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**Wulfman** · 23 May 2004, 15:56

T-series, IBM. they should offer rebates for students.

mfg
wulfman

**Helevitia** · 23 May 2004, 18:52

I agree with Wulfman. I have a T40 for work and I love it. The battery life is outstanding. It hits all of the specs you mentioned including built-in wireless, wired, and modem. No firewire though. It doesn't have a serial port so if you have something needs serial then you will need to buy a USB to Serial Adapter. The text is really crisp and the screen is very bright. I love the software controls for the eraser mouse and touch pad. I use the eraser mouse exclusively so I can't comment on that feature. There is an option that allows you to tap the eraser mouse to act as any button you want. I have it setup for 'right-click' since my thumb is on the primary button this prevents me from having to move my hand.

I get about 3 hours of battery life on average but can get more if I need to(lower screen brightness, slow down the CPU, etc...).

One time I loaded up a game and it killed the battery in less than a half hour.

I think Ars did a review of the T-40. Let me see if I can find it...Here it is.

I think the t41 is out now.

Dave

**skinrock** · 23 May 2004, 20:09

I get maybe 2 hours life on my HP, has a 2.4 p4, no m technology, 1 gig of ram, with full brightness, but once i start pushing it the time drops, so needless to say, I'm happy with my HP Pavilion. Plus I can always get another battery if need be.

**Byock** · 24 May 2004, 11:51

I like the dell Series. Have used the several, and the battery life on the P-M has been around 4+ hours.

If size is not an issue, the 9100 has a radeon 9700 Pro in it.

**Liquid Snake** · 24 May 2004, 13:50

Yes, size is an issue. I need to bring it with me to school everyday. I won't be doing heavy gaming or other intensive tasks, so a 9700 and a high-speed P4 isn't necessary. Would be cool to have though

As far as gaming goes, it'll probably be only for short durations when I'm bored. If I ever do extended gaming, I'll probably be plugged in.

I looked at IBM's T40 series, and it seems quite nice. 4 hours of battery life for normal tasks sounds good. How is the battery life for, say, watching a DVD? It would be nice if I could watch movies without having to rip them and put them on the HD.

Another question. As far as LCDs go, should I go with a 1024x768 or 1400x1050 resolution? Normally I would go with a higher resolution, but 1400x1050 on a 14.1" LCD seems a bit too much. How small does it really look?

Thanks for the help so far, guys.

**Helevitia** · 24 May 2004, 14:40

Somebody told me that they could play 2 DVD's back to back but I have no idea what the settings were so I can't comment on that. I can tell you that I just turned on my laptop and it showed a bettery life of 1:34 left. I plugged in the Eagles DVD using the default WinDVD player that comes with the laptop. I started the video on chapter 5(that is where the actual concert starts). I then check ed the battery again and it said it has 59 minutes until it dies. I will leave it running and see how long it takes to die.

BTW, I have tons of things that run in the background. Since I use this laptop for work I just leave it the way my company feels is the best setup(except for the email app

). Sometimes I run up to 10 applications at one time without any crashes or compatibility issues. Some of the programs I run are IE, Thunderbird, FireFox, Reflections(Unix emulator and i run everything from debugging tools to bug applications, to opening 4-6 xterm windows at one time), Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Meeting Maker, and a few smaller apps.

I did think of one thing I don't like. It does take forever to boot up but once it is up it is quick enough for work apps. Anyway, I'll elt you know how long it takes to power off after playing this DVD.

Dave

**Helevitia** · 24 May 2004, 14:43

Oh, the 1024x768 comment. I don't have any problems with 1024x768 except for when I am trying to make web pages and then I get a little frustrated sometimes. Nothing else I work with requires something higher than that. I can't imagine making the screen smaller though. Sounds to small.

Dave

**William** · 24 May 2004, 15:23

To suggest something a bit different; if you expect to take a lot of notes on paper as well, a Tablet is an incredibly useful beast. I've been using one for ~10 months now, and would not want to do without. I've gone From carrying around inches of paper, to carrying less than 1" of tablet. I think that the Toshiba ones would be near your spec; thought I'm not sure they have Firewire.

**Helevitia** · 24 May 2004, 15:25

OK, After 45 minutes, the DVD window shutdown by itself. When I checked to see what's up it told me that the battery is low and would no longer play the DVD. At that time I checked the battery level and it said there were 17 minutes left. That means the battery indicator appears to be on par or slightly above what the actual battery life is. I then checked the battery level again and it had jumped to 23 minutes. So it gained 5 minutes back from stopping the DVD. I am confident that if I had a full battery, I could easily play an entire DVD.

Dave

**Liquid Snake** · 27 May 2004, 10:37

Tablet PCs sound cool but it's not just for taking notes, so I need more power. I'm probably going to be running some science/engineering programs (gonna be studying EE).

I've been leaning towards the IBM, but it's a bit on the expensive side. What about other brands (Dell, HP, Toshiba etc)?

**Tjalfe** · 27 May 2004, 10:44

Originally posted by Liquid Snake
Tablet PCs sound cool but it's not just for taking notes, so I need more power. I'm probably going to be running some science/engineering programs (gonna be studying EE).

I've been leaning towards the IBM, but it's a bit on the expensive side. What about other brands (Dell, HP, Toshiba etc)?

From my experience, you will be using the computer for making reports, and the odd matlab simulation.
Later on in your studies, you will also be doing some design work with a board layout package or something.. perhaps also the odd programming, which would not take alot of horsepower.
Don't forget that your university will have tons of computers available with Matlab and such installed, making your own computer not needed, other for playing games in boring lectures

Some programs required Sun machines, one being a Layout program for IC's we had to use.

**Wombat** · 27 May 2004, 11:27

From Spoofee.com:

Dell Home has a decent laptop configuration for a decent price. Comes with Pentium M Processor, 1.6ghz, 15.4" WXGA, Win XP Home, 512mb DDR, 40GB hard drive, 24x CD-RW/DVD Rom, 32mb DDR nVidia GeForce FX Go5200 graphic cards, wireless and wired NIC, MS Works, MS Money, and a year warranty.

Regular Price : $1649 Shipped
Spoofee Price : $1069 Shipped

1. Dell Home Price : $1649
2. Coupon Price : -$329.80 | Code : L7Z?7VG567RR11
3. Rebate Price : -$250.00
Final Price : $1069.20

**Wulfman** · 27 May 2004, 12:42

Originally posted by Liquid Snake
I've been leaning towards the IBM, but it's a bit on the expensive side.

well worth it, imho. last time I had to contact them because of a failed display (background lighting *poof*) they offered me free on site repair within 24 hours of my call.
and I know some scary stories about other brands and small repairs...

mfg
wulfman

**Jammrock** · 29 May 2004, 10:10

If you wanted your laptop to dual as a nice little game machine you could pick up a new Falcon NW FragBook

Falcon Northwest

http://www.falcon-nw.com/fragbook2.asp

Page Not Found

The TL series (Thin and Light Centrino-based line) starts at ~$2700 and comes loaded with just about everything you listed (WiFi is an extra $41 or $83, depending on how much transmit power you want). Comes loaded with an ATi 9700 w/ 128 MB VRAM, 15" TFT with garaunteed no dead pixels, a 3900 mAH battery (3 hour DVD run time), an aluminium carrying case, custom color chasis of your choice, etc....

Jammrock

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