[Mallrat]

My friend is looking for a PC laptop, I showed him the ibook and he liked it, but he is a windows guy. That's cool.

But it goes my thinking. PC's laptops seem to have better battery life, better screens, and cheaper.

My questions is, what is a good PC notebook.

He is looking for one under 1500.. cheaper the better.

I saw the 2000 sony mini laptop that has a 10 inch x-brite screen and great battery life and super small.

Any other good PC's like that?

It did get my thinking though. I love my ibook, but my eyes start to hurt after awhile, and I think it has to do with the screen not being bright enough.

Anyway, don't worry, I'm still going to have an Apple desktop, but I was sadly (and I emphazie this) getting a PC laptop after I saw the great screens.

I used to use PC"s and I had a packard bell and that was the worst computer ever. No doubts about it. I hated the thing!

After I saw the imac 233 I was a mac man and never looked back. But recenlty, sense apple takes so long and my friend was looking, I noticed the cool PC's laptops.

Just got me thinking that I could have the best of both worlds.

All i would need for a laptop would be a great battery life, a good screen, the ability to use word and final draft (which are both platform compatible) so it's not that bad.

This is for the people that can separte from their loyality for a moment or see the good and bad in things.

the independents of the world.

Trust me, I'm on the Apple side, but it's far to say that the Sony laptop I saw was awesome.. Just awesome.

Please share your thoughts and let's make this a nice discussion. If PC and Apple people can't work together, is there any hope in the world?

[Jeff-Flowers]

I think that this should be moved to the Lounge but to answer your question, I like Thinkpads. They are bit expensive but nice, especially the T40 and the X31, both of which use the Pentium M.

[DaBeav]

The Dell Inspiron 600m is relatively thin and light, uses the Pentium-M. If you want a little more style, there's the Sony VAIO Z1.

[kdixey]

I like the Sony Vaio. The build is pretty decent and they come pretty well equipped. I have a tiny little Vaio and its pretty cool when I need to use a PC laptop for something.

My wife has a Dell Inspiron, and while it does have absolutely EVERYTHING in terms of features I think its pretty heavy and runs very very hot. BTW, I had a client that had a Dell that ran so hot that we used to have to pop it into the freezer to revive it.

[Nicko]

I like Thinkpads, they are built tough and solid, oh and they have really good keyboards.

[mbryda]

Anything but Dell. They are shite from the laptop standpoint. IBM, Compaq/HP or Toshiba would be my vote. Look for something with an Athlon-M or a regular Athlon for the most bang for the buck. No De-Celeron or any junk like that.

As far as battery life, few come close to the iBook. Even the Dell and IBM Pent-M's need 2 batteries to go all day...

[mikemako]

I agree with the majority.. as my friend who is a PC guy (he's a network admin) said: "IBM is the Apple of the PC world. They're a little more expensive than the rest but a lot higher quality".

[MSME]

I have to agree with those who say Dell's are built like crap. I played around on my dad's Inspiron (2.0 ghz P4) last weekend, and I couldn't believe how cheaply made it felt. The keyboard and trackpad in particular were second rate, and the LCD looked bleached out in a couple of places.

I had an IBM Thinkpad about five years ago, and it was the best PC I've ever owned -- incredibly well made. I haven't touched a Thinkpad in a couple of years, so I don't know much about the current ones. If I had to get a PC laptop, IBM is the first maker I would check out though.

[Scooterboy]

Sony Vaio with X-brite screen (or whatever they are calling it). May as well take advantage of advanced screen technology shipping in PC laptops (not Apple, sadly). Also, make sure it is Intel Centrino = built in WiFi and very long battery life.

[wallaper]

I have a dell inspiron 8200 and I really love it. I bought it last november and it gets used all day everyday, very tough..


Wallaper
www.sellyourmac.com

[StiZeven]

I would have to agree and recommend the IBM T40. Right now you can get one loaded for about $2300 (no Tax and free shipping) - a great value and it's very fast, stable and the standard battery lasts for 4 hours or more (without reducing performance or sitting in the dark with a dim screen). However, ThinkPads aren't exactly the prettiest notebooks on the block - but their industrial design has its own sex appeal in some bizarre way. IBM is also stingy with their GPUs and refuse to use the newer 1.7GHz Centrino Chip (they are most likely waiting till they refresh the line).

http://www.ecost.com/ecost/shop/deta...=email,ECOSTPG

By the way, PC notebooks have had 'integrated' WiFi for years. Centrino WiFi is specifically an Intel branded WiFi card, but at the end of the day they are all integrated and they are all MiniPCI cards usually located underneath the machine for easy upgrades. The only time you need a PC Card WiFi Card is when you buy a PC Notebook without integrated WiFi.

You really can't judge Dell as a whole as some notebooks are made in different areas by different companies. I had the X200 and currently have an X300 through work and they are both made very well with brilliant keyboards and both machines have been true gems with zero problems from day one. The Latitude X series chassis is manufactured by Samsung. I've also owned a few Latitudes over the years and they were very solid as well. Dell also offers some of the best displays in the business with many options on resolutions (including the extremes which some people go for).

[Luca Rescigno]

I have a friend who runs a web hosting company out of his home. He has tons of computers and other toys lying around, so I always enjoy it when he holds a LAN party

Anyway, I've had the opportunity to use a bunch of the various equipment he has. He has three (yes, three) Latitude X200s in various parts of the house, which has a T1 internet connection and wireless networking throughout (and for the neighbors as well, and he dug a tunnel in the ground and ran Cat5 to a friend's house a block or two away ). Those X200s are super durable. 12" screen, external CD drive, EXTREMELY thin and light (probably 3 lbs and .8" thick). They're not the fastest machines but they sure are useful because if he ever needs to go on the internet for something, he just picks one up and starts surfing. They do get rather hot by the battery and AC plug.

He also has a brand new Sony Vaio with the built in camera and a 1280x768 screen. That thing is pretty cool as well. It's not nearly as thin as the Latitudes, maybe even 1.5" thick, but the footprint is so small that it makes up for it. The screen is very good from what I saw of it, and he has a 144 kilobit cell phone card for medium-high speed internet access from anywhere. Also, it uses a Centrino processor.

The other laptop he has is a Dell Inspiron 8500 or 8600 (don't know which, they look the same). That's the huge, hot desktop replacement with a 1920x1200 screen. Yeah, it's big and heavy and hot, but it does get excellent gaming performance. UT 2003 runs pretty well even at 1600x1200 resolution, and buttery smooth at 1024x768. I used his little handheld remote thermometer thing (he has all sorts of stuff like this!) to get a reading of over 130°F on the underside, and between 95 and 120 on the palm rest and keyboard area.

Anyway, that Sony was nice, and it appeared to be really well built as well. The X200s were pretty nice how you could just pick them up by the corner of the screen without any problems, but they still seemed to be cheaply constructed. The Sony was almost Mac-like in build quality.

[skalie]

This may be outdated, but watch out for Compaq, they used to have a policy of using non-standard parts, meaning that you had to buy Compaq ram for three times the price of generic ram.

[I Me Mine]

Disgraceful! Imagine a company seriously overcharging for RAM.....Oh hang on....