Jonzee.com

If you have been checking out this blog for a while or have listened to an earlier episode of the Jonzee.com Podcast, you’ve probably heard me talk about my little laptop accident. Its been a couple of months now since I have been notebookless and I have been checking around for a replacement and I figured maybe you can give me a little advice.

The Notebook I had was a Sager 4750(the link takes you to a different configuration), one of the first 17” notebooks I came across back when 17” screens in a notebook was a new thing. The specs on the one I had was a 3 ghz P4 processor w/hyperthreading, 1 gig ram, ATI mobil Radeon 9600 w/128mb ram, 60 gig Hdd, Dvd burner, and tv tuner card w/remote. I paid about $2000 for it. I was pretty happy with that notebook, it performed really well for the 2 years of use. And other than it being a little hotter than the average laptop. It was great.

Now that Im in the market, I have been undecided on what I want to do. At the top level of choices, which is a choice I havent made yet, I’m not sure if I’m gonna try to get a notebook that I would consider to be comparable to my original, but in todays specs, or will I just go out and buy one of those $400-$700 “el cheapo” laptops Ive been seeing around lately. But today Im asking about the first choice out of the 2.

Ok, If I go for the first choice, which is to find a notebook that I would consider comparable to the one I lost but in todays specs, I figure what I would want as far as the hardware inside are as follows: 17” screen, 2.0ghz core 2 duo Processor, 1 gig ram, 60 gig hdd, Nvidia 7900 vid card, DVD burner etc. Also, just like with the original, I only want to spend about $2000. Now Looking at those specs as a guide, Ive found 4 notebooks that interest me and Im gonna talk briefly about each one of them, pros and cons and maybe the people visiting this site could give me a little feedback on what they think.

The First Notebook I have been looking at is the Sager 5760. Of coarse, since the notebook I had at first was a Sager, I figured that Id check them out again to see if maybe they will have something similar but with todays specs, for a similar price as the last one I bought. This one looks like it is close. The Specs on this 10 pounder included the 2 ghz core 2 duo, 60gig hdd,1 gig ram, Dvd burner, Nvidia 7950 w/512 ram vid card, and Bluetooth. The price on the configuration I choose totaled about $2498. The only problem I had with my previous Sager was that it tends to get pretty hot, and I would probably guess that unless they figured out something, this one would probably get hot as well. The specs on this one is really nice, nice enough that it would most likely fulfill my needs sufficiently for about 2 years or more.

Pros: Has the 2ghz core 2 duo, Has the Nvidia 7950 512 card, 17” screen.
Cons: Unknown, but will probably be a little warm, The $2498 Price is well over my target.

The next notebook I have on my list is the Toshiba Satilite P105-S9722. Right off the bat the first thing that is really appealing about this one is that it can be found locally at Bestbuy, Compusa, and Circuit City, So I could go to one of those stores and buy it and don’t have to wait on it. The specs on this one: 17”screen, 2ghz core 2 duo, 2 gig Ram, 200gig hdd (4200 rpm), Nvidia 7900 256mb vid card and the price on this one is $1999. This almost seem like a no brainer for the specs I listed that I wanted but not quite. It sounds good though

Pros: 17”screen, 2ghz core 2 duo, 2 gigs ram, vid card, 200gig Hdd Price, Can buy locally so I don’t have to wait for Shipping

Cons: Would like to have higher resolution screen this one is 1440×900 which isn’t bad but there are 2 17” screens that has a higher native resolution that isn’t offered with this notebook. I really don’t like Hdds lower than 5400rpm, usually stay away from the 4200RPM Hdd’s.

The Third on my list here is the HP Pavilion DV9000t. This one is actually a little cheaper than the Toshiba with a price point of about $1899. Its also a notebook that can be found at a local store, so once again I could just potentially go out and buy it and not have to wait. The rest of the specs are 2ghz core 2 duo, 2 gig ram, 100gig Hdd, Nvidia 7600 256mb vid……hmmmm sounds good but…

Pros: 2ghz core 2 duo, 100gig Hdd, 2gig Ram

Cons: Vid card (Nvidia 7600), I really, really don’t want to go any lower than the 7900 Nvidia card, this is almost a deal breaker for me.

Now we come to the last one on my list, the Gateway NX860XL. Now the Gateway’s specs are: 2ghz core 2 duo, 2 gig ram, 80gig Hdd, Nvidia 7900 256 vid card and this is for about 1999 once I added Windows xp pro instead of the default Windows media center edition that comes with it. It Also has the 17” WUXGA Screen (native 1920X1200 resolution). This sounds almost perfect, but like every one Ive listed sofar theres something that burdens this particular Notebook also. What could it possibly be, it has just about every spec requirement that Ive listed…Read on…

Pros: Specs all meet, 2ghz core 2 duo processor, 2 gigs ram, Nvidia 7900 256 vid card, all seems fine

Cons: When I went through the checkout process to pick out my components, I found that it would take over a month before it ships, then add 3-7 days shipping, thats insane to have to wait that long.

So now that you’ve had a chance to read over the the selection Ive been checking out, let me know what you think, leave a comment.