Laptop questions

I'm looking for one at the moment. My optimal price range is between $800-$1000, but I may have to go to $1200. I don't see the point in buying an older laptop that won't be much to me in a year. I mainly want it for papers, coding, browsing, just regular stuff. I found a really decent one at Dell's site for $1200. Anyone know of any other brands or sites I should look at? Thanks.

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Webmaster

I've had a Dell, Toshiba (sattelite and tecra), Compaq, and a couple of vague brands. My current laptop is a Sony Vaio and it is the only one I ever been satisfied with simply because it doesn't crash on me. The others are some year ago but it didn't seem possible to get them stable no matter the amount of updates.

If you have the option try them out in a store. Screen quality often differs as well as the keyboard layout and pointing devices. Since technology has improved so much over the last 4 or 5 years, you might jsut want to go for the one that is most comfortable for writing/coding.

Pavlov

I've got a Toshiba Satellite Pro and a Compaq (I forget which model) - came to me running XP. Personally, I prefer the Toshiba laptops for reliability, although I am hearing better and better reviews of the Sony line. I think the screen is actually better on my Toshiba than my Compaq, although the Compaq (being newer) has much better speakers and is more powerful so it's the one I use

2lazybutsmart

Webmaster wrote:

My current laptop is a Sony Vaio and it is the only one I ever been satisfied with simply because it doesn't crash on me.

...now would be it safe to assume that your laptop is waterproof

since you said you usually take it with you when you go to the beach.

pandimus

ive never owned a laptop, but I have heard good things about the toshiba's. I know sony is good, but xpensive compareably.

Webmaster

well, there isn't any water on the beach, at least not the part where my laptop is. It is pretty sand proof, but still a unique way of taking a bit of a foreign country home.

Hopefull I won't have to this summer, I'm already able to receive/send/read e-mails on my mobile phone, now just to get putty working on it and I'll have one bag less to carry

It reminds me of this test they did with several brands of laptops. It was in a local computer magazine several years ago. They would spill coffee on it, push it from a desk, and hit it with a hammer. I remembers Compaqs didn't take coffee very well and as soon as it had a crack in the screen it would die, while other less known brands could handle it just fine. None of them appreciated being hit with a hammer though.

/usr

What about Dell laptops?

pandimus

Last time I checked CNET, Dell generally get the best reviews

pandimus

http://reviews.cnet.com/Notebooks/4502-3121_7-0.html?tag=pageNav&orderby=-7eRating&qt=

some CNET reviews

matts5074

I like my IBM. It's 7 years old and still going strong, the only thing I've replaced on it was the battery and that was 16 months ago. I'm amazed it still has the same hard drive!

I did overheat it once by leaving it on a thick bed spread for a long, long time. Thought I had killed the thing b/c it wouldn't turn off / on. I let it cool, recharged it and it fired right up. I do think the extreme heat (combined with age) is what killed my battery though.

2lazybutsmart

I've got an IBM too, an R32 p4 1.8. It hasn't edured the hammer test yet, but it sure is resilient. Well that's what it looks like, for all I care. And if you guys are going to buy a cell phone with a tight budget, go for the Motorolla t191. It's now 2 years and more than 200 times it has fell off a ledge or window sill. Yesterday, it rained heavily here and it sliped off my wet hands right in a mud puddle. I just washed it with water and it's working just fine.

mynameisboring

About Dell Laptops:

At work all we buy are Dells. We have about 15 Latitude C610 and 10 or less Inspiron 4000, and some new Latitude D400's.

I've worked with them all and the new D400 are amazingly light and have good battery power. But they are less than 3 months old.

The older C610's have terrible batteries in my opinion because its warranties for batteries are for 1yr only. Usually they dont last for much longer. I've had to replace about 9 batteries because they last for only 20 minutes. Other than that keyboards and hinges to keep the CDROM/Floppy are very common breaking components. IF YOU BUY DELL NOTEBOOK BUY AN EXTENDED WARRANTY!!!! You really don't want to constantly connect external devices do you?

pandimus

here ya go!!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3456966738&category=26266

/usr

Thanks for all the help. I think I'll end up going with the Dell laptops. I can get one with pretty much everything I want for $1200 or so. That is only with 256 megs of ram, but I can buy a 512 mb stick from pricewatch.com for around $70.