Unless you get a Mac, there isnt a whole lot of difference from one brand to the next. We've had Dells for years and they were fine. I used to have a Dell laptop and it ran flawlessly for 4 years before the harddrive went bad on it.
Ive currently got a Sony Vaio and its really no better than the Dell was. Ive already had to restore the software because after a couple months it started getting the blue screen error. No idea why it did it, but Ive heard that Vista can sometimes have a mind of its own, so I dunno.

 

I bought the Toshiba I posted about yesterday. I've been spending hours installing the freeware programs that I prefer and removing the crapware that is pre-installed. All in all It seems to be a pretty good deal for $400.00. Once I get it where I want it I will clone the drive and store the clone away just in case I have a HDD failure.

 

Sounds good. I might be able to get a 10% discount but I have to call HP to see if I am elegiable.

Another thing while trying to figure that out on their website I see that now its $50 to upgrade to 4GB ram where as it was free upgrade before. Hopefully they will bring it back when it comes time to buy. I really dont care just for 3GB ram when I have heard Vista eats up ram.

 

I added a 2gig DDR2 memory module from Newegg ($26.46) to the Toshiba yesterday. I now have 4gigs of memory. The memory demand can be controlled with some adjustments of the system.
This is what I have for $453.46 ( Includes tax );

Toshiba Satellite L305-S5944 Laptop : Detailed Product Specs

Operating System*
Genuine Windows Vista® Home Basic (SP1, 32-bit)
Processor type*
Pentium®
Processor Number*
T3400
Processor Speed*
2.16GHz
Front Side Bus*
667MHz
Memory Size*
4096MB
Memory Speed*
PC6400 DDR2 800MHz SDRAM
Display Size*
15.4" widescreen
Display Type*
WXGA with TruBrite® Technology
Display Resolution*
Choice Of: 1280x800, Supports 720p content
Graphics Engine*
Mobile Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD
Graphics Memory*
128MB-1342MB dynamically allocated shared graphics memory
Hard Drive Size*
250GB
Hard Drive Speed*
5400rpm
Secondary Hard Drive Size*
None Available
Optical Drives*
DVD-SuperMulti drive (+/-R double layer) supporting up to 11 fomats
Wireless LAN*
Atheros® Wireless LAN (802.11b/g)
Input Devices
TouchPad pointing device, 86 key US keyboard
Security
HDD Recovery

Modem
10/100 Ethernet LAN
Audio
Standard stereo speakers, Microphone jack (mono), Headphone jack (stereo)
AC Adapter
75W (19V 3.95A) Auto-sensing, 100-240V / 50-60Hz input
Battery Type
Li-Ion (4000mAh)
PC Express Slot
1-ExpressCard™ Slot
USB Ports*
3-USB (2.0)
Media Port
4-in-1 Bridge Media Adapter

TOSHIBA ConfigFree®, TOSHIBA Disc Creator, TOSHIBA Recovery Disc Creator, Microsoft® Office Trial Home and Student 2007 Edition (60-day trial), Google Picasa™, Norton 360™ All-In-One Security (60-day Trial), Hard disc (HDD) recovery, WildTangent® Orb™ Games Console, Computrace LoJack® for Laptops (BIOS Enabled), TOSHIBA Face Recognition, Microsoft® Works Version 9.0, TOSHIBA DVD Player, TOSHIBA Speech System
Weight*
Starting at 5.49 lbs.
Color
Matte Silver
Standards*
RoHS Compliant
Warranty*
1-Yr Parts and Labor, 1-Year Battery

If you can get the equivalent from HP for the price then go for it.

I went to the HP site and built a pretty close notebook and priced it out at @ $808.

 

The difference between shorebird's system and what Rusty_S is looking at in the processor. The Core 2 Duo is going to outperform the Pentium regardless of the amount of RAM or the GHz. It will run cooler and give better battery life.

Unfortunately Intel has a million types of processors... sites like pc.com are useful in the amount of info they pull together to be able to compare systems.

