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Time for a new Laptop

P

Pompous Pugs

New Member
Joined
Dec 28, 2005
Messages
166
Last Saturday the hard drive to my Sony Vaio crapped out...a week before finals began. Lost most of my semester's work, and have spent the past week getting my work done.

But alas, I will probably need yet another laptop and I am curious what people suggest. I am looking to spend $1000-$1500. As this will be my forth laptop in 10 years, I would like it to be reliable and come with a good warranty (I know that is suckers upcharge, but after losing a semester worth of work it is worth it).

What I have had in the Past--all of which have stunk:
Sony Vaio
Gateway
Compaq Presario

I also have a Dell Desktop, but have heard bad things about the laptops.

Toshiba is inticing, and I would really like a Mac (for the design capabilities) but I would have to spend a ton on new software.

I would use the laptop mainly for classwork (Word and OneNote), then webdesign and graphic design, finally space for my artwork and Mp3 collection.
I could careless about gaming capabilties and/or movie watching.
 
The Apple MacBook Pros are amazingly fast and can now run both OSX and XP, which is a huge plus. They are around $2000 however. If you can wait, the update to the Apple iBook should be released sometime this month, which would be more in your price range.
 
I just got a brand new Dell xps m-140 & I love it. They start at around $850, built exactly the way I wanted it, $1050, 18 mo interest free.

Basiclly all I upgraded was the RAM(1 gig)and the dual layered dvd burner and the battery.

xps m-140
 
My company issues us IBM Think Pads. Mine's a T42 and it's by far the best laptop I've ever had. The keyboard will make you want one for your home PC...

Regards - B.B.S.
 
I wouldn't buy anything other than Fujitsu laptops. Have had 2 and they NEVER failed me! :sign:
 
Toshiba; its what I am using right now.

It hasn't failed my yet; even though I treat it like dirt. I hap-hazardly shove it in my backpack, its been stacked under pounds of books, left in my car in extreme heat and cold, and has been repeatedly turned on and off in short spans of time.

It still does what I want; reliably.


Also, never buy an HP. I had an HP laptop prior to my Toshiba and I had to send it in to be serviced twice in only 7 months (problem with the screen on both occasions). I wouldn't be so vindictive against HPs, but I had a term paper on it at the time of the second failure.
 
My 2cents

Either spend the $ and get a Thinkpad or by a cheap dell like the B120 for about $450 and plan on replacing it every few years. I have gone this route now as I am rough on them regardless. :whistling:
 
Get the new macbook pro. The initial high price will pay itself off in the long run compared to how well and efficiently the machine will operate against a pc.

Not to mention once you use tiger, you'll never want to go back.
 
Swissy said:
I *LOVE* my HP Pavilion...
Click to expand...


He said!

I have the HP Pavilion zd 8230us - 17" wide screen, 3,4 Ghz 2 MB.

I have had three Sony Vaio's, my wife still uses my last one. :)
This HP is, IMHO, the best notebook currently available.
There is one downside for those who use the battery power,
it has a short battery life before re-charge is required.

Brian

Edit to the correct model #
 
I work for a large IT company and we sell alot of IBMs. The location Im at is strictly IBMs and I own a T-42, they are thin and light and run a Titanium chassis which is sweet.

I actually had my first drive failure in one of our units this week and it was a Hitachi drive, which isnt suprising IMHO.

IBMs can get pricy but they are a nice unit with alot of nice features.

Thats my two cents, I should have said more so I could put in 5 cents worth but thats all I gots.

--Todd
 
2 of my friends took their dell XPS laptops to Iraq and back... great laptops and I wish I had one.

My company has been buying dell laptops for a while now, in the beginning we had alot of problems with the quality but in the last 2 years they really took notice of the complaints they were hearing and did something about it. I have no problem with recommending Dell.
 
I have a dell that my work gave to me. Its been rock solid, I haven't had any problems with it.
 
I work for IBM. PM me if you're interested in using my employee discount.
 
Seriously..... you are much better off buiying a Mac. Mac has one of the best wireless antennas. One of the reasons I love my Mac (I have a laptop and desktop) is due to the way new external hardware is added. I recently bought a 300 GB external HD. I actually read the instructions to install it. For a PC it was 7 pages of instructions and drivers. For a Mac it was one short paragraph, "Plug it in and your Mac will recognize the HD". I have never had to install a driver to run anything on my Mac. No drivers to conflict with each other.... no blue screen of death....

Since Mac employees at the Apple Store do not work on commission it might be worth your time to go to one of the stores and play with the Macs and ask some questions.
 
BkCloud114 said:
I recently bought a 300 GB external HD. I actually read the instructions to install it. For a PC it was 7 pages of instructions and drivers. For a Mac it was one short paragraph, "Plug it in and your Mac will recognize the HD". I have never had to install a driver to run anything on my Mac. No drivers to conflict with each other.... no blue screen of death....
Click to expand...


Since Windows 2000 SP2 thats the way Windows works as well. Plug Play and forget.

I have a question for you though since you got me interested, Windows still has a problem that if you unplug a USB or Firewire device and plug it back into a different port it FUBARs everything. Can Macs do it without crapping themselves? That is really the only beef I have left with windows since I started using 2000/XP pro
 
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