Okay, computer people, advise me.

[Fel]

I'm in the market for a laptop.

I know nothing about laptops.

This laptop is basicly going to be a desktop replacement machine for when I go to Japan, so you have an idea what it's going to be used for.

So...give me some feedback on what I need to look for as far as specs and features, etc. go, and which brands are reliable and not outrageously expensive.

[miraborn]

I'm fairly partial to Dell and Asus. I love my Dell Latitude D620. It's got a 14.1 inch screen, and with the 9 cell primary battery and 6 cell media bay battery I can run about 6 - 7 hours without wall power. My sister Loves her Asus tablet, and being a scenic designer, the tablet features of the system are great.

A few words of advice: Whatever you get, be sure you get a MINIMUM of a 3 year warranty. Most manufacturers are offering 4 or 5 year warranties now. If they do, get it - it will cost a bit now, but will be worth it later on when something breaks (and something surely will over 4 years). Also, get accidental damage coverage - Dell sometimes calls it "complete care" - as this will cover the computer even if you drop it, step on it, dump a cup of coffee or ramen into in, or your two year old decides that playing with a screwdriver and the laptop keyboard at the same time are a great idea.

Also, if the computer you pick offers spare batteries, especially ones that go into the bay where the CD drive goes, get it. With my Latitude (the business line, not the Inspiron consumer model) the media bay battery drains first, so if I'm using the computer and I need to drop in a CD or DVD, I can pull out the battery and still have majority charge on the primary battery.

If you are wanting something that's both powerful and a good replacement for a desktop, while being good for portability, look at the Latitude D600 series. If you don't mind a bit more weight, look at the D800 series. These offer a bit more computing power, larger screen, and a few more bells and whistles, at the expense of weight.

One more tip. Since you will be going overseas with the computer, check what the warranty and support terms are for out-of-country repairs. In the US, Dell will usually have someone to you to replace a failed component the next business day, but that may not stand for out of country.

Beware of Compaq/HP - known for overheating, poor reverse OS support (Vista to XP), clunky driver support.
Alienware = awesome computers, but Very Pricey (Alienware is now owned by Dell).

That's my $0.02 - feel free to message me if you want more details.

[Hearly]

Don't have a specific model in my head, but 1 thing you wanna be careful of is make sure it has a GOOD video card and not built in, if you wanna be able to play EQ on it above a craw..

Look for something with a Geforce 7000 or higher


(now granted EQ could prolly run on anything built in, but what if you wanted to play WOW or something, with those you need a better video card, but you can always upgrade ram, HD (with external drive) etc, but CPU and video you can't easily..)

[Metatrone]

I bought a Toshiba A210 recently and I'm quite happy with it, but my needs are rather different since I have 2 desktops. I can't really advise on brand, except that HP have poor build quality. But as for specs:
go for a 15" as it's not too small for a desktop, and 17" are too big to drag around, a wide one it's good for watching movies
120GB or more HDD
look for a low consumption CPU - Turion X2 64 series or Core 2 Duo
1 or 2 GB DDR II 667Mhz depends on what you need it for, but as in most cases the video shares RAM go for more
other than that is down to personal preference

[Fiferguy]

I'm probably going to get flamed for this, but I REALLY like the MacBook Pros. IMHO, they're a little more stable than Windoze units, and don't require as much experience or savvy as Linux. The only problem I've had with it so far is the metal base...it conducts heat rather effectively. If you're using it on a table or something, it's not an issue, but it can get warm if you're using it in your lap. They're also MUCH less likely to get spam or viruses.

[Mysterious]

I would also advise to get premium computing power as laptops are generally slower than their desktop counterparts. I have gone with the Dell XPS laptop series as I am more of a gamer than a business or media player. So my advice is generally condensed to this:

1. MINIMUM Core 2 Duo 2.2 Ghz

2. Get as much battery space as possible, suppliers generally give 6-cell (I upgraded mine to 9-cell)

3. WARRANTY and a REPLACEMENT GUARANTEE is vitally important if you can get for as long as possible!

4. MEMORY!! I have 3GB on mine and personally I would recommend the same amount or 2GB as a minimum

5. Good video cards usually come as a standard in the gaming or media models but have a quick check

6. As a general rule of thumb I have found about laptops is that more is better even at the expense of weight, but this is all about personal preference

I would recommend getting a Dell because it's a reputable brand that still fits within the budget but if you have some spare cash getting an ASUS would also be great. If you are willing to splurge getting Alienware would be the best option or you could have your laptop built from the ground up. General understanding: Dell = GM or Ford, ASUS = Mercedes-Benz, Alienware = Porsche.


