some thoughts
since i've looked long and hard - and noticed others asking the same questions, i thought i'd share my results.
for the fastest most cost effective laptop, I'd recommend either a clevo (sold under the name Pro-star or Seager) or a Compal (sold under a variety of names). Compal was the manufacturer of the Dell Inspiron 5000. Their latest edition is their "N30 N3". The 14" (screen) is now available and the 15" is due out at the end of this month, Aug.
evidently, more name brand companies buy their laptops from other manufacturers than make their own. the ones who make their own are apple, ibm, maybe toshiba? don't know, but the list was smaller than i'd imagined. i was told that 80% of the laptops are made by three companies out of Taiwain. The name brand folks recieve the model and then add the HD (IBM or whatever), RAM, and processor (intel). and these components are not even standard, but change according to who was giving the best deal on harddrives that month to the "name brand". you could buy the same Dell model with different components depending on what their stock looked like that month (thats what tech supp said).
for the speed factors involved in laptops, you have to consider,of course the processor, but also the bus speed, and the harddrive. I read some reports of new Dell Inspiron 8000 not performing up to speed and my bet would be that the limiting factor is the harddrive. laptop standard is 4200 rpm harddrive, the fastest with ultra DMA 33. the sought after 7200 rpm harddrive is too inefficient to be run on battery. however, you can find an IBM harddrive of 48 gigs that spins at 5400 rpm. fastest I've found. The fastest ATA for a laptop is 66 not 100. You've got to make sure the motherboard and chipset support this also. I'm not a tech head by any means, but what I gather there are a number of buses that are the bottle necks for speed. The CPU has a bus, but there are also "buses" associated with the motherboard and chipset, the hardrive, and the RAM. so you've got to make sure that the laptop top has not only the advertised 133 front side bus, but is also fully "PC 133 compatible" meaning none of the other factors will slow it down.
AS far as the Compal, basically the thing smokes. pIII ghtz processor. PC-133 compatible. ATA 66 5400 rpm hardrive. firewire. doesnt come with any software crap. 1 yr warranty standard. Pro-star has similar models that have been shipping for months and are tried and true. check them out cuz you could save up to a grand for a better equiped machine. go figure.
