Suggestions to buy on-line a laptop in the Usa

Hi everyone, I'm from Italy. I will be in the Usa (Arizona) for three
months from May.
I'm searching for a laptop to buy on-line when i'll be in Usa, but i
have problem to find one with a graphic card not so bad, at cheap
cost, because every on-line seller haven't a narrow search about
graphic card, so to find it I must browse hundreds of pages. Most part
of notebook are with integrated memory for graphic, and i don't want
it. The best i found is dell.com. Someone can suggest me other
websites where can i search? Or some website similar to dell where i
can customize my notebook?
I'm searching for a 15,4" screen with at least 1 Gb ram, intel core 2
duo processor and good graphic card. Maximum prize 900 Dollars, but i
prefer less
Thank-you very much

phidias81@gmail.com wrote:
> Hi everyone, I'm from Italy. I will be in the Usa (Arizona) for three
> months from May.
> I'm searching for a laptop to buy on-line when i'll be in Usa, but i
> have problem to find one with a graphic card not so bad, at cheap
> cost, because every on-line seller haven't a narrow search about
> graphic card, so to find it I must browse hundreds of pages.

It's amazing that someone hasn't started a web site for notebook
shopping that allows inputting desired features such as non-UMA
graphics, weight, screen size, ports, slots, etc. You're right, it's a
huge hassle to narrow down good notebook choices.

One consideration is the warranty, is it valid in Italy? With Dell
business notebooks it is, see
"http://www.dell.com/content/topics/global.aspx/services/client_support/prog_portables?c=us&cs=04&l=en&s=bsd&redirect=1"

> it. The best i found is dell.com. Someone can suggest me other
> websites where can i search? Or some website similar to dell where i
> can customize my notebook?

HP offers the ability to customize.

> I'm searching for a 15,4" screen with at least 1 Gb ram, intel core 2
> duo processor and good graphic card. Maximum prize 900 Dollars, but i
> prefer less

You will have a hard time at $900 with those features. Most of the lower
cost notebooks don't have a Core2 Duo, and they use integrated graphics
with no upgrade available.

The HP DV6000T may be your only choice. You can come in just under $900,
not including sales tax (about 5.6% in Arizona) or shipping.

Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium (32-bit)
Intel(R) Core(TM) 2 Duo T5300(1.73GHz/2MB L2Cache)
15.4" WXGA BrightView Widescreen (1280x800)
256MB NVIDIA(R) GeForce(R) Go 7400
HP Imprint Finish + Microphone (required with the Nvidia card)
Memory FREE Upgrade from 512MB to 1GB DDR2 (2x512MB)!!
Hard Drive 120GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
Primary CD/DVD Drive: FREE Upgrade: 8X DVD+/-R/RW w/Double Layer

What are you using the laptop for that makes it sensitive to the video card?

Most laptops have integrated (chipset) video, but really the current
chipset video systems are pretty good for everything except intensive 3D
gaming, CAD and 3D modeling. The Intel GMA 950 and GMA X3000 on-chip
video is more than adequate for almost all common, typical video
requirements (including Vista Aero, digital photography and digital video).

All of the major US retail outlets have weekly specials on laptops.
This includes, in particular, Best Buy, Circuit City, OfficeMax, Office
Depot, Staples, CompUSA, Fry's (regional) and one or two others. While
they do not have a good deal every week, over a 90-day period you will
find some good deals (these are in-store deals, not online). Dell also
has good online deals ***IF*** you know how to buy from Dell and get a
good deal (for the most part, this means watching very closely the
special configurations and "electronic coupons" at www.techbargains.com,
which can save you half the price of some models and configurations).

Some of the best deals will occur from May to early August, as there are
a lot of deals aimed at graduating students and people going to college
in August. This period from late May to early August has some of the
best deals of the year, it's right up there with (and sometimes better
than) the holiday buying season.

The one problem that you have to watch out for is rebates, since you may
not be in a position to receive them. Personally, my experience with
rebates has been very good, but it is usually 12 weeks or so between
sending in the rebate application and receiving payment, and for you
that's a problem as you will no longer be in the US. Some retailers are
more problematic in this regard than others, and I'd watch out
especially for Office Depot rebates, as many of them have been difficult
or at least slow to collect even if you follow all of the instructions.
Best Buy and OfficeMax have tended to move away from rebates, while
CompUSA and Staples have moved to electronic rebates that are generally
a bit faster, smoother and more reliable than rebates that have to be
mailed in. But these are only for their own (e.g. retailer) rebates and
not for "manufacturer" rebates, which must still be mailed in, and they
still hold up payment until a couple of weeks after the return period
(usually 30 days) has passed.

