Laptop Purchasing Questions

Hello there, everyone. I took a look through this forum to see if there was anything that would be able to answer my questions, and though I did have a few answered, there are a few more specific to my situation questions I'd like to ask. If I'm shooting in the wrong area, or this needs to be closed for whatever other reason, then by all means please do so.

I'm no slouch when it comes to computers, but the realm of Laptops is one I have very little knowledge about. I've done some reading around different forums, but it becomes difficult to discern what's truth with such inpersonal sources. Since many of you will have first hand accounts and knowledge, I'd gladly take much of what you fellows have to say over corporate webpages.

Anyways, I'm in the market for a lap top. I'm actually looking to replace my desktop, more or less, and while travel and battery life aren't all that important to me, the proposed aspect of being able to move the computer much easier in the rare occassions that I need to is my main motivation. However, I do play my share of PC games, so gaming is rather important to me. And though I do know that Laptops can't really match PCs for high end gaming, I don't exacly have a high end PC currently, so it evens out. What I don't want, however, is to get a laptop that is currently weaker than my PC. It's not the weakest of machines, but it's definitely not the best.

I built the machine myself, in the past, but I was rather stingy with my money, and bought cheaper hardware from unknown manufacturers. The difference in quality shows, and it's not something I wish to have happen again. Anyways, here are my PC's specs:

Hard Drive: 50GB 5200RPM
RAM: 768MB PC3200 DDR 400MHz (Two sticks: 512 and 256)
Processor: Pentium 4, 3.0Ghz 1MB L2 Cache
Video Card: Radeon 9800 XT 256MB Manufacturer: GECUBE

I'm not looking to spend much more than $2000 (And preferably less), but I don't know how practical that is for what I'm looking for.

I guess what I need to know, really, is what are trusted and proven companies for laptops? I've no love for Dell, nor HP's PCs, but know nothing of their lap tops. As for the alternatives, well, I guess I don't know all that many.

If anyone has any recommendations to share with me, that'd be great. Thanks in advance.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Try a Sager!
Look over at http://www.pctorque.com/

I don't think you can get desktop replacement for under $2000 though; I would have gone with a 2000+ if I had the cash, since I only had 2000 that is where I looked.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

I've got an Acer Ferrari 4005WLMi: It's around $2000, but is an over-all excellent machine: AMD64 ML-37, 1GB DDR333 (though its upgradable to 2GB DDR400, don't know why they ship with DDR333), 15.4" 1680x1050, Radeon X700 PCIE 128MB, 80GB HDD, DVDRW, Bluetooth, 802.11G, VGA+DVD+SVIDEO out, and most importantly (and the reason I bought it) an great overall build quality with a carbon-fiber lid and rubberized keyboard area...definitely not a flimsy piece of plastic like other laptops I've seen. Plus it looks cool (its a Ferrari, so of course it does). The DVI and SVIDEO outputs are a nice addition if you want to hook up to a monitor or television at home. Good battery life with the 35W Turion (although a 25W Turion would be better). Its a bit on the expensive side, a bit heavy at around 6.3lbs, and the fan is a bit loud, but if you're looking for a desktop replacement you'll be hard pressed to find one that isn't. Plus you can't really customize it, although I hear there are some places that'll buy it and upgrade the RAM for you, but the proccessor is pretty hard to get to. Not impossible though (I have the manual), so if you want to upgrade to a faster proc (or even the very slightly more expensive MT series with 25W instead of 35W power usage) you can do that, and I know of some people that can help with that.
Oh, and I bought from newegg.

Most amazing jew boots

MacBook Pro. Especially if you're a college student and can take advantage of the edu discount. OS X for all your daily needs because it's awesome, and you can stick Windows on it for games if you want. It's the best of both worlds.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

not too much off topic, but Cless, what's the discount for a student on a macbook pro?

edit nevrmnd i found it
not much of a discount ($200), but still its cool that apple does it

I was speaking idiomatically.

Quote:

not too much off topic, but Cless, what's the discount for a student on a macbook pro?

edit nevrmnd i found it
not much of a discount ($200), but still its cool that apple does it

The discount helps though, makes buying an Apple quite a bit more enticing.

Plus, Windows on it now makes it a helluva lot better, can finally game on a Mac and also get work done on OSX. Now to pony up the cash to buy one.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Dude, check out http://www.abs.com. They've got some nice notebook packages for some good prices (GeForce Go 6600 at $1,300 base price last I checked.)

EDIT: In fact, here's my personal configuration....

OS: Windows XP Home (Pro for +$50)
Graphics: Dual GMA 900 / Nvidia GeForce Go 6600
Processor: 2.26GHz Intel Pentium M
RAM: 2x512MB Transcend PC2-4200
HDD: Hitachi 100GB 5400RPM
Optical Drive: Slim Dual DVD-Burner 8x
Wireless: 802.11a/b/g
Card Reader Included
Carrying Case Included
Cooling Pad Included
MS Works 2006 Included (Though I personally don't use this)
1 Year Warranty
1 Year Tech Support
Free Mousepad/T-Shirt (LOL)

Not a bad deal if you ask me, that comes out to $1943.....

FELIPE NO