New Laptop: Budget 60k

[Crushdepth]

I've got the ok to get a new laptop, budget is 60,000. Anyone got suggestions on good models in the price range? I would like:

* A reasonably slimline/lightweight model

* It will see some page layout work (InDesign), so needs some grunt

* Will probably dual boot with Ubuntu and Vista Business (64 bit if I can get it).

* 2 PCMCIA slots would be a bonus (playing with wireless), but is definitely optional.

I'm leaning towards some kind of IBM at the moment, as our staff have had good experiences with them in the past. I am allergic to Acer, after owning one for the last 6 years.

I'd also appreciate suggestions on reputable shops for buying (ie. people that honor warranties).

Thanks

[Guest Reimar]

I've got the ok to get a new laptop, budget is 60,000. Anyone got suggestions on good models in the price range? I would like:

* A reasonably slimline/lightweight model

* It will see some page layout work (InDesign), so needs some grunt

* Will probably dual boot with Ubuntu and Vista Business (64 bit if I can get it).

* 2 PCMCIA slots would be a bonus (playing with wireless), but is definitely optional.

I'm leaning towards some kind of IBM at the moment, as our staff have had good experiences with them in the past. I am allergic to Acer, after owning one for the last 6 years.

I'd also appreciate suggestions on reputable shops for buying (ie. people that honor warranties).

Thanks

Acer 6 years ago was: ACER. But as of today Acer is Texas because ACER bouth the Notebook section from Taex Instruments several years ago and the today produce Notebooke came from the Txas line.

I using an 5593 with Intel Core 2 Dual and 2 GB memory, 120 GB SATA HDD, WiFi built in, 1 "normal" PCMVCIA and 1 new Expresscard slot, Camera 1.3 Mpix and DVD R/RW DL amnd more. I'm happy with this Laptop for the last 6 month.

You don't need to be worry if you buy any Acer by any shop here in Thailand, the service can be done every time you need by Acer Thailand at Rama 3 Rd. or any other Acer Outlet and mainly you can wait just a short while for the finish!

Toshiba isn't bad too, for the upper level. And they have a model with the possible turn of the screen, which is a Touch screen, good for using on traveling! price is around 50,000

[t.s]

I've got the ok to get a new laptop, budget is 60,000. Anyone got suggestions on good models in the price range? I would like:

* A reasonably slimline/lightweight model

* It will see some page layout work (InDesign), so needs some grunt

* Will probably dual boot with Ubuntu and Vista Business (64 bit if I can get it).

* 2 PCMCIA slots would be a bonus (playing with wireless), but is definitely optional.

I'm leaning towards some kind of IBM at the moment, as our staff have had good experiences with them in the past. I am allergic to Acer, after owning one for the last 6 years.

I'd also appreciate suggestions on reputable shops for buying (ie. people that honor warranties).

Thanks

Acer 6 years ago was: ACER. But as of today Acer is Texas because ACER bouth the Notebook section from Taex Instruments several years ago and the today produce Notebooke came from the Txas line.

I using an 5593 with Intel Core 2 Dual and 2 GB memory, 120 GB SATA HDD, WiFi built in, 1 "normal" PCMVCIA and 1 new Expresscard slot, Camera 1.3 Mpix and DVD R/RW DL amnd more. I'm happy with this Laptop for the last 6 month.

You don't need to be worry if you buy any Acer by any shop here in Thailand, the service can be done every time you need by Acer Thailand at Rama 3 Rd. or any other Acer Outlet and mainly you can wait just a short while for the finish!

Toshiba isn't bad too, for the upper level. And they have a model with the possible turn of the screen, which is a Touch screen, good for using on traveling! price is around 50,000

if a work machine DELL.com for sure.

[youngkiwi]

Toshiba's are somewhat overpriced for what you get. I'd vouch for IBM - you can't go past their reliability and durability.

[sibeymai]

definitely IBM, 3 year international warranty and they come to you if it breaks. Can also extend the warranty into a service contract for a a fee at the end of 3 years.

