[Poland] Note for a student, mobility+good battery, affordable
General Questions
1) What is your budget?
$1500 =~ 1200 Euro =~ 4600PLN
2) What size notebook would you prefer?
a. Ultraportable; 12" screen or less
b. Thin and Light; 13" - 14" screen
c. Mainstream; 15" - 16" screen
3) What tasks will you be performing with the notebook?
Taking notes on lectures
Writing articles (including from gaming parties where i would be sent)
Tiny photo corrections (not going to make art, just correcting the photos i would take with my camera)
Writing compositions for the class
Checking and sending mail via school's hotspot and mobile phone access
Chatting (a little) on IM
Music listening (will be using headphones so speakers quality is not that important)
Occasionally DVD/DivX film watching
Light gaming (very little and not that demanding games)
Programming
4) Will you be taking the notebook with you to different places or leaving it on your desk?
The more mobile the better, preferably with long battery life
5) Will you be playing games on it; if so, which games?
Yes, but not important point, preferably Sokoban, Chessmaster Challenge, Kyodai Mahjongg 2006.
If possible, after geting juice through the cable, NFS Underground 2 and Neverwinter Nights 1 + addons
6) Are there any brands that you prefer or any you really don't like?
Right now, none that I don't like, but prefer those with good reliability and not high price just for the badge, so Asus/Fujitsu-Siemens/Lenovo/Toshiba would be fine. Still if there is something good and in right price I won't mind other products.
7) How many hours of battery life do you need?
3.5 hours is a must, 4+ hours as the appropriate timing and 5+hours would be great. Achieved by either 2 batteries put inside the machine or one long lasting battery. Possibility to buy an "extended life" battery pack would be a plus.
8) Do you mind buying online without seeing the notebook in person?
Would prefer to check what i buy myself, but if a great promo would come up... then i think my prejudice would disappear :D
9) Please select your country's flag as a post icon and tell us what country are you buying this in?
POLAND / POLSKA / POLEN / POLOGNE
Screen Specifics
10) Would you prefer standard or widescreen?
Widescreen
11) From the choices below, what screen resolutions would you prefer?
of Standard upto b, so:
a. XGA -1024x768 - Large and easy to read text + graphics icons, but you fit less stuff on the screen.
b. SXGA - 1400x1050 - Compromise resolution between XGA and UXGA.
but would prefer Widescreen:
d. WXGA or WXGA+ - 1280x768/800 or 1440x900; Wider viewing version of XGA, good for movie viewing or spreadsheets.
12) Do you want a glossy/reflective screen or a matte/non-glossy screen?
Doesn't matter
Build Quality and Design
13) Are the notebook's looks and stylishness important to you?
Nope, but if there is the same price and hardware and power and only the looks differ the answer would change to yes. But only if that condition is fulfilled.
14) When are you buying this laptop and how long do you want this laptop to last?
As soon as i get decided (set my mind on it). Probably within up to a month.
Would like it to last for some time, won't change the use at all, probably won't upgrade to Vista either. Would like to be able to use for the next 3 years at least, but i'll be using it with my "basic" software so upgradeing won't mean sudden increase of power needed.
Notebook Components
15) How much hard drive space do you want; 40GB to 160GB?
80 GB +
16) Do you need an optical drive? If yes, a DVD-ROM, DVD-CD/RW or DVD-RW drive?
DVD+/-RW preferably DL, important thing is it must be foolproof, so probably philips' ones would be not wanted... i've been hearing a lot about them, and none of it is something the company should be proud of... eg. not working, sudden stucking and not answering button actions, problems with reading low quality discs...
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What is very important for me (along the battery life) is the ammount of goodies inlcuded into the case, so:
- Bluetooth (preferably 2.0 EDR) included as a must-have option!
- WiFi b/g, "a" standard isn't used at my workplace or study-place.
- Optical drive within the case, not that on cable (usb or firewire), i need the drive to be always within my reach
- easy access to two of the usb ports at the same time (for flash memory stick, and either camera cable or mouse if i find anything small and reliable)
- included built-in microphone + camera would be great
Answer:
Re: [Poland] Note for a student, mobility+good battery, affordable
The HP dv2000 with the 12 cell battery will give you long battery life. The ThinkPad R60 which will offer better quality is another option.
Answer:
Re: [Poland] Note for a student, mobility+good battery, affordable
The Amilo Si 1520 would give good mobility and it claims 4 hours run time.
John
Answer:
Re: [Poland] Note for a student, mobility+good battery, affordable
and how it is in real? i know of the si1520 / v3205 but the dv2000 is quite hard to get here... about the r60 - i've heard of it, but there is one drawback - the best promo i found around was the 5500pln, so almost 1000pln above my financial possibilities. that 5500 pln is almost 1500 euro and $1800+ so as you can see, way above my current possibilities.
i reckon there were a few notes with exchangeable optical drive bay with the second battery pack... but fear that it is within the higher price range. or maybe i'm wrong...
are asuses a8sp or jp (can't remember which are those you like here to point to) good for me in terms of battery life? as i reckon they're 14.1" wide matrix, rather good quality... and the price is somewhat just on the margin of my possibilities. so are the asuses better than the forementioned dv2000 or fs amilo si1520 or v3205?
Answer:
Re: [Poland] Note for a student, mobility+good battery, affordable
I think both Asuses only have 2.5 hrs max.
Answer:
Re: [Poland] Note for a student, mobility+good battery, affordable
so that leaves me with hp... ps. should anyone try to convince me to dell, it's almost 30% more expensive than the average note of the same config.
and what about 15.4inchers? is there any product interesting?
ah and i have a question - is 13.3" Aristo Slim 330 good in terms of quality, power and battery life compared to hp or f-s?
Answer:
Re: [Poland] Note for a student, mobility+good battery, affordable
I personally prefer HP, but Dells are alright too. Never heard of Aristo. How big the battery is will have a big effect on battery life.