Mysterious

[Drivr]

I do this for a living, and everyone has given good advice so far. Our company has been getting away from the Dells in the past year due to quality problems but it really is not that big of an issue if you get the 3 year warranty. most problems on a laptop seem to manifest within the first year or so. If it is offered get the accidential damage warranty, if you knock it off a table, spill tea on it or run it over (yes one of our field service folks ran over thier own laptop) they will fix it. I have been buying HP laptops lately and our users seem to be happy with them. It seems that as long as you go with well known name, Dell, HP, Toshiba Acer(they make the dells) and a good warranty you really dont lose out.

If you are going to stick with XP 2GB of memory is fine but if you are going the vista route try to get at least 4GB. On every machine we have tested Vista will use around 650 to 800MB of memory doing nothing. If you are going to game get one with a decent Video card like Hearly mentioned. If you feel adventerous dual boot the machine with a linux distro like PCLINUXOS or UBuntu. One last thing if you are headed to Japan with this thing get a good power converter so you can plug it in without burning up your AC adapter.

[Hearly]

I do this for a living, and everyone has given good advice so far. Our company has been getting away from the Dells in the past year due to quality problems but it really is not that big of an issue if you get the 3 year warranty. most problems on a laptop seem to manifest within the first year or so. If it is offered get the accidential damage warranty, if you knock it off a table, spill tea on it or run it over (yes one of our field service folks ran over thier own laptop) they will fix it. I have been buying HP laptops lately and our users seem to be happy with them. It seems that as long as you go with well known name, Dell, HP, Toshiba Acer(they make the dells) and a good warranty you really dont lose out.

If you are going to stick with XP 2GB of memory is fine but if you are going the vista route try to get at least 4GB. On every machine we have tested Vista will use around 650 to 800MB of memory doing nothing. If you are going to game get one with a decent Video card like Hearly mentioned. If you feel adventerous dual boot the machine with a linux distro like PCLINUXOS or UBuntu. One last thing if you are headed to Japan with this thing get a good power converter so you can plug it in without burning up your AC adapter.

Very good suggestions, but if the Video has it's own memory, it's normally stupid to get 4gig of ram unless your getting a 64 bit system as 32 bit systems will not address anything over 4gig of Total Ram (meaning if you have 640 megs of ram for the video, and 4gig for the main system, it will only address around 3.3 gig system memory. (640 megs from video, plus the built in ram on the cpu, etc.)

I see systems (desktops) all the time saying 4gig ram, and duel 768 meg video cards (or something that high) meaning you'll only end up with like 2.5gig of ram (there 32 bit systems) and I laugh everytime I see one..

[Drivr]

Thats why I said 2GB for xp and 4 for vista. most new vista machines can use the whole memory address as long as the chipset is 64bit. the Core2 and the new AMD chipsets are. I have users that insist that I purchase them 4+GB of memory for thier machines even though I try to explain to them that the system they are using can not address that much memory, but its usually easier to install it and waste it then it is to argue.

I have a huge video card in my own personal computer and could not see needing a dual bridged set but it might be fun to play around with. Think I'm gonna retake the Nerd test.

Is Chapter 10 out yet?

[belphanior]

I would definitely think hard about NOT getting separate Nvidia/ATI graphics and going with integrated Intel graphics instead.
Intel graphics use dramatically less power because there is no fast separate graphics chip+graphics ram.
For example, Lenovo says the difference between ATI Mobility Radeon X1300 and Intel GMA 950 on an otherwise identical machine is 4.6 hours vs 7.8 hours (check it yourself here: http://lenovoblogs.com/insidethebox/?p=40)
Personally, I wouldnt touch discreete graphics with a 10 foot pole, but then I don't want to play games on my laptop either.

Also which screensize you want stongly depends on how you intend to use your machine:
17'' for a pure desktop replacement (really hard to transport, but decent screen size)
15'' for a mixed mobile/desktop machine
14'' and under for true mobility (only slightly larger than a piece of paper, so it'll fit in most bags etc.)

