Laptops, I am so confused.....

[dan8485]

Looking in to laptops and it is so much stuff to think about, what somebody tells you is good turns out to be what the next guy says is the worst!!!!

Who out there can give me a valid opinion and what are you guys using?? i was looking at Sony and Toshiba becuase I was told they were the ones to have, some say the sony is not worth the extra coin, the same people told me not to go with Dell or HP. A friend of mine says a lot of people hate Dell and he still thinks they are great.

I just want to find some good information somewhere!!!!!!

Thanks Guys,
DW

 

[T-Bone]

I've got a newer HP widescreen laptop (don't know the number, I'm at work). It's been really good. Lots of features (cd/dvd burner, sd card slots, etc.) not bad for the $900 I gave for it brand new.

My dad has a Toshiba (again can't remember the number). It was top of the line a year and a half ago. It's nice and all, but I don't think it's worth the $500 more than my hp was though.

 

[PCDOC]

I tell customers to get either Toshiba or HP. Both have been fairly solid.

Here is my 2 cents. Don't get a laptop unless you absolutely need the mobility. More bang for the buck on a desktop unit. Laptops are way more expensive to repair not to mention they are more prone to damage because of the mobility. Also, stay away from Vista.

 

[XC700116]

I personally like the HP and Compaq. Toshiba are good units too, that's what my work Laptop is. I've had good luck with dell too. The biggest concern to me is an AMD processor. I won't buy a personal computer without it. I haven't had the best of luck with intel to say the least. I will tell you that an AMD will be in a pretty limited number of models though. That's just my opinion and my experience though, so take it for what it's worth. I did have a Gateway for a while for school and was not impressed at all.

 

[Beels]

I tell customers to get either Toshiba or HP. Both have been fairly solid.

Here is my 2 cents. Don't get a laptop unless you absolutely need the mobility. More bang for the buck on a desktop unit. Laptops are way more expensive to repair not to mention they are more prone to damage because of the mobility. Also, stay away from Vista.

I agree with what you're saying, but I'll never buy a desktop PC for personal use, ever again. I just leave my notebook sitting on the coffee table and I can fire it up whenever I want. Watch tv and surf SW at the same time. Love the versatility it gives me.

I'm on my second Compaq notebook. The 1st one is around 4 years old now and I gave it to my old man when I upgraded to a new one. It's still rocking right along. My current one had it's 2nd B-day in the spring. Same deal, no issues.

 

[cmantle1]

i would NEVER by a desktop, ever again. A laptop is so portable and you can just go anywhere around your place with it.

Now for the companies, i am LOYAL to mac. i wont ever by another PC again. In my opinion, worth the extra money. Plus, the new Mac OSX leopard lets you pretty much run windows along with OSX. Best of both worlds in my opinion.

I like Mac because they are jjust so much more logical in the way things are designed....

 

[firecatguy]

agree with the hp my hp is a pavilon with 250mb and 3gig also card slots ect! its awsome for makin vids and playin games great video card, its fastand its under 1000$last year seen them at best buy for 600 to 700$on sale depends on gig and mb size.

 

[firecatguy]

i would NEVER by a desktop, ever again. A laptop is so portable and you can just go anywhere around your place with it.

Now for the companies, i am LOYAL to mac. i wont ever by another PC again. In my opinion, worth the extra money. Plus, the new Mac OSX leopard lets you pretty much run windows along with OSX. Best of both worlds in my opinion.

I like Mac because they are jjust so much more logical in the way things are designed....

the only thing with apple is THER THE BEST OUT THER but after you pay big bucks for the best, they come out with a better model for 300$ cheaper next week!!!lolol

 

[Ex-Member]

I've been using laptops as my primary machine for years now, personal machines have all been Macs. The new ones will run windows and all its software natively, don't even need to run Mac unless you want to (I would, it's nice and stable, and when windows crashes in a VM it doesn't take the whole machine with it... just reboot the VM).

Whatever you get, get the extended warranty. The $200 I spent on my first iBook in '02 paid for a new iBook in '03 and $100 short of a new Macbook in '06. It'll also pay for the new mouse button on my current Macbook, as it doesn't work right now

On the PC side, I have a Dell D630 at work... It's not a bad machine, I have the extended battery with it and it seems to last just about as long as my Mac's did when it was new. It's got some driver issues (Video driver likes to break when I play a video) but in general it's not a bad machine.

Right now both the machines I have (Personal MB and work dell) are dual-core intel 2GHz, 2GB RAM, 80GB HDs. Between what I do on the two, there's no significant difference in performance between the two, both do what I want and do it without much delay.

 

[black swan]

buy what you want, but get informed 1st!

