Bang for the buck laptop

[hooah]

Looking for a laptop to take over with me to Iraq. I am leaving March 10. I was getting ready to buy one a couple months ago but then my jeep was totaled in an accident and I haven't had the money to buy one until now. I want to keep it under 2k, preferably under 1500 dollars if I can. I want to basically do anything with it. Internet, games, music, video, pictures...it will basically be my source of all entertainment over there haha. I would like it to be able to connect to a tv and if anyone could recommend any good plug in speakers since laptops usually have crappy one, that would be great (don't include that in the budget). So basically
Budget: MAX $2000, would like to keep it around 1500, but am willing to spend more
Uses: Gaming, watching videos, downloading pictures, internet browsing, music...all entertainment related activities, would like to have tv hookup capabilities.

I have heard that the 7950 gtx cards are the best deals right now because they play everything and are relatively cheap. Please post some sites and links to where I can get my laptop.

[Masaki 7-11]

7950GTX is a really high-end video card for a laptop, so getting a laptop like that would be really big, have bad battery life, run really hot, and be really expensive. An Acer laptop such as the one in the link has really good battery life, performance and doesn't weigh too much. It has S-Video (you'll need an S-Video to Composite if you want to use the Composite (yellow) video cable instead), HDMI and VGA, so if you have a high-definition TV you want to connect this to, then you'll have the right connections. The laptop also has the new Penryn processor, 3GB of ram, and 250GB hard drive, and an 8600M GT, so in terms of performance, it should be able to keep up with pretty much anything you throw at it (you might need to mess around with the video settings in some newer games though). Here's the link to it: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834115458

I'm assuming you'll want 2.0 speakers (no sub) so I've made links to some speakers which can make good bass replication without using a sub.
For around $50, these speakers are pretty good:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16836116031
At $130 these speakers will be better than the $50, especially since they have better bass replication: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16836116036

[glc]

You aren't going to get anything with better performance for the money than that Acer, my only hesitation is how Acer partitions the hard drive, longterm reliability, and the incredible amount of preinstalled crap.

[oddjob]

Originally Posted by glc You aren't going to get anything with better performance for the money than that Acer, my only hesitation is how Acer partitions the hard drive, longterm reliability, and the incredible amount of preinstalled crap.

I haven't looked lately; but is this the way Acer is heading? (I did find the hdd partitioning a little strange, too)

My wife's Travelmate barely had any preloaded software when I bought it a year ago. It has their laptop managment utility and a CD/DVD burning suite, but that was it. What I've liked about them is/was the small amount of preloaded software (and their warranty service in Canada is top notch - they pay shipping both ways!).

[glc]

Travelmates are designed for business users. Aspires are designed for home users. Most laptop manufacturers take it easy on their business customers but sock it to the home users.

[liambl]

My Aspire didn't come with a hell of a lot of crap. Just Norton AV, Cyberlink Powerproducer and the Acer Empowering Tech thing. All of which I uninstalled as soon as I got it.

[bd1886]

In conversation with some friends (whose son has done a few tours there), they ended up sending him quite a bit of stuff to keep his laptop use as hassle free as possible. Things like cans of air,high quality head phones,privacy web cam, wipes,safe release tape, screen and keyboard protectors and a cooler. (Guess the sand and heat can do a number on stuff.) Probably a backup battery would be a good idea too. Sending stuff runs from him receiving it fairly quick to as much as 2 weeks.

[drb46]

After reading about the Acer Laptop, it would seem like what I've been looking for. Except I would like to know how to uninstall VISTA and install XP......at the same time being able to use the correct drivers??

[Masaki 7-11]

Originally Posted by drb46 After reading about the Acer Laptop, it would seem like what I've been looking for. Except I would like to know how to uninstall VISTA and install XP......at the same time being able to use the correct drivers??

This laptop has both vista and windows xp drivers available for it, so all you would have to do is install windows XP (formatting the hard drive in the process) and download/install the drivers once you are into windows. You may have trouble installing windows XP since XP doesn't natively support SATA, in which case you're either going to need to buy an external floppy disk drive to load up the SATA drivers, or slip-stream the SATA drivers into the windows disc. Installing XP will void your warranty (or most of it), so you won't have access to tech support because your changing the OS on the laptop, you should still have warranty on the parts, but I would be careful with changing the OS unless you are ok with the warranty being void. Your best bet would be to call a customer service rep at acer and ask if installing xp will void the warranty and how you would go about installing the OS. You might even be able to get the laptop and send it to acer to get windows xp installed, but you'd have to talk to acer first to see exactly what you would be able to do regarding getting XP on the laptop.

[drb46]

Originally Posted by Masaki 7-11 This laptop has both vista and windows xp drivers available for it, so all you would have to do is install windows XP (formatting the hard drive in the process) and download/install the drivers once you are into windows. You may have trouble installing windows XP since XP doesn't natively support SATA, in which case you're either going to need to buy an external floppy disk drive to load up the SATA drivers, or slip-stream the SATA drivers into the windows disc. Installing XP will void your warranty (or most of it), so you won't have access to tech support because your changing the OS on the laptop, you should still have warranty on the parts, but I would be careful with changing the OS unless you are ok with the warranty being void. Your best bet would be to call a customer service rep at acer and ask if installing xp will void the warranty and how you would go about installing the OS. You might even be able to get the laptop and send it to acer to get windows xp installed, but you'd have to talk to acer first to see exactly what you would be able to do regarding getting XP on the laptop.

Thanks for the reply, I think that you answered all of my questions.

[thefultonhow]

Originally Posted by Masaki 7-11 You may have trouble installing windows XP since XP doesn't natively support SATA, in which case you're either going to need to buy an external floppy disk drive to load up the SATA drivers, or slip-stream the SATA drivers into the windows disc.

It's also possible that there may be an option to enable compatibility mode or turn off AHCI -- this will allow you to install XP without loading SATA drivers. I'm not sure if Acers have that option, though; I know Dells and Lenovos do, and I think HP/Compaqs don't, but I have no idea on whether Acers do.

[hooah]

ya acer seems to be a good brand, I bought my mother one of the cheaper versions and she loves it, does anybody have any complaints about them? The only weird thing with her computer was that I had to search the partition to reinstall