duo really puts a strain on the budget if you know what I mean. How noticeable is it (if you can actually articulate that...lol) Right now I have a desktop p4 with 1.7 ghz single core. Also if I add extra ram (2gb) do you think that could ofset the difference? The Core 2 duo sounds nice, but it adds quite a bit to the laptop's price.

[Bagster]

Wil you notice the difference? Tricky question... A couple of review sites say that clock for clock the core2 is about 10% faster than the core, and has similar or better power consumption. On saying that, you will only notice if doing processor intensive stuff - the difference will be negligible for word processing, etc.

As for the RAM, I have 2GB - you can never have too much ram :) Mind you, for everyday usage under ubuntu, I don't ever really see Ram usage go above a few hundred MB (including cache).
1GB will do fine.

Give the choice between core 2 or 2Gb ram i'd go for the core 2 - you can get more ram when you need it or have the cash, you cant get a new processor quite as easily! You will probably notice the diference more, since more than 1 gig of ram will hardly ever be used.

[ihavenoname]

Wil you notice the difference? Tricky question... A couple of review sites say that clock for clock the core2 is about 10% faster than the core, and has similar or better power consumption. On saying that, you will only notice if doing processor intensive stuff - the difference will be negligible for word processing, etc.

As for the RAM, I have 2GB - you can never have too much ram :) Mind you, for everyday usage under ubuntu, I don't ever really see Ram usage go above a few hundred MB (including cache).
1GB will do fine.

Give the choice between core 2 or 2Gb ram i'd go for the core 2 - you can get more ram when you need it or have the cash, you cant get a new processor quite as easily! You will probably notice the diference more, since more than 1 gig of ram will hardly ever be used.

Ah! excellent you have answered all my questions about this issue. I think I'll probably work a little harder and get the Core 2 just cause I don't want to have to core through the processor. And your righ on linux there isn't much need for excessive ram. My Desktop has 512 ram. One of the sticks went out and my ram was down to 256. I ran open office, firefox, and beryl on that quite alright. Much better than I ran Vista on the same machine with 512. But I am glad vista is such a hog because this has made manufacturers push up the specs of their hardware.

[maniacmusician]

Definitely go for a core 2 duo. It's not even a question. They have better battery life, run cooler, perform much, much better.

Have you looked at system76 for laptops? they're one of my favorite companies. Their machines are a little more expensive than the stock dell stuff, but they go above and beyond with customer service. They even have a support section on this forum.

[Bakerconspiracy]

You should consider buying a Mac.

[ihavenoname]

I actually did decide that coughing up the extra money for the Core 2 Duo was a better option. I also liked that it would be 64bit which would give me a chance to try that out. I really wanted to buy one from System 76, but it was a little too expensive for me.

About Macs, umm I though it was too expensive. I don't know I just wouldn't buy a Mac out right.

Doest anyone know if the Dell Instant Dvd button (I don't know what it's called but apprently it let's you watch dvds and look at your music etc. Without starting Windows) works if you install Linux. I mean I figure it won't work on my files but will it work in terms of letting me play dvd etc. I think that maybe when they get the Linux ones out that it will work with linux as well (maybe they will provide an upgrade).

[tehhaxorr]

My Suggestion:

Don't buy a laptop. I've never been a fan...

Thanks for being helpful...


I would recommend the Dell Inspiron 6400, Thats what i'm typing this message on now, everything worked perfectly out of the box.


The upgrade to the Core 2 Duo is really worth the money, Better performance, lower power usage, better scaling and it's cooler. Pentium's are literally an obsolete architecture.

Don't worry about buying expensive graphics chips either unless you play games, the Intel 945GM runs Beryl/Compiz without a hitch.

[ihavenoname]

Thanks for being helpful...


I would recommend the Dell Inspiron 6400, Thats what i'm typing this message on now, everything worked perfectly out of the box.


The upgrade to the Core 2 Duo is really worth the money, Better performance, lower power usage, better scaling and it's cooler. Pentium's are literally an obsolete architecture.

Don't worry about buying expensive graphics chips either unless you play games, the Intel 945GM runs Beryl/Compiz without a hitch.

have u seen better battery life on linux. I heard that if you have a video card with an OSS driver battery life sees an improvement on linux as oppose to windows.

[mips]

IBM/Lenovo Thinpad.

