Secrets to a Laptop

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Gametheory

Limp Gawd
Joined
Dec 11, 2004
Messages
141
I'm really looking for a desktop-replacement MOVIE watching, GAME playing, INTERNET browsing, MUSIC listening machine.. that has a nice screen (widescreen)

EDIT : I have fallen in love with either the Inspiron 9300 / 9400 OR xps m170

--Removed most of original post for newcomers because most of my questions were answered. New information on -page-3
 
You used to be able to get some really screaming deals on the XPS line of laptops - but I think that is just about over. Now the coupons are coming across on the Inspiron line (which would include your 9300). If you are lucky you can find a 40% off coupon on the web - that is going to be where a lot of the ebay machines come from - people buy with the coupon and resell on ebay.

Take a peek at fatwallet.com for coupons - and when you are ready - you need to be quick as the coupons will be good for a set number of redemptions.
 
Also, a lot of people don't know that they can get a computer provision on their homeowners/renters insurance. Through USAA I have a special $5000 coverage for all computers and peripheral devices with zero deductable. Covers spills and drops. It's an extra $90/year but it covers ALL my equipment.
 
Also take a look into ASUS line of laptops, most are ranging from $1500-$2000 but they are very high quality.
 
Invalid said:
Also take a look into ASUS line of laptops, most are ranging from $1500-$2000 but they are very high quality.
Click to expand...

I'm loving these ASUS notebooks A LOT.. ~, I really like their widescreen models - curious if you had an opinion on a certain ASUS model that would fit my needs.. the site is annoying to browse notebooks

The W2V so far has caught my eye
 
just get a dell 9300 with the coupons.

i used a $750 and a $100 coupon off and got the following for $1,600:

dell 9300
17 inch screen
2Ghz
2 gigs ram
80GB HD 7200rpm
cd+dvd combo burner
9cell battery, 130 watt power brick
and most importantly a 7800gtx mobile

those coupons really payed off nicely.
 
That's what im looking to do Hulk because the ASUS model i like is retailed @ $2499 on neweegg.com and varying suppliers..

The inspiron 9300 w/ coupons - and better specs can come to $1,000 cheaper.

Where did you get your coupons. also what do you think of the laptop so far.
 
Limited time offer beginning 12/21/05 4:00pm CST through 01/11/06 5:59am CST or after 4000 redemptions (whichever occurs first)
ONLINE ONLY: Save $750 on SELECT Inspiron notebook purchases $1999 or more (before tax and shipping)! This offer does not include XPS notebooks.
Coupon code G76?BXMPC5919D
 
Donk3y said:
Limited time offer beginning 12/21/05 4:00pm CST through 01/11/06 5:59am CST or after 4000 redemptions (whichever occurs first)
ONLINE ONLY: Save $750 on SELECT Inspiron notebook purchases $1999 or more (before tax and shipping)! This offer does not include XPS notebooks.
Coupon code G76?BXMPC5919D
Click to expand...

Thanks, it doesnt seem to stack w/ the $500 they already offer on selected Inspiron 9300's.. but this is a lot of help.. THank you :)
 
dell, hp, all other oem's are total trash. if you need kinda fast, get an asus, if you need really fast, get a clevo. or if you like the dell name, get the same machine, with spyware preloaded, and for about 1.8x the price
 
RobertMacUser said:
dell, hp, all other oem's are total trash. if you need kinda fast, get an asus, if you need really fast, get a clevo. or if you like the dell name, get the same machine, with spyware preloaded, and for about 1.8x the price
Click to expand...
What an extremely articulate rebuttal to the previous points made here.

Quanta makes those trash laptops for Dell and Sony and they are widely recognized as the best ODM for laptops in the world.

While Asus laptops are amusing to look at, they are their own ODM (the only laptop made that way in the whole world) - I have got to believe that the R&D put into the laptops made for EVERY SINGLE COMPUTER MANUFACTURER has got to be slightly more than what ASUS puts into theirs.

I would agree with your sentiment about Clevo - but I am not sure why you decided to compare apples to oranges here.

Try to look back at the OPs needs and go from there.
 
Nomad, i'll take your laptop :D

.. if your uncomfortable with that ~ ur signature does state that your laptop can beat up mine, i think you hafta get me one in order for me to put up some sort of fight..

Thx for ur comments, im just confused as to why some people bash Dell's and HP's.. and some people praise them.. and there's no real reason behind it on either side. I don't really know why i should LIKE a Dell, or why i should HATE it..

These clevo's loook really nice, not sure where you can purchase them though
 
BTW nomad, im looking @ the site now of your Sager laptop.. how thick is the current model you have ~ on the site it seems to be pretty thick, i seem to like the thinner silver model

Do you have any pics you can post.. ?
 