Except for Dell, I think you will do better with an in-store purchase
than with an online purchase. The models I'd give most serious
consideration to are the Toshiba A135 models and the Dell E1505 models.
Both of these come in literally hundreds of configurations with
different CPU, memory, hard drive, optical drive and video, so you have
to know what you are buying. But you should be able to find something
meeting your requirements for $800 or less (it will be far more
difficult to find the Toshiba with any video other than chipset
integrated video, but I think you are probably being too demanding in
asking for discreet video unless you have an uncommon use for the
laptop; again, the most recent Intel integrated video systems are quite
good for all but the very most demanding 3D graphics applications).

phidias81@gmail.com wrote:
> Hi everyone, I'm from Italy. I will be in the Usa (Arizona) for three
> months from May.
> I'm searching for a laptop to buy on-line when i'll be in Usa, but i
> have problem to find one with a graphic card not so bad, at cheap
> cost, because every on-line seller haven't a narrow search about
> graphic card, so to find it I must browse hundreds of pages. Most part
> of notebook are with integrated memory for graphic, and i don't want
> it. The best i found is dell.com. Someone can suggest me other
> websites where can i search? Or some website similar to dell where i
> can customize my notebook?
> I'm searching for a 15,4" screen with at least 1 Gb ram, intel core 2
> duo processor and good graphic card. Maximum prize 900 Dollars, but i
> prefer less
> Thank-you very much
>

On Apr 24, 1:58 am, Barry Watzman <WatzmanNOS...@neo.rr.com> wrote:
> What are you using the laptop for that makes it sensitive to the video card?
>
> Most laptops have integrated (chipset) video, but really the current
> chipset video systems are pretty good for everything except intensive 3D
> gaming, CAD and 3D modeling. The Intel GMA 950 and GMA X3000 on-chip
> video is more than adequate for almost all common, typical video
> requirements (including Vista Aero, digital photography and digital video).
>
> All of the major US retail outlets have weekly specials on laptops.
> This includes, in particular, Best Buy, Circuit City, OfficeMax, Office
> Depot, Staples, CompUSA, Fry's (regional) and one or two others. While
> they do not have a good deal every week, over a 90-day period you will
> find some good deals (these are in-store deals, not online). Dell also
> has good online deals ***IF*** you know how to buy from Dell and get a
> good deal (for the most part, this means watching very closely the
> special configurations and "electronic coupons" atwww.techbargains.com,
> which can save you half the price of some models and configurations).
>
> Some of the best deals will occur from May to early August, as there are
> a lot of deals aimed at graduating students and people going to college
> in August. This period from late May to early August has some of the
> best deals of the year, it's right up there with (and sometimes better
> than) the holiday buying season.
>
> The one problem that you have to watch out for is rebates, since you may
> not be in a position to receive them. Personally, my experience with
> rebates has been very good, but it is usually 12 weeks or so between
> sending in the rebate application and receiving payment, and for you
> that's a problem as you will no longer be in the US. Some retailers are
> more problematic in this regard than others, and I'd watch out
> especially for Office Depot rebates, as many of them have been difficult
> or at least slow to collect even if you follow all of the instructions.
> Best Buy and OfficeMax have tended to move away from rebates, while
> CompUSA and Staples have moved to electronic rebates that are generally
> a bit faster, smoother and more reliable than rebates that have to be
> mailed in. But these are only for their own (e.g. retailer) rebates and
> not for "manufacturer" rebates, which must still be mailed in, and they
> still hold up payment until a couple of weeks after the return period
> (usually 30 days) has passed.
>
> Except for Dell, I think you will do better with an in-store purchase
> than with an online purchase. The models I'd give most serious
> consideration to are the Toshiba A135 models and the Dell E1505 models.
> Both of these come in literally hundreds of configurations with
> different CPU, memory, hard drive, optical drive and video, so you have
> to know what you are buying. But you should be able to find something
> meeting your requirements for $800 or less (it will be far more
> difficult to find the Toshiba with any video other than chipset
> integrated video, but I think you are probably being too demanding in
> asking for discreet video unless you have an uncommon use for the
> laptop; again, the most recent Intel integrated video systems are quite
> good for all but the very most demanding 3D graphics applications).
>
> phidia...@gmail.com wrote:
> > Hi everyone, I'm from Italy. I will be in the Usa (Arizona) for three
> > months from May.
> > I'm searching for a laptop to buy on-line when i'll be in Usa, but i
> > have problem to find one with a graphic card not so bad, at cheap
> > cost, because every on-line seller haven't a narrow search about
> > graphic card, so to find it I must browse hundreds of pages. Most part
> > of notebook are with integrated memory for graphic, and i don't want
> > it. The best i found is dell.com. Someone can suggest me other
> > websites where can i search? Or some website similar to dell where i
> > can customize my notebook?
> > I'm searching for a 15,4" screen with at least 1 Gb ram, intel core 2
> > duo processor and good graphic card. Maximum prize 900 Dollars, but i
> > prefer less
> > Thank-you very much