[pingvin]

Thanks tehhaxorr,
This is the laptop a friend and I are both looking to get, also incidentally on a recommendation! Glad to hear it works in Ubuntu. Could you tell me what version you use?
Thanks in advance,
Mike

[airtonix]

the guy asks about ubuntu and laptops and you recommened a closed source piece of ****. Seriously i use to think macs were cool.....but after having use ubuntu for two years, i can only say now that macs are the same as windows....i just want to destroy the machines....not good for my blood pressure.

ie : try getting a simple file/folder based music player that lets you use your rockboxified ipod on which you store 25gb of music in your own custom folder arrangement that makes perfect sense to you. nope wont happen, they all want to re arrange your music to their regime. totally suxors. and is a perfect candidate for the arcanite-reaper treatment.

I love ubuntu.....I love it even more now that i got a dell latitude d505. works that perfectly with ubuntu beryl. i was so happy that the wifi was a non-job and just worked.

I got myself some hack gnome-mac-menus and the beryl-widgets-layer controller.

but im afraid i cant help you with battery life concerning these scenarios, as my batterie is the exploding type. needs replacing i hear. apparently for free too.

is this true? anyone else replaced a dell battery?



but my suggestion is that if you are somehow swayed into getting a macbook pro....just remember that your already paying alot of money so an extra 2-300$ for the apple care will make purchasing high-end apple stuff worthwhile. other wise you get shafted.

balance it, cheaps core2duo dell with on-par hardware that will run ubuntu or a coreduo macbook pro that will run macosx and ubuntu. ?

since i now absolutley hate macs i would go for the core2duo 2gig ram....why?
with 2gb or ram you will never get bogged down. ever. especially with a core2duo with a wopping 2mb FSB cache.


bottom line: if your an orange glasses kilt wearing pansy, go for your mac of bovinity. other wise embrace the darkside and step up to the podium for some sorcery with linux.

[ihavenoname]

the guy asks about ubuntu and laptops and you recommened a closed source piece of ****. Seriously i use to think macs were cool.....but after having use ubuntu for two years, i can only say now that macs are the same as windows....i just want to destroy the machines....not good for my blood pressure.

ie : try getting a simple file/folder based music player that lets you use your rockboxified ipod on which you store 25gb of music in your own custom folder arrangement that makes perfect sense to you. nope wont happen, they all want to re arrange your music to their regime. totally suxors. and is a perfect candidate for the arcanite-reaper treatment.

I love ubuntu.....I love it even more now that i got a dell latitude d505. works that perfectly with ubuntu beryl. i was so happy that the wifi was a non-job and just worked.

I got myself some hack gnome-mac-menus and the beryl-widgets-layer controller.

but im afraid i cant help you with battery life concerning these scenarios, as my batterie is the exploding type. needs replacing i hear. apparently for free too.

is this true? anyone else replaced a dell battery?



but my suggestion is that if you are somehow swayed into getting a macbook pro....just remember that your already paying alot of money so an extra 2-300$ for the apple care will make purchasing high-end apple stuff worthwhile. other wise you get shafted.

balance it, cheaps core2duo dell with on-par hardware that will run ubuntu or a coreduo macbook pro that will run macosx and ubuntu. ?

since i now absolutley hate macs i would go for the core2duo 2gig ram....why?
with 2gb or ram you will never get bogged down. ever. especially with a core2duo with a wopping 2mb FSB cache.


bottom line: if your an orange glasses kilt wearing pansy, go for your mac of bovinity. other wise embrace the darkside and step up to the podium for some sorcery with linux.


we share a simlar logic when it comes to buying laptops:p. That's actually what I went for Core 2 Duo 2gb ram. Thanks to all who posted your advice was worth while. I really like this laptop. The only problem is the adaptor kind of beeps. It's really quite so you have to really listen for it, but it's there.

[tehhaxorr]

Thanks tehhaxorr,
This is the laptop a friend and I are both looking to get, also incidentally on a recommendation! Glad to hear it works in Ubuntu. Could you tell me what version you use?
Thanks in advance,
Mike

What worked:

Ubutu 7.04 - Everything out of the box so to speak.

Fedora Core 6 - Everything but wireless.

Suse 10.2 - Everything worked, had problems booting.

PC BSD - Everything worked but sound

[pingvin]

Great news, thanks again.
Mike

[QwUo173Hy]

I read of how to keep your DVD Power Play (or whatever it's called) when you install linux. I don't remember the details and it's quite quirky but do a search. If you want to link it here, I can tell you if that's the one I read.