Want opinions with a laptop choice

My laptop has gone to the BB shop in KY for the 5th time in 2 years. I have been told it falls under their replacement policy. So, I basically have $1100 to spend in their store to get a replacement. This covers 95% of all their Windows based laptops and 3 of their Apples.

I have come down to these choices:

Apple MacBook mb466LL/A
Intel® Core 2 Duo Processor 2.0GHz
2GB DDR3-1066 RAM
160GB 5,400RPM Hard Drive
NVIDIA GeForce 9400M 256M DDR3 (Shared)
13.3" Screen Backlit

ASUS G50Vt-X5
Intel® Core 2 Duo Processor 2.13GHz
4GB DDR3-1066 RAM
320GB 7,200RPM Hard Drive
NVIDIA GeForce 9800M GS 512M GDDR3
15.4" Screen

There are 2 other ASUS that fall in as well but they are similar to this one.

I know its "Apples and Oranges" (no pun intented) but any help or advice would be appreciated. Keepin mind, I can run WinXP on the Macbook too.

Get a easy to repair workstation

My 6 year old slow rebuilt HP desktop winxp pro workstation with dual 19" wide screen monitors can still run laps around a small screen, small keyboard, brand new portable anyday.

Yes I have worked in SL on a very powerful Vista laptop before and it was not comfortable.

If your plugging a regular mouse into it. (why have a laptop?)

Other than the advantage of not being able to play SL while in bed (...why?) and the possibility I could check my email at a remote highly un-secure wifi location (my more portable cell phone will do that!!) forgetaboutit

High fashion style points might be worth it to you but functionality is much more important to me.

The only dis-advantage I see is that I cant leave my workstation in the car and have someone steal it so I can file an insurance claim and get a new one. But maybe I can....


(cuz its a poll)
ASUS double is better

That, and you can't continue to play SL or surf the web when you go to the can.

I'd get the ASUS. Twice the memory, twice the hard drive and twice the video card.

why not? ...wait....never mind

ASUS. Mind you, if a hardcore Mac user gets in here, he/she will spend the next 10 posts telling you how great Mac is. Fact is, you are getting twice the hardware AND a bigger screen. Plus, the video card is better and has twice the onboard RAM.

Yes, I could build a monster desktop for far less and could easily upgrade it should it become necessary. But I don't want a desktop.

And yes, laptops get stolen from cars everyday. But I don't leave mine in my car. Portability is important to me.

True, but I keep getting told by Mac people that Macs don't need all that horsepower to run equal or better that a Windows machine. And Running Windows on a Mac is better tan running Windows on a PC.

My other main fear is that with the ASUS, I will be forced out of WinXP and into Windows Vista (64 bit). My SL (running Nicholaz EC-h) has been very stable under XP. I have heard nothing but horror stories about Vista. But then the stories about SL on a Mac haven't been much better.

Arrrrggghhhh!

One additional question:

Which is better? A 9600M GS with 1G or 9800m GS with 512M (both running or similar machines)?

Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaac!!!

I'd go with a 9800 over a 9600.

As for Vista, I think it has improved considerably since it was released. If I were buying a new PC today, I'd get Vista x64 installed on it without question.

They're BOTH built by ASUS, last I heard.

If you want to run Mac OS X, get the Macbook. Otherwise get a Thinkpad. Your carpal tunnel and ulnar nerve will thank you.
When it comes to running SL, it's purely a matter of CPU+GPU, and you'll get more power for your money with just about anything but a Mac.

Edit: I have a Mac because I'd rather have 30% less horsepower than deal with Windows one second more than I have to - and I was a Windows network admin for almost two decades. Other people have other reasons for their choices.

Edit #2:SL is alleged to be unable to take advantage of more then 512M of VRAM.

Since this is an SL forum, my answer favours which one runs SL better, so get the Asus.

YES! Grab all the Asus you can!

That's what grandad always told me.

You only listed one laptop. The MacBook is NOT a laptop, but a notebook: Using the MacBook on your lap is a great way to give yourself a burn. Those things run 200°F no problem.

Do they sell Lenovo ThinkPads? Hard to do better for the money.

Well, I think the problem there was "vista." I have a Lenovo ThinkPad T400 (2.26GHz Core2Duo, 2GB RAM, Radeon HD 3400, a keyboard large enough for my massive hands to use comfortably, trackpoint, trackpad, wifi, bluetooth, firewire, DVDRW), and it's dog slow in Vista and is noticably slower than my desktop.

Running Debian, it seriously outpaces my 3-year-old desktop (which also runs Debian).

Citation needed. Back when Apples ran on their own architecture, the hardware emulation required to run Windows was dog slow. Now, Apple uses the same architecture as the rest of the commodity computing market: Apples /are/ PCs these days.

Just more expensive for the same thing

Almost. Apple's pretty good about giving you a decent piece of hardware, even if it is overpriced and prone to attracting the fingerprints of everyone in a three kilometer radius. It doesn't help that Dell and HP tend to follow Apple's price point, but still cheap out on the components...

Technically, you wouldn't want to place ANY modern "laptop" directly in your lap. Most of them, especially the DTRs, will burn the hell out of you - and then burn itself out as your leg blocks the ventilation openings.

I recently got an ASUS laptop with Vista on it and have been pleasantly surprised by Vista. It was a big switch from XP, but it hasn't been horrible at all. SL runs like a dream.

Um, for SL? Isn't it more tortoise and hare? From what I learned when I had the same question, the second number of NVidia is more important, higher is faster... So why not your second option?Sadly they haven't updated the graph of video card performance in SL to include these newer cards, but it seems the "4"s run SL between 15-20 fps, while the "8"s run over 25 fps...so if most everything else isn't compelling enough to make the decision for you?

Even then, the numbers alone aren't a really good indication either. I have an nVidia 8600M GS (yes, a mobility chip), and average 30-40FPS in SL.

Apple's about 30% more expensive than Dell or HP. Their profit margins are also about 30% higher than Dell or HP. Connect the dots.

I used to get ASUS for everything, but the last two ASUS motherboards I bought were real lemons.

That's not true, some companies still produce laptops. I can comfortably use my ThinkPad T400 on my lap without problems. They make a point to disperse heat only out the sides of the unit (the bottom remains cool), so unless you're morbidly obese to the point you roll up around the edges of the laptop, nothing gets blocked.

Well Best Buys Service finally declared my old laptop a lemon (after 6 weeks). And after being told one thing after another, about how they replace it, then another, then another. No, an Mac was not allowed. They tried to give me a low end Dell... not gonna happen.

Long story short (I know, too late) after 3-1/2 hours of haggling, we agreed on an ASUS X83VM-X2:

Intel Centrino 2 - 2.13GHz / 1066MHz bus / 3MB on die Level 2
14.1" LED Widescreen - WXGA 1280 x 800
4GB RAM PC2-6400 DDR2 SDRAM
320GB SATA (7200 rpm)
NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GS w/1GB
Intel Wireless A/B/G/N
Windows Vista 64 Home Premium

All in all, a nice machine. It runs SL with graphics set at High easily with good frame rates. I can finally see what I have been missing. And its very cool running, so no cooking the legs.

Well congrats on getting back online. I know Mac's are excellent machines, but for double and/or triple the price... not worth it. I can upgrade my laptop and make it better than the mac. lol