Centrino vs. others & who has the best service?

First of all you have to look at 3 things in notebooks: features, notebook reliability, and notebook service (warranty repairs/support).

Dell, Toshiba, HP/Compaq are bunched in the middle in service so none of these excels at that. They are all large companies so they will be around but they nearly all have some or all their support in India. Apple is #1 in service and IBM is #2 (and #1 in PC's) in service. Sony is dead last in notebook and desktop service which is horrible as their pricing is like Apple but their service does not meet Apples. These surveys were similar in Consumer Reports and PC Magazine.

#2 reliability -- Dell uses mainstream components just as HP/Compaq and Toshiba does. The LCD's (the flat panel monitor)are made by several manufacturers (like Hitachi, Samsung, LG, etc) so that is not a factor either. Dell has outstanding desktops but where there notebooks often come up short is case integrity and the keyboards (but certain models may be better/worse than others). HP/Compaq is better on the HPZT3000/Compaq Centriono (see X1000forums.com) I have in comparison to the Dell 8600 in its case construction and its keyboard feel (IBM is tops for that and also they have the most durable cases as well but they are pricey and more business oriented) but their other key parts are not any better than Dells. In fact, Dell has some options on the 8600(128mb dedicated video and 7200rpm hard drive) the HP doesn't have.

3) Specs -- you will do fine with a built in minipci card (wi-fi) in nearly any notebook. The Pentium M Centrino Notebooks have a chipset to optimize battery life and offer the lighest weight possible but the wi-fi does not perform any better in the Pentium 4M or Athlon 64 notebooks -- it is mainly the battery life enchancement the Centrino offers.

The Athlon 64 is a great option for the future because it is already 64bit but they are thicker, heavier and use more batteries right now than the Pentium M Centrinos (but low voltage Athlon 64 is coming around Christmas and that may change things and make their notebook size, weight and battery life closer to the Pentium M 32 bit (Centrino).

My best advice to you is not to spend over $1500 as no matter what you buy you will want another notebook when Microsoft Longhorn 64bit arrives in late 2006-2007. So buying a notebook in the $1,000-$1,750 price range will cost you about $500 a year for that time and that is where you want to be at.

Gateway actually came out 3 in the service survey (behind Apple and IBM) -- the main thing with them is they closed their retail stores and merged with E-machines (actually good as E-machines low-end desktops have been quite reliable and service was also decent for their desktops). Best Buy is selling much of their retail store items so you will see some interesting and competitively priced Gateway models at Best Buy (and LCD panels also).

Dells can be customized but they are overpriced (at least unless you get a huge discount) for notebooks (desktops are first rate) and they have the keyboard and case flex issues -- also find a mall kiosk to try one beforehand as you can't go to Best Buy or Circuit City.

HP/Compaq and Toshiba offer a wide range of offerings.

I would recommend the Athlon 64 (more limited manufacturers right now) or the Pentium M Centrino over the Pentium 4M unless you want the absolute fastest performance and the expense of weight, battery life, thickness and especially heat.

A Pentium M Centrio (or an Apple) will get at least 3.5-4 hours battery life (if it is at least an 8 cell battery -- watch out for 4 cell batteries like some Acers which give you 1/2 the charge of an 8 cell and defeat the purpose) and up to 5 hours with wi-fi turned off.

The most important issues are whether or not you need dedicated video RAM (essential for many popular games and video editing, etc. The HPZT3000/Compaq X1000 (6.5 pounds, 15.4" widescreen, Pentium M) has up to 64mb dedicated video.

If you don't need the dedicated video (use shared video graphics which uses part of your system RAM) the HP DV1000 (14" widescreen, 5.3 pounds, Pentium M) is a great new choice. Both can be ordered with the HP Briteview LCD and this model has DVD/CD with the computer turned off (instant on and even better battery life) and a remote control in the PC card slot. You can price these for specific options at hpshopping.com and try them out at Best Buy/Circuit City, etc.

Toshiba also makes the M30/M35 series (some have shared video, some do not) which is Pentium M based and has the Trubrite LCD (similar to Xbrite) on some models.

If I was buying right now I would still get a Pentium M Centrino due to the thinner/lighter notebooks (for comparable LCD size) and great performance (Dothan CPUS have 2mb L2 system cache on the chip).

But when that Athlon 64 low voltage chip arrives (and if they can put this is a thinner and lighter case) that would become the easy choice as it is already 64bit.

But you may in fact want to get the Athlon 64 notebook now anyway if you use Linux or want the best performance past the 2-3 year point when Longhorn 64 bit appears.

But keep in mind that 64 bit 2 cpu per chip processors will be out, there will be faster motherboards and memory speeds, and you are better off buying a new computer over installing an operating system upgrade at that time anyway.