Looking for a Dothan/Centrino notebook

[yesdiseases]

Hi, could you guys help me find some good notebooks? I'm looking for something just to be used for mostly work and watching movies/dvds a few times, not for gaming, i don't need to burn cd's. I want it to be around 1800$ or so or less, it should be medium weight (not a desktop replacement, maybe less than 6 pounds), and have a long battery life. I want to make sure I get something that lasts, so I wanna get a dothan with the 2mb cache, and maybe 512mb ram. Durability is an important factor also.
Here's what I've found. Most have been too expensive. I'm not sure I wanna go cheap and get a dell, i heard theyre low kuality. Can you guys help? Thanks.

IBM ThinkPad T42
$1,929.00*

Intel® Pentium® M Processor 735 1.70GHz

512 MB
40 GB
15.0"
1024x768
32MB ATI Mobility RADEON 7500
CD-RW/DVD-ROM

HP nc6000 1999$
• Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional
• Intel® Pentium® M processor 735 (1.70GHz)
• 512MB DDR SDRAM (1 DIMM)
• 40GB Hard drive
• DVD/CD-RW combo (MultiBay)
• Bluetooth®
• 802.11 b/g wireless
• 3 Year worldwide limited warranty
14.1" screen

Gateway® M320XL 1799$ - Are these good quality?
Intel® Pentium® M Processor 735 (1.7GHz)2 512MB DDR SDRAM 80GB 4200rpm Ultra ATA hard drive3 Integrated 4x DVD±RW/±R/CD-RW recorder 15" XGA TFT Active Matrix

Toshiba Tecra M2 - Are these good quality?
Intel® Pentium® M Processor 735 (1.70GHz, 2MB L2 Cache, 400MHz FSB)
512MB PC2700 DDR333 SDRAM (256MBx2)
14" SXGA+ Display (1400 x 1050)
60GB HDD (5400 rpm)
1649$

All claim to have battery life at least 4 hours, not sure that is true or not. I've read that the tecra has shorter battery life in reviews, around 3.5 hours which is too little, but that was with a 1.7ghz banias. Will the battery life improve with the dothan 735? I'm leaning towards the toshiba because it fits all categories i think except this battery question. Otherwise, I'm leaning towards the T42. Thanks for your help.

 

[Mephistopheles]

The 1.7Ghz dothan (735) will probably be quite well suited for what you're asking there, indeed. A 735 coupled with half a gigabyte of memory should be more than enough for work and watching the occasional DVD.

I noticed that none of your configuration listings, with the exception of the IBM thinkpad, mentioned the video card. That is not too bad in itself though, because you said you're indeed planning on making limited use of video functions, but it would help if you looked into the possibility of having a video out function. It would be quite an extra, but it's of course up to you.

In any case, these configurations all look quite respectable. Oh, and BTW, Also try to keep in mind that the 5400rpm drives are considerably faster than 4200rpm ones...