Laptop Recommendation

I am looking to buy a laptop. So, I need a recommendation. I am willing to spend up to $1000. It seems Dell, Acer, Toshiba, HP, and Gateway seem to be the major players. I am looking for at least 512 megs of RAM. Preferably an upgradable video card for the future.

Which are better - the intel or the AMD. Or should I say faster for the money. For now, I will only be using it for completing some papers but might eventually do some mild gaming like CIV. I do no need it pretty quick so I have to make a speedy decision.

What is the typical battery life on these things these days?

Thanks for any input

 

I've got a nice Dell Inspiron, just got it recently. Specs are 2.0ghz Pentium M, 2*512mb DDR2 RAM, an x300 128mb video card, windows media center, a 9 cell battery lasting up to 5 hours.. and I got this for around $1250 after a $500 off coupon. See, check out http://www.xpbargains.com/dell_coupons/ for coupons off Dell, and you could easily get a nice system for a $1000. When I was researching, Dell also seemed to have the best options and pricing.

As for intel vs AMD, make sure you get an Intel Pentium M. Uses less power, and performs well. Try not to get a P4 or Amd 64 turions, they use up a lot of power.

 

Theguy -

Thanks for the reply. I bought a Gateway MX7118. It is an AMD 64 Turion, 512 megs of RAM, network card, ATI XM200, and a 15.4" widescreen. Although I would have liked 1024 megs of ram and a slightly better video card, I am so far happy. I have not idea on what the upgrade options are for video card, if any on this model. I can add more RAM later and battery life is not an issue. I have read mixed reviews on both Intel and AMD chip battery life.I guess it depends on your expectations, hardware setup, and use. An hour for me would be fine.

I paid $850 for the computer. I might have been able to shop a better deal, but I needed one in a pinch. I would have shopped Dell online for sure if I had the time.

 

Well congratulations. Actually what I meant to say is that an AMD 64 and the P4 use alot of energy, apparently the AMD Turion is a power saving model like the Pentium M. And since battery life isn't an issue, its all good.