[mac.wheeler]

Hands down Dell. Most bang for the buck, good build quality and excellent support since they pulled it back to Ireland.

In fact, I think a pimped out Inspiron 9400 is within your budget. Duel core CPU, 2Gb RAM, 256Mb Nvidia 7950GT, 17" display etc etc.

[RusT]

I heard that Dell was the way to go as you can build to order, get it delivered to the door and they have excellent after sales service in Thailand. But I've been having no joy whatsoever with them on their 1800 number. First it seems that they only have two models; Latitude and Precision (no Inspirion) and you're limited with the build to order options (which was the main attraction).

Has anyone had any experience with this? I'm about to chuck in the whole idea and head to Bangkok to buy another brand (Toshiba?) off the shelf.

If I do go to Bkk to do the deed is Pantip the best option for the largest range or are there other better options (Fortune IT Mall etc)?

[think_too_mut]

I've got the ok to get a new laptop, budget is 60,000. Anyone got suggestions on good models in the price range? I would like:

* A reasonably slimline/lightweight model

* It will see some page layout work (InDesign), so needs some grunt

* Will probably dual boot with Ubuntu and Vista Business (64 bit if I can get it).

* 2 PCMCIA slots would be a bonus (playing with wireless), but is definitely optional.

I'm leaning towards some kind of IBM at the moment, as our staff have had good experiences with them in the past. I am allergic to Acer, after owning one for the last 6 years.

I'd also appreciate suggestions on reputable shops for buying (ie. people that honor warranties).

Thanks

You are in BKK, why not visit DELL's site.

In my company, laptops are due for renewal every 3 years.

Small wonder that 6 years old Acer is giving you bad times.

[Crushdepth]

In my company, laptops are due for renewal every 3 years.

Small wonder that 6 years old Acer is giving you bad times.

My company sucks a bit more than your company :-)

Actually it only worked well for about 12 months. It has been a dog ever since with a host of intermittent problems that nobody can fix for more than a week. A friend bought one the new (quite nice looking) Acers about 6 months ago and it has been a near total disaster - serious quality issues but not enough to qualify for a refund.

I've borrowed a few Dells before and the build quality has always struck me as cheap and nasty, so I'm surprised about the positive posts here. Am I wrong?

What about Lenovo and Benq? Any views?

Thanks for the replies so far.

[sibeymai]

Lenovo is in most if not all respects the same as IBM. They are manufactured in the same plants in China as IBM (in fact, Lenovo bought the rights to IBM's laptop technology in the last 1-2 years) so I dare say they're as good as IBM or maybe better - depends which colour you prefer.

[Guest Reimar]

Toshiba's are somewhat overpriced for what you get. I'd vouch for IBM - you can't go past their reliability and durability

Toshiba is down with the price since Toshiba is doing the businees by themself. After cutting Chevallier out, better prices and a much better service!

Actually it only worked well for about 12 months. It has been a dog ever since with a host of intermittent problems that nobody can fix for more than a week. A friend bought one the new (quite nice looking) Acers about 6 months ago and it has been a near total disaster - serious quality issues but not enough to qualify for a refund.

Unlucky ! But as I wrote: I'm fine with the 5593! The only problems once was the DVD drive and they change it immediatly. They also changed the HDD from Seagate to Hitachi because that's the HDD I want and the memory from 2 pcs. 512 MB 667 to 1 pcs 1 GB 667 without any chargeso I was able to place a 2. pcs 1 GB 667 in the Laptop!

Dell: Desktop machines ok, medium standard. But Laptop, s you wrote: ""the build quality has always struck me as cheap and nasty"" and that's true.

