Help me pick out a new laptop.

[SG-17]

Instead of buying a new HDD for my crappy laptop I have decided to get a new one. My budget is under $500. I plan to use it mostly for web browsing, word processing, general school work (power points, video presentations, etc). I do not plan to play a lot of games, mainly just Civilization 3: Complete, but I also plan to purchase Civilization 4: Complete.


I have narrowed my selection down to 2 laptops. Which one would you prefer?
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9352513&type=product&id=1218089774715
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9371477&type=product&id=1218093383615

 

[dido]

I will pick dell
performances are rather similar, with the toshiba having 1 GB extra RAM and 90GB more hdd space, but 2h10min of battery life is just unacceptable

 

[Fëanor]

2gb of (shared) ram is pretty meager, also the IGP of the Dell is nearly useless, even Civilization 4 is nearly unplayable with it.

3DMark 05 Scores

1269 Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 4500MHD (The Dell Option)

2678 ATI Radeon HD 3200 (The Toshiba Option)

7543 ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3650 ($749.99 Laptop)

12960 ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4650 ($949.99 Laptop)

16430 NVIDIA GeForce 9800M GTS ( $1,089.99 Laptop)

Basically the closer you get to thousand bucks the better value for your money you get, so if waiting/saving is an option you might want to consider that.

Otherwise take the Toshiba is you want to play some Civ4 or look for an Ultraportable&LED backlit netbook if battery life is a must.

Dell's claim that its 6-cell lithium-ion battery can power the 15.6" CCFL lit screen for 4.5 to 5.5 hours is highly dubious considering all competitors with the same screen and battery claim a (often also overrated) 3 hours.

Edit: Although if you order that Inspiron 15 directly from dell you can customize it and for $25 get a LED screen that would considerably increase battery life. (then you might get the 4.5 to 5.5 hours that dell claims, especially if you take a 12 cell lithium-ion battery with that LED screen )

 

[Gelion]

Don't buy HP

 

[Genocidicbunny]

Okay, since this is like the 10th thread with this same question in the last 2 months, ill direct you to here:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/forumdisplay.php?f=16
Ask them there, they have some people who are quite a bit more knowledgeable about the state of notebooks right now.

My suggestion is that you up your budget a bit. Its better to get a good notebook now, one you like and have no major gripes with, rather than get the one that fits best under your budget and hate it. After all, you're gonna end up using it for probably at least 2 years.