To go vehicle analogy, the way to approach your purchase is:
processor+memory = drive train (other aspects are graphics card and bus but not a neccessary consideration for a mid-range daily driver)
storage+battery life = hauling capacity

unlike a vehicle you can slap the ultimate drive train with the right amount of hauling capacity into virtually any package.

So set your budget, buy the right guts and then let your decision be between the details: screen size/resolution, peripheral (like blue-ray, etc.) case style and company.

I too have had bad customer service from Dell but in fairness this was 5 years ago and I know they have spent plenty of time working on this. One thing about Dell's option list they give you as you try and customize your rig: It is built to help them manage inventory NOT to provide you with the best buying decision. This is why your deals will fluctuate day-to-day.

Assuming you are still in the market, shop around. Use sites other than the manufacturer site to make comparisons.

One last thought while I'm on my soap box. Blu-ray is good for your HD flat panel TV in your living room with surround sound. DVD is fine for laptop with ear buds sitting on a plane or in your office err... I mean your home office of course...

good luck

 

From Geek; "The difference between shorebird's system and what Rusty_S is looking at in the processor. The Core 2 Duo is going to outperform the Pentium regardless of the amount of RAM or the GHz. It will run cooler and give better battery life."

Here is the info on my processor from SIW;
Property Value
Number of CPU(s) One Physical Processor / 2 Cores / 2 Logical Processors / 64 bits
CPU Full Name Intel(R) Pentium(R) Dual CPU T3400 @ 2.16GHz
CPU Name Intel Pentium
CPU Code Name Merom
Platform Name Socket P (478)
Revision M0
Technology 65 nm
Instructions MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, ET64, XD, EST
Original Clock 2166 MHz
Original System Clock 166 MHz
Original Multiplier 13.1
CPU Clock 2169 MHz
System Clock 166.3 MHz
FSB 665.0 MHz
Core 0 Speed 2161.3 MHz
Core 0 Multiplier 13.0
Core 1 Speed 2161.3 MHz
Core 1 Multiplier 13.0
L1 Data Cache 2 x 32 KBytes
L1 Instructions Cache 2 x 32 KBytes
L2 Cache 1024 KBytes

Intel Core 2 Duo Merom Processor Showing up in Notebooks
BY: abaxter, NotebookReview.com Editor
PUBLISHED: 7/29/2006
"______Intel has announced its new Core 2 Duo 64-bit dual-core notebook processor, code name Merom,______"

Geek I do have a Core 2 dual processor in this laptop.

 

Sorry for the confusion. The "merom" is in fact a dual core chip, released in 2006. The "Penryn" is the current Core 2 Dual processor and has a number of significant improvements over its predecessor. The Intel Pentium processor name refers to the 65nm chip. Current Core 2 Duo chips are produced on 45nm technology with the most significant improvement in the implementation of the high-k gate. However, I am truly showing why I chose my user name at this point...

My argument stays the same: find a box with a Core 2 Duo T5000/T7000 series mobile processors 3-4 Gig of RAM and go from there. Or wait 2 more quarters for the "Nehalem" mobile products to come out... (but that's a game that you can forever play in the computer world.)

Merom, Penryn and Nehalem are all Intel code names for processor technology.

 

Over at Woot : One Day, One Deal (SM) they have a hp notebook for sale; 1 HP dv7-1245dx AMD Dual-Core 2.1 GHz 17” 4GB DDR2 320GB HD eSATA HDMI Webcam Notebook $549.99 + $5 shipping. 1st come 1st served, while they last!

 

As of now I am still looking. Might not get it anytime soon but I am not a computer nerd to know alot about them so I have been slowly doing research on it.

