Cheapest place to buy a laptop in the US...?

[Memnoch]

Stupid question, but can you put soundcards into laptops? Though I want my notebook to be a thin-and-light primarily for uni/work purposes, I also intend to use it as a desktop replacement at home (eg buy a 19" LCD, speakers, etc.).I don't know much about upgrading laptops...

[Hivetyrant]

Originally posted by Memnoch: Stupid question, but can you put soundcards into laptops? Though I want my notebook to be a thin-and-light primarily for uni/work purposes, I also intend to use it as a desktop replacement at home (eg buy a 19" LCD, speakers, etc.).I don't know much about upgrading laptops...

Yep, I was considering getting a Creative Audigy 2 ZS for my laptop (got one in my desktop)
They are just go straight into your PCMCIA slot

[ 05-24-2005, 09:24 PM: Message edited by: Hivetyrant ]

[Bungleau]

To my knowledge, you can't put soundcards into laptops. What they come with, you get.

Ziroc raises a good question about replacement time. When the inevitable happens, what will you do for a replacement machine?

Personally, if you can get it pretax now, then do that. It's amazing how much that can add to your budget...

When I'm in my office, I plug my laptop into a regular monitor, keyboard, and mouse. I leave those at home when I go on-site. I recommend two power supplies if you're going to do that, though... one in your bag, and one on the desk. It's amazing how much of a pain it becomes to bundle up your *one* power supply... [img]graemlins/madhell.gif[/img]

[Hivetyrant]

Originally posted by Bungleau: To my knowledge, you can't put soundcards into laptops. What they come with, you get.

Well now your knowledge is updated

[ 05-24-2005, 10:56 PM: Message edited by: Hivetyrant ]

[Memnoch]

That's brilliant, Hive.

[Chewbacca]

I just bought a Dell laptop for around $1500. I actually just got the 'your order has been shipped' email today so I havent actually used it yet.

I liked using Dell's web-store to config the machine and I liked the easy financing as well. On paper it seems a capable machine and well priced when I compared with a few others.

Here are some of the specs I chose:

1.73 Pentium M

17 inch screen

512 RAM

Geforce 6800 graphics with 256 RAM

80 GB HD

Built in WiFi

CD-R/DVD drive

External soundcard

[ 05-28-2005, 12:28 PM: Message edited by: Chewbacca ]

[Memnoch]

17" screen? That's as big as my LCD screen on my desktop. How heavy is it, Chewy?

[Chewbacca]

Starts at around 8lbs I think.

Heres a link:

Link to Dell

[Bungleau]

LOL! Hive, I am now edumacated... [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Kynaeus]

Originally posted by Memnoch: It's going to double as a student/business thin-and-light and a gaming machine. I'm looking at something with the following features: - light (<6lb - need to think in lbs now ) and easy to carry around if I have no car - fast (at least 1.5Ghz) - preferably Pentium M - big HD (60GB+) - WIFI connectivity - DVD/CD/CDRW - lots of ports I'm not hugely fussed about the monitor size, as long as I can look at spreadsheets etc on it. I'm planning to get an LCD screen to have at home anyway. I was thinking this: Basic specs for HP Compaq nc6230 Processor-- Intel Pentium M (2 GHz) RAM installed-- 512 MB DDR SDRAM Hard drive-- 80 GB IDE Removable storage type-- None Input device-- Keyboard, Touchpad, Pointing stick Weight-- 5.1 lbs Dimensions (W x D x H)-- 12.4 in x 10.1 in x 1.1 in Display-- 14.1 in TFT active matrix Max resolution-- 1400 x 1050 Video RAM installed-- 64 MB Audio output-- Sound card Networking type-- Network adapter Modem-- 56 Kbps Fax / modem MDC Battery installed-- 1 Lithium ion Mfr estimated battery life-- 4 hour(s) OS provided-- Microsoft Windows XP Professional Service & support type-- 3 years warranty With this stuff on it as well: Priced at $2,108 (as of March 2005), our nc6230 test unit featured a nice array of components: a 2GHz Pentium M 760 Sonoma processor, 512MHz of average-speed 400MHz memory, an ATI Mobility Radeon X300 graphics chip with a standard 64MB of VRAM, and an 80GB hard drive spinning at a brisk 5,400rpm. Our model also included a 14.1-inch display with a high 1,400x1,050 native resolution; a Broadcom 802.11a/b/g mini-PCI Wi-Fi card, which does not support Intel's Sonoma technology; and a useful CD-RW/DVD-ROM drive in a hot-swappable bay. Another corporate thin-and-light with nearly identical components, the Dell Latitude D610, is slightly more expensive. $2k seems a bit expensive though...

Crikey! it costs so much because it as a mobile X300 graphics card, buy a laptop with something else, thats what is driving up the price I think