Toshiba Tecra series.....www.toshibadirect.com.........
dual-core multi-opt 160hdd 2048megRAm 128megVIdcard
and its got a serial port! db-9pin!!
shipped in 48hrs loaded with xppro sp2


.02

 

[Ex-Member]

Serial ports aren't that big a deal anymore, the adapters are cheeeeaaaappp. I use 'em at work all the time.

 

[PCDOC]

I agree with Mule on the extended warranty for a laptop. It is a must if you are buying one. I have just worked on too many over the years and know they are a pain to get parts for. You might get lucky and get one of the few that don't have issues.

Just a quick example: a cheap desktop keyboard - $15 most laptop keyboards start at $100 because they are proprietary and designed for each model. Just like most parts for laptop. They have you by the short and curlys when you need new parts.

 

[Ex-Member]

I agree with Mule on the extended warranty for a laptop. It is a must if you are buying one. I have just worked on too many over the years and know they are a pain to get parts for. You might get lucky and get one of the few that don't have issues.

Just a quick example: a cheap desktop keyboard - $15 most laptop keyboards start at $100 because they are proprietary and designed for each model. Just like most parts for laptop. They have you by the short and curlys when you need new parts.

short and curlies are probably the reason a new keyboard is needed in the first place

 

[hilinerider]

i'm on here every nite on this toshiba with the amd turion x2, been a real good unit and for the price it has the dvd drive and evrything

 

[woodies]

anyone get the new virus running through the jump drive?i got my work putter hit from somebody else using it!1 week old putter screwed up!not good!

 

[cmantle1]

anyone get the new virus running through the jump drive?i got my work putter hit from somebody else using it!1 week old putter screwed up!not good!

Virus? wats that? This white thing in fornt of me doesnt seem to get those....

 

[grabbit]

Acer

Well I know it's not a very popular brand yet, but i think Acer is a very good quality, they have better prices cuz they're not brand names, but they are moving up. I actually own two acer laptops. One i bought last year an Aspire 5610 which i passed on to my wife to replace her compaq we bought the same day. My new laptop I just bought last week. It's an Aspire 6920 it's got 3 gb ram, 320 gb hard drive w/ core 2 duo @ 1.83 Ghz and a bunch of fancy chit i'm still working on figuring out. The best thing i like about this laptop the 16x9 screen, and the Dolby home theater sound. Best sound i've ever heard on a laptop. And the best part is i got it on a really good sale at Circuit City for $699. It's well worth it.

 

[black swan]

buy what serves your needs, nothing less, go prepared!!

Serial ports aren't that big a deal anymore, the adapters are cheeeeaaaappp. I use 'em at work all the time.

adapters are Gaaayyyy! They are just another pos that will need a driver to work properly, if they work at all. oops i lost my adapter, oops i lost my driver, oops guess i'll call cust support.........oh shiat its 330am and the phones are down..........oh shiat its my job to fix the phones....now what?...

i won't buy labtop without a serial port, but then again i make a living as a remote mtn tech, working alone 95% 24/7.

less is more, and dependability is EVERYTHING imo.
luv my Tecra M9

old beater is Panasonic toughbook CF29, on my 2nd.
no hard feelings, Mule
pp

 

[TBWdracula2003]

I personally like the HP and Compaq. Toshiba are good units too, that's what my work Laptop is. I've had good luck with dell too. The biggest concern to me is an AMD processor. I won't buy a personal computer without it. I haven't had the best of luck with intel to say the least. I will tell you that an AMD will be in a pretty limited number of models though. That's just my opinion and my experience though, so take it for what it's worth. I did have a Gateway for a while for school and was not impressed at all.

compaq suck imho, they have an all AMD processor line up and they run the least ammount of RAM available, i think my computer was about a grand ( it was a christmas present to my dad from my mom and then he got a different one and i got this one ) and it has about 186mb of ram!!!!!!!!!!! can you say slower than dog ****?

 

[Kong]

Well I know it's not a very popular brand yet, but i think Acer is a very good quality, they have better prices cuz they're not brand names, but they are moving up. I actually own two acer laptops. One i bought last year an Aspire 5610 which i passed on to my wife to replace her compaq we bought the same day. My new laptop I just bought last week. It's an Aspire 6920 it's got 3 gb ram, 320 gb hard drive w/ core 2 duo @ 1.83 Ghz and a bunch of fancy chit i'm still working on figuring out. The best thing i like about this laptop the 16x9 screen, and the Dolby home theater sound. Best sound i've ever heard on a laptop. And the best part is i got it on a really good sale at Circuit City for $699. It's well worth it.

Acer is a huge name if you are in the know. They make computers for many different labels. Have been around many years. But they come in all flavors when it comes to quality.