what laptops are best for poker?

[Soul Rebel]

I just bought a Sony VAIO A690, with the 1900 x 1200 screen. I've had 3 dell laptops in the past and had big problems with all of them, so I just couldn't bring myself to get another one, regardless of the price. While the Sony is expensive, they have a 3-year accidental damage insurance plan for like $200. No matter what you do to it, they'll get you a new one within a week, which is pretty sweet. Mine sits on my coffee table and on my porch, and I also travel a lot, so for me this was a big selling point.

[terrapin314]

[ QUOTE ]
Search is your friend

btw- best bang for buck is a Dell 6000 with wuxga (1920x1200). Lighter and cheaper than the 9300 because of 15.4" screen.

i have no problems multitabling with the smaller screen.

[/ QUOTE ]

I recently bought a lower end 6000 (1.4mhz) with WUXGA screen and love it. Multitabling with pokertracker is just a bit slow, but will be pulling my RAM up tomorrow and it should be fine. It is all the machine you currently need.

[MicroBob]

i would think that 1900x1200 on a screen that small wouldn't be too terrific.

I have good eye-sight though and don't have any problems with it on my 17" screen so I could probably do just fine with it.

I considered getting that one because of size and weight....but I decided to get the 9300 because I just didn't know how tolerable that kind of resolution would be on such a small screen.

[M.B.E.]

Bumping this thread because I am buying the Inspiron 9300 tomorrow. Some questions about configuration options and so forth:

(1) The base chip is Intel Pentium M Processor 730, but three other options are available at higher prices (740, 750, and 760). What's the difference, and why would I need something more than the 730?

(2) OS: Any reason to go for XP Professional rather than XP Home? The Professional version has some kind of encryption system which appeals to me because of my general paranoia, but I don't really trust Microsoft to make strong encryption, and I use PGP anyway for anything important.

(3) Memory: Is 512MB enough for playing four tables at three different sites plus surfing the web with Firefox in the background? Or should I opt for 1GB?

(4) Video Card: the choices are either 128MB ATIs Mobility Radeon X300 or 256MB NVIDA GeForce Go 6800. If I am going to watch DVDs on the computer, should I get the more expensive video card or does it make no difference?

(5) Wireless: What's the difference between the 2200 and 2915 internal wireless card? The 2915 is only $20 more.

(6) Security software: Norton or McAfee?

(7) Pricing: the prices on the Dell U.S. web site are about 10% cheaper than on the Canadian site after factoring in the exchange rate. Is there any way around that, or do Canadians just have to pay more?

[jman220]

[ QUOTE ]
Bumping this thread because I am buying the Inspiron 9300 tomorrow. Some questions about configuration options and so forth:

(1) The base chip is Intel Pentium M Processor 730, but three other options are available at higher prices (740, 750, and 760). What's the difference, and why would I need something more than the 730?

(2) OS: Any reason to go for XP Professional rather than XP Home? The Professional version has some kind of encryption system which appeals to me because of my general paranoia, but I don't really trust Microsoft to make strong encryption, and I use PGP anyway for anything important.

(3) Memory: Is 512MB enough for playing four tables at three different sites plus surfing the web with Firefox in the background? Or should I opt for 1GB?

(4) Video Card: the choices are either 128MB ATIs Mobility Radeon X300 or 256MB NVIDA GeForce Go 6800. If I am going to watch DVDs on the computer, should I get the more expensive video card or does it make no difference?

(5) Wireless: What's the difference between the 2200 and 2915 internal wireless card? The 2915 is only $20 more.

(6) Security software: Norton or McAfee?

(7) Pricing: the prices on the Dell U.S. web site are about 10% cheaper than on the Canadian site after factoring in the exchange rate. Is there any way around that, or do Canadians just have to pay more?

[/ QUOTE ]

Are there still any active coupons? I'm thinking about getting this laptop more and more...

[silkyslim]

i just ordered the 6000 with WUGXA on the recommendation of StacysMom. It better be good!

[StacysMom]

you got nothing to worry bout silky

[Stellastarr]

are there any $750 off $1500 coupons going on right now?

[M.B.E.]

I did some research on the very excellent site NotebookReview.com as well as reading old posts on 2+2 and I think I've answered most of my own questions.

The Pentium 730, 740, 750, and 760 all have a 533MHz FSB so for my purposes the 730 will be fine; the 760 has a 25% faster clock speed (2 GHz compared to 1.60 GHz) but it seems that is barely noticeable because of other bottlenecks, and not worth paying a few hundred dollars extra for.

The basic 128MB video card seems fine.

A lot of posters on NotebookReview.com liked the 9300 a lot, particularly the screen, while others did not like the screen but liked everything else. I think it has a lot to do with prior expectations. Some of the complaints included "sparkling", inadequate colour uniformity, glare, and insufficient brightness.

Links:

Opinions on Inspiron 9300

Thread on I9300 screen

Reviews of Inspiron 9300

June 2005 review

March 2005 review

2+2 thread March 2005

2+2 thread April 2005

2+2 thread May 2005

2+2 thread June 2005 #1

2+2 thread June 2005 #2

[Wes ManTooth]

great post