Laptop advice... and THANKS!

[triskit]

First of all, i just ordered my computer from monarch (plus accessories from newegg and a monitor from dell) and i want to say thanks to everyone who has helped me pick stuff out, etc...

Secondly, my friend is looking fro a laptop for college and wanted some advice. He is strongly considering a mac because he likes the OS. I told him that i have heard good things about toshibas, but i dont know much about any other good choices.

He he wants to spend 2500-2600 american and NO MORE, shipping, etc included

He doesnt really know what all he will be using it for, some gaming, all the general college stuff, and mabe more. Basically, he just wants the best labtop he can afford that will run well for the next 4 years


thanks again for everything!

 

[Microsoft_Boy]

get a macbook pro from apple they're probably one of the best laptops on the market plus he could also run windows on it if he wanted

 

[The General]

^^ Agreed.

I have the 2.16Ghz 15.4" version and it's freaking fast. I hold second place on SuperPI with it, beating a lot of high end Opterons. They are freaking fast, and I got mine for a total of $2585. Make sure you find a college and say you go to it. They don't ask for proof, and it will save you a LOT of money and get you a free iPod Nano after rebates.


And you can put Windows AND Mac OS X on it. Unlike other "PC" laptops with the same processor.

 

[Gerry_W]

You could try a Sager laptop. They have a very good performance/price ratio. Try the 5760. You can get a great configuration for $2500. Trust me. That was the laptop I decided on (I had the same budget as your friend, too) before I realized buying a laptop was kinda silly. Sager has a lot of resellers. Look 'em up on Google if you're interested. www.istnc.com, www.discountlaptops.com and www.powernotebooks.com are the three I know of.

No offense, but the thing I don't like about Macs is that design is stressed too much. I hear they underclocked the GPU on MacBooks in order to achieve the thinness it has, and because it has a small exhaust port. Not on the 17" (which is kinda outrageous in price), but on the smaller ones.

But if he likes the OS, then maybe a MacBook is the way to go.

Just my input. You can take it or leave it.

One more thing. You know the high-end laptops marketed by Voodoo, Falcon Northwest, Monarch, Cyberpower, Alienware and others? Those are all identical to Sagers, except with different shells. You get the performance without having to pay for the name. However, I've heard Sager customer support is good, and that's what you'll get if you buy from a Sager authorized reseller or whatever they call 'em.

That's actually one of the "dirty secrets" of the laptop industry. All laptops are built by 5 or 6 different manufacturers. Funny, isn't it? All of those Sagers and Sager clones on the market I just listed are built by a company called Clevo. So, as I said before, you get the performance without paying for the name. Therefore, the Clevo equivalent of the 5760 is the 570U. If you're interested, search for both.

--Gerry

 

[The General]

No offense, but the thing I don't like about Macs is that design is stressed too much. I hear they underclocked the GPU on MacBooks in order to achieve the thinness it has, and because it has a small exhaust port. Not on the 17" (which is kinda outrageous in price), but on the smaller ones.

Well, if you want a cheap piece of plastic crap, then yeah, you won't like the design of the Macbook Pros. Yes, the video card is slightly underclocked to lower heat output. Effectively reducing frames per second by what? 3 fps? Not a big deal. Yeah though, the 17" is freaking expensive.

 

[Microsoft_Boy]

Dont forget GET A MACBOOK!

 

[curtcheese64]

As for the GPU being underclocked on the MacBook Pro; it can be easily fixed with ATI Tool.

 

[Gerry_W]

Well, hey, I'm not trying to be abrasive. Just stating my personal opinion. All I mean is they're big on appearance. Heck, I don't know, maybe I'm missing something. But it seems to me that many times Apple puts appearance before performance.