Question on LapTop?

[C L]

I am thinking about purchasing a laptop. Any suggestions?

[Bethers]

Not gonna go here - you'll have a million different responses and everyone will be right for themselves.

Make sure you get the most memory and best you can for whatever your budget is - no matter which company you go with.

[bill2006]

All depends, what you want, i.e. videos, design, etc. and how long you expect to have it. Lightweight if you travel. Some brands appear to have better recognition than others.

[C L]

Hi Bill and thanks.

I am looking to work on my website which is animated, so graphics and such. Perhaps some gaming and videos. Mainly business and travel. I don't want to spend $2000.00, that is what my home computer cost. I see some laptops for $800.00 and was wondering what the difference is. I heard stories of laptops catching fire, so I am concerned about this as well. Basically good quality and value for the money, that will last a few years with this technology race. There are so many out there, I am confused.

Thanks Bethers.

[larazovich]

You know, dell does a good job. If you are specific about your needs, and tell them what you'd like to spend, they might be able to put something together for you.
I have an dell ******** I've had for like 5 years. I traveled with it 3/4 of every month for 3 years, and never had a problem with it. I am still using it, although I don't travel anymore, and now I use it basically as a hard drive, in a docking station. It has been on between 8 and 16 hours of every day since I've had it - a real workhorse. I suppose I could use more memory - but I store all unnecessary stuff on another drive, to which I back up the whole shebang weekly; but that is irrelevent, I suppose.
About the catching fire thing - Dell contacted me about the recall on batteries and replaced it, and also about the power strip, which they also replaced.
Okay there is my spiel.....
good luck.

[C L]

Thanks Liz

[bill2006]

Expect prices to come down, especially as stores look to move out some of the old (current) technology. Dell, HP are comparable. For what you want consider over 512 MB Ram, 1 GB would be ideal. Also a larger screen, the 15" ones are light but will strain the eyes. Shop around, give you an idea Compaq laptops are down to under $400. I have had a ******* for over 5 years and never had a complain.

[C L]

Thanks Bill, and everybody else as well.

To hear your customer reviews helps to make my decision, there is nothing like word-of-mouth, especially when you are not sure.

[Sadain]

Ehhh something with Mobil Centrino that way you can access the net via Satellite

[Vasili]

I got the HP MediaXP 17" with 1g RAM (very soon the recommended minimum!) and 200gHD thru Best Buy with a 5 year Total Care Protection (covers EVERYTHING next day) for around $1500.
Does everything, has everything (including Office 2003), and although Vista-ready, I'll stick with the MediaXPpro, thank you very much.
I like it so much I eventually bought another 14 for the office, as I am trying to convert to laptops (some with stations), and all hooked up globally with the Verizon Global Broadband card. The boys at Best Buy now bow down to me whenever I get to the store! LOLOL

It took me a while to set up the 17" screen so it wouldn't distort online images, but it is great for making Excel and other programs more legible. Plus the DVD and Music features. Really *****.
And, when I add up all the extra software thrown into the Media (even has Adobe programs) it makes this one is a hands down winner for me. (Not that I do gaming stuff, but webbing with multi-media is now a snap!)

[Bethers]

I know I said I wouldn't recommend - and I do say that Dell and HP are pretty comaparable - I recommend you shop by options and price. I also say get at least 1 gig of ram. Even with that, I keep all my work stuff backed up off the computer at least weekly (should do it daily).

My newest (got last February) is a Dell - has all the bell's and whistles except if I was doing it over, I would have paid for the lighter weight model - as I travel so much. So know how you're going to use it. This past summer I got tired of lugging it around :)

I also use an external mouse all the time and an external keyboard much of the time. I'm just as fast on the keyboard on the laptop- but have already replaced this one once during the summer (yep, I use my puter a LOT) and on my old one you could only read one or two keys.

