OT: Best Laptop?

mmslue79

mmslue79

Member
Well I am in my senior year at the U of I. I have had my laptop since I graduated highschool in 1998. It is a Compaq 1230 Presario. I think it is fair, slow as heck compared to todays standard. Running a MMX 233 MHZ, upgraded to 96 MB RAM. It does do the job, except once I got a virus and had to reload windows, errrr. I am thinking of ideas about getting a new laptop. I am partial to laptops, so desktops are out of the question. Also I am not a big fan of Apple, sorry apple lovers. Anyways I was thinking about going with Dell. My family owns a Gateway and it pretty much is a peice of poo. So any ideas, any suggestions on hardware? ie: proccessor, ram (ddr for sure), drives, etc..... I will mainly be using it for: word/works, internet, some games, web design, and that is about it really. Looking in the neighborhood of $3K or below. Thanks!
 
saltywashington

saltywashington

Member
I have two Dell Inspirons for work a 4000 and a 5000 I love them both. The 5000 has a bigger screan if that matters. So my vote would be a dell.
 
ryebread

ryebread

Active Member
I have a home-built AMD desktop and I also have an iBook. Sorry..........:D iBook is smokin' fast and how many problems have I had out of it? None yet.
 
overanalyzer

overanalyzer

Active Member
OK I have had experience with several - it depends on what you want to do with it - judging on your response I would look into specific details:
Something with two PCMCIA slots - why? Well if you are doing web design you can use a PCMCIA card that holds the digital camera's removable media.
Do you want to watch DVd's on it? burn CD's? I'd look for one with a dvd cdrw combo drive.
You want to play games - hmmm - get something with a huge video driver on it.
Personal experience - I like my toshiba Tecra 8200 I use for work. My dad carries a Gateway and it is very rugged - he works in the grinding and polishing industry and beats his laptops up pretty good - his DELL did not last two months. For Graphics nothing beats the iBooks - I know you said no apples - but the latest OS is very window like- much more stable - and AWESOME for doing graphics work. Best on board video - Sony Vaio - plus it is the lightest and does a great job in standing up to stress!!
IF someone handed me $3000 and told me to buy myself a laptop it would come down to the latest iBook and the Sony Vaio - I would most likely end up with the Sony Vaio - due to all existing software titles and my hardware add-ons.
 
mmslue79

mmslue79

Member
Believe me the money will go into the 120 even before I think about buying another laptop. That is for sure!
 
mmslue79

mmslue79

Member
I think the front runners are Sony and Dell. I am not buying this immediately so I am no hurry, I am sure I will change my mind. If I am leaning towards one it would be the Sony. I KNOW a lot of people hate Sony and everything that it is about. But I own a Sony: walkman, PS2, VCR, camcorder, etc... And I have had no problem with any of them. So thanks for the replys, I am sure I will keep you guys updated. I am going to check with www.consumerreports.com and see what they have to say.
;)
 
justinx

justinx

Active Member
One major thing to keep in mind. Granted that both a VCR and a laptop made by sony are electronic devices, they are two TOTALLY different worlds. I am currently typing on a dell inspirion 8200 and am completely satisfied. For the price, you cant beat it. I got a 60 gig HD, 2 cd rom drives, a floppy, and a 15 in display with a lot more for well under the price of a sony that doesnt even compare. not to mention the fact that dells laptop warranty is UNBEATABLE. I could take a cup of coffe and dump it right onto my keyboard, take a pen and stab it through the screen, package it into a box and send it back. Within 2 weeks you will have a brand new laptop with all of you original files on it. (done this once already) My vote is dell.
 
fshhub

fshhub

Active Member
I manage a couple of computer stores, adn trust me, if yo must buy name brand, then
Either get Dell or Jetta(jetta builds the dells for them)
Do NOT get gateway or sony or any of the other big names, Although I do love them all so much, my love stems from profit, meaning We make so much more on repairing these things than if we had built them, I wish everyone owned a gateway, MY end of yr bonus would be astronmical(just form the money we make on servicing them and since we do not build them we can charge for servicing)
 
fshhub

fshhub

Active Member
ps, one advantage to jetta is the warranty as mentioned, with jeta, you go straight to thema dn in days it is on its way back to you,
with dell, it has to go to dell adn then they send it to jetta, who repairs it and sends it back to dell and then back to you(easy extra week there)
 
carrie1429

carrie1429

Active Member
I have also been lookin to buy a lap top and I have been looking for a long time and I would also have to say the Dell seems the best. But I also found one that has everything I want for a reasonable price called an"hq" anybody have any personal experience with this lap top?
 
slothy

slothy

Active Member
hp are okay... tend to be like compaq piled with craploads of useless software... i have worked on ibm/dells/compaqs/toshibas/hps.. and im hooked on dell and ibm, they seem better built (materials/peripherals), not as clustered f*cked as compaq/hp/toshibas.. and as most people know dell rocks for there tech support and warranty work..
(added)
and ib
 
pstanley

pstanley

Member
I agree most of the laptops now are loaded with a bunch of crap...fortunately I wipe them all out and load them from scratch anyways lol.
 
bigeyedfish

bigeyedfish

Member
I'm an IT guy here at work. We are the 5th largest buyer of Dells and the 6th largest buyer of IBMs. We also have VAIO's as well. The track record of the IBM's are much better than the dells. Havent had too many problems with the VAIO's just their customer service is horrible.
 
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