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spalding12 · Sep 18, 2003, 05:40 PM

if you had to choose a NON-APPLE notebook... what IS the best one out there right now, according to this intelligent group of folks. If someone HAD to have a PC-based machine, which one should he/she choose.

please base this on some actual experience with the unit of your choice.

thanks in advance

greg

Ryan1524 · Sep 18, 2003, 05:48 PM

Thinkpad T40p. they're 1" Thin, incredibly fast, titanium case(or it s it magnesium now?), BT, wifi, 7 hrs batt life, great support, etc

think of it as a competition to the 15" PBs. sans sleekness.

MrK · Sep 18, 2003, 05:53 PM

The Thinkpad T series has been the only other game in town for a few years running now, but....

The newest Sony Vaio, which is PB 12" sized but only wieghs 3.7 LBS w/ the Intel Centrino chipset should be available soon and it is a KICK butt computer. LLLOOOONNNNNGGGG battery life and fast too.

Toshiba has a 17" desktop chip P4 laptop that is more of a portable desktop than a portable. But it is available as cheaply as $1400 (2.4 GHZ P4 @ Circuit City), with the 3.0 GHZ P4 @ Costco for $1800.

Dell has the suckiest laptops I have ever seen, Gateway has second suckiest and the other cool / small designs, like Fujitsu, have some of the worst quality ratings in the industry...

beachmark · Sep 18, 2003, 06:07 PM

ACER LCi800 or 600 series. The latter has also a dvd+burner in it, first mentioned only cd burner

tulsamatt · Sep 18, 2003, 06:15 PM

deffinatly go for the thinkpad... i have an older t21 sitting right next to my powerbook, it works great, vary reliable... i had two dells before it and i had lots of problems with them.

matt

milhous · Sep 18, 2003, 06:22 PM

Another vote for the Thinkpad series. However their graphics card options are too conservative for my tastes. I mean, they just recently moved from the 16MB Radeon 7000 to 32MB Radeon 9000. In this respect, they're a day late and a dollar short.

macdevil · Sep 18, 2003, 06:27 PM

tally one more for the thinkpad line. My parents both have their own. My Mom is going to look at a Gateway

this weekend as well as the newer IBM's.

MrK · Sep 18, 2003, 10:51 PM

Macdevil? How is the surfing in Phoenix?

Or is it TOO far from the ocean?

StiZeven · Sep 18, 2003, 11:00 PM

While a bit ugly (yet also industrially appealing at the same time), the IBM ThinkPad T40 pretty much has it all (powerful, well made, solid and sturdy, very long battery life, awesome keyboard, built in think light, relatively thin and light, easy HD, memory, WiFi upgrades via one-screw, and comes loaded for $2400 with excellent warranty). The only weak spot is the graphics card. Seems like both Apple and IBM are still a little stingy in this area (even on the high-ends).

bauhaus · Sep 19, 2003, 12:31 AM

ThinkPad T40p has a 9000 Mobility Fire GL 64MB RAM (ISV certified)

That was the best out there when it was placed on the market in March '03.

It's also lighter and thinner than the 15"Al and at real usable battery life, it beats the 15"Al by hours and hours. It also has modular hard drive bays and optical drive so you can easily move up or add on (plus the wifi reception is soooo much better) Finally, the screen is higher resolution and on par with the 17"PB for pixels. You also get a 7.2K rpm hard drive and up to 2GB RAM. Body is made up of Titanium, Magnesium (LCD and cover structure), and Carbon Fibre reinforced ABS.

Sure it'll cost you, but it's pretty much the best laptop and most powerful laptop on the market (not comparing it to "desknotes" where you give up the whole portable aspect of a laptop)

DigitalEl · Sep 19, 2003, 01:38 AM

Originally posted by MrK:
Macdevil? How is the surfing in Phoenix?

Or is it TOO far from the ocean?

It doesn't say where you're from, so I didn't know whether you were joking. There's no surfing here in the desert... Unless you can surf on sand and nobody told me.

spalding12 · Sep 19, 2003, 06:41 AM

that IBM Thinkpad T40p looks amazing
but with NO FIREWIRE 400 or 800 it is completely USELESS for multimedia....
no connectivity for video
why is that
is it possible to add this feature
does anyone know about this?

thanks in advance

greg

bluejam · Sep 19, 2003, 06:53 AM

Originally posted by DigitalEl:
It doesn't say where you're from, so I didn't know whether you were joking. There's no surfing here in the desert... Unless you can surf on sand and nobody told me.

No, but you can snowboard the dunes.

Imagine if that IBM ran OSX...

Shaddim · Sep 19, 2003, 07:56 AM

Originally posted by bauhaus:

Sure it'll cost you, but it's pretty much the best laptop and most powerful laptop on the market (not comparing it to "desknotes" where you give up the whole portable aspect of a laptop)

It's the best PC `book overall, but not the fastest. That honor goes to Alienware. I can handle the weight (8lbs) and girth, but it's just so damned UGLY! It's even uglier than the T40, which is saying a lot.

Besides, to rate a notebook "the best", you have to factor in many things, one of them being OS availability. That, along with style, functionality, and quality makes the Powerbooks "the best". No other portable compares. The only time I'd recommend otherwise is if the person absolutely HAD to run Windoze. Then, of course, they'd have to compromise.

bauhaus · 10:32 PM

I'd call the Alienware a desknote at 8lbs, its battery life, and its form factor (which is why it's excluded from my "best and fastest" comparison.) It's ok for infrequent portable use...

As for the T40p, if you take out the OS factor of the equation, it rules over all others (and it's a beaut in person; a cross between a Brioni suit and the new BMW M5.. clean strong lines that suggest its power, svelte figure, and classic matte black colouring.) I just use Linux and be done with it...

(I'd liken a PB Al to more of a Ferrari look: flashy, shiny, and attention grabbing.. however, it'll take a few years to determine if it'll be a classic or a fad)

Ryan1524 · Sep 19, 2003, 02:47 PM

Originally posted by bluejam:
No, but you can snowboard the dunes.

Imagine if that IBM ran OSX...

aren't they already??? with the G5?

Shaddim · Sep 19, 2003, 03:59 PM

Originally posted by bauhaus:

As for the T40p, if you take out the OS factor of the equation,

If you take the OS factor out of the equation, you have a $2500 paper weight. You can't have one without the other.

bauhaus · Sep 19, 2003, 10:31 PM

Originally posted by MacNStein:
If you take the OS factor out of the equation, you have a $2500 paper weight. You can't have one without the other.

Linux, my man, linux...