xiaojingteng

With the new centrino 2, all the companies have introduced new lineups and i want one of those but would that be possible with moving in so early??

SBR

Why not? Most of those laptops should come out around early august. If you don't get it by the time you leave for Duke, have it shipped to Duke.

On a related note, while having the latest and greatest is nice, I wouldn't worry too much about catching Centrino 2 (Montevina). It's more of an incremental update along the Intel Roadmap. The main improvements are:

1) Updated die-shrink of the already out Penryn processors
2) A slightly better wireless chip with optional WiMax
3) A new integrated Intel graphics chip
4) Updated embedded flash memory support and RAM support for DDR3

While those improvements are nice, they are not absolutely necessary and it is likely that compared to currently available laptops, you won't see a big performance improvement (like for example the different between a Pentium and a Core Duo). Current laptops already have many features found on the new laptops like:

1) embedded flash memory
2) 802.11N suppport
3) Penryn processors
4) WiMax (on some models)

Additionally, some features probably won't even make it into new laptops such as DDR3 RAM because they are somewhat expensive and very few companies make them.

IMHO, if there's something worth getting excited about, it would be the Calpella platform in 2009 along with the new generation of Nehalem Quad core processors.

nmehta4

if you are on a budget and want a really good computer then i would recommend getting a macbook. The mid-level one is 1199 with student discount plus a free ipod touch valued at 300 and an hp all in one printer valued at 100 dollars. The macbook is an awesome computer especially with the leopard os. You can always wait for the new processor chips too come out, but first and foremost the price will jump and i doubt most computers will have them when they come out. The ones that will, will be much more expensive. Plus, there won't be too much of a noticeable difference in my opinion between the core 2 duo proccesors now and the new chipset montevina. It gets to the point where it really wont make a big difference.

noobcake

You can certainly order a Montevina now from some vendors such as HP, but most Centrino 2 PC will come out during August-Septmember.

Imo , there is no reason to get a Centrino 2 Montevina if the only thing you are doing with your laptop is normal school work. The reason to get it is to get a non faulty GPU. All the current Nvidia G84 and G86 chipset based dedicated graphic cards are all faulty.

SBR

there's always ATi, although chances are, you'll need to buy an AMD laptop to get an ATi chip.

noobcake: in what way are the G84/86 chips faulty? I'm afraid I haven't kept up with graphics cards recently. Are they suffering heating issues? or driver problems?

xiaojingteng

i dont know much about computers but i will need to do school work and run diablo 3(at the level it should be ran at).

SBR

In that case maybe integrate graphics is not for you. That also removes the need to wait for updated Intel graphics on the Montevina platform.

feikuai

Diablo 3..i don't think that will be out for another year or two, by which time everything will be faster/cheaper. Looking that far into the future isn't really advisable. Though if you have to, get something with nvidia 8800m/9800m and you'll be set

SBR

the problem with 8800M and 9800M is that very few mainstream companies actually offer those high end cards. Even if they do, it's only on the highest end flagship models. The only company, AFAIK, that does is Dell/Alienware and both of them for $500+ to upgrade to the 8800M. Personally, that's a little too steep for a school computer with a bit of gaming on the side.