Which do I buy? I'm not going to be play the new games, but I might have an occasional game of Counter-Strike or Dawn of War (the new one)

I'll be using if for music, internet and MS Office - generally simultaneously - and it would irritate me if basic tasks are done slowly

I'll sell it in the UK in 6 months (I'm briefly living in the US), so I'm looking for something that will hold value.

I don't have a whole lot of money, so cheaper is better unless the extra money is really worth it (i.e. if something is $300 more then it should be more than $300 better)

Lighter preferred if I'm going to take it to work (saying that I have a desktop at work).

Tom

1. Gateway P-6831FX - $1350
http://tinyurl.com/2e9odp (bestbuy)
T5450 CPU, 3GB Ram, 250GB HDD, Geforce 8800M GTS, 1440x900, 17", 8.3lbs

2. ASUS F8 Series F8Sn-A1 - $1050
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] SUS%2bF8Sn
T5450 CPU, 3GB Ram, 250GB HDD, Geforce 9500M GS, 1280x800, 14,1", 5.7lbs

3. Acer Aspire AS5920-6574 - $1100
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6834115458
T8100 CPU, 3GB Ram, 250GB HDD, Geforce 8600M GT, 1280x800, 15.4", 6.6lbs

What are your thoughts?

I would say either the 1st or the 3rd one. The Gateway has the faster GPU, but it is lacking in CPU horsepower which you would need more. The Acer has a decent GPU for your basic gaming needs and has a stronger and newer CPU. The Asus has the same, slower CPU as the Gateway and uses a 9500GS which I have never seen before. Can't say what it's performance would be.

Agreed 8800GTS 512 blows away a 8600GT in games but the Gateway version has slower CPU , so u have to choose

P.S: My uncle has a CoreDuo version of the GATEWAY CPU which is T2300 and its a good CPU and it has a X1800 Mobility card and it runs fine, i played Prey with it with no probs so dont worry a T5450 wont be bad for things u want to do

How soon do you need your new lappy?

I would choose the Asus for one reason - compatibility.

If you were to go to a local shop that custom builds laptops, most of the time it will be an Asus.

You may think that whatever you pick has all it needs already, but situations change and the Asus is the one most likely to have updated hardware - like a mini-pci card - swapped out without issue.

Also consider that it uses more standard components, so if you needed to replace a motherboard you won't be raped as severely as you would with a large oem.

I've never forgiven Gateway for their use of known defective parts in the mid 90's. They would buy large lots of sound cards and other components that didn't completely pass QA, but which did work for basic functionality, then disable the advanced features in their 'oem' drivers.

The end user was none the wiser - until they upgraded their OS, and the new non-bastardized drivers would reenable the defective component and crash the system.

I'm sure Gateway isn't the only oem to do this, but I do know for a fact that they did, and that it personally caused me a fair bit of annoyance back when I was a phone dog for Win95, so GW isn't allowed to have any of my money, nor any of my employer's.

I will sell this laptop in 6 months, so upgradability doesn't matter. I'm in the US for only 6 months, then I return to the UK to my desktop (which I'll upgrade with cheap US components).

The bloody Acer just went up in price by $100 which is irritating.

If I'm not gaming much is there much point getting the Gateway over the Asus or Acer? Or will it hold value MUCH better?

Also 9500GS vs 8600GT?

Also do you tend to get an oem copy of Vista with these laptops (as in an actual CD) so that I can just wipe it instantly (get rid of all the bloatware) and start again.

Also I have an external HDD with eSATA capacity - is it worth getting a laptop with eSATA for that reason

Within the next week

With the Gateway, the selling point will be the 8800M GTS which is the latest and almost greatest in terms of GPUs. With the Acer you are getting the latest in CPU technology.

IMO, if your gaming needs are light, you could get away with the Acer. I have no idea what the 9500GS is supposed to be in the graphics world so I really can't advise you there. Pretty sure it's not much better than the 8600GT.

As for the copy of Vista, I've only bought from Dell and Sager and all times I have gotten full OS disks. Wouldn't see why any of these companies would be different.

As far as the e-SATA, I'm not sure of the performance benefits of it over USB 2.0, so again I'm not much use to you there.

Sorry if I wasn't much help, but I at least wanted to give you some info to go off of.

Extremetech has a single page comparing the two, and it seems that USB 2.0 wins out in real data transfers (not synthetic benches):

http://www.extremetech.com/article [...] 844,00.asp

But good ol' Wikipedia gives us the straight theoretical transfer rates of each, in which E-SATA beats USB 2.0 into the ground:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seria [...] rnal_buses

USB 2.0: 60 MB/s transfer
E-SATA: 375 MB/s transfer

My experience with my desktop back home is that eSATA came out MUCH faster.

Anyway, I bought the Acer (it dropped in price by another $50). Also bought some Logitech x-230's.

Cheers for the help

Noooo! Why wouldn't you get the Z2300???? Come on, 200 watts RMS. You know you want it

lol, I've had my eye on the 5.1 version of those but two things are holding me back
1) don't have the space in a tiny dorm/apartment
2) I don't have any money!

Yeah, the Z5500, I wish I could afford them, or have the room to set it up properly. I realized that in a university situation (in a dorm or rented house) I wouldn't have the space to set up a full 5.1 system, and the wiring would be a mess. Not to mention that turning up the volume on a 500 watt system is just toooo tempting, and I'd probably piss all my housemates off

And yes, the 350 dollar price tag is a bit steep, the Z2300 set only cost me a hundred bucks

rofl. yeah, I'm currently using a 4.1 set of Altec Lansing's and had to change it to a 2.1 system cuz of the space in my dorm. I don't remember how powerful the sub is, but it kicks pretty good.