Laptops, I am so confused.....

[Kong]

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.

What he said. Know exactly why you want a laptop, not just for bling. Also get with someone really savy and make a list of exactly how you intend to use it. Editings, graphics, database, spreadsheets, whatever.

Then make the list of hardware and speed you need. You will be sorry if you don't do that.

Vista... if starting new not too bad if you have to get it. I have it on my high powered multimeadia video editing, gaming machine and it is working fine. But if you want to use a lot of your old gadget programs from XP, pretty much forget it.

Take your time, there are plenty of deals out there.

Tell us EXACTLY what you want to do with it. Maybe folks here can give better info.

One thing I read that made sense and has governed my laptop purchases is to buy as much laptop as you can. You can't up grade very easily, if at all.

 

[Fosgate]

I bought a Dell Vostro from the small business configs. (yeah you can make up a business name and they will sell it to you.) I wanted a 17inch widescreen after seeing a friends Vostro. I priced out other manufacturers and they were about $400+ higher. I burnt it up the second day I had it by playing a game (halflife 2) and setting it on my lap and I think the blanket plugged the cooling vents. I had new parts within 24hrs and had it up and running again with no problems since. (being a former Gateway comp tech I was impressed). I paid $806 for my setup.

 

[Beels]

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 ****?

Pay for crap, you get crap. Simple as that.

 

[Ex-Member]

DEFINATELY get the extended warranty.

Mouse button stopped clicking monday. Took it in today; new case/kbd/trackpad/button, new 80211/bluetooth card as well, took just over an hour as they had parts in stock.

$0.

So much for that pube collection i had going in the keyboard :\

 

[xsummitx]

ibm's are bullet proof....99% of all colleges issue them unless your doing web design or graphics or music&video production then apple is the way to go....i am on my 4th thinkpad i only change to up grade about every year....never had a failure and i abuse the chit out of it,drop it kick it throw it fill it with sand gravel concrete comes back for more..(was a general contrator)...i have an apple in my music studio its never had an issue either....never used warranty on either or tech....it is the only thing i am brand loyal......before ibm i had probs with all the rest...never made it more than 60 days without wrecking one.....been through 23 laptops...if ibm made snowmobiles its all i'd own

 

[TBWdracula2003]

the next computer i get is going to be an ailen ware yes i know there only good for one thing and thats what im going to do with it unreal tournement and WoW

 

[shortstop20]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Do you plan on buying a laptop or desktop? You'd be much better off with a desktop machine for hardcore gaming. One of my friend's has an Alienware laptop, they don't impress me one bit.

my .02

 

[Wheel House Motorsports]

gateway m-152xl

15.4 monitor
3 gigs ram
160gig HD
512mb graphics card. by ati
its a nice one, a little more than i nee, but fun to play games on
gets hot on the old legs tho

 

[Fosgate]

Sorry, Had to cut my last post short after cust walked in. When you shop companies keep an eye out for the processor type and speed of both the processor and RAM. Also more ideal is to go with non integrated graphics. (this means if you want to upgrade or the video fails you only need to replace an easy upgrade card and not the whole system board or buy a new laptop if they are not available.) If you go with Intel for a processor you may want to stay away from the celron. The Duo is a good processor just make sure its not an older one with 533 Megahertz Front Side Bus (FSB) vs 800Mhz. And Same with the Ram. You'll see some manufacturers offer the Duo 800Mhz 2GB Cache processor and then the RAM is only 533MHZ with an astronomical upgrade price to goto 800MHZ. Buying slower RAM simply bottlenecks the processor speed and is only a price advantage but in no way a performance advantage. So with what I said I would get a laptop with A laptop with a ____Mhz Intel Duo Core 800Mhz FSB 2MB L2 Cache processor and minimum 2gb 800Mhz Ram. Next look at video Card and make sure minimum 128 Video Graphics (Non Integrated). and then Look at hardrive size. Most should be substantial with 250Gb but look at what it cost for an upgrade to the next larger, say a 320GB. Less than $50 it's probably worth it.

I bought my Vostro for the 17inch screen and 10key number pad on the right. Love it but if you go and configure one on a site play around downgrading the next model up to the one you configure etc. When I chose mine I configured the same system for $809, $987 and $1104. I just started out on the different offers and built them all to match and picked (of course) the identical system for $300 less. (Also watch Shipping costs) Good luck!

 

[JDKZRT]

ibm's are bullet proof....99% of all colleges issue them unless your doing web design or graphics or music&video production then apple is the way to go....i am on my 4th thinkpad i only change to up grade about every year....never had a failure and i abuse the chit out of it,drop it kick it throw it fill it with sand gravel concrete comes back for more.

X2

My latest is a T60.
The bad -- short battery life (needed 2nd battery in place of DVD), poor speakers
The good -- solid metal reinforced case (no flex in lid, base or keyboard at all)... and it's still faily light too. They say it will survive a major drop (hard drive protected). Will survive a coffee (drink spill). Good graphics. Excellent wi-fi range. Excellent customer support (tech help is in Canada believe it or not).

I also use a 3 year old Dell Latitude (D800) with widescreen. It has been very good too (beautiful display), but the case/screen is kinda like cardboard.

 

[Rob1334]

I have had HP for a while now and love them. I second the MAC thing, but for the cost HP has been very good. Lots of options and decent price.

Vista is not a bad system, just make sure you have at least 2G of RAM, to many visuals going on that eat up RAM.

ACER is also a good brand, like someone said before, they have made components for other brands for years, and I believe they bought out another PC brand within the last few years to increase the size of their market share. Sister bought one of theirs and likes it.

I had a compaq, garbage. Cheaply made, and with any travel they seem to not hold up well. I have had awesome luck with HP, but if you can afford it I would get a MAC. Currently saving for one right now...

 

[shortstop20]

^^^^^^^
Good advice Polaris_1334. I've been running Vista for a while, never had any problems with 2GB of RAM at first. Lately though, after installing SP1 and several updates the system has gotten a good amount slower. I'm constantly using over 1.5 GB of physical RAM. I already planned on buying another GB of RAM. Might just buy two while I'm at it.

Good advice Fosgate. I agree with all of it. That's how I always tell people to price out their computer's too. It's amazing how much the price can change.

 

[ridermk]

The 32 bit version of Vista will only recogonize 3GB of RAM, going to 4GB is useless.

 

[shortstop20]

Good point, I forgot about that when I posted.