Laptop Recommendations?

This one's a freebie. Next laptop you get, I charge my $15 an hour.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8880874&type=product&id=1210982227895 - I know it's a little past your price range but this is the best bang for your buck.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8814624&type=product&id=1206749396536 - Sold Out right now but there's a reason for it.

http://www.gateway.com/systems/series/529598024.php - Any of these work also.

EDIT: Seems Desides got my 2nd one but yea, that would be the best option for you.

 

Yeah... what he said!

 

well you better learn it. because im charging too.

and you had better pay up... or else...
... ...

 

That's ok. I speak Spanish and Mandarin Chinese. And a little Russian and French. Language barriers not a problem for me to collect fees.

 

hey!! watch your mouth young man, thats no way to talk to your elders!! haha

now pay up!

 

don't worry, you can pay me later. dell uses one platform and makes several types from it. therefore they tend to look similar. the one thing i would add is, these all are coming from BBY, and if you choose to get one from store stock be prepared for the sales barrage. they will start with the sales person and literally take you to the Geek Squad agent, probably with a list(they should if they follow S.O.P.anyway). that list may make your head spin with extras. the only thing you need to think about is the service plan and letting them set it up for you before you leave. their plans are generally a little more but if you compare them with other stores, they generally cover more. personally i would seriously think about it for a lap top. i worked for Best Buy for 13 years. the last 4 1/2 in services/Geek Squad. no system is perfect and you need to know what it covers, but think about it, ask the GS agent what he really thinks(--not the sale person--), they will tell you what it does and does not cover. then, let them set it up for you(if it is still a free offer) but nothing more unless you want more services(most you can do your self). letting them set it up makes sure that when you get it home it is not dead out of the box.

remember...don't let them sell you what you don't need...they will offer everything and make sound like you just can't live with out it.

 

HEY now! to tell the truth when AMD became the upstart and started smoking Intel, they never really had a processor that head to head was faster. they used more buses for the processor to use so they could process twice as much data at a slightly slower speed. haven't had the chance to look into the architecture yet, but based on what i was seeing last night, with the exception of a couple of high end, and i mean two(2) pricey, processors, the AMD's accross the board were equal to and in some cases out performed the Intel. unless you are into high end graphics and gaming, your real Bang-for-the Buck is gonna be the AMD.

for every Intel person i can show you an AMD person that can tell you their reason to buy AMD. that statement is what we are really talking about when we get to it.

do your home work (yea, i know, it's summer...) and then decide for yourself. though the Intel has taken the lead at this point, i don't think the AMD is in anyway junk and may actually be more cost effective at the moment for what your uses will be.

my guess is that during the ATI/AMD merger they paid less attention to the processors and will be introducing something in the near future to compete head to head with the core 2 duo. we'll see then what they offer up.

 

Get a refurbished MacBook.

 

Personally it depends on what you're doing. Personally I have a Toshiba Satellite because I've nothing but good things about it and I would have to agree with what I've heard. It's been a year with my Satellite and I've no problems whatsoever. None.

Then again, I take damn good care of my laptop... meaning I run scans and crap on it nearly every day while I'm at class. If you're going into Media, definitely go for the Macbook. I know Macbooks are more expensive, but that's my advice if you're going into that particular field. However, I am going into media and I decided to go with a Satellite because I have the memory to handle most things I want to do and if I need more memory... external hard drives and extra RAM are getting cheaper by the minute.

I know Regan has hated on Toshiba lately, but I would really recommend taking a look into Toshiba. I know guys who's Toshiba Satellites are still going strong after five to six years... Mine feels just like new after a year. I got my Satellite for $850 from Circuit City, it was a AMD Turion with 250 gig hard drive and 2 gigs of RAM expandable to 4 gigs. Whatever you do, make sure you get a laptop that is expandable to 4 gigs of RAM.

 

Also, AMD and Intel is really just personal preferences. I know some people are more hardcore Intel or hardcore AMD than others, but in reality it's personal preference. If you don't have a personal preference, then don't worry about what processor to get. I prefer AMD, but that's just me. I've heard programmers and computer science majors preach both ways so the advice you hear about what processor to get is like asking who should be President in 2008...

 

Not sure why people are saying to stay away from Acer, over the last couple years they have consistently raked very high and usually come in third overall behind only Apple and Leveno, two brands that are MUCH more expensive for the same specs. Here is one review I found just googling that puts them there.
http://www.pcworld.com/printable/article/id,139958/printable.html

I am actully typing this on a Acer and the only problem I have had with it was that I couldnt get it to burn a factory restor CD. No a big deal for me since I had aready backed everying up with Acronis so I just quit messing with.