Thank you for your very useful reply. The problem is that I'm an
engineer-architect and i use very much Cad and 3d modeling. This will
be my private notebook, not work notebook, so i'll do it from time to
time not intensively. So i think to a medium graphic card. From this
benchmarks page, i was thinking at least something over ge force 7300.
http://www.notebookreview.it/articol...tazioni-2.html
In fact the rebates here in Italy isn't used, so i don't know how it
works and i can have some problems

phidias81@gmail.com wrote:

> Thank you for your very useful reply. The problem is that I'm an
> engineer-architect and i use very much Cad and 3d modeling. This will
> be my private notebook, not work notebook, so i'll do it from time to
> time not intensively. So i think to a medium graphic card. From this
> benchmarks page, i was thinking at least something over ge force 7300.
> http://www.notebookreview.it/articol...tazioni-2.html
> In fact the rebates here in Italy isn't used, so i don't know how it
> works and i can have some problems

You really want to avoid the super-cheap notebooks that use integrated
chipset video unless price is the _only_ consideration.

It's pretty rare to find a sub-$1000 notebook in a retail store that has
the higher-end graphics.

You need to find an HP or Dell that is customizable. Unfortunately
again, most of the low priced notebooks are not customizable with higher
end graphics cards.

I think that the HP DV6000T, which I mentioned earlier, is your best bet
for a $900 notebook with Core2 Duo, and non-UMA graphics.

I would not go quite that far. The latest Intel chipsets with
integrated video (in particular GMA950 and GMA3000 and X3000) are
actually pretty good. Agreed that a gamer won't be happy with them, but
I'm not sure that even phidias81, who is doing CAD, wouldn't find them
acceptable.


SMS wrote:
> phidias81@gmail.com wrote:
>
>> Thank you for your very useful reply. The problem is that I'm an
>> engineer-architect and i use very much Cad and 3d modeling. This will
>> be my private notebook, not work notebook, so i'll do it from time to
>> time not intensively. So i think to a medium graphic card. From this
>> benchmarks page, i was thinking at least something over ge force 7300.
>> http://www.notebookreview.it/articol...tazioni-2.html
>>
>> In fact the rebates here in Italy isn't used, so i don't know how it
>> works and i can have some problems
>
> You really want to avoid the super-cheap notebooks that use integrated
> chipset video unless price is the _only_ consideration.
>
> It's pretty rare to find a sub-$1000 notebook in a retail store that has
> the higher-end graphics.
>
> You need to find an HP or Dell that is customizable. Unfortunately
> again, most of the low priced notebooks are not customizable with higher
> end graphics cards.
>
> I think that the HP DV6000T, which I mentioned earlier, is your best bet
> for a $900 notebook with Core2 Duo, and non-UMA graphics.

Barry Watzman wrote:
> I would not go quite that far. The latest Intel chipsets with
> integrated video (in particular GMA950 and GMA3000 and X3000) are
> actually pretty good. Agreed that a gamer won't be happy with them, but
> I'm not sure that even phidias81, who is doing CAD, wouldn't find them
> acceptable.

Well I've used the previous generation of Intel chips with integrated
graphics to do CAD, and it's not something that was enjoyable. The cost
difference between integrated graphics and non-integrated graphics on
the same notebook is pretty small, the problem is that the lower-end
notebooks don't even give you the option of a discrete graphics chip.

I've seen people fall into the trap of buying mainly by price on
notebooks, and IMVAIO it's a big mistake. Look at the difference in the
quality of construction and materials between something like the Dell
Latitude series and the Dell Inspiron series.