I paid $1200 for the computer, including some fancy software I always wanted :) - and I use and abuse my computers. I had picked out an HP, but ended up with the Dell because I also got a 3 year warranty included in that price - and with all the same options saved about $400 over the best price on the equivalent HP I could find anywhere.

Now, I had my g/f who was buying at the same time as me purchase a special priced HP at Sam's club - for what she needed, the price couldn't be beat. So, again, look at what YOU want for options - then compare.

Oh, one other thing - I disliked very much how the keyboard on some laptops I looked at - the mouse part was separated differently from what I was used to and I'm not sure I would have easily gotten used to it - so I made sure the keyboards were compatible with my speed typing.

[Stroke.nz]

Dell and HP stay away from **** pc's/laptop's Dell over here sell the celaron chips which are B-Grade by far HP load the pc's with **** you never need to use, let alone they use a percent of you Hdd for back up incase you stuff things up .

For me by a Asrock or satellite laptop and make sure its 64bit not the old 32bit which is now outdated

[C L]

Thanks Sadain, Vasili, Bethers and Dave.....for taking some time to give your advice, lots of good info in what you all say, gives me a base to go by.

[C L]

Hello everybody, just wanted to thank you all again for the advice on the laptop. I have been out looking around at the different ones, came across a *******, only had a 60g harddrive with a 15' screen, that was $759.00 cdn. The one I liked was $1499.00, it had everything you all were saying, The Dell's were way up in price........so,........ want to know what I ended up with...???? Hope you all don't laugh or think your advice was for not..........I ended up with a 37" flat screen LCD tv. I went a little off track......lol. Want to know why? $700.00 cdn, slashed way down in price, and I couldn't resist. True story...... This is the one here, have a little look.....what do you think? Good price eh?

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applicatio...80-AT3705%20CA

[LadyEye]

Well CL ... the old story of "It's only a bargain if you need it" comes to my mind. I thought it was a laptop that you needed? I too know you rarely watch the tele .... so what gives? While you may have gotten a steal of a bargain for your purchase, it is not what you wanted. So now to gain what you wanted will cost you the $1499.00 plus the price of this so called bargain. You still do not have what you wanted. So ....... seems to me you settled for something just to spend your dollars. Is that what you've done? You can't travel with that TV, you cannot work on your website on that TV, nor can you do business with that TV. So .... hmmm ...

I believe you also should have asked BigH in regards to this purchase, I believe he would have gotten you a super deal.

Here is my purchase coming up ..............

Case
Mother board with on board audio/lan
Processor at 2.6 gigs
1 gig of ram
256 meg video card
80 gig HD
** DVD/CD Burner
Windows XP Home Addition
** 17" lcd monitor

Santa is gonna be good to me .... can't wait!!
And if I do a little more individualized shopping for this (at a few different places) may also be able to save another $100.00 or two ......

[C L]

Well CL ... the old story of "It's only a bargain if you need it" comes to my mind. I thought it was a laptop that you needed? I too know you rarely watch the tele .... so what gives? While you may have gotten a steal of a bargain for your purchase, it is not what you wanted. So now to gain what you wanted will cost you the $1499.00 plus the price of this so called bargain. You still do not have what you wanted. So ....... seems to me you settled for something just to spend your dollars. Is that what you've done? You can't travel with that TV, you cannot work on your website on that TV, nor can you do business with that TV. So .... hmmm ...

I believe you also should have asked BigH in regards to this purchase, I believe he would have gotten you a super deal.

Here is my purchase coming up ..............

Case
Mother board with on board audio/lan
Processor at 2.6 gigs
1 gig of ram
256 meg video card
80 gig HD
** DVD/CD Burner
Windows XP Home Addition
** 17" lcd monitor

Santa is gonna be good to me .... can't wait!!
And if I do a little more individualized shopping for this (at a few different places) may also be able to save another $100.00 or two ......

Well, well, aren't you the funny one......

No, I can't do that with the tv.........and I suppose if I have mudd on my face, it might as well come from you..........lol

BigH did say it was a good deal, wants to trade for his.......I am still looking for the laptop.....just waiting for the deal.

