new laptop for under 2grand

[netvampire]

Can u guys help me pick out a new laptop for under 2 grand.
As for processing, i would like to go with either a centrino for long battery life or an athlon 64 becasue of it's new technology. I would like to stay away from p4. I would also like a dvd+- drive in it, and wireless.... Help would be great, thanks

[Surayne]

pretty general specs... also, the centrino and athlon 64 have very different applications. centrinos are designed with portability in mind, while athlon 64-based notebooks are meant to be desktop replacement systems.
the choice of a laptop depends on what you need from it; on one end of the spectrum you have ultralight, ultraportable but modestly powered "subnotebooks", on the other you have very powerful (but large and heavy) desktop replacements.
what are your other considerations? what do you need the laptop for, and will it remain in one place or be transported? will you be using it plugged in or on batteries?

[GTwannabe]

Check out the Dell Inspiron 8600. I love mine... will run ~4 hours on the battery

[Surayne]

hehe... i have the 8600 as well (see sig for specs) and love it!
the new 9200 looks nice, though.

[rich @ slo]

I'm very happy with my new Acer TM8003. Centrino, Wi-FI, Bluetooth, Infrared, MediaCard reader, DVI out, 5-hour battery life, DVD burner, ATI 9600 Mobility graphics. Got it for $1650 online from Page Computers.

[netvampire]

thanks for the reply
i will be using my notebook as a desktop system, but i am a university student and would be taking it to class and to friend's houses to work on it some times....I have decide between power or portability...SO MANY CHOICES

[Shadowmage]

This is a simple choice. You can get an AMD64 system with Radeon 9700 around $1500 that weighs around 6.5-7.5lbs.

The 6.5lb is the Acer Ferrari 3200/3400. It costs more than the others tho.

Try the Asus AMD64 barebone.

I have the Uniwill chassis AMD64 system with Radeon 9700 128mb. Kicks @$$, but weighs 7.8lb. It was $1600

[GTwannabe]

I would go with the Pentium-M over an Athlon 64. They're roughly the same performance clock-per-clock, and the P-M is FAR better on battery life. Unless you're going to run Linux compiled for 64-bit, the A64 doesn't do much but drain the battery faster.

[netvampire]

Thanks for the responses. I've decided to build my system if i go with centrino, i posted another thread about how.
But running linux on my system is definately an option, I am in univeristy studying Computer Science and linux just seems to have better developer support. Should me running linux influence my decision to get an Athlon 64. Thanks for the hlep

[Compman55]

Try a gateway 7405gx at best buy. It is awsome. It is made by arima.

A64 3200+, 512 PC2700, 80 GB, ATi 9600, DVD RW, ........

[dawgfan1606]

I really like my new HP zv5000v. It is an AMD 64 3000+, grabbed some RAM from Crucial, got the ultra-bright 15.4 screen, 60Gb HD, dvd/CDRW, and XP PRO SP2 for only $1099 from hpshopping.com.

Only thing I wish I would have changed....upgraded the HD to a 5400 rpm.