[storyreader2005]

On thing that I recommend if you're going to be carrying this laptop around Tokyo is a hard shell carrying cases. Not one of those soft side satchels/backpacks/attaché cases that Dell or whoever offers.

http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/powerbook/cases/

Price is somewhere around $150 but if you're going to be carrying the laptop around in public I think it's worth it for the peace of mind. Don't go for a slim design since if you're not getting a macbook then I don't think you could fit the power adapter into the case. Not to mention all the other "extras" you're going to want to carry in the case too, like headphones, power converter, mouse (unless you like touchpads), CD's, and maybe even a laptop cooler or stand.

[Greymist]

I'm not sure I can agree with people ragging on the HP machines. Where I work (I'm a system admin/grunt) we have 30sih HP laptops and we haven't had any issues with the machines (the users yes, computers no).

I REALLY like the MacBook Pros.
....blah blah blah....
....blah blah blah....
....blah blah blah....
They're also MUCH less likely to get spam or viruses.

I'll agree with you to some extent about the viruses issue but saying they get less spam!?!?

The amount of spam you get is inversely proportional to your intellect/net savvy (and to some degree that of your friends), saying it has anything to do with your operating system is just *boggle*.

[wolfy]

Many good items of advice for you Fel....however.

1. At somepoint your probably going to go to vista...get the 4 gigs now so you have it... Yes XP will only use 3.3 gigs unless you screw with the bios settings. Vista should use the full amount available....

2. Alien was looks good...Dell would be just as good even though they own Alienware and a bit cheaper. Might also want to consider Gateway - have played with 1 of they're 17 inch wide screen core duo laptops and liked it.

3. From a gamers persective on OS go with XP service pack 2 as long as possible. From a IT professionals perspective go with XP SP 2 for now.

4. Video card - if your a gamer - Nvidia 8000 series... atleast 450megs of ram on the board.

5. CPU - Core Duo or Quad - best that you can get - laptops are slow compared to desktops.

6. Storage - can't have to much of it... have a multiple ways of backing up your work - 1 gig flash drive or whatever and dvd burner...over seas you may wait a day or 2 for replacement - especially for a US brand - not sure.

7. in collage the Mac lap was always called the Crack lab and the little pot heads hung out there

8. WARRENTY! WARRENTY!! WARRENTY!!! not to mention SERVICE!! SERVICE!!! SERVICE!!!! Service Level Agreements - especially over seas can be a question of East Coast time or "Mexican" time for the lack of a better term.

[Spec8472]

Uhm,

First of all: Define your upper price limit. (And then we'll start a "buy Fel a better laptop fund", and get you something nicer )

That said, I agree with the recommendations to go with a Dell with CompleteCare and Theft Cover. Note: Because you'll primarily be using this overseas, make sure you verify that you've got the International warranty, CompleteCare and Theft Cover. Despite Dell shipping from 3-4 assembly centres worldwide, they're sometimes picky.

Re the Macbook recommendations: Fel will be playing games (read: EQ), and that, therefore means Windows. Getting a Macbook to run Windows is, well... a nice way to spend some additional cash.

- begin rant -
The "less spam and virus" line is... well, sorry: BS. Anyone reasonably careful with their PC isn't going to get a virus, regardless of whether they run Windows or not, and As Greymist said, spam isn't a factor of the OS. I havn't run any AV software on my home PCs for... several years now. Just make sure you run the Update functionality, and enable a firewall. Oh, and don't open/install random bits of crapware either.

The "crashes less" line is also BS too. I know folks with Macs who laugh at me when something goes whacky with my Windows machines, and then won't hear a word about when their Mac goes and does something equally stupid. Macs run software too, and any bit of software with more than a few hundred lines of code is going to have bugs. Even if it was blessed by Saint^W Steve Jobs.
- end of rant-

[Journeywoman]

1. At somepoint your probably going to go to vista...get the 4 gigs now so you have it... Yes XP will only use 3.3 gigs unless you screw with the bios settings. Vista should use the full amount available....

3. From a gamers persective on OS go with XP service pack 2 as long as possible. From a IT professionals perspective go with XP SP 2 for now.

I don't have much to say on actual specks, not actually owning a laptop myself but would like to put my 2c on on the Operating System. I would choose XP SP2 if your running on a laptop just because the extra ram and other requirements Vista has will eat up your battery like nothing else. If you do choose Vista, a site that was recommended to me was http://www.speedyvista.com which should free up some of the background usage. Keep in mind that if you do buy Vista Business, they *should* be able to give you an XP downgrade disk.

And because its cool and I saw my first one on Monday (rather than a recommendation). If you want a really tiny and cheap notebook, which runs on linux or XP: Asus Eee.