

Ask HN: What Laptop Should I Buy? - mrtwitter

I need to buy a laptop and cannot figure out what to buy. My requirements:<p>- Windows
- Supports dual monitors
- lightweight and doesn't have to have a big screen
- powerful, fast and reliable
======
SwellJoe
I just did a bunch of shopping two weeks ago, and ended up with a Dell
Latitude E6500. Maybe a bit bigger than you want (15.4" widescreen), but very
light for its size (5.x lbs depending on configuration). I got it for under
$1300, very well equipped: 2.4GHz Core Duo, 4GB, 250GB 7200 RPM, LED-backed
upgraded resolution display, 9 cell battery, Intel WiFi, nVidia Quadros 160
video, built-in webcam, Bluetooth, 1394, backlit keyboard, etc. The identical
specs, with half the RAM and fewer ports, in a MacBook Pro 15 was $638 more
(but it had a $150 rebate from Club Mac to bring it to a theoretical $488
more, assuming the rebate actually arrives...I've had very bad luck with
rebates, and pretty much always get screwed, so I simply don't count them in
my buying decision any more). It also came with a 3 year warranty at no extra
cost.

I also got a Dell Mini 9 to go along with it for $50 more, as part of some
promotion they were, and maybe still are, running. So, I have a tiny lappy for
when I'm traveling light, and a big lappy for when I'm doing real work. I
think it's an acceptable compromise for me. My prior lappy was a 12.1"
widescreen model, and a little lighter.

I'm very happy with it, so far. Fedora 10 installed in a dual boot config
without a hitch, and after installing the nVidia drivers suspend/resume began
working. With the Open Source nv driver it failed to resume, though I read
that's fixed in the next kernel release. Anyway, I opted to upgrade the WiFi
to Intel to have Open Source drivers, so it worked out of the box, but the
Broadcom WiFi it comes with by default is supposed to work with drivers from
Dell; but they're closed source, and will always be something you have to add,
which I didn't consider worth saving 30 bucks over. Even the built-in web cam
worked in Linux right off. Since you're wanting Windows, you don't care about
that, but Linux compatibility was vitally important to me, and this was the
nicest new laptop experience I've ever had.

The chassis is really nice and simple. Some sort of alloy, so it feels quite
sturdy. Massive metal hinges. Tremendous battery life with the 9 cell battery
I upgraded to. Something like 8 or 9 hours when not working it too hard,
though I haven't timed it out precisely. But, it's good enough that I don't
even think about whether I have the charger with me when I take it places.

It feels as solid as the higher end ThinkPads I've used, and even has a nipple
mouse. I haven't put enough time on it to know if it'll hold up like a
ThinkPad, but I have an old Dell Inspiron that's over three years old and has
held up well, including weathering a couple of pretty big drops. So, I feel
pretty good about its reliability.

Comparing to the MacBook Pro, it is roughly the same weight (depending on
configuration), roughly the same size (1" high vs. 0.95" in the Mac), and
slightly less powerful on the video front (the nVidia Quadros 160 is roughly a
9300, though with lower power, and a few enhancements). Appearance-wise the
Mac looks prettier, but only by a little. The black alloy with small silver
Dell logo is very swish, and looks better in person than on the web.

------
windsurfer
I don't know what you mean by "fast" or "powerful" but...

I own and use an inspiron 640m. It's about 340 dollars with shipping on eBay
right now. It's a core duo, runs 3D apps pretty well, runs pretty fast once
you put 2 gigs of ram in it.

Some of you might be thinking how slow it must be... but for text editing and
compiling? Computers aren't getting much faster nowadays, just more cores. The
primary slow down on most computers is the hard drive and RAM. In that regard,
it runs more than adequately. I can do normal computing stuff:
Code::Blocks/OpenOffice, play some low-end games, watch movies (it supports
720p). Boot time is very good on Ubuntu 9.04 - about 40 seconds. It's also
very light at only 6 pounds. Battery life is good too, on full bright I can
get about 5 hours still.

At this price, you could get 5 or 6 of these instead of one high-end computer.
Hard to go wrong with that. I would even recommend getting this if you like
the idea of a net-book but don't like the small screen. I love this computer
:)

------
si2
Get the new macbook. 2.4ghz. Put Windows on it. Its a great machine.

~~~
TJensen
I can honestly say I don't understand that. Why pay the mac tax, then do away
with 50% of the reason for that tax? I love my MacBook and OS X, which made it
worth paying more. I can't imagine paying more for a windows machine.