HP/Compaq: Never again!!

before I bought the Acer I'm happy to sell my Compaq Presario 2598 AT! That was a "dog"! And the service?! Bad, bad, bad! Ordered a internal WiFi Module 108 Mbps, as HP anounced to have, get told is in stock and as I came for installation they told me after 4 h : "Sorry Sir but we haven't that product in stock but we'll inform you on its arrival!". After 2 weeks ordered a new quottation and the price was doubble as before. Called them and asked for a new; detailed quotation incl. Part.No. and when that was coming I checked the parts around the world according to the numbers and have to see that the most numbers do NOT exist on any of HP/Compaq's list's! Even the existing module in the USA was just for 11 Mbps!

IBM: Still the best Laptops but never High-End! And very expensive. exellent for daily office work! Service around the world! IBM is like Coca Cola, exist everywhere!

Fujitsu/Siemens(Nixdorf): Very good machines but have it's price!

[nikster]

In my company, laptops are due for renewal every 3 years.

Small wonder that 6 years old Acer is giving you bad times.

My company sucks a bit more than your company :-)

Actually it only worked well for about 12 months. It has been a dog ever since with a host of intermittent problems that nobody can fix for more than a week. A friend bought one the new (quite nice looking) Acers about 6 months ago and it has been a near total disaster - serious quality issues but not enough to qualify for a refund.

I've borrowed a few Dells before and the build quality has always struck me as cheap and nasty, so I'm surprised about the positive posts here. Am I wrong?

What about Lenovo and Benq? Any views?

Thanks for the replies so far.

I have had 3 Acers and read the Acer forums on notebookreviews a lot and would definitely advise to stay far away from them. It seems they made some intentional QA sacrifices in order to offer the most features for money - so you get a few hundred MHz more or get the same for a few thousand baht less than others. But the price that you pay for that is a lot of time spent in the service center. Serious quality issues. My machine is the top-of-the line business model so it has pretty good quality, no major problems here. But the cheaper models - god-awful.

Dell has had its fair share of problems recently too, I have heard many horror stories. Used to be excellent.

Leaves IBM which was and still is excellent. I think if I would buy a laptop today, I would go with IBM/Lenovo Thinkpads. Lenovo was manufacturing Thinkpads for IBM before buying the brand, so they just keep doing what they have been doing, which is excellent.

Lenovo brand laptops are intriguing, they are of lesser quality than Thinkpads though. At least that's what the reviews say. Makes sense as they are also cheaper.

You will pay a little extra for a Thinkpad with the same features as other machines, a few thousand baht. But you also know that these few thousand baht are not wasted, they are invested wisely in higher-quality components and better QA processes. Very good investment, IMHO.

[Tywais]

No one has mentioned ASUS yet. I've been researching them, both reviews and forums, for my boss and seems to be a good product in terms of price/features. Specific models are the A8mj and A8ms ranges. Any experience in terms of reliability with the ASUS brand? Any 'gotchas'?

[nikster]

No one has mentioned ASUS yet. I've been researching them, both reviews and forums, for my boss and seems to be a good product in terms of price/features. Specific models are the A8mj and A8ms ranges. Any experience in terms of reliability with the ASUS brand? Any 'gotchas'?

ASUS owners are generally very impressed with their machines - seems to be good quality.

many opinions, reviews, and one satisfaction poll here:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/forumdisplay.php?f=19

[ballbreaker]

I like Acer. Currently have one of the Aspire 5500 series that has traveled the world and after 18 months it has not had problem one.

[jgeheran]

I like Acer. Currently have one of the Aspire 5500 series that has traveled the world and after 18 months it has not had problem one.

how about sony?

[Crushdepth]

They look very nice. But expensive - and I wish they'd put a generic card reader instead of the stupid memory stick ones.

[nikster]

I like Acer. Currently have one of the Aspire 5500 series that has traveled the world and after 18 months it has not had problem one.

how about sony?

legendary bad service. good machines. great designs. but if it breaks, you are on your own.

I am sorry to throw some water on the Thinkpad rave reviews - apparently the T60 has quality issues and people are unhappy with it, see the comments section here:

http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/24/lenovos...ked-due-in-may/

my next laptop will be a Mac in any case - they've also had their fair share of quality problems over the last few years, but at least the service is excellent as always... just need to factor the 3 year extended warranty into the price...

