I know there was a thread about this a while ago but I can't seem to find it. Anyhow, I am in the market and wished to know what the computer gurus here at hatrack have to say about laptops. I am looking to spend about $1,500 to purchase one for school this fall and want to make a good investment. I recently found an Averatec that seemed like agood deal. But I am unfamiliar with the name so I am wary.
The specs were: Intel P4 3.0 ghz 15.4" tft display 512MB DDR; 60 GB hard drive DVD/CD Burner combo 802.11g Wireless Networking 4-in-1 Card Reader 1 year limited warranty $1299.74
Advice?
Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
You want to find out what kind of graphics card it has - even if you don't care now, it'll be nice to know.
Memory is good, 1GB would be better, obviously. Bu this should be plenty.
It's not a mobile processor, so make sure battery life isn't important to you.
Does 802.11g work with 802.11b? I don't recall.
You should check out weight if you intend to bring this to class every day.
I haven't heard of the brand either. Have you priced a comparable system at Dell?
Dagonee
Posted by TheTick (Member # 2883) on :
quote:Does 802.11g work with 802.11b? I don't recall.
Yup, designed to be backwards compatible.
Posted by PaladinVirtue (Member # 6144) on :
No I havn't visited Dell. Great idea though. Will do so now. Thanks for the imput. Posted by ludosti (Member # 1772) on :
This is the video card for the before mentioned Averatec. I admit to knowing nothing about video cards. Is this acceptable for moderate game play?
Posted by TheTick (Member # 2883) on :
How much video memory? Most likely it will for most things. My Mobility Radeon 7500 has worked for most gaming...high end stuff lags a bit, and I'm not running it super hi-res, but for portable gaming its sweeeeeet. Then again, I'm playing the NES emulator right now...
Posted by Jutsa Notha Name (Member # 4485) on :
That is horrible for a laptop. That is great for a desknote with that price, or a desktop with a slightly lower price. Anything that doesn't run the Pentium-M or Athlon-M is not going to make a good PC laptop.
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
That's not a bad price for the specs as listed -- but note that it's not a mobile processor, which means your laptop will generate more heat and use more power (but run faster) than laptops which chipsets designed for portability. If you're using it primarily for school, that's probably just fine.
Some Averatecs, BTW, don't even come with an internal battery -- making them basically really thin desktop machines. You should check to make sure that this isn't the case, because you almost certainly will want a battery even if you initially intend to only use it at your desk.
Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
Heat alone sounds like a problem, but I haven't shopped in a year so I don't know if they've improved heat distribution any.
Averatecs are really good at heat dissipation. They're great all around laptops, they are small and light (no extra padding like HP/Compaq or Dell). HOWEVER they use very slow video cards, while that one will pay DVDs and video, don't expect to be playing Half-Life 2 on it.
What model is the one you looked at? Usually you can get them at down around $900-$1000.
By the way, the 15" averatecs get a 6 hours battery life.
Satyagraha
[ July 14, 2004, 07:01 PM: Message edited by: Insanity Plea ]
Posted by Lupus (Member # 6516) on :
I'd make sure to get the pentium M
The pentium centreno chips are great...better battery life, less heat, thinner laptops. Though they are a bit more pricy than other processors.
Posted by Insanity Plea (Member # 2053) on :
Even though Averatec doesn't use the M for the 6100 series (I'm guessing that's what this is), seemingly it doesn't take a hit in the battery life. While I'd normally say make sure you get an M as well, I trust Averatec enough to make sure they still have a battery life higher than your basic Dell, Compaq, or Toshiba. Satyagraha
Posted by PaladinVirtue (Member # 6144) on :
Thanks for all the imput all. Yeah the model number is AV6130HS. The price I found is $100 cheaper than the same model at the Averatec web site. So I might go with it, still looking around. Is the speed difference between the Pentium M and a P4 that much of a trade off? It seems like you all advise getting a mobile chip over a faster chip.
Posted by HollowEarth (Member # 2586) on :
You can't really compare them that way. the Pentium M is a different chip design (the internals are different, they just both happen to use the name Pentium x) than the standard P4, so beyond MHz being a poor comparison anyway that doesn't really mean much of anything.
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