Compaq CQ50-204CA (Aka CQ50-210US or G50-209CA, and a handful of others)

[fohfoh]

The Toshiba Portege m300 (not m300 or portege alone) isn't bad. It's smaller though and more of a laptop i'd lug around since it's aesthetically not bad and not too bad on weight. (14.1")

If memory serves, it' uses either a T5400 or 6400 depending on which one you get rolling at approx 2.0 GHz. Ram is no issue, just upgrade that yourself. I think graphics card is that new intel integrated thing. (Don't remember the name) That should give you enough power to run whatever you need. I think it's approx the same power as that HP one too. Though it might be slightly smaller. The only thing I don't like is the lack of dedicated graphics... but even with dedicated graphics, I think you'll be unable to watch any of the new stuff anyways. (anything 780 should be fine though) I think the price point of that laptop is going at around 800-900 bucks Cad.

http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=&langid=EN&sku_id=0665000FS10118250&catid=

It uses the intel 4500MHD. I think it has decoding on it too. Don't quote me on it though.

http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=&langid=EN&sku_id=0665000FS10112444&catid=

Even this one might be more worth considering vs your other choice.


http://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-Graphics-Media-Accelerator-4500MHD-GMA-X4500MHD.9883.0.html

[per]

Personally I just loved my four-year-old (or so) Sony VAIO.

It's smaller than most netbooks, but still more RAM and CPU than most netbooks do today, and even had longer battery time than most when it was new (4.5h in windows, 5 in linux, nowdays it's closer to 10s, though. ).

Sometimes I wonder what is going on with portables nowdays.

Admittedly, the integrated intel graphics card is not exactly stellar, and it's rather slow now, but a modern machine built the same way would be perfect if you really want a portable (sub-1Kg/2pounds) notebook.

But I'm old-school, I guess, I want a portable and a stationary computer (and a server or two..), and I want my portable to be just that, portable.

Hm. The VGN-CS290 seems to be somewhat similar. A 1" larger screen, but not too much bigger. But it does weigh in at almost twice as much.

[fohfoh]

I use a vaio sz480 myself. I get 2.5-3.5/4 hours of use per charge standard battery. It's damn light too. But yeah... the CS is a brick.

But yeah, integrated isnt' as good as dedicated, but with the way that things are going now, as long as you can pull 720 encodes, you're fine. 1080 is going to keep increasing and increasing and trying to play those on a laptop is almost pointless since we're going into the next stage of 1080 from i and p.

[rl9009]

It's smaller than most netbooks, but still more RAM and CPU than most netbooks do today, and even had longer battery time than most when it was new (4.5h in windows, 5 in linux, nowdays it's closer to 10s, though. ).

Got a soldering iron? Are you daring enough to take apart the battery? Then go ahead and repack the battery 

Right now, I don't care about size. That laptop will stay on my desk in my room most of the time. It will not leave my house (Yeah, I can get a desktop, but my room doesn't have the space for one...)

[per]

Got a soldering iron? Are you daring enough to take apart the battery? Then go ahead and repack the battery 

I could do that, I guess. The battery pack looks rather well sealed, though.