[nikster]

I have heard the HP business line is excellent BTW - the NX series. Probably not for 60k though.

[Crushdepth]

Just had a look at the Asus line up. Specs are very nice but no idea what the prices is like. I'm happy with the other Asus stuff I own so I'll take a look at them. Bugger if Lenovo has messed up the Thinkpad quality. Grrr.

Off to Fortune now! But just to look at what's available. Buying on the weekend.

[Tywais]

Just had a look at the Asus line up. Specs are very nice but no idea what the prices is like.

This is where I've been looking at ASUS models Shop4Thai Will probably be cheaper then their prices if you shop around.

The specific model > http://www.shop4thai.com/en/product/?pid=17325

Has NVidia Go7600 512MB video on board

[Gary A]

I have a Lenovo T43p that has all the bells and whistles. I bought it after the duo core T60 came out so I got a super discount. Everyone was hot for the dual processor. My T43p is less than a year old but so far it has been flawless. It is way more computer than I needed but it had the WiFi, Bluetooth, LAN and regular modem built in and that's what I was after. If it's anyway near as good as my old Thinkpad has been, I'll be well satisfied.

[nikster]

Just had a look at the Asus line up. Specs are very nice but no idea what the prices is like.

This is where I've been looking at ASUS models Shop4Thai Will probably be cheaper then their prices if you shop around.

The specific model > http://www.shop4thai.com/en/product/?pid=17325

Has NVidia Go7600 512MB video on board

Or - best of both worlds - print out the price list from shop4thai and other websites, then run around in the mall and see what you like, and if you like something, negotiate a price as good or better than the website. I am sure most if not all vendors will happily match the online price, and you get look at the machine in real life as well.

Make sure to look at the fine print though because Asus machines come in a large number of minor variations.

That's what I'd do...

[Crushdepth]

Ok I’ve toured Fortune and Pantip over the last couple of days. Basically my thoughts are that for medium to slightly upper end business laptops (looking 50-70k):

• IBM and Fujitsu and Toshiba offer the best bang for buck (specs on paper), in that order. However they are fairly close.

• ASUS and Benq didn’t have laptops available in this range (Benq seems to be virtually all low end, ASUS only has low end and extreme high end available here, nothing in the middle.

• I didn’t consider ACER just because of personal experiences with them (other people will disagree).

I’ve come down to three units, which have their own pros and cons:

• Fujitsu Lifebook S6311 (70,000 baht). The most RAM, and a really nice compact form factor without being too small. Would be very easy to lug around.

• IBM T60 (2623A25) (70,000 baht). The only one with a dedicated graphics card (I think Larger form factor (not really a compact) and a non-standard display size.

• IBM T60 (1951CP5) (60,00 baht). Similar to above but with a lower grade processor (still decent) and without the graphics card and 10k cheaper

I’m leaning towards the Fujitsu at the moment because portability is important to me (it is just the right size, I discounted the IBM X60s because they were too small).

Detailed specs below, please feel free to comment – I might be stuck with this thing for the next 5 years so I don’t want a lemon!

Fujitsu Lifebook S6311 (70,000 baht)

* Core 2 Duo T700 processor (2GHz)

- 4MB L2 cache, 667MHz FSB

- Intel Pro / Wireless 3945 BG network connection

- Intel 945 GM Express chipset

* 2 gigs DDR2 667 MHz

* 13.3” superfine XGA TFT, 300 nits, 1024x768 pixels

* Intel GMA950 with DVMT at max shared memory 224MB

* Dual layer DVD super multi writer

* 120 gig sata drive

* Bluetooth 2, EDR, infrared

* USB 2 x 3, PC card type II

* Card reader (SD + silly memory sticks)

* Fingerprint reader, bios lock, drive lock etc

* Spill resistant keyboard, quick launch panel

* Vista business edition

* 5 hour battery life (6 cell, 5200 mAh)

* 1.7kg weight.

