J
jsteinb95
I'm shopping for a laptop. What brand is best? I don't want to spend anymore than $700. What would you suggest?
Thanks! :thumbup:
Thanks! :thumbup:
Depends what you want to do with it.
stevesnj
Junior Member
I fix computers and laptops as a side job from teaching, I notice fewer Dell Laptop problems and a lot of Gateway laptops die horrible deaths. Also stay away from toshiba though not as bad as gateway. Lenovo is the best in my opinion but i dont think they have any in your price range.
J
jsteinb95
It's a replacement for my desktop computer that has crashed
Just the normal stuff you do with a computer :Im With Stupid:
haasfam
Junior Member
I have worked with a wide variety of laptops and it seems everyone has a different opinion. My opinion on it is that it depends on what you are going to use it for. I have had good luck with Dell. I would recommend whatever laptop you get that you should get the warranty as well.
J
jsteinb95
I've never even heard of Lenovo...probably those $3,000 computers, huh? Even if I had the money, I wouldn't spend that much on a computer.
what about HP?
brad81987
Junior Member
- Joined
- Apr 6, 2008
- Messages
- 336
- Reaction score
- 1
- Points
- 0
- Location
- Neenah, WI; Houghton, MI
Dell is usually pretty good. Lenovo/IBM also is very good. It seems to me they are much better constructed then most of the HPs, Gateways, etc.
brad81987
Junior Member
- Joined
- Apr 6, 2008
- Messages
- 336
- Reaction score
- 1
- Points
- 0
- Location
- Neenah, WI; Houghton, MI
Lenovo bought IBMs desktop/laptop devision. They still make and sell IBMs (Thinkpad laptops, pretty much the best but most expensive you can get). They also sell different models under there own name which are also quite good.
It's a replacement for my desktop computer that has crashed
Just the normal stuff you do with a computer :Im With Stupid:
Could you(somebody) not fix the desktop PC.
I would stick with a big name. If money is tight I would look at a refurbished one.
I have had excellent luck with HP notebooks. I currently have a year old DV9000t series and have not had any problems. What ever you do, stay away from Gateway, pure junk. My Acer I use at work has been troublesome too, but it has been hard drive issues (bad sectors) and less to do with the overall product. I think the best are the Panasonic ToughBooks, but those are not in your price range. I would really check out the HP and Sony Vaio notebooks, lots of people seem to be happy with them.
J
jsteinb95
No....we couldn't fix it and I'm not gonna pay someone $500 to fix it. So, are you saying that $700 won't buy me a decent laptop?
brad81987
Junior Member
- Joined
- Apr 6, 2008
- Messages
- 336
- Reaction score
- 1
- Points
- 0
- Location
- Neenah, WI; Houghton, MI
I've heard decent things about HP as well, I just don't think their recent ones are built quite as well as they used to be. Sony's are way over priced in my opinion, you pay for the name and sleek design and lots of bloatware, and proprietary drivers and software.
2-stroke
Junior Member
Everyone in my office has dells. I like my laptop but I only use it for email internet Microsoft word type stuff. For all the video and audio editing I have a mac. If I was going to buy myself a new laptop I would be getting a mac because I will use it for editing type things. But, I own my own Toshiba that has worked well and I only use it for school. So it depends on what you want. Do you multi task a lot and have a lot of programs open. I do so I needed extra ram in my work computer. That is why people wanted to know what you use it for. Laptops tend to have a shorter life span then desktops due to heat build up. They also have batteries that die. Computers are one of the few things I don't buy off the internet just in case something goes wrong I can take it to the store.
Just had a look at some sites I think you can get one for your price range...
Dell Inspiron Laptops / Notebooks: Colorful laptops, small laptops, light weight laptops
Buy HP Laptops, Notebook PCs, Printers, Digital Cameras, Desktop Computers, Televisions, Handhelds, Scanners, Monitors, Projectors, and Calculators direct from the HP Home & Home Office Store
If it is a Vista machine make sure it has at least 2Gb of RAM otherwise it will be really slow.
J
jsteinb95
I won't be doing anything fancy with it...basically searching the net, email, downloading.....that kind of stuff.
Would you suggest just buying a new tower for my desktop? I don't travel or anything like that...so I really don't need a laptop (just want)
J
jsteinb95
Thanks grommit....much appreciated...I'll probably be going with a Dell.
Stupid question, but do all laptops come with a CD burner?
Stupid question, but do all laptops come with a CD burner?
- Joined
- Mar 9, 2008
- Messages
- 2,595
- Reaction score
- 129
- Points
- 63
- Location
- San Jose, California (GMT -8)
My wife and I both have HP Pavillion laptops and love them. I've had mine for 3 years and she has had hers for about 6 months. They're reliable and do all the stuff that we want them to do (internet, TiVo server, multimedia stuff, etc.). The only regret that I have is getting Vista on my wife's machine. It is super slow on bootup and has some compatibility issues with applications, but that's a function of the OS not the HP machine IMO. I would have gotten a custom machine from HP with XP if I had known this would be an issue.
We spent about $1000 on each but if you hunt around for a sale you can probably get them cheaper. Just go to the HP website and find the one you want, then keep an eye out for one like it on sale.
Keep in mind that when you buy one in the store, it's as-is as far as options, like OS, optical drive, etc. If you buy one through HP you can customize it however you please.
I use a Lenovo T61 at work because they have the big bucks to buy the best machine. I have a docking station, wireless keyboard, mouse, big monitor. That's the way to go if you have the $$$.
We spent about $1000 on each but if you hunt around for a sale you can probably get them cheaper. Just go to the HP website and find the one you want, then keep an eye out for one like it on sale.
Keep in mind that when you buy one in the store, it's as-is as far as options, like OS, optical drive, etc. If you buy one through HP you can customize it however you please.
I use a Lenovo T61 at work because they have the big bucks to buy the best machine. I have a docking station, wireless keyboard, mouse, big monitor. That's the way to go if you have the $$$.
aibee789
Junior Member
AJ_rider
Published FIZZER
I've never had a problem with my Toshiba, I've had it going on 5 years, most of my family has followed suit without issue. However, If I were to buy a new laptop right now it would be a MacBook Pro with the Intel Core 2 duo chip. Speeds up to 2.6GHz, with up to 6MB L2 cache. :rockon:
I'd of course have to load Windows, which would undoubtedly slow it up, but they just dont make ECAD software compatible with OSX. :Flip:
Expensive though. They start at 2k, thats a lot of bike mods!!
For a good budget do everything laptop I'd probably go with Dell. We use them at my office and hardly have issues. Dell even has a new line with purty colors! (;
Let us know which one you decide on.
I'd of course have to load Windows, which would undoubtedly slow it up, but they just dont make ECAD software compatible with OSX. :Flip:
Expensive though. They start at 2k, thats a lot of bike mods!!
For a good budget do everything laptop I'd probably go with Dell. We use them at my office and hardly have issues. Dell even has a new line with purty colors! (;
Let us know which one you decide on.
clunk
Apprentice
If you can afford to wait, keep an eye on the "Hot Deals" section of Fatwallet.com. You can easily get a decent laptop for under you $700 target, but I would probably stick with a new desktop if you don't need to be portable. Dell runs some pretty crazy specials (and the FW folks really know how to maximize them) that will get you a well spec'd computer with a big LCD for probably under $400-500 (depends on how lng you can wait for the ultimate deal to come by).