Like HP offers a free upgrade from Windows Vista Home Premium wth SP1 32-Bit to the same in 64-Bit. Now what I have read so far the 32-bit systems are going out cause the 32-bit Vista only recgonizes 3-4GB of ram. The 64-bit can recgonize up to 12GB of ram. Now considering that theres a access plate under this model to get to the ram it looks like I could easily swap out the ram sticks as larger ones come out. The graphics card has a access plate also (I assume a 512 MB ATI Mobilityadeon HD 4530 is not a integrated graphics card). But I am not really getting this for game playing mostly for general use. The DVD was a option I desided on because an upside is I dont have to buy a bluray player cause the Vizio hdtv I got has the HDMI (i think its called that) that I can plug the laptop into and play bluray dvd`s through that. Would save me money in the long run.



But I am not sure though I still have to see if I can get that 10% discount. If I do then with the $1,069 price with the $150 rebate equalling $919 and then the 10% discount ontop of that dropping the price down to $827.10 is a good deal for me.

Only problem though is no local computer shop or elecronics store sells a laptop with a simmilar configuation so I am looking at ordering a custom build from the company. I know if I get it now instead of the 4GB free upgrade on the ram I wouldnt be able to get its only a 2GB to 3GB free upgrade and not sure if they will bring it back. But if not I guess I could always go to frys and pick up a 2GB ram card to swap in (I am assuming you just unplug the old and plug in the new, no complicated setup or installation programs or anything like that). Just have to check and see if a 2GB ram card from frys would be less than $50 if not I can get the 4GB upgrade from the start for that.

But only concern that I have is having something that can have internet access, is a fast computer (doesnt lag when you try to open large PDF files) and can play dvd`s for when im away from home and bored. Thats why I changed my mind from dell cause for the same price as a upgraded dell Studio 15 with a high def 15.4" monitor and bluray player I could at the time get a HP with the same stuff 4GB ram instead of 3GB a 17.3" high def monitor, bluray all for the sam price as well as a 64 bit software and 320GB hard drive. So in all honesty it looks like I am leaning towards HP over dell cause that 17.3" widescreen display is looking more appealing to me thana 15.4" screen. HP also offers a 18" screen but god the base price is over $1,000 and I wanted to keep it under $999.

~Update~

Forgot to mention this but on the DVD I think this would be agreat one for it cause its for home entertainment. On the underside of the lap top (I think thats where it is) there is a built in subwoofer. But besides that I found some nice wireless three piece speakers for under $50 that I wrote down. I might pick that up if the speaker quality isnt to my liking. Gotta get a mini mouse also cause I am not fond of the touch pad. I was also looking at those note book coolers but all the ones I found that are for the larger 17" screen laptops are expensive (around $60 or $70) or they have bad reviews for lasting only a few days/weeks/months before they got real noisy and the blades break off.

But that was some things on my list to get also was the mini mouse (most likely a wired optical mouse), some kind of laptop carrying case/bag, the laptop cooler (I hate when this desktop unit fan kicks on the whole thing slows down and typing becomes a pain). Other than that I shouldnt be getting anything else for it from the start though. After all total price of everything including what listed above will put me close to if not over $1000.

But I will check out some sites that sells computers over the manufacturers site. Might see a improved version of my setup for roughly the same price.



~Update~

How good is the Turion X2 RM-74?

On CompUSA`s site I found the following specs for $920.

HP Pavilion dv7-1260us
17" WXGA+ High-Definition HP Brightview Infinity Display
4GB Ram
400GB Memory
Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit
AMD Turion X2 RM-74 Processor
Dual Core 2.20 GHz
ATI Radeon HD 3200 (I know graphics card is lacking comared to the 512MB HD 4530 of my custom build)
Blu-Ray Drive / Dual Layer DVD±RW

But then again looking at it this description under Lifestyle pushes me back to the DV7T over this DV7-1260us.

"Desktop Replacement - Entertainment"

It doesnt even have the subwoofer built in like the DV7T I was looking at but it has a 2.20GHz processor and 400GB memory over the 320GB but hell I dont need 400GB of memory, I dont even have 1/4 of his 200GB hard drive here filled.