Recommend Me A Laptop

[Drunner611]

Well. It's pretty simple. I've had my head in so deep to the desktop market for so long that I have absolutely no idea what's going on in the laptop market. So here's a list of a few things that I'm really looking for. I'm open to any and all reasonable ideas

1) Portable. Maybe ultra portable (seems like I heard that somewhere). I'm assuming under a 16" screen? Should be relatively small, but a full keyboard is a plus.

2) Great battery life. I have no idea what to look for here, but I want something that will be worth my time to travel with. A 3hr battery life won't cut it (unless that's the best it gets?)

3) Quick and snappy. I want this thing to feel quick, whether it is or not. There is a very good possibility that I'll be running a linux distro (ubuntu) or a very lite version of server 2008 or xp.
I don't know how to make it snappy though? More emphasis on ram or processor?

4) Video. I need quality video playback? Is this possible on a portable? I'm assuming with what I want that I'll have an integrated vidcard? I won't be doing hardly any 3d applications. Maybe I'll throw on TA or Starcraft to pass the time. I don't intend to play any high IQ games though. That's what my desktop's for.

5) Great wifi capabilities. I know that most laptops will have this. But I want to get something with a nice setup/range in this are.

So, is this all possible? Any help/recommendations would be great!

A budget would be under $1000, but the lower the better. I would easily consider a cheaper laptop if it's quality is enough for what I want.

Thanks in advance.

[Masaki 7-11]

Take a look at the Dell Inspiron 1420, the stock configuration should be fine, but you'll want to get a 9 cell battery over the stock 6 cell, so you get more battery life. It's price will be about $800 when using the Pentium Dual Core version and getting the 9 cell battery.

[liambl]

The Inspiron 1420 with the "Best" configuration would fit your needs. It has a 1.8GHz Core 2 Duo, 2GB RAM and a Geforce 8400m GS. That card will play most games with the lowest detail settings, not sure about Starcraft though. The 9-cell battery would be a good investment.

[Masaki 7-11]

If referring to Starcraft as in the original released in 1998, you won't have any problems whatsoever even when using the slowest of the Inspiron 1420. I used to play Starcraft on my first computer (Pentium 486 75MHz, 12MB Ram, 512MB HD), any of the Inspiron 1420 are way more than 100 times as fast as my first computer. The Pentium Dual Core with integrated graphics will provide more battery life, and as long as you are playing older games (Say 2005 and older) you won't have any problems. If you are interested in playing newer games, then you'll need at least the 8400m GS. As bad as the integrated graphics are for newer games, they offer very good video playback, even at very high resolutions (think 1080p) it will look good and have low CPU utilization (better battery life).

[Drunner611]

Yes, the original starcraft is what I mean. There will be almost no gaming on this pc, and definitely no newer games.

So dell is all you guys got? Does this seem to be the census for low power, low gaming, snappy laptop?

[Alaron]

Dell is the best option in this situation. I concur with the others here, that 1420 will cover what you need.