[Keith in Iowa]

I'd go with the one with the most memory.

[Coyoteman]

If you need a "lapetap" you better go with a Mac. They are much easier to operate, and you have shown that you need all the help you can get IMHO.

[agitator]

My personal experience with IBM is that you can faster, more accurate, more reliable responses from the IRS than you can with IBM.

[Texas_Jarhead]

ONE:
Centrino 1.7 GHz = P4 2.6 GHz
Centrino provides longer battery life
The faster HDD the better
Unless you'll be running many apps & services simultaneously then 512 Mb is fine

TWO:
Disk access speeds do play a significant role in system performance

THREE:
I have no idea. google maybe...

[Hoosier-Daddy]

I've heard that the bottleneck is the information coming out of the chip and into the bus. 64bit or 32 bit(?) chips and 16 bit bus. Personally, I've seen RAM allocation to be the problem. Windows (at least in the past) does not release memory well after it's used. Your best bet is a side by side comparison test running the same programs, doing the same tasks. For question 3: Google - it's all there.

[Cold Heat]

Get plenty of memory and yes, the hard drive speed is the bottleneck.

[BJungNan]

The fastest would be the Jornada 720. But it is a handheld and not a laptop. May not do all you need but then I never figured out why most people that carry laptops ever really need to.

Get a desk top and sync it to the 720 and you will never go back to lugging a laptop. By the way, the battery in the Jornada 720 lasts about 11 hours.

[KarlInOhio]

What are you going to be using your computer for?

Heavy-duty gaming, 3-D modeling, compiling programs for Altera chips (the current coffee break inspiring CPU killer at work)? Or will you be primarily browsing the web and of course Freeping? If it is the second, cheaper one because both systems are overkill.

Also, look into a wireless ethernet card and router. My 802.11 network is probably the best money I've spent in years on computers.

[the_Watchman]

Having been in the computer business for over 25 years, albeit the mainframe side, and having participated in many formal benchmarks and measurements during that timeframe, I can tell you that nobody here is giving you the correct response, which IT DEPENDS!

When it comes to computers you have to state what your application requirements will be. If you have a memory bound application, then the CPU speed will dictate the results. If you want games, then you should pay attention to your video card and amount of graphics memory.

If you want Microsoft Word to start fast, then disk speed is an issue. If you expect Microsoft Word to edit fast, then you won't be able to tell the difference between the two machines you mentioned. In short, nobody can give you the correct answer until you tell us what you intend to do with the machines and which functions need to be "fast".

BTW: Why IBM? Why not Dell or HP? I also agree with the poster who pointed out that battery life is an important issue.

[handk]

What is a "lapetop"?

[The Radical Capitalist]

The trade-offs between hard disk, processor and memory depend on what you are going to use the computer for.

If you are creating video, I would not recommend anything less than a 7200 rpm drive. A lower speed drive just won't cut it. You'll also need a high end processor and at least 512M of memory.

If, however, you don't need to lay down a whole lot of data in a short amount of time to the drive, then a lower-speed drive would do. A good example of the second choice is doing still graphics like Photoshop. In a case like this, processor speed and memory are much more important than hard disk speed.

For most everyday operations like word processing and surfing the web, the most important element is memory. More memory just makes everything work a lot better, letting you keep multiple windows open at the same time, keeping the appliations from crashing, etc.

[randita]

My son has a Dell laptop (don't know his specs, but they are comparable to mine). I have a Mac PowerBook G4 (550 MHg, 556 MB). My son says my computer is much faster than his and mine is slow compared to most PowerBook G4's. My husband's PowerBook, at 667 MHz and added memory is faster than mine.

Can't wait until Mac comes out with a Powerbook version of the G5. That machine will be awesome.

Go to a local Apple store and try a PowerBook G4 out. You'll be impressed.

[honeygrl]

I clicked the thread solely to figure out what a lapetap was. :) I have no advice to give though.

[dennisw]

I wouldn't buy one unless I really needed mobility due to work related travel. They are too delicate. Screens are too small and they are always slower than desktops. The hard drives are always slower by 2,000 rpms. If I had to blow $700 I would go to Dell and buy a desktop with 17" LCD monitor.

Generalizations but this is how I see it.

[dennisw]

IBM is expensive. Go to this site and learn how to get ultra-cheap deals on Dell laptops and desktops. If I were in your shoes I would keep current laptop for travel and buy a desktop w/17" LCD.


http://www.gotapex.com/deals.php

[xdem]

Buy the laptop with ATI graphics if you want to do games. Althought a better notebook computer with an embedded ATI Radeon 9000 would be better for that. Dell has these.

If you don't care about games, but either one, but go for ergonomics of keyboard, mouse, and screen.

[Khurkris]

A good site to do some research:

http://www.pclaptops.com/index.html