Lounge For casual talk about things unrelated to General Motors. In other words, off-topic stuff. And anything else that does not fit Section Description.

Looking into buying a laptop - Suggestions -

Old 01-29-2007, 07:54 PM
  #1  
Senior Member
True Car Nut
Thread Starter
 
toastedoats's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Fitchburg Ma _ToastedRice_
Posts: 6,837
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
toastedoats is on a distinguished road
Default Looking into buying a laptop - Suggestions -

Im looking into buying a laptop soon. Just wanted some feedback from people'* experience and knowledge about brands, features, reliability. Basically.... what kind do you have/have you had and what were teh pros and cons of it. Is there anything to stay away from? AMD vs Intel? Turino vs dual core, vs Whatever else there is..

GIVE IT ALL TO ME
Old 01-29-2007, 08:26 PM
  #2  
Senior Member
True Car Nut
 
Hans's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Twin Falls, Idaho
Posts: 7,545
Likes: 0
Received 1 Like on 1 Post
Hans is on a distinguished road
Default

You know what I'm gonna say



cause every one you get helps keep my bonus fat lol
Old 01-29-2007, 08:36 PM
  #3  
Senior Member
Certified Car Nut
 
bonnie94ssei's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2002
Posts: 11,308
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
bonnie94ssei is on a distinguished road
Default

FWIW:

http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPL...clm=MacBookPro
Old 01-29-2007, 08:39 PM
  #4  
Senior Member
True Car Nut
Thread Starter
 
toastedoats's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Fitchburg Ma _ToastedRice_
Posts: 6,837
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
toastedoats is on a distinguished road
Default

Originally Posted by bonnie94ssei
FWIW:
its worth nothing to me.... no apple product for me

and im not looking for suggestions per-se... more looking for opinions and tech knowledge to help me do my own shopping, i know little to nothing about laptops, but am pretty computer savvy otherwise
Old 01-29-2007, 08:50 PM
  #5  
Senior Member
Expert Gearhead
 
Jim W's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Mississauga, Ontario
Posts: 20,893
Likes: 0
Received 1 Like on 1 Post
Jim W is on a distinguished road
Default

We have 2 laptops in my house. Compaq NC6000 put together by HP. Intel Centrino processor, 15.1' monitor, DVD-R all the typical stuff. Its been solid thus far. The shift key popped off, but with 3 year warranty, getting a new keyboard replaced was easy as pie.

It will be 2 years old in March and is not Vista ready, but for day to day use its great.

Since Angela is back in school, the college made her buy a laptop per their criteria. We bought a Dell Latitude D640 and its fantastic, dual core, Vista ready, 15.4" screen with 14:9 aspect ratio, DVD-RW, fully wireless capable, like the other one. When the time comes, I'll know how good/bad Dell customer service is.

I dont know exactly what you are looking for with regards to capability, but as long as its dual core, 100GB HD minimum and Vista ready then you are buying a capable machine.

Bear in mind I am NOT a computer guy, just your average user.
Old 01-29-2007, 08:56 PM
  #6  
Senior Member
True Car Nut
 
Hans's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Twin Falls, Idaho
Posts: 7,545
Likes: 0
Received 1 Like on 1 Post
Hans is on a distinguished road
Default

I like the Dell Precision workstations..the M65 is probably one of the best laptops out there other than the panasonic toughbooks....they are built solid made out of metal (magnesium) vs plastic.

At lot of the entry level dells work ok too. I've been happy with my D600 dell and its been ticking for 4 years now without a hitch. no dead pixels.

whatever you get, make sure it has at least a 7200rpm hard drive and 1GB+ of ram. Processor is not very important in the scheme of things.

DO NOT GET A 5400RPM HARD DRIVE WHATEVER YOU DO!!

check out the refurbished computers dell has that have the same warranty as new..lots of good deals there.


Dells/HPs/etc support sucks if you buy a cheap laptop, hands down, the nicer laptop you buy the greater chance you will get someone from the united states to deal with customer support/technical support issues. Dont expect someone from america to answer the phone when you complain about your $400-$2000 laptop though.
Old 01-29-2007, 09:28 PM
  #7  
Senior Member
Posts like a Supercharger
 
xyeLz's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Massachusetts
Posts: 197
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
xyeLz is on a distinguished road
Default

DELL OR ACER









I love my Dell.

I spent some $$ on it but the support is decent.

Strong-*** computer.

Definetly get a Pentium processor, preferably Core Duo.

1+ GB of RAM

7200+ RPM Hardrive

If you wanna continue to play CSS on it, I MIGHT recommend a simple video card upgrade but it'* not necessary. Dell integrated would run CSS.
Old 01-29-2007, 09:45 PM
  #8  
Senior Member
True Car Nut
 
lash's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Central Florida
Posts: 7,030
Likes: 0
Received 2 Likes on 2 Posts
lash is on a distinguished road
Default

Not a techie here, just a user, but really like my Dell Inspiron E1505 with dual core processor, 120 GB HD, 2 GB ram, Vista ready, and really sharp 15.4" screen. It'* not a $2000+ laptop, but works fine, IMO.

I know....you were looking for real tech opinions and comparisons....so,

I did my research online at plces like PCmagazine.com, etc. Google "laptop comparisons" or another choice and go from there. There are a number of sites that will not only compare them, but will do so witth specific uses in mind, I.E. home use with media, gamer, office/business, etc.

You'll get more objective opinions and research that way, IMO. Here you will get the subjective opinions and experiences. Also valuable...
Old 01-29-2007, 09:57 PM
  #9  
Senior Member
True Car Nut
 
petraman's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Granville, Ohio ~NEBF '07 Survivor~
Posts: 5,001
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
petraman is on a distinguished road
Default

I disagree. I have an Acer Aspire laptop and it gets around 30 minutes of battery life and it gets VERY hot. Also, the hard drive has needed replaced twice. I say ya get what ya pay for
Old 01-29-2007, 09:58 PM
  #10  
Senior Member
Posts like a Supercharger
 
xyeLz's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Massachusetts
Posts: 197
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
xyeLz is on a distinguished road
Default

Originally Posted by petraman
I disagree. I have an Acer Aspire laptop and it gets around 30 minutes of battery life and it gets VERY hot. Also, the hard drive has needed replaced twice. I say ya get what ya pay for
Then you got a lemon, or you got your moneys worth if you spent $400. My roommate has an Acer that gets 6-8 hours of battery life and it works fine for him.

My laptop has every power-consuming thing you could think of and I get 2 and a half hours, which is actually amazing for this kind of laptop.

Quick Reply: Looking into buying a laptop - Suggestions -



All times are GMT -4. The time now is 11:14 AM.