new notebook - advice?

[FrankB]

Hey guys,

I am planning to purchase a new notebook. It's not necessarily for rendering, but it wouldn't hurt if it can be used for some testing.
Also, my kids should be able to play games on it, so I reckon a decent graphic chip wouldn't hurt either.

I guess I know the stats for the notebook I need, like:
- 160+ GB hdd
- 2-4 gb ram
- dvd
- dual core procesor.
- 5+ hours on battery
- not too big. better a smaller form factor, e.g. 13"

Now, the problem I have is knowing which manufacturer and model have are of reliable workmanship and have equally reliable and long-living components.
I bought a 700€ Acer notebook a while a ago and right after the manufacturer guarantee, the mobo died. I don't want this to happen with my next notebook, and I am also willing to add a few bucks if I get good quality.

I am open to buying a Mac, however, I don't know how they compare, to - e.g. - a decent sony vaio.
So any advice or experiences from you guys?

Thank you,
Frank

[domdib]

The setup you describe fits more or less exactly an entry level (white) Macbook. I've had one for three years plus, and am pretty happy with its build quality and battery life. Probably best not to use it for heavy rendering - I had a bit of trouble with the fans at one point - but I use it for testing. The graphics chip in the latest one should handle medium gaming. And if you want slightly fancier, you can always go for the 13" Macbook Pro, which claims 7 hours plus for battery life.

[Henry Blewer]

A Dell XPS notebook would fit the bill. It's a little costly, but should be useful for several years.
My, now old, Dell 510 has held up well after 5 years. It's only starting to choke a little on some games. It handles Terragen 2 well enough, but I wish it was faster.

[neuspadrin]

I had a dell xps laptop for awhile, back before i built my desktop.  She worked great for me, and is now used by my mom as her primary computer... though its quite overpowered for what she uses it for .

But yeh my suggestion is watch coupons with dell and google for the coupons, i know at least a few years ago they would drop some really awesome ones.  I got my xps at 30% off, as there was a 30% off one that comes out once a year or so, and often 10-20% ones available.  Definitely made the pricetag better .

[FrankB]

thanks for the suggestions so far. I had a look into the dell xps 13, which sells for ~1000€ at the moment, but it didn't get good customer ratings. The other and probably newer xps are a little beyond what I would spend, with their 1800€+ prices.

The macbook pro 13" with 4gb and 250gb hdd would sell for 1280€, and that's about the max price I would pay for a notebook. anything above that will inevitably trigger the infamous "wife alarm" - and nobody wants that to happen, you know what I mean

The thing I'm not clear on still is how a macbook and another manufacturers notebooks will compare with regards to performance and overall quality of components.
Also, I don't feel up to date on what are good notebook cpu's and good graphic chips at the moment. Does anyone know a place where these are compared, or can give me a little run down here in the forums?

Thank you,
Frank

[Henry Blewer]

The main site for Download.com, CNET. It's now owned by CBS, and I think the download area is not as good as it used to be. They do have very good product comparisons for any type of electronics.

[cyphyr]

You could do worse that take a look at the benchmark site stickied at the top of the general terragen forum. Theres plenty of laptops described in there, might be a worthy place to start your search. I recently replaced my trusty old P4 laptop (read mobile workststion!) with a refurbished Core2Duo T5750 2Ghz 3gig ram Acer all for £400.
Richard

[FrankB]

ok, couldn't resist the macbook 

[littlecannon]

Good choice.