Notebook
 

Okay, So I'll be heading off to college eventually. I will be doing lots of multimedia, editing, photoshop, all high end graphics and video. I currently use a Pentium 4 w/HT 2.8, 1Gig Ram, 200Gigs of HD space, and an ATI 9600xt that I built. I also game a little bit.

A computer is my form of entertainment so it has to be fast and up to date.

But college dorm space will be limited. My case is a bulky thermaltake and I don't want to scrimp on getting a new case. I also have a CRT which takes up copious amounts of room. My dad suggested that I get a notebook. I am somewhat hesitant about this beacuse of the power that you loose when going portable. Especially in the video card area. They are also extremely expensive. I do however really like the idea of portability. I am trying to find a very powerful notebook that I will be able to do all my normal activities on for a reasonable price.

I thought I might be able to get an LCD display to take up less room than my CRT and maybe just get a low end notebook for portability. But I really like the idea of being able to edit on the notebook.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks

Price is usually an issue, but I have the following laptop:

- DELL Inspiron 9100
- 1 GB of ram
- Intel 3.20 GHz P4 hyperthreading CPU
- 80 GB harddisk
- DVD/CD burner
- UWXGA+ screen running at 1680 x 1050 (widescreen)
- 128 MB ATI Radeon Mobility 9700

I was able to play Half-Life 2 at full resolution (1680 x 1050) at
around 15 - 20 fps. At lower resolution it would've run faster,
ofcourse (so no power, or video power is lost on my system!)

In the end it is a very powerful system. But it is also pretty expensive!

My "laptop" is known as a desktop replacement, so it isn't light
or small, but not that hard to lug around as long as you don't do
it often.

Editing with Sony Vegas is a blast on this machine, works superb!

Check out www.dell.com. A machine with a smaller screen
should be much cheaper and you usally still have the option to go
with a fast processor and video card.

It souns you know how to build your PCs.
Then why don't you search for the so called 'White box' notebook makers. Usually it's almoast like barebone console (where you add the missing CPU, HDD. RAM) but their prices are better as a bundle.
Depending on the platform you get very high level desktop replacement for a very decent price.
If you want to make it even cheaper you go for basic configuration (small 4200rpm HDD, only 1x256MB RAM) but high CPU and mobile graphics, plus a DVD multi writer, without OS preinstalled.
Then you buy 5400rpm drive, more RAM (which is much cheaper than using the maker options) and OEM OS (Win XP Pro). The spare original HDD you can put in USB2 externall case for back ups and you are ready to run!!!
This way you can save lots of bucks and unneccessary soft that bloats the performance on the retail notebooks.

Care to share some links to these 'white box' makes sites? I'd love to build my own PERFECT laptop - if such a thing exists.

-K

Kevin, sorry for the delay!
I'm in Japan and I know many will do that here - for example:
http://www.pc-koubou.jp/contents/bto/r725_main.php

You can custumise the way you want it through that shop.
If you use babelfish.altavista.com translator you can get idea what I'm talking about.

Go to shops/pages in your area (system integrators) that will do BTO (built to order) systems. They usually will do desktops but also should have laptop offers.

As I already said the upgrades from the basic combinations are costly. You can simply buy and replace yourself the HDD, more RAM and OEM software to make it a power mobile house ;)