I ended up with the HP Pavilion dv1000, custom built with XP-Pro, the bigger battery, the faster hard drive, and 512mB ram in a single DIMM. I'll try to post more information on it as I get more familiar, but I might as well start the page on WindowsXpAnnoyances and my WindowsSoftwareInstallationList.
In looking at laptops, I had these criteria. If it's a windows machine, it should be XP-Pro, not home. I was also tempted by Linux and OS-X machines.
Primary criteria:
- durable and reliable
- low to medium weight
long battery life (> 4 hours)
- ram expandable to 2 gig
Secondary criteria
- decent performance for light programming
- decent keyboard for touch typing
- decent display
- inexpensive
Notes:
Model |
Weight |
Battery Life |
max ram |
screen |
Notes |
HP Pavilion dv1227us |
5.33/5.9 lbs |
3/6 hrs |
2 Gb |
14" 1280x768 |
$1350 CompUSA |
Dell Latitude X1 |
2.5/2.8 lbs |
3/5 hrs |
? Gb |
12.1" 1280x768 |
$2000 |
MPC TransPort U1000 |
3.4/4.4 lbs |
2/7 hrs |
? Gb |
12.1" ?x? |
$1600 PCMag |
ThinkPad X41 |
3.2 lbs |
5.5 hrs |
? Gb |
12.1" ?x? |
$1900 PCMag |
AsusTek W3V |
5.5 lbs |
3 hrs |
? Gb |
14.1" wide ?x? |
$1700 PCMag |
Toshiba Satellite M55-S325 |
5.1 lbs |
3.25 hrs |
? Gb |
14.1" ?x? |
$1400 XP-home PCMag |
Gateway M250XL |
5.1 lbs |
3.25/5 hrs |
? Gb |
14.1" ?x? |
$1,170.00 PCMag |
Averatec AV4265-EH1 |
4.6 lbs |
3.65 hrs |
? Gb |
13.3" ?x? |
~$1200 XP-home |
Averatec 4200 |
4.7 lbs |
3.5-4 hrs |
2 Gb |
13.3" 1280x800 |
$1200 mobiletechreview |
Toshiba Portege R100 |
2.4/? lbs |
1.5/5 hrs |
1 Gb |
12.1" 1024x768 |
~$2000 mobiletechreview |
Acer TravelMate TM3002WTCi |
3.1 lbs |
4.5 Hrs |
2 Gb |
12.1" 1280x800 |
|
WinBook LX 300 |
4.6 lbs |
? hrs |
? Gb |
12.1" ?x? |
$699 Linspire CNet |
Asus W5A |
? lbs |
? hrs |
? Gb |
12.1" ?x? |
$1,649 CNet |
Sharp Actius MP30 |
? lbs |
? hrs |
? Gb |
10.4" ?x? |
$1,617 CNet |
Fujitsu LifeBook P7010 |
? lbs |
4.25(7) hrs |
? Gb |
10.6" ?x? |
$1,599 with rebate CNet |
Panasonic T4 |
2.8 lbs |
12 hrs |
1 Gb |
12.1" 1024x768 |
$2K up, specs |
Acer AS5000 (Turion) |
6.5 lbs |
3.25 hrs |
|
15.4" 1280x800 |
|
Acer TravelMate 4000 series |
6.6 lbs |
5-6 hrs |
2 gB |
15" 1024x768 or |
|
Compaq Presario B3813AP |
2.55 kg |
4 hrs |
2 gB |
15" 1024x768 |
|
Compaq Presario V2000 (Turion) |
5.4/6.1 lbs |
2.5/5.5 hrs |
|
14.1" wide |
6cell/12cell PCMag |
ThinkPad X40 |
3.2 lbs |
6.25 hrs |
? Gb |
12.1" 1024x768 |
$1800~$2000 PCMag |
Alienware Area-51m_7700 |
? |
4 hrs |
2gB |
12.1" 1280x800 |
~$1100-1500 Alienware |
HP Pavilion dv1175us |
5.33 lb |
6 hrs |
? |
14" 1280x768 |
$1350 clearance CompUSA |
Dell Latitude D510 |
6.1 lb |
4 hrs |
2gB |
14.1" or 15" XGA |
~$950 CNET review Dell |
Fujitsu B6110D |
3.3 lb |
~5 hrs |
2gB |
12.1" 1024x768 |
~$1700 Tom's Hardware |
Toshiba R200 |
2.84 lb |
~4 hrs |
1.25gB |
12.1" 1024x768 |
~$2000 Tom's Hardware |
ASUS M3000Np (M3NP) |
5 lb. |
7.4 Hrs. |
1 gB |
14.1" 1024x768 |
5400rpm HD, |
Averatec AV3270-EE1 |
4.5 lb. |
?? |
?? |
12.1" 1024x768 |
|
Dell's Inspiron 700m |
3.7-4.1 lb. |
? |
2gB |
12.1" 1280x800 |
~$1100 Pentium M 1.6 GHz, |
ThinkPad T42 |
5.8 pounds |
5.5 hrs |
2gB |
15" 1400x1050 |
expensive, shopping.com reviews |
ThinkPad T40 (237382U) |
4.85 lb |
5.5 hrs |
2gB |
14.1" 1024x768 |
$900recon shopping.com |