Laptop poker addicts: Which Laptop to Buy? Dell/Toshiba/Other?

[schilling38]

I have searched the forum and found a couple somewhat helpful messages but figured I'd open up a new thread with some new questions.

- From what I've read, 17" WUXGA is the way to go if you plan on 4 tabling ever. Does this sound right?

- Also, RAM of 512 or more is a must, and HD should be 7200 RPM. Does this sound right?

- Should the processor be an Intel Pentium M or a Celeron M?

- It seems like Dell offers the best deals, especially with websites like gottadeal.com, slickdeals.net and others - Would most people recommend a Dell? If so, WHICH MODEL?

Thanks in advance! Add anything that I forgot to ask...

[Chief911]

Just say no to CELERON.

Nick

[imported_ncray]

The Dell Inspiron 9300 is nice with a 17" display and support for 1920x1200 resolution. As for the processor, I don't think the Celeron M is a terrible choice, though I don't know if the 9300 even offers a Celeron. IIRC, the only difference between the Celeron M and the Pentium M is that the Pentium M has more cache and has battery saving (speed-step?) optimizations enabled.

[schilling38]

ok, some helpful advice - anything else? Would you go for a different model or is 9300 the way to go?

[mmbt0ne]

I'm about to buy this:

Inspiron 6000D
Intel® Pentium® M Processor 730 (1.60 GHz/2MB Cache/533MHz FSB)
Microsoft® Windows® XP Home
15.4 inch UltraSharp WUXGA LCD Panel
512MB DDR2 SDRAM 2 Dimms
64MB DDR ATI's MOBILITY™ RADEON X300 PCI Express x16 Graphics
60GB Hard Drive
Integrated 10/100 Network Card and Modem
Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 6.0
24X CD Burner/DVD Combo Drive
Intel® PRO/Wireless 2200 Internal Wireless (802.11 b/g, 54Mbps)
No productivity suite - Corel WordPerfect word processor only
New! Norton Internet Security 2005 AntiSpyware Edition 15-months
Musicmatch® Jukebox Basic
6-cell Lithium Ion Battery (53 WHr)
1Yr Ltd Warranty, 1Yr At-Home Service, and 1Yr Technical Support
6 Months EarthLink Internet Access Included
Photo Album™ SE Basic
Award Winning Service & Support
No QuickBooks package selected- Includes limited use trial

for $1041. I need mine to be a little more portable though, and not as bulky, so I stayed away from the 9300. Bad move? Maybe, but this is more in my budget too. Unless something crazy happens in the next couple hours, this is what I'm buying.

[schilling38]

cool - do you plan on 4 tabling on the 15" monitor?

[mmbt0ne]

It'll have the resolution for it, so I'm sure I'll give it a shot. I really don't think it'll be that bad. Other players on here play with it. The 17" would definitely be optimal though.

[Soul Rebel]

Do yourself a favor and don't get a dell, my family has had 3 dell laptops, and all of them were riddled with problems. I just got a Sony Vaio A690, it does 1900x1200, burns dvds and everything else. I would at least give it a look, I love it so far. Anyway, just my .02, enjoy whatever you get.

[smb394]

mmbtone, i have a nearly identical system to the one you have spec'ed out. it's well worth it.

3 dell laptops? Am I allowed to call shenanigans on sample size?

[schilling38]

do you 4 table on it smb?

[smb394]

Yes, I do 4-table on it. I have 768MB RAM, which is enough to run 4 tables, PT, PV and Mozilla at the same time.

But I'm guessing you're more curious about the screen. It definitely does take a day or two to get used to it (mainly Internet and AIM, not poker). The Party chat boxes are still easily readable. I find making webpage text bigger helps a lot. If you have more questions, either reply or shoot me a PM.

[smoore]

Celeron sucks. 2.4Ghz or better Pentium should be PLENTLY.

RAM iz goot. More iz bettar.

You don't need WUXGA but you definitely need at least UXGA. The difference is widescreen. XXXX * 1200 is what you want.

I 4table on my 15in UXGA. It works but chat is hard to read on some sites. Buttons and cards are never a problem. NL sliders are rarely a problem, party is about as small/worthless as I like to go.

I personally don't like DELL computers, every one I see seems to have some lame Windows problem. This may be caused by the machines and it may be caused by the idiots running them. In any case, I buy chembook and sager laptops. If all you care about is poker then there's no reason to buy a sager, the chembooks will handle it fine. They both have good driver support and you do not have to buy the OS with them. The last sager I bought didn't support win98 anymore so I actually had to buy another windows OS. No big deal, 1 OS purchase in 8 years is acceptable. Before I get flamed, all I use windows for is gaming and poker so win98 was perfectly fine.

[schilling38]

Why do so many people hate Dell?
Am I making a mistake looking at them?

I gotta admit they offer great prices after rebates and they're so goddamn popular..

My head is spinning from all the laptop review websites and forums...

[smoore]

I don't hate them, everyone I know that has one is a complete computer donk and is probably screwing them up. I doubt you're making a mistake by at least looking at them.

Yeah, there's a lot of info out there... read read read and don't buy the first one that looks good.