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Laptop suggestions

Eryxis said:
I'm on an HP right now. I would recommend against getting an HP. They are the best price/performance ratio I have ever seen. However, their customer service and reliability are pretty bad. Ive had 2 HPs and both have had MAJOR hardware problems a little over a year in. My sister has had the same laptops with the same problems except one of hers died twice instead of once like mine. I'd pay a little more for some reliability. Also these don't really go anywhere just around the house. My only other advice is to get an extra battery as they seem to start losing their charge faster and faster.

Ery
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This is as true as it gets. I have an HP Pavillion dv9000 with all the whistles and bells and have MAJOR issues. I have sent it in twice to be repaired. The first time after being on the phone for HOURS telling the girl in India that I don't need to reinstall the operating system because it's a hardware issue and being reduced to playing the trump card of "fix it or replace it" (thank you extended service). When it was returned the repair report was "replaced mother board". 3 months later I sent it back again and had the hard drive replaced.

I am surprised that i have not seen any chiming in from Apple users. Everyone I have spoken with loves them.
 
Putz Mulligan said:
I am surprised that i have not seen any chiming in from Apple users. Everyone I have spoken with loves them.
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Can you even get an Apple laptop for <$1000? I honestly haven't looked at Apple's pricing in a while, but they're certainly not cheap. :)
 
Yes Apple does offer a laptop for less than a thousand bucks, but just barely. ($999).

Apple doesn't really sell low-end machines, so the sub-$1000 notebook market is not on their radar. I'm not an Apple spokesperson and I don't work for them, etc...but they are all about the user experience and they don't want to compromise that experience with inadequate hardware. If you compare spec-to-spec, you'll find the Apple prices similar to the name brand PC laptop companies.

I used Toshiba's for many years at work, beat them pretty good (100% travel jobs) and they were very robust and long-lasting. I even bought two of them with my own money. I was very happy with them and wouldn't hesitate to buy another one if I needed one for work.

For the record, I'm a Macbook Pro owner (personal laptop computer) and if it got run over by a truck, I'd go immediately to the Apple store and buy another one just like it.
 
Putz Mulligan said:
I am surprised that i have not seen any chiming in from Apple users. Everyone I have spoken with loves them.
Click to expand...

I have an Apple Macbook Pro (17") and love it. It's a great laptop and I would highly recommend Apple laptops (in general). However, for the price, you can get so much more in a PC laptop than in an Apple laptop. I have been wanting to upgrade my MBP for awhile - it's just not suitable for travelling (too big). I was thinking of getting one of the new 15" Macbook Pros (top end) but that would cost $2499. No Blu-ray option, no upgrades to screen resolution, no media card readers, etc.

After reading this thread and reviews online, I went and configured a 15" Dell XPS. It's loaded: 320 GB HD (7200 RPM), 4 GB RAM, 2.5 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo w/ 6 MB cache, Blu-ray drive, FULL HD 15" LCD, 2 MP web cam, HDMI port, media card readers, etc. All this for $600 LESS than the MacBook Pro.

Apple makes great computers (my desktop is a 20" iMac), but for laptops you can get much more for the money, which is why I decided to go with a PC laptop this time around.
 
Thanks for the suggestions guys.

I will mainly be using the laptop for internet functions with some media and gaming on the side. Probably 80% in the home and 20% on the road for use. With getting into the auction business that ratio may go up as I take it along for taking inventory of estates and such on site.

Only reason I have a Compaq is because I got it at an auction for $40 a couple years ago. It has started to shut down after a few minutes lately. Will have to gut it and see if a fan has failed or something. At any rate it is old and slow and I could really use a new one.

Will hit the local shops and see what they have before going online.
 
I would do a dell and depending on how much you spend on it, add complete care. Its a pricey plan, but they pretty much replace ANYTHING that goes wrong with the laptop.

They came out and cleaned yogurt out of one laptop and cleaned up an ant infestation out of another under the warranty. Verify if it still includes cracked screens, because that can be a very expensive repair.

After supporting Thinkpads for the last year, I can say I'm not a fan at all. Toshiba makes a very nice machine that you can catch for about $400 every once in a while.
 
Like several others have said, I had a great experience with a IBM T42. I now use a Toshiba (5 months) and am very happy with it. It is large, with the keypad on the side, but it is great for working spreadsheets.

Good luck,

Ken
 
Putz Mulligan said:
This is as true as it gets. I have an HP Pavillion dv9000 with all the whistles and bells and have MAJOR issues. I have sent it in twice to be repaired. The first time after being on the phone for HOURS telling the girl in India that I don't need to reinstall the operating system because it's a hardware issue and being reduced to playing the trump card of "fix it or replace it" (thank you extended service). When it was returned the repair report was "replaced mother board". 3 months later I sent it back again and had the hard drive replaced.

I am surprised that i have not seen any chiming in from Apple users. Everyone I have spoken with loves them.
Click to expand...


This is the exact model I have. I did NOT get the extended service plan. Fortunately they screwed up SO badly that they extended the warranty for 1 year for the particular problems I was having.

Ery
 
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