Help me pick out a Laptop

[X-Caliber]

Hi,

I am planning to buy a laptop in the near future, and I was overwhelmed with the different types available. I have been mainly looking at Sager, since they make good stuff. But I recently found out that there is a company called "Cleo", which actually makes the guts of the Sager laptop - that is, they sell the body to Sager without the CPU, hard drive, RAM, and video card. Does anybody know where I can get a Cleo, so I can customize it myself.........Otherwise I was looking at the IBM X31, and the Apple 15" Powerbook. As expected, I want something light (say 6 pounds), well made, and durable. I also want something that will hold up to 2Gs of ram, and hopefully hold a 7200 RPM drive. The IBM has metal hinges, so the screen will never come loose. I have read that there are quality control issues with the Powerbook, which is ashamed, since I really wanted to play around with the MacOS (which is based on the FreeBSD kernel). Should I go with a Centrino? What are you're thoughts/opinions? Also what about this WiFI stuff? This would be my first laptop, and I am a bit behind in the times.......I am really a custom making freak, and would like something which I can tinker around with (ie: change the video card, sound card (and no CREATIVE LABS junk!), etc). Good Battery life is always a plus. I don't need the CD/DVD drives attached to the laptop; they take up valuable space, and I don't use them that often (why bother when you can network everything). I would prefer not to have speakers on there either, why bother adding junk to the cost.

I would prefer not to have any software installed either, since I can do that myself. So far the only place I know of where they give you a blank hard drive is www.discountlaptops.com

Also do you guys have any recommendations on what motherboards to look for when shopping for a laptop. My ASUS P2B-DS has seved me well; I want an equivalant motherboard for my first laptop (that is, rock-solid and stable).

Also does anyone know where I can get a refurbished laptop? I don't need new stuff, but I do want a warranty.

[skinrock]

If you look in my sig, those are the specs for my HP laptop. I've had it for a year, no problems, it's great, very reliable, fast. I could only put in 1 gig of ram, but it's more than enough, I didn't know they supported 2 on notebooks, yet. When it comes to notebooks, customization is limited. Overall, my opinion is look into an HP notebook, if I ever upgrade, I will probably get another one of theirs.

[TnT]

The main problem with the powerbooks was with the backlight on the LCD. It would leak through the screen and cause big blobs of glowing light. Supposedly that has been resolved.

I don't have a laptop, but for super light I was considering getting a Fujitsu.

[X-Caliber]

I think the markup on HP laptops is pretty high, and they also look a lot like the Sager laptops. I haven't heard too much about Fujitsu laptops, but I also don't need superlight. Has anyone heard of the chemnotebooks?

[gangster]

I have an ancient Fujitsu 635T with P133 and it has worked great for years. BUT, battery life is poor, the only drawback for me.

[knirfie]

sorry, not to familiar with what you can get in the USA. but if i were to get one here it'd probably be an Acer. one of the 1500 series.

p.s. i just saw the changed the 1501 to the 1511, and replaced the 9600 mobile with a 5700 :S

[Taz]

Your definitely want a Pentium M based laptop if you plan to run from battery a lot. I'd also stick to a reputable brand such as HP/Compaq, Toshiba, IBM or possibly Sony.

[X-Caliber]

Take a look at this:

http://www.legitreviews.com/reviews/whitebox1/

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!