Office Depot has a great deal on an Acer Extensa for $499 after 125 MIR.

http://www.officedepot.com/textSearch.do?uniqueSearchFlag=true&Ntt=109445&x=0&y=0

You absolutely wont beat those specs for that price anywhere.

 

And I too have heard that Toshibas aren't bad, much to my surprise.

 

And whatever you buy is going to come with Windows Vista which is a bit of a memory hog so I wouldn't buy anything with less then 2 gigs of memory. It will run with less but if you are going to have the laptop for a long time its just not worth the frustration when decent deals on laptops with 2 plus gigs are plentiful.

 

I just bought an Acer and it blows my Sony Vaio away. Other than a few issues with Vista, I love this machine.

http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Acer...13348/catOid/-12963/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do

 

Exactly, even with word processing, web browsing, etc as the only need....in this day and age, of streaming video, media/web based applications, multi-tasking, etc....

Two words (applies to laptops or desktops) = Processing Power.

Over invest in this, even if sacrificing internal storage memory...you can buy a removable external memory option, but you cant solve a processing problem unless you have the power, or expandibility...and if you are going to expand, you might as well buying it up front.

 

i have a satellite that i have had for six years, it runs great. my wife got one last year and except for the crap she keeps loading on it, it runs great. my experience with Toshiba is that is a rather reliable machine.

i absolutely agree. are you a Ford/Chevy/Chrysler person?

my wife bought one before the Toshiba, it was a piece of junk. we went through three before switching to the Toshiba. at least half of the one that we have sold have come back. when they stopped consumer level products about 10 years ago they were having the same issues. for some reason they have trouble making consumer level products as good as their pro level.

 

I didn't read through the first 5 pages, but I saw someone post to get a MacBook. I actually just got one last Friday and it rocks. Also if you are a student or a teacher you get a free iPod touch (8gig). you have to pay for it but it only took us 4 days to get the rebate check in the mail.

 

The really cool thing with MACs is you can get it loaded with dual-OSs....best of both worlds really.

Ironically, Windows runs better on a MAC....

 

Another cool thing about getting a refurbished MacBook is that you still get the full 1 year warranty with your purchase, unlike the 90 days for most refurbished PC laptops.

Refurbished Sony PC was the last PC I bought. Motherboard fried after 5 months...

 

If yu have a TigerDirect cloe to you it will be worth your while to go there even though its out of your way .You can save a couple of hundred dollars.

I have always used Dell and I heve no complaints .I decide to try something different
and I bought an newest model HP with all of the bells and whistles with a swivel screen at a deeply discounted price but I am not really happy with it.

Slow reacting and it freezes too often .Now I find out thatits manufactured wih toxic materials.

You cant go wrong with a Dell .

Oh yeah.Nevertried them but the Apple is supposed to be good

 

They started off pretty well with their Athlon 64 and Athlon X2. I had an Athlon 64 once for my desktop. Though I disagree on the current mobile lineups. If you look at a lot of the tech sites, Intel's Core 2 Duo from mid-range to high end beat out its Turion competitors. In the low-end, things get muddled. I'm a gamer first so that is a big part of why I look down on the Turion because the Core 2 Duo spanks all. Best places to find info are notebookreview.com and notebookforums.com as well as laptopmag.com. Benchmark sites like anandtech.com will also work.

Definitely get 4 gigs or 4 gigs expandable to make it future proof. If you do decide on a Toshiba, make sure you're getting a 5400RPM hard drive at the very least. A lot of Toshibas still carry 4200RPM drives which can be mind-numbingly slow. I was amazed they still have those as only options for a lot of models (even their high end ones). I've seen laptops from 6 years ago with faster hard drives. And don't even get me started on the repair horror stories. A former coworker actually got fed up once and threw the Toshiba he was supposed to repair across the desk. If it works and you treat it as delicately as possible, you might be fine. Else, you're playing Russian roulette.

 

thanks for the processor info. i'll start checking them out. as i'm reading through this, it is interesting to see every ones experiences and how different they are. no one more or less valid than another because all are based on experience.

let's put out a shingle and call it thePHINS tech bench.

 

I was hoping you would chime in. For those that dont know Byroan is a tech guy for Staples.

 

used to be a "tech guy" for Best Buy/Geek Squad......not that it really means anything.

i need a red line through GS sign for a sig.

 

I figured you either still did or used to work in the industry.

 

AMD processors run very hot and heat as well as water are enemies of electronic devices.

I didnt know ASUS was making laptops.I have been using their motherboards for years.I have to look in to that .

 

I've always used Dell. They are cheap and good quality, however I have two and one thing always seems to be going out (screen inverter on one and the ac adapter on another). Still I would recommend Dell to anyone asking.