Gametheory said:
.. or purchasing DELL coupons
Click to expand...
Sorry to come in late, but do you seriously mean to PURCHASE coupons? You can get these things for free quite easily - it's all in being persistent enough to search every day and being patient enough to wait for the best coupon. If I misunderstood, well, sorry about that.

Here's where I started my search for coupons:

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=603670

Just scroll down a bit on that first post and you'll see about 2 dozen links for places to look. 35% seems to be pretty standard though I've heard about 40% off (maybe we'll see these after Christmas?) and one guy showed how he got something like 45+% off, by using AAFES (for military members). Actually, if you're military or have close military family/friends, check with them to see if they can help you find any deals on laptops (Dell included) through http://www.aafes.com/
 
Gametheory said:
BTW nomad, im looking @ the site now of your Sager laptop.. how thick is the current model you have ~ on the site it seems to be pretty thick, i seem to like the thinner silver model

Do you have any pics you can post.. ?
Click to expand...
My favorite reseller for Sager notebooks is www.pctorque.com
They are fantastic to deal with. They also used to run www.notebookforums.com which is still going strong. You can check there for more info on Sagers.
 
Donk3y ~ I've been looking at the Sager 5720 and it looks amazing.. im curious as to why of all the laptops you owned, none seem to be a Sager.

Any personal opinions on this certain model?
 
I love my Sager - but it IS bigger than you are thinking it is.

I really like the 5720 (http://www.powernotebooks.com/category.php?catId=25#id1090), although the 9750 is sharp, and would probably get my money right now.

I have owned / been issued about a dozen Dell laptops over the past 6 years, and Toshiba Tecras before that (back when they used to be worth something).

I have the Sager in my sig, and use an M70 (Dell precision WS) while in the office. I would say that I would prefer the centrino line of processors over the heat / fan noise of my 3.8 P4.
 
I think a main reason for me to be purchasing the 5720 over the current model you own.. would be that it's thiner than the other Sager models, and i love that clean, sharp silver look.. other then the great specs involved with the system
 
Dell Inspiron 9300
--CPU : Intel Pentium M Processor 760 (2 GHz/2MB Cache/533MHz FSB)
--MEMORY : 1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM @ 533MHz 2 Dimm
--VIDEO : 256MB NVIDA GeForce Go 6800
--HARD DRIVE : 60GB 7200rpm
--CD/DVD : 8x CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW) with double-layer DVD+R write capability
--NETWORK : Intel PRO 2915 & Dell 350 Bluetooth Internal Wireless
--MEDIA : TV Tuner w/ Remote Control
--DISPLAY : Display 17 inch UltraSharp Wide Screen UXGA Display with TrueLife

TOTAL:$2,507.00 ** Price includes a $500 coupon that Dell currently OFFERS

----------------------------------------------------*

Sager 5720-V
--CPU : Pentium M (760) 2.0 GHz 533MHz
--MEMORY : 1024MB 533DDR2 (2 DIMMS)
--VIDEO : nVIDIA GeForce Go 7800 GTX w/GDDR3
--HARD DRIVE : 60GB 7200RPM PATA
--CD/DVD : 8x DVD+- combo drive with DVD+R DL
--NETWORK : 10/100/1000 NIC (Internal Bluetooth)
--MEDIA : Analog TV Tuner w/ Remote
--DISPLAY : 17" WUXGA LCD (Glossy 1920 x 1200)

TOTAL:$2312.70

----------------------------------------------------*

These seem to be the two laptops I'm sticking with, in which im looking for personal opinions that may/may not include experience with these models. You guys have been a lot of help up to this point, and if I havent even started this thread ~ i never even would have known that Sager existed as a supplier of Laptops.
 
Do both of those systems come with the same/similar warranty? I'll assume those were both priced with a 1 year parts/labor wty.

While I do enjoy my 9300, that Sager sounds very nice. Back when I was pricing mine, I couldn't get a comparable Sager for the range I had to work with - budget came from my boss. Now it looks like the Sager is a little more loaded for a bit less dough. Very nice, and I'll definitely be looking at them again when it comes time to upgrade. Have fun shopping. :)
 
Gametheory said:
Donk3y ~ I've been looking at the Sager 5720 and it looks amazing.. im curious as to why of all the laptops you owned, none seem to be a Sager.

Any personal opinions on this certain model?
Click to expand...
I never owned a Sager because of mostly timing and Dell coupons. I fought the battle of Dell vs Sager for a few of my purchases. In the end Dell was giving the huge 35-40% off coupons at those times. I REALLY want a 5720 but it came out after I had already purchased my 9300. When I purchased my 9100 from Dell it was the same issue. I forget the Sager model number I was interested in at the time...

