Lappie selection

[Nameite]

Ok so long story short, left my house in SA and went to China, then lost my gf, lost my job, most of my savings, broke my lappie and work lappie; and busy recovering in home land Taiwan with family and not sure where to head to next but, I need a lappie for now for communication, job search and some gaming here and there to put my mind off things.

I have around NT$20,000 to spend, roughly equalling to R5700 (R1 = NT$3.5 roughly) and I have a few options aftering scoping around the area:

Asus X61 - Pentium Dual Core T4200 2.0Ghz 1M cache, 2G DDR2-800, 320Gig hdd, 9400M 512mb, 16" LCD - NT$20,800

Asus X61 SL - Pentium Dual Core T4200 2.0Ghz 1M cache, 2G DDR2-800, 320Gig hdd, HD4570 512mb 16" - NT$22,400

Asus K40 - Pentium Dual Core T4200 - T4200 2.0Ghz 1M cache, 2G DDR2-800, 320Gig hdd, Geforce 102M 512mb, 14.1" - NT$22,000

Asus "something" - Core2Duo P9400 (if I recall correctly, or a T9400) 2.53Ghz, 1Gig DDR-800, 160gig hdd, 9300M 512mb 16" - NT$19,900

Now reason why its all Asus becoz they seem to be the only ones with dedicated video ram GPUs within that price, unless I go for a dual core AMD Athlon/Turion.

Anyways the last Asus something is from the factory directly so wont have the Asus global 24 month warranty, instead a one year supplier/manufacturer warranty.

Is any of these a good option for a guy who dont even know where to go yet? Or should I just get a netbook/EeePC (something small and cheap) or like half the price and get me a good desktop later when I settle?

Shot

 

[cerebus]

I didn't know you were Taiwanese. not sure why I should know that anyway

 

[Nameite]

I didn't know you were Taiwanese. not sure why I should know that anyway

Well I am actually South African Parents were Taiwanese.

Anyways, help me pick. Using internet cafes for normal browsing is ok, but for banking and stuff it isn't very safe...So I need to made a decision quick...

 

[PeterCH]

Well I am actually South African Parents were Taiwanese.

Anyways, help me pick. Using internet cafes for normal browsing is ok, but for banking and stuff it isn't very safe...So I need to made a decision quick...

Get an Acer.... not!

Google for performance differences between the GPUs, I guess.

 

[Nameite]

I just did...3dmark for

4570 = 3k
9400m = 2k
102M = 1.5k
9300M = 1.8k

I'm gonna get a BenQ S42-TP05 rather, its got a 9600GT M and a P8600 CPU...for 2 grand more...

Apparently the X61 has SIS chipset, which everyone here thinks is terrible...wonder why VIA and SIS have such bad reps

 

[Praeses]

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile...sional=0&search=&sort=3dmark06&vantage3dmark=

 

[alkit]

Unless you are into gaming, take the Asus 'something'. The Core2duo kicks the pants off a Dual core. Just make sure to spend an extra few bucks upgrading the RAM to at least 2GB (pref 4GB)

 

[Nameite]

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile...sional=0&search=&sort=3dmark06&vantage3dmark=

Sweet thanks! Best mobile GPU site ever

Unless you are into gaming, take the Asus 'something'. The Core2duo kicks the pants off a Dual core. Just make sure to spend an extra few bucks upgrading the RAM to at least 2GB (pref 4GB)

Yeah, cheapest and stuff. But the one year local warranty worries me.

Think I might just come back to SA...good old RRC SA (Rape Robbery Corruption)

 

[Nameite]

Ok so...I have narrowed it down to two machines...

BenQ S42-PT05: C2D P8600 Peryn 45nm 3mb cache, 9600M GT 256mb, 320g hdd, windows Vista Premium (can be upgraded to windows 7 for free ), 4gig DDR2-667, 14", 2Mbit webcam - 8.5k

Or

Levono Idealpad Y550a - Pentium Dual Core T4200 1mb cache, GT 130M 512mb, 320g hdd, Win Vista Basic (not upgradable to Win7 for free), 4gig DDR3-1066, 15,6", 1.3mbit webcam, probably better bass/speakers. 7.5k

The GT 130M is basically the successor of the 9600M GT, so slightly better.
So should I get better GPU + faster RAM or better CPU + webcam + Win7! for 1k extra?

 

[cerebus]

Tough choice - I'd go for the benq. You'll be happy when win7 comes out I reckon.

 

[Nameite]

Sweet

Your post helped me with my decision! BenQ it is!

 

[cerebus]

are those taiwanese prices? Flip!

 

[heynnow]

WHAT ABOUT MSI?

You live in MSI headquarters! They have some awesome laptops!

 

[Nameite]

are those taiwanese prices? Flip!

Haha yeah, wonder how much it is back in sunny SA?

WHAT ABOUT MSI?

You live in MSI headquarters! They have some awesome laptops!

They have but not the price range I was looking for, for the same price I can only get a ATI 4570 and maybe a T6600 (2.2ghz, 2mb cache)

I am in MSI,Asus, Acer, BenQ and whatever else headquarters Though I must say...I've seen better deals in China...2nd hand deals at least