Help Buying a Laptop :)

[HomicidalPenguin]

Well I'm 18 and getting ready for the whole college move, and one of the things i want is to trade out my desktop for a laptop. This is mainly just a convenience move, and I played Counterstrike and TF2 on a laptop for about six months so I know what I'm getting into in that department.

The price range I'm looking at is set at about $850, though I've been trying to get into the $750 or lower range. I've been browsing a number of sites, Cyberpower, Ibuypower, Tigerdirect, Newegg, and so far I've found one on Ibuypower and a number from Tiger and Newegg I'm interested in, and wanted some feedback.

Any feedback would be appreciated, and yes, I've clicked all available links in the eGOMall for the available websites.

IBuyPower
Cost: $689

Case ( Battalion-101 CX-5 14.1" 16:10 Wide Screen WXGA 1280x800 LCD TFT Notebook w/Li-Ion Battery, Universal AC Power Adapter, Deluxe Carrying Case Pearl White Color )
Processor ( [New !!!] Intel? Core 2 Duo Mobile T5800 Dual-Core Processor (2x 2.0GHz/2MB Cache/800FSB) )
Memory ( 4 GB(2 GB X2) DDR2-667 PC5300 [Notebook Memory] Corsair Value or Major Brand )
Video Card ( Mobility 256MB NVIDIA GeForce GO 8400GS PCI-Express 3D Video )
Hard Drive ( 250 GB 5400rpm Serial-ATA-150 Super Slim Notebook Hard Drive )
External Hard Drives [USB 2.0/eSATA] ( None )
CD-RW/DVD-RW Drive ( 8x Dual Format DVD?R/?RW + 16x CD-R/RW Combo Drive [CX-5] )
Sound Card ( 3D Premium Surround Sound Onboard )
Fax Modem ( Built-in 56K V.92 Fax Modem [Notebook] )
Network Card ( Built-in 10/100/1000 Network LAN [Notebook] )
Mouse ( iBUYPOWER 1600 dpi High Sensitivity Internet Mouse Black )
USB 2.0 Accessories ( Built-in 4x USB 2.0 Ports [Notebook] )
Flash Media Reader/Writer ( Built-in 3-in-1 Media Card Reader/Writer [Notebook] )
Carrying Case ( Free Deluxe Carrying Case )
Operating System ( MS Windows XP Home Edition w/ Service Pack 2 )
Software/Game ( [Free Game] - Halo 2 Free with purchase of Microsoft Windows Vista operating system )
IEEE-1394 Fire Wire Card ( Built-in 1x IEEE-1394 Firewire Port [Notebook] )
USB Flash Drive ( None )
MP3 Player ( None )
Video Camera ( Built-in 2.0 Mega Pixels Digital Web Video Camera )
Headset ( None )
Power Protection ( None )
Internal Wireless Network Adapter ( [upgrade] 4965 Wireless-N WiFi Link (802.11b/g/Draft N) PCI-E Mini Card )
Warranty ( Warranty Service Standard One(1) Year Limited Warranty + Lifetime Technical Support )

I realize I'm missing office software, I use OpenOffice.

TigerDirect
Asus G1Sn-X1
HP Pavillion

Newegg
Toshiba Satelitte
HP Pavillion
MSI GX630

 

[Ryken]

Asus Laptop at Best Buy

I've been looking at getting this one for law school/gaming. Give me advice laptop lovers!

 

[bobtheworm]

I am a fan of Dell and Alienware. I would suggest checking out www.gotapex.com they tend to show a lot of great deals.

 

[PuddinPop]

For a college student I will always recommend thinkpads from Lenovo. If you catch sales right you can get a really nice one that plays games well enough for around your price range. They are also much more durable than your standard laptop since they have a roll cage on the monitor. Finally, they look shmexy.

http://tinyurl.com/2u32ft

I would suggest either a T series, or an x-series if you want a nice tablet.

 

[Frank Booth]

Try Costco.com as well. I made mine there.

Under 800