SPCR

I'm considering buying a laptop as I occassionally have to spend time away from my desktop writing essays, translating and doing layout work and graphic design. I've had a Toshiba Satellite Pro 4270(Celeron) up until now, but it's time to lay the old workhorse to rest and get a proper one. The Fujitsu Lifebook C series(Core 2 Duo) has been a good one, never a hitch with 10 units so far, so I'm sticking with that brand. The Lifebook costs over 1000€ though, so it's out of my price range of roughly 800€.

I browsed for a couple of days and did my research, Fujitsu's Amilos haven't been discussed on the forums lately(2006 last posts), and that's fine. I'm just exploring the options and would like some spending advice from laptop users. You don't have to be a Fujitsu person, just check if I'm missing something obvious.

How do you like:
http://www.fujitsu-siemens.com/home/pro ... _1538.html
http://www.fujitsu-siemens.com/home/pro ... _1526.html

P series is the "multimedia" series, X is the "gamer" series. I ended up with these two as they offer cheap dual-core(if you consider 800€ cheap) which helps with intensive computing and have separate memory for their graphics. I'm looking at models with Vista Home Premium, Turion TL X2 512kx2 L2 31W, 2GB RAM and separate graphics memory. The P series is 15" and weighs in at just below 3kg, the X series has 17" and is 4kg. Both have the "Silent Mode" option that drops performance and noise, Fujitsu seems to have gotten their cooling, noise and grunt balanced well judging by the internet word-of-mouth. Keyboard is standard Fujitsu fare and so's the touchpad.

What do you think of these? Also, if you want to recommend a 800€/1000$ laptop that's powerful and quiet as necessary, please do!

Personal opinions follow:

I think that 17" is excessive for any laptop that will be moved from its desk more than once a month. In addition, 17" with only a 1440*900 resolution seems really large. For graphics work, you probably would like to spring for the 15.4" 1680*1050 panel - you can never have too many pixels with that kind of usage.

Agreed with the last poster. I have a 15" laptop which i lug about on a daily basis. Even though I sometimes wish for higher resolution (mine is 1024x768), I had to use a 17" laptop for a week and got really annoyed with the big size and weight of the thing.
Especially if you can get a 1680*1050 15" display, I'd go for that (as long as you can deal with small fonts, although you can always adjust that in windows as needed, yet still have plenty of room for graphic design.

Okay then, I'll try and get a WSXGA+ 15.4". 15" narrows down the selection nicely... now I just have to find a distributor or retailer that would still have them in stock!

On my amilo pa 1510 the build quality is quite bad: the chassis is cheap and flexible plastic, the lid scrathes easily and the fan is very noisy.

I suppose lifebooks have higher quality than amilos, got no personal experience but so i've heard.

Hmm. I gotta try out an Amilo before I buy, thanks for the heads-up. Lifebooks are solid, and so's their price tag.

Well, finally got me an Amilo, a Pi 2530-11P.

It's 15.4" with Core 2 Duo T5250, a Radeon HD 2300 and 1 GB RAM. It's got a good keyboard, almost desktop-like. The fan is unfortunately a bit rough. When I set it into Silent Mode with the press of a button there is no sound at all except for the HDD, so it can be fixed.

I've been using it for a few days now and can heartily recommend it as a basic laptop. The touchpad isn't as good as a Pavilion's(HP), but the keyboard I like more. The buttons(power, silent mode and what have you) are solid and easy to use. The plastic is okay, much better than Acer quality, and the hinges seem very solid. Slots and battery release operate with proper precision.

If Silent Mode isn't an option, just raising the unit off the table with a book or stand is enough to give it room to breathe. There are vents in the bottom so this is a laptop you can't actually have on your lap!

for a gamming notebook, you want to keep the resolution low, around 1280x1024 or equivolant widescreen aspect. i personally prefer the 15.4" size, as i feel its the best comprimise between price/performance and resolution to keep framerates high. once you jump up to 17", everything seems to change. weight, size, price, everything seems to go up exponentially. at 15.4" it still feels like a portable machine, at 17" and above it feels like a compact desktop computer.

If you have time, could you do a few tests with power usage?
For example, how many watts does it use sitting on the desktop with min/usable/max brightness? (on battery) You can use something like Mobile Meter to view power usage.

I'll get around to doing some testing next week. I haven't been able to test much anything yet as Vista takes some getting into, and I've got university studies to worry about.