So, I'm wanting to get a laptop. Reccommend one to me here!

[motivez]

Alright, well I'm in the market for a laptop. I've been looking at some stuff, mainly at proportable but I'm not sure if I really want to go with them.

Key features I'm looking for

1) Intel core duo
2) Nvidia graphics if at all possible. I'm sick of ATI.
3) Has to be portable, I'm not buying something to be a desktop replacement, I want it to be portable enough for me to take it places.

The two models I'm looking at over there are:

PROPortable - Detail or PROPortable - Detail

It's hard not to want to get a Macbook Pro, Sony Vaio, or IBM Thinkpad though.

Sony's are so damn portable, and Macbook Pro's are so nicely designed. Thinkpad's have always seemed solid for me, but they don't offer any with Nvidia cards.

Anyone been on the hunt lately for a laptop and found one they really liked?

[JaJae]

Asus is a good brand. Sony is overpriced. IBM, and Macbook are good. I'm also pretty sure Asus makes the MacBook which is why they have models that look almost identical... they basically are. Asus is a good brand. Proportable has good prices and I've heard them to be very reputable to do business with.

[motivez]

I think the Macbook Pro is very elegant as far as laptops are concerned. The layout of everything is awesome, I've looked at it in the store and think it's pretty amazing..

Two downsides though, twice the price, and one mouse button. The latter would be a problem if I wanted to dual boot another OS, and the former is practically a deal breaker.

IBM's stuff is so solid and has the nice full sized keyboard that I'm really tempted to get one of them, but the ATI thing just kills it for me

I'm sick of ATI and their lack of Linux support.. any laptop I get will be running Linux almost entirely, so Linux support is huge for me.

[curlyque221]

I love my Mac laptop. It's older though, a Powerbook G4.

You get used to the one button deal...you just hold the button down to get some of the features you would get clicking the right click.

I never have a technical problem...doesn't freeze, doesn't get viruses...It's kind of nice to always be able to turn it on and not have any problems.

(Yes, I know anything is possible...)

The keyboards are a little delicate though...If you eat food over your computer or are a bit clumsy, you'd have to be careful with the Mac. On the bright side, they are completely replaceable.

(I would know, I have broken two keys on my last Mac, an IBook G3)

Happy Hunting!

[curlyque221]

Originally Posted by motivez

I think the Macbook Pro is very elegant as far as laptops are concerned. The layout of everything is awesome, I've looked at it in the store and think it's pretty amazing..

Two downsides though, twice the price, and one mouse button. The latter would be a problem if I wanted to dual boot another OS, and the former is practically a deal breaker.

IBM's stuff is so solid and has the nice full sized keyboard that I'm really tempted to get one of them, but the ATI thing just kills it for me

I'm sick of ATI and their lack of Linux support.. any laptop I get will be running Linux almost entirely, so Linux support is huge for me.

Are you a student? MaC gives discounts to students...

[Thomas Crown]

Not really what you listed, but I have an HP TC4200 Tablet PC and LOVE IT.

[motivez]

Alright, I've ruled out:

Macbook Pro [I hate the keyboard too much]
IBM Thinkpad [Solid, but meh]

I'm really interested in the Sony Vaio SZ series.. but something is confusing. Maybe the hardware/tech crew can help me out a bit.

Sony VAIO - SZ Series

For their video card, it says this:

Processor: NVIDIA® GeForce® Go 7400 and Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 950

Video RAM*: 128MB (NVIDIA® GeForce® Go 7400) and 128MB dynamically allocated shared (RAM/Video) memory (Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 950)

Video RAM*

NVIDIA® TurboCache™ technology combines the size and bandwidth of video memory and dynamically available system memory for optimal system performance.

What does that mean exactly in terms of the graphics card power that I'm going to be able to access on the system? If I want to play games on this, for example, will I be getting the full power of the GeForce Go 7400? Does this boost the memory available?

I've never heard of that really, but I haven't been up on laptop technology in quite a while.

[motivez]

Surely someone knows what the heck that actually means?

[6SpeedTA95]

It's definately worth the 100 extra bucks for the quicker proc.

[6SpeedTA95]

Originally Posted by motivez

Surely someone knows what the heck that actually means?

Know what it means? What are you talking about here, I can probably shed some light on it for you.

BTW you might see if there's a 7200rpm HD option on either of these.