Did I chose the right laptop? Please answer

[gregpod]

About a week ago I ordered a custom built laptop from hpshopping.com with the 2 year extended warranty. The model is the Compaq Presario 2500. I am going to use this laptop for school work and surf the internet while at school. I do not intend to play games on it.

Specs on the Presario 2500 are:
Moblie Pentium 4 2.66 Ghz
512MB DDR Ram
60 GB Hard Drive
DVD/CDRW Combo Drive
Built in 56k modem
10/100 LAN
15.0" SXGA monitor
Mobility ATI Radeon

I'm wondering if this is a good laptop? If not, should I get the Dell Inspiron 5150 or Gateway M350S. My budget is $1,550 on a laptop, if you do not recommend the Presario 2500.

[dnboy]

hi, how much was the presario?

[gregpod]

Originally posted by dnboy
hi, how much was the presario?

Custom Built Presario 2500 - $1,422.00
Notebook Carrying Case - $59.99
2 Year Extended Warranty - $99.99
Discount - $50.00
Mail in Rebate - $100.00
Shipping - Free
Tax - No Tax
Total Price - $1,431.98

[dnboy]

seems good for the price, especially with a warranty.


"Mobility ATI Radeon" do you know if its a radeon 9600/9700, etc?

[dnboy]

not good for the price meaning its just okay,i meant $1500 is about what you pay anywhere else for a notebook with those specs, and those are high end specs for a notebook

[AzKidd69]

I am going to use this laptop for school work and surf the internet while at school.

you could really drop down on alot of the specs considering your uses... like the processor and ram.. from what you are telling us it is going to be used for you could save some money by dropping the CPU speed and maybe some of the ram...

also you should check out these people.. they build some great laptops @ even better prices...

http://www.sagernotebook.com/index.html

alot of people here on TIMO use laptops from these people and the consensus AFAIK is that they are a great deal...

edit....
for a comparison I built a decent machine from sager with almost the same specs and the price was 1185


model np2720-a
2.4 GHz Celeron
14.1 XGA Screen
512 Meg PC2100
40.0 GB HDD
CD-RW/DVD
internal 56k/lan
carrying case

or this one for 1430.00

model NP4020
15" XGA screen
P4 2.8 GHz
512 meg pc 2100
40 GB HDD
CD-RW/DVD
internal 56k/ ethernet/ 802.11b
carrying case

[phenious]

Dell sells some $700 laptops that will do just fine for your school work. (Just upgrade the ram though) I bought a dell 5100

P4 2.4Ghz
512MB Ram
64MB Ati Mobility 7500
40GB HDD

Price about $1500 The only thing I wish I had payed attention to was if I had gotten the 5150 I could have upgraded to a 7200RPM drive... oh well live and learn... Compaq scares me as they are no longer around and HP bought them up... Id stay away from em but that is me, I had bad experience with their desktops.

-: phenious :-

[gregpod]

This is regarding my first post. Today, I decided to try to cancel my order from HP, because people say that they they have issues with Compaq computers. HP said that I couldn't cancel my order because the laptop is getting built and when it comes I have call them and get a RMA from them.

After I called HP, I ordered the Toshiba M35-S359 with the 3 year extended warranty for $64 and I get a mail in rebate of $100
The specs on the M35-S359 are:
Intel Pentium M 1.40 GHz
512 MB DDR Ram
Windows XP Home
15.4" Widescreen XGA Display (1280 x 800)
32 MB Geforce FX Go5200
60 GB Hard Drive
DVD/CDRW
Built in Ethernet card/56k modem
Harmon/Kardon Speakers
Intergrated Intel 802.11b wireless internet card
3 usb 2.0 ports
i.Link (IEEE 1394) Port
FIR Port
S-Video Port
Secure Digital Slot
Parallel Port

I hope this Toshiba is better the Compaq Presario 2500 that I will return when it arrives to my house.

[Prison Kids]

Good move.

[CGameProgrammer]

I was going to suggest getting a Pentium M - based laptop, as those are far better, especially if quietness and mobility/battery life are issues. So yeah, the Toshiba you ordered is a vast improvement over the crap HP. That GeForceFX is a nice bonus, even if you don't game it'll at least let you play DVDs well.

The 1280x800 screen is pretty low-res but for many people it's good enough.