Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

General discussion

help choosing new notebook--student

Jun 10, 2004 9:46AM PDT

I'm a college student looking to buy a new laptop.
I need 30GB of RAM (I only need enough to run Kazaa, rioport and microsoft word)
516MB preferred
5,400rpm
Firewire for my i-pod
maybe have Bluetooth
have it work w/ my linksys wireless
so it'll need at least 7 hours of battery life but maybe I just need to buy an extended battery
a very very nice protection system-this current laptop is full of viruses and needs to be restarted every couple of hours
I think I've narrowed it down to HP Compaq Business Notebook nc6000 (for performance) and the sony TR3ap (for looks)All suggestions are welcome, especially cheaper notebooks since I am going to have to save for more than a few months to purchase either laptop. Thanks

Discussion is locked

- Collapse -
Re:help choosing new notebook--student
Jun 10, 2004 9:57AM PDT

I forgot to add: ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY NO DELLS!!!
and I would like a comp w/ a pentium M processor or the new transmeta eficeion (does anyone know how they compare?) so I was also looking into the Sharp Actius MM20

- Collapse -
Re:help choosing new notebook--student
Jun 11, 2004 1:32PM PDT

i better stick with mm20 for 1349 dls , x505 over price for 3000 dls plus mm20 run cool without fan and not heat like intc M .
sharp mm20 run approximately 3 hour battery power (optional 9-hour extended use battery available)

- Collapse -
Re: help choosing new notebook--student
Jun 21, 2004 1:14PM PDT

check out notebookforums.com for oems and resellers

- Collapse -
Re: help choosing new notebook--student
Jun 22, 2004 2:16AM PDT

Hey you said you had a iPod; just wanted to tell you that you can only use FireWire for iPod on Apple computers. You will have to use a USB 2.0 cable to use it on PC. That's what the Apple Website said. By the way, the HP Compaq nc6000 are great laptops. Good Luck

- Collapse -
Re: help choosing new notebook--student
Sep 17, 2004 10:16AM PDT

If you buy a firewire card for you PC, you can use an iPod on your PC, through Firewire. The whole "charge the iPod" thing may not work so well, but charging it through an AC is MUCH better anyway.

Just use USB 2.0. It's much better in my opinion anyways. Then, you won't need a port, that you only use for your iPod. Use the USB for everything.

- Collapse -
Re: help choosing new notebook--student
Sep 12, 2004 6:52AM PDT

Have you thought about buying a barebone notebook. I reccomend Asus
M2Ne http://www.asus.com/prog/spec.asp?m=M2000-N%20Series&langs=09 M3Mp http://usa.asus.com/prog/spec.asp?m=M3000Np%20Series&langs=09
They are both great barebones. A barebone is you buy the parts and put them in (OR) some companeys will do it for you ($30-40 US Dollers) a good site to buy them both is http://1toppc.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Store_Code=GPS&Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=Notebook and they offer to assemble them or just ship as parts.