I would not recommend a Pentium 4M notebook now unless you really only want a desktop replacement (not a true notebook for battery life, lighter weight, less heat and thickness, etc).
If you want an Athlon 64 try to wait for the low voltage cpus which should increase battery life and may also drop the weight of the notebooks closer to the Pentium M Centrinos (currently 15.4" Compaq R3000 and HP sister notebook Athlon 64 is 7.8 pounds). See R3000forums.com on details for these 2 notebooks (not low voltage yet) and ordering discounts at hpshopping.com
Or, get a Pentium M Centrino notebook and you can drop down to the 6.5 pounds for the 15.4" LCD on the Compaq X1000/HPZT3000 I have (see X1000forums.com) or go lower if you get a smaller LCD.
Both of the above notebooks have up to 64mb dedicated video right now but new models may change that.
The low voltage Athlon 64 notebooks and the new Centrino Sonoma spec Pentium M notebooks should be coming out in February.........
Compaq does have a new Pentium 4M notebook with a good video card for gaming (M6000) so see hpshopping but I would recommend the Athlon 64 or Pentium M --Bestbuy retail or online has the Gateway/E-machines Athlon 64/Pentium M notebooks as well....
What would be the best choice of laptop to get if i had about 1200 dollars to spare? My desired specifications are: at least 512 RAM, at least 30 or 40 GB hardd, at least P-4 2.6 GHz or faster, or some kind of Athlon.. and a fairly good graphics card.
Also, can someone explain to me all the different kinds of AMD Athlons? Like, can u tell me how fast a AMD Athlon-XP would be on a notebook? Thanks.

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