Thinkpads are still good IMHO, and not everything that comes out of China have problem, please don't stereotype on all China Goods being bad. If you have proof that Lenovo Thinkpads suck, show proof instead of blindly bashing them because all the reviews of thinkpads i got are positive.

To john, I think angels wanted thinkpad for their quality and not for the specs. IMHO, the pricelist at the lenovo Malaysia website are a tad outdated, they still list Dothans selling at premium price. I think it's better to give lenovo a call to know the current price they are offering.

From what I've read, the S41 has a 8600M GS and the benchmarks shows that it is only a tad better than x1700/go7700 . I doubt you lot would lose out much

If you google up the info regarding the Gefore 8000M series, for the 8600, there are 2 versions i.e. the 8600M GS and 8600M GT. The GS has a 3dmark06 score a little bit higher than the x1700/7700. Whilst the 8600M GT has a 3dmark06 score close to if not better than the 7900GS.

With the benq s31g having a x1600 and the s41 having a 8600M GS, the performance difference between both laptop would not be very significant but you can only find out after the s41 comes out.

To sean, if you want similar specs, there is the dv9500t, or you can do a Inspiron 9400 with a 7900GS but the downside is that both comes with 17" screen size.

There aren't many laptops with 8600M GS/GT other than the dv9500t and benq s41 IMHO, maybe you can wait a month or 2 and wait for other manufacturers to release their laptops.

Where are you headed to anyways?

The general rule is, avoid Ftec no matter what your budget is.

Kindly add what will you be using your laptop for, as that might help in choosing which laptop that suits you

With 5k, all those specs are within reach. As to Dell, the simplest thing to do is to extend the warranty and you should be OK, but since you do mind, try to ASUS a8sc perhaps? I don't know much about Toshiba, but the A200s comes with Go7400 IMHO, and well, at this age, I don't think that's the right way.

Or as xin recommend, the Acer gemstone looks rather nice and should appeal to you

You should realise benQ does not have a laptop service center in the whole of NZ.

On the other hand, As much as I hate Acer, the Gemstone does change my view of the typical acer. That new gemstone with a much powerful 8600M GT is just Rm500 plus and Acer's exposure to the world market is way better than that of the benQ

With 4k, you could get a decent one. State your requirements so that everyone could help you further.

Well, have to agree with you in this one, but still depends on what does the poster means by Fastest, is he going to play games on it, or is he going to watch movies and that's about it. Fast and Light normally are mutually exclusive, save the MBP, for Fast and perhaps good, VAIO SZ sounds a really good one. For Faster then SZ but a tad more heavier, it's the MBP. and there are the 14 inchers that are lighter than the MBP, and a little slower than it, ....namely....the Benq S41.

By the way, is it time that the mods set up a format on enquiries regarding laptop purchases? Most of the time, the questions posted aren't really comprehensive and makes response a tad slower and honestly, the questions sometimes are so general that you can answer from the script i.e., "well, it depends on what you are using it for." more often than not, that would be a standard response before a poster decided to give more details

You can get International warranty by extending your warranty. I don't think that might be a problem as you'd want to extend the warranty to the maximum for whatever brand that you purchase, because things happen

Rich person alert, rich person alert.

For that spec, save the 3GB RAM, asthethics wise, I'd recommend a MacBook Pro. It should be within your price point, although the downside is that the GPU comes with 128MB dedicated. The MSRP is RM7499. If you are willing to cough out more cash, there's a better one but the MSRP is RM 9299, way out of budget don't you think.

Otherwise, follow what John says, and get the G1s. It's not the best looking thing around, but the hardware specs fits your bill and your budget should allow you for an upgrade to 4GB RAM.

If you'll be watching movies, I think that'll be fine. Do you plan to carry this second comp around, if you don't, get the 1720 instead, with the 17" screen, watching movie is going to be a great experience.

As to the WXGA screen, it's not a selling point. using a 1280x800 resolution ain't really cutting it. You might want to consider the 1440x900 screen instead, it'll do you better.

For those who want to order these Dells, do so soon, my friend just ordered one and the sales rep say there's not going to be free RAM upgrade for next week's promo.

Dell 1520 or Acer Gemstone. Depends on your liking on which one is better. But I'd recommend that you get a Dell.

By the way, next week dell promo no more free 1GB ram ,that's what the sales rep told my friend when he ordered one

I'm assuming you wish to use your laptop for gaming. Then by all means, if you can afford it, a G1s. The D830 is a business laptop, i.e. highly reliable, and good build quality (as compared to other laptops in the same company) . The GPU options are more or less equilvalent to a 8400M and I don't think it gives good FPS.

Would that help?

If you want powerful graphics + reliability, try the HP business line, IIRC, the 8xxx series IMHO. They come with powerful graphics, and needless to say, they cost a lot as well.

The x205, I doubt it's gonna come at all. The P105 never made it here remember?

And the G2s in Malaysia is not worth it at all IMHO. With a 17" screen, and perhaps a better looking one that is, ASUS is charging an extra RM1000, is it worth it, unless you grow money on trees, I doubt it.

As to the 8700MGT, it's an overclocked 8600M GT right. I don't know if this'd work, but theoretically, you could just build an uber cooler, not the market cooler, and cool your GPU fans up and overclock your way around.

Get it next week, there should be a free 2GB Ram upgrade, as such your price should be cut by rm400 or so. And if you can afford it, the 1900x1200 is an absolute beauty, try it.

I think I saw the advert showing it costing RM6.3k inclusive of 1 year warranty and 1GB of RAM as opposed to 2. For Rm6.3k, that's a tad pricey, and I thought Toshiba is including HD-DVD players in all their laptops

Why do you want a Zepto? You can easily get a 8600M GT with a 1520, or a G1s for that matter.

Well, since you wondered, you could order directly from the manufacturer's website

Got problem? So what? Dell's customer service,based on majority of the feedbacks anyways, are excellent. Just extend the warranty and you'll have a peace of your mind. Need I say more?