* 1 year international warranty, year local warranty for years 2-3.

IBM T60 (2623A25) (70,000 baht)

* Core 2 Duo T700 processor (2GHz)

- 4MB L2 cache, 667MHz FSB

- Intel Pro / Wireless 3945 BG network connection

- Intel 945 PM Express chipset

* 1 gig DDR2 667 MHz

* 14.1” superfine SXGA+ (1400 x 1040 pixels)

* ATI Mobility RADEON X1400 with 256 hypermemory

* DVD multi burner (double layer – hot swap)

* 120 gig sata drive

* Bluetooth 2, EDR, infrared, gigabit ethernet

* USB 2 x 3, PC card type II

* Magnesium-allow rolled cage

* Fingerprint reader

* Vista business edition

* 4.3 hour battery life (6 cell)

* 2.32 kg weight.

* 3 year international warranty, 1 year ‘think protect’ insurance

IBM T60 (1951CP5) (60,00 baht)

* Core 2 Duo T5600 processor (1.83GHz)

- 2MB L2 cache, 667MHz FSB

- Intel Pro / Wireless 3945 BG network connection

- Intel 945 PM Express chipset

* 1 gig DDR2 667 MHz

* 14.1” superfine XGA (1024 x 768 pixels)

* Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950 with DVMT at max shared memory 224MB

* DVD multi burner (double layer – hot swap)

* 120 gig sata drive

* Bluetooth 2, EDR, infrared, gigabit ethernet

* USB 2 x 3, PC card type II

* Magnesium-allow rolled cage

* Fingerprint reader

* Vista business edition

* 4.3 hour battery life (6 cell)

* 2.32 kg weight.

* 3 year international warranty, 1 year ‘think protect’ insurance

[Crushdepth]

Some feedback - I ended up getting the Fujitsu Lifebook S6311 (specs are above). After a couple of weeks of use I am very happy with it, fantastic machine. Have dual booted it with Vista Business and Ubuntu 7.

[monty]

Crush,

how does Ubuntu handle the hardware side?

There's quite some pretty recent hardware stuff inside such as the fingerprint reader, sata interface, bluetooth etc...

[nikster]

Some feedback - I ended up getting the Fujitsu Lifebook S6311 (specs are above). After a couple of weeks of use I am very happy with it, fantastic machine. Have dual booted it with Vista Business and Ubuntu 7.

Sounds like a nice machine. I have a few questions/comments:

- Where is this Lifebook made? Malaysia or Japan? Or.. China?

- How bright is 300 nits? It sounds bright to me, I have an LCD TV with 500 nits, but that's very much on the bright side for LCD TVs. Is the display reflective? Is it bright enough to be operated in sunlight? Mainly want to know because I have a very dim screen on my Acer which is annoying.

- Do you actually get the advertised battery life? 5h sounds a lot to me.

And one comment: I would think the T60 with the integrated graphics would have a longer battery life than the one with dedicated graphics. Can't be the same... the graphics card uses a lot of power.

PS: Ubuntu will be fine as long as it's integrated graphics...

[Crushdepth]

The hardware recognition was fine (had to install from the 'alternate' cd) EXCEPT:

* It didn't recognise the intel a/b/g wireless. I got around this by installing ndiswrapper so now it is fine for general use. However, none of the wireless security tools work with ndiswrapper as they are all driver specific, and this was primarily why I installed Ubuntu! Apparently an intel driver has been developed but I haven't tried it yet.

* It didn't recognise the software modem (no suprise there), still trying to get around this.

I don't really know where it was made, it came with a lot of Japanese packaging but that doesn't really mean anything. The screen is very bright and clear. It's reflective so sometimes have to adjust the screen angle if there is a light behind, but not too bad.

I definitely don't get 5 hours of battery life, more like 3.5 (maybe 4 if dim the screen), but then I went with the fastest processor in the line. However the CD bay can be swapped for an additional battery pack, that would probably push the life over 5 hours.