There's no doubt that integrated graphics are not the best graphics
solution, and I was not suggesting that they were. BUT, first:

1. The last two generations of integrated graphics (GMA950 and GMA3000
and X3000) are far better than anything previous

and

2. In a laptop/notebook, you don't have the kind of choices that you
have in a desktop. Sure, in a desktop, you can go from integrated video
to much better discreet video for $100. But in a laptop, that same
change might triple the cost of the entire computer, going from the $550
range to the $1,500 range. Because, in fact, in most cases, "the same
notebook" isn't even offered with both integrated and discreet video,
with a few exceptions (primarily Dell, and not the lowest end Dell units).


SMS wrote:
> Barry Watzman wrote:
>> I would not go quite that far. The latest Intel chipsets with
>> integrated video (in particular GMA950 and GMA3000 and X3000) are
>> actually pretty good. Agreed that a gamer won't be happy with them,
>> but I'm not sure that even phidias81, who is doing CAD, wouldn't find
>> them acceptable.
>
> Well I've used the previous generation of Intel chips with integrated
> graphics to do CAD, and it's not something that was enjoyable. The cost
> difference between integrated graphics and non-integrated graphics on
> the same notebook is pretty small, the problem is that the lower-end
> notebooks don't even give you the option of a discrete graphics chip.
>
> I've seen people fall into the trap of buying mainly by price on
> notebooks, and IMVAIO it's a big mistake. Look at the difference in the
> quality of construction and materials between something like the Dell
> Latitude series and the Dell Inspiron series.

On Apr 26, 4:54 am, Barry Watzman <WatzmanNOS...@neo.rr.com> wrote:
> There's no doubt that integrated graphics are not the best graphics
> solution, and I was not suggesting that they were. BUT, first:
>
> 1. The last two generations of integrated graphics (GMA950 and GMA3000
> and X3000) are far better than anything previous
>
> and
>
> 2. In a laptop/notebook, you don't have the kind of choices that you
> have in a desktop. Sure, in a desktop, you can go from integrated video
> to much better discreet video for $100. But in a laptop, that same
> change might triple the cost of the entire computer, going from the $550
> range to the $1,500 range. Because, in fact, in most cases, "the same
> notebook" isn't even offered with both integrated and discreet video,
> with a few exceptions (primarily Dell, and not the lowest end Dell units).
>
> SMS wrote:
> > Barry Watzman wrote:
> >> I would not go quite that far. The latest Intel chipsets with
> >> integrated video (in particular GMA950 and GMA3000 and X3000) are
> >> actually pretty good. Agreed that a gamer won't be happy with them,
> >> but I'm not sure that even phidias81, who is doing CAD, wouldn't find
> >> them acceptable.
>
> > Well I've used the previous generation of Intel chips with integrated
> > graphics to do CAD, and it's not something that was enjoyable. The cost
> > difference between integrated graphics and non-integrated graphics on
> > the same notebook is pretty small, the problem is that the lower-end
> > notebooks don't even give you the option of a discrete graphics chip.
>
> > I've seen people fall into the trap of buying mainly by price on
> > notebooks, and IMVAIO it's a big mistake. Look at the difference in the
> > quality of construction and materials between something like the Dell
> > Latitude series and the Dell Inspiron series.

Wich is the best graphic card between geforce go 7300 ati mobility
x1400 to use with CAD-3d modeling? Thank you

Re: "Which is the best graphic card between geforce go 7300 ati mobility
x1400 to use with CAD-3d modeling?"

The question doesn't make sense in the context of a laptop, because, in
general (and with very few exceptions), you have no choice of video in a
laptop ... your only choice is to select an entirely different laptop
that has the desired video.


phidias81@gmail.com wrote:
> On Apr 26, 4:54 am, Barry Watzman <WatzmanNOS...@neo.rr.com> wrote:
>> There's no doubt that integrated graphics are not the best graphics
>> solution, and I was not suggesting that they were. BUT, first:
>>
>> 1. The last two generations of integrated graphics (GMA950 and GMA3000
>> and X3000) are far better than anything previous
>>
>> and
>>
>> 2. In a laptop/notebook, you don't have the kind of choices that you
>> have in a desktop. Sure, in a desktop, you can go from integrated video
>> to much better discreet video for $100. But in a laptop, that same
>> change might triple the cost of the entire computer, going from the $550
>> range to the $1,500 range. Because, in fact, in most cases, "the same
>> notebook" isn't even offered with both integrated and discreet video,
>> with a few exceptions (primarily Dell, and not the lowest end Dell units).
>>
>> SMS wrote:
>
> Which is the best graphic card between geforce go 7300 ati mobility
> x1400 to use with CAD-3d modeling? Thank you
>