Anyhow I digress. As it currently stands, even with the Dell $750 off coupon I would pull the trigger on a 5720 over the 9300. Just my personal preference. It already has the 7800 in it so you dont have to tinker around inside. It has the same if not better and more options to choose from as well. I think it looks pretty sweet too.
 
Bitchnmoan
-- I tried to keep the options dealing with warranties / parts as simliar as possible * don't remember exactly what I did -- but its close.

Donk3y
-- Where do you reccomend I purchase the Sager 5720 I'm interested in getting * powernotebooks.com / pctorque.com are the sites I know as of now.
 
Going through most of the notebookforums.com posts ~ i get the feeling that people are more geared towards the Inspiron 9300 than the Sager 5720-V.

I'm not one to judge by a few individual posts. but gathering a few of the problems of the 5720-V on the site compared to the I9300 - i come away confused again, and not really sure of my decision.. :(
 
I myself would order thru pctorque. However either of those resellers are very easy to deal with and have great customer service ratings.

You will constantly see more Dell threads over Sager because of the size of each company. Dell is huge. I really dont think you can go wrong with either machine. Both are very fast and offer many of the same options. I know that does not make the decision any easier... sorry :p
 
Thanks for your help up to this point donkey... excuse me donk3y



j9sxzd.jpg
 
I bought mine from Power Notebooks

http://www.powernotebooks.com

I priced my laptop at PC Torque and Power Notebooks was cheaper when I did so. I think that it will be a wash either way - however - I do know that powernotebooks gives you a special number that directs you to the front of the Sager queue if calling tech support. Also - the couple of times that I have called Power Notebooks to ask questions - I have dealt with competent tech support people.
 
No sweat - just went to take one and saw "Change Battery Pack" on LCD - will get to it in a sec.
 
OK - here we go. I took a couple of off the wall pics of this thing. You can find pics of the actual laptop itself on the Power Notebooks site ( http://www.powernotebooks.com/images/9860/ ), but it is really hard to get a grasp of its true size without anything else in the picture.

These pics will make sense if you have a PSP - if not try to imagine that these laptops are huge.

Here is the open shot:
open.jpg


The laptop is over 2 PSPs wide...
width.jpg


And over 2 PSPs tall...
height.jpg
 
The Sagers are nice, but you pay a premium for them.

Get an Inspiron 9300 with the lowest RAM and videocard possible and upgrade them yourself. Get 2GB of DDR2 RAM from Newegg, and you can buy a 7800 GTX directly from Dell for about $250.

My 9300 has a 1.73GHz Pentium-M , 1GB RAM, and a 7800 GTX (450/1300) and I get 7000 points in 3DMark05. Plus, the 9-cell battery will last over 2 hours of movie watching.
Unfortunately, you won't be able to run the videocard at full throttle without being plugged into the wall, but it's a small price to pay for such a powerful machine.

EDIT: Oh, and the original specs of the laptop:
1.73GHz Pentium-M
1GB DDR2 RAM
60GB 5400 RPM HDD
256MB 6800 Go (vanilla)
Internal Bluetooth
Intel 2200 PRO Wireless
17" WUXGA LCD w/Truelife glossy finish
Carbon fiberesque snap on cover :D

With all the coupons and discounts I used, I paid $1305 including shipping and CA sales tax. Like I said above, you can save even more money by buying your RAM and other acessories elsewhere.
 
Nomad

-- AMAZING!.. LOL, well i've always been a nintendo fan (zelda :D ) I own a nintendo DS (DS > PSP) Mariokart & Mario 64 are games to be playing on a hand-held - i reserve those other games for the PC.. But the laptop has a very clean look to it.. i like it a lot, bigger than i expected from the pictures shown @ powernotebooks.com

Kevlarman

-- I have put together / upgraded many machines, but is this something I can do just by looking at pictures online / reading a tutorial.

Thanks a lot for your help.

I'm in LOVE with the way the SAGER 5720 looks a lot..
( http://www.powernotebooks.com/specs/images/5720/ )
 
Gametheory said:
Kevlarman
-- I have put together / upgraded many machines, but is this something I can do just by looking at pictures online / reading a tutorial.
Click to expand...


Do what by yourself? Almost everythind you need access to on the Inspiron is very easy to get to. The HDD, memory, and mini PCI slot can be accessed by removing two screws.

As for upgrading to a 7800, it took me about half an hour, and it was my first time opening up the laptop! The Dell section on
Notebookforums has a wealth of information regarding this upgrade.

Oh, and pics of my laptop :D :

P1030541.jpg


P1030554.jpg


P1030558.jpg
 
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