Some Notebook Queries

[Sykkie]

I've just received a promotion that will require me to travel up to northern Alberta, Canada. I've been told that the course will be 7 months long and it would be in my best interest to pack fairly light, as the quarters at the cottage are fairly cramped.

Anyway, I received a fairly large bonus when I got the promotion and the "course" is basically a paid vacation. So I'm willing to spend somewhere between $2-2600 CDN on the computer.

Anyway, since I've got a fair bit of free time, I figured I'd purchase a notebook computer to entertain myself up there. I want something powerful enough to play the newer games and something that'll play DVD movies.

Has anybody here got any experience with notebooks? If so, which brands should I stay away from and which ones are consumer friendly?

Thanks for the help.

[GameMaster]

Apple laptops are the best in the market. You can go to their website, www.apple.com and check out their selection. I would recommend a Powerbook G4 for your needs. The 17" is beyond your price range, so I would go with the 15" SuperDrive model.

[Null]

how did i know he would come in saying get an apple....again..

an apple would be fine except he wanted something to play newer games. newer games either wont be on apple. or wont be on them for a little while.

[gekko]

Playing most games on a laptop isn't great to begin with. Besides, Apple does have the best laptops on the market.

I have heard Toshiba makes good laptops.

[Null]

apple does make very nice laptops.

but if he really wants to play games, it might not be the best place to start. also many dont want to switch OS's.

there are laptops that can play games just as good as pc's they expensive tho. have to find one with a good graphics card and lots of ram.

and a decent processor. aka not a celeron.

[Yoda9864]

Sony is always a safe bet. They make excellent electronics products. You can always go to a site and customize one to your needs.

[Null]

sony doesnt make the best computers.

id recommend a Gateway over a sony.

Sony makes good electronics. problem is they dont make the electronics they put in a computer. its really only a name. and they arent that great.

[PureEvil]

Sony seems to be a tad overpriced for the most part, too. Guess it's that whole brand-name thing at work.

As for other laptops, I'm not sure, really. Toshiba's look not-too-shabby, and Apple's laptops are made out to be awsome, and maybe they are, but for games and stuff...

And what about Dell? Given them a look? You can put a computer together on their website, so you can see what they have to offer right there. Might not be too bad.

Compaq's laptops look sexy, but I've heard a lot of complaints about Compaq home-systems, so I'm not sure how the laptops stack up in comparison.

As far as I can tell, IBM's notebooks are mainly business oriented, so they probably all suck for gaming.

You apparently still have time, so fish around a bit, read notebook reviews and buying guides and whatever, and I'm sure you'll be able to come up with something.

And if push comes you shove, you can always just kill someone else who's planning to go on the trip in order to free up a little extra space, and that way you can bring a full sized system with you.

[gekko]

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,1186140,00.asp

Try looking at that.

[Lord Germano]

www.sagernotebooks.com Has some cheap notebooks.

[Seven7]

I would say www.dell.ca/home/ would be a safe bet as I find they can have decent deals if you get lucky and they are often high rated on various things.

I tried quickly last night on a custom 8500 laptop and I found they had a free upgrade to a Ti4200 video card that saved $199 as an example. The prepackaged deals can make for really good setups if you are lucky or pay attention.

[Dyne]

Either get an Apple for DVDs, or an Alienware laptop for gaming... the Alienware ones work very decently for games; I've seen them in action and they work. I don't think they go for very cheap though, but I haven't looked into it.

You don't necessarily need to go expensive for the best, because if you can get your hands on a SNES or Genesis emulator and a lot of ROMs they're a lot cheaper and could provide a lot of entertainment. That's worked for me on my IBM Thinkpad, which I use for everything now, even at home.

[PureEvil]

The Apple notebooks look really good for "taking out." The iBooks (which are the cheaper of the Apple notebooks; Powerbooks look to be a little pricey) have padded hard drives, special impact resistance casing, long battery life (compared to other notebooks) and all that stuff, but for what you're doing, I wouldn't go for an Apple.

Since it sounds like you're going to be somewhat stationary while on your trip (So you don't really need super-long living batteries, and impact resistant casing probably isn't of much use to you), and since you want to play games, you can probably find something better that's a different brand.

[Sykkie]

I really appreciate the quick response guys! This is really helping.