Best non-apple notebook display?

Blurmore

I just paid off my purchase of the 30D on my newegg card and want to buy a notebook/laptop. I know Mac has really nice notebook displays, but I have been told by my father that he will disown me if I get a mac, and he really is a mad hookup for everything PC. From what I have looked at so far it seems the Sony has some nice contrasty displays, with Lenovo and Toshiba tied for second. I haven't had a lot of luck googling for "best notebook for graphics" or "notebook display reviews" because most are in relation to graphics card/gamer crap. I don't play games on any puter/or box system..they are a sucking chest wound type waste of time. I'm looking for a at least 15 inch or possibly 17 inch, 1.83-2.0 core duo, with a gig of ram and a 120+ gig hard drive, nice extras would be a built in CF reader, built in bluetooth, good dual monitor support, and a battery that won't require a fire extinguisher all for around 1500 dollars. Any suggestions, or insights on the Vaio (what I'm leaning towards despite all the crapware they come loaded with) display, are very much appreciated.

Mike Lane

Blurmore wrote:

I just paid off my purchase of the 30D on my newegg card and want to buy a notebook/laptop. I know Mac has really nice notebook displays, but I have been told by my father that he will disown me if I get a mac, and he really is a mad hookup for everything PC. From what I have looked at so far it seems the Sony has some nice contrasty displays, with Lenovo and Toshiba tied for second. I haven't had a lot of luck googling for "best notebook for graphics" or "notebook display reviews" because most are in relation to graphics card/gamer crap. I don't play games on any puter/or box system..they are a sucking chest wound type waste of time. I'm looking for a at least 15 inch or possibly 17 inch, 1.83-2.0 core duo, with a gig of ram and a 120+ gig hard drive, nice extras would be a built in CF reader, built in bluetooth, good dual monitor support, and a battery that won't require a fire extinguisher all for around 1500 dollars. Any suggestions, or insights on the Vaio (what I'm leaning towards despite all the crapware they come loaded with) display, are very much appreciated.

I really like Dell displays.

gus

From my searchings i would def have a gander at the toshibas...their screens are amazing. All that other stuff (drives/cards etc) is sort of generic & will all do a decent job.

Bit over what you are looking to pay.

ballentphoto

Blurmore wrote:

... Any suggestions, or insights on the Vaio (what I'm leaning towards despite all the crapware they come loaded with) display, are very much appreciated.

How about Alienware? They are designed for gamers, so you know that they are fast. I have one of their towers and it just smokes and oh yeah no crap-ware is installed on the machine... bare-bones Windows and drivers for your hardware that's it. Now AOL, MSN, RealPlayer, ITunes nice and clean

meewolfie

If you have a computer "supercenter" nearby, it's time well spent to go and see the displays in person. All the online reviews in the world won't give you the same feedback you'll get by seeing the displays in person. (It may be harder to see all of the notebooks that you wish to review).

I was considering a new free-standing monitor for my desktop machine so I did this about a month ago. It becomes very apparent when you're right in front of the monitor whether it's something that will work for you or not. I did a few "tests" on each monitor - opening a word or notepad document to see how clear the text looked. Opened and browsed some sample photos that were loaded on most of the machines, etc. This wouldn't be the only research that I would do, but it was an important part of it.

I ended up getting a dell laptop - and was fortunate to be able to see the same model in use for photo retouching before I purchased it. I upgraded to what Dell calls the " UltraSharp™ Wide Screen SXGA+ Display with TrueLife" screen - and it's really nice.

Mary

DifferentSeed

I'm really very happy with an HP Pavillion I got a few months back at Best Buy. It's an AMD Athlon 64 bit (not the dual cores that are out now, poop). It has a 17" widescreen, 2 GB of ram, 256 meg video card, dvd burner, etc, etc. The thing I liked the most about this one is that it has 2 individual 100 GB hard drives - not simply one large one. This really helps with Photoshop since it has it's own swap space on another physical drive. I made them open one up in the store and check to be sure since the techs were all scratching their heads about that being uncommon. The fullsize keyboard with a number pad ain't too bad either - another perk of wide displays nowadays.

As for the display on mine, I personally don't think my G4 powerbook, also 17", is any better from a "ooh" and "ahh" standpoint than the HP. And the Powerbook has a dead pixel. Again. I've already exchanged one for a dead pixel at the Apple store and they aren't too keen on doing it again. This can happen with any display, just frustrating that both my Powerbooks had this problem. *shrug*

Going into the store to look at them is the best bet. I've got friends who love the Sony Vaio's, but I've other friends (3 so far) that have had Vaio's die (2 screens, 1 entire 'puter). I suggest Best Buy - my favorite gadget shop. For an extra $100 (on top of the regular warranty) I now have an idiot-proof warranty on the thing. "Oh you dropped it in the lake? Ok, go pick out out a new one.".. "Oh, it fell off the roof of your car? Bummer. Alright, no problem" type of warranty . This has already been a great warranty on another computer in the house - we're onto the 3rd replacement for the original price)

Poseidon

As for displays, my SHARP Actius AL27 has the best LCD display I have ever seen on a laptop. However the rest of the computer is pretty outdated. Maybe there is a newer version that you could look for....

I agree with what has been said above, make sure you go looking before you buy!

rosselliot

I have a toshiba sattellite m45 s331. I love it, and it's lasted me a whole year so far and I literally never turn it off and use it all the time. the screen is amazing though - the colors and the clear "trubrite" screen really is incredible. the only thing I hate is the battery life - it's deplorable, absolutely HORRIBLE. I have to keep it plugged in all the time.

- my two sense

- RE