That's great you're getting a new puter. Can't wait to bash it......lol

I was just giving an update to what has happened so far.......with the advice.......even if I haven't purchased yet, I didn't know what stats and such to look for and now I do, so my purchase can be a better purchase.

Anyhow, I think the harddrive is too small on the puter, and I'm not sure about that processor speed either....I think that is low.....but I'm not sure on that.......too many numbers to remember. I don't know about that graphics card either......so there. (sticking my tongue out at yah)

And you also should make sure about a pci express slot or something. Don't ask me why.....cause I don't know.

[asirimarco]

have had a couple of laptops - make sure you get at least 1g ram and at the least 100g hard drive - also microsoft is about to bring out Vista instead of windows - get a duel core system - it will be able to multitask with no problems - also ready setup for wireless internet - and be very careful of the screen - just broke mine laptop is 1yr3mos old and new screen will cost 700 aghhhhhhhhhh.

[C L]

have had a couple of laptops - make sure you get at least 1g ram and at the least 100g hard drive - also microsoft is about to bring out Vista instead of windows - get a duel core system - it will be able to multitask with no problems - also ready setup for wireless internet - and be very careful of the screen - just broke mine laptop is 1yr3mos old and new screen will cost 700 aghhhhhhhhhh.

Hi Ann,

Thanks for your suggestions and imput.

Yes I was offered a free update for windows vista if I purchased now. They were talking about the dual core processor as well. It makes me a bit dizzy, I go home and think about it, go back talk a bit more, all new learning for me, becomes brain overload, lol. $700.00 to fix yours? Awe that makes you angry I bet. You could almost buy a new one. One thing that was suggested to me was the extra warranty, which I normally do not purchase, however on a laptop, I was told it may be a good decision.

Not good news for you Ann, sorry to hear that, will you buy a new one or fix the old? Didn't need that at Christmas, nor any other time.

[beegud2]

DON"T BUY A *******...they suck...at least mine does...back i nthe shop AGAIN...haivng ot borrow dads computer...poor man...lol

[asirimarco]

haven't decided which to do yet - i can still use the laptop (only use it when traveling) it just has a big black circle in the middle top of the screen - because it is so new (yah I know 1 year is not new - but it has all the bells and whistles) i will probably get it fixed. although the dual core sounds good also the lightlaser that labels disks for you - yum so many new things - btw it is a ******* and no problems at all with it. My other was a **** **** - had a problem with the power connection in it and got the ******* as we were on the road and couldnt get it fixed. had a dell didnt like it - but it was long time ago -

[beegud2]

I havea ******* M65 Satellite...just finished one year ...all the belslan whistles too and it started giving me problems after6 months but maybe I'm jinxed...lol. I had an **** for 6 years and had no problem except battery life...they suck at that. I've been doing a lot of research and you might look into thFijutsu Lifebooks..some have really good ratings. THe HP's arethe ones gettign the best ratings so far and price is resonable.

[C L]

haven't decided which to do yet - i can still use the laptop (only use it when traveling) it just has a big black circle in the middle top of the screen - because it is so new (yah I know 1 year is not new - but it has all the bells and whistles) i will probably get it fixed. although the dual core sounds good also the lightlaser that labels disks for you - yum so many new things - btw it is a ******* and no problems at all with it. My other was a **** **** - had a problem with the power connection in it and got the ******* as we were on the road and couldnt get it fixed. had a dell didnt like it - but it was long time ago -

Thanks Ann, all good advice and will consider. Hope yours goes well for you, must be frustrating, maybe a good deal will come up, I'll let you know, if I see any on line etc.....I'm looking.

[C L]

I havea ******* M65 Satellite...just finished one year ...all the belslan whistles too and it started giving me problems after6 months but maybe I'm jinxed...lol. I had an **** for 6 years and had no problem except battery life...they suck at that. I've been doing a lot of research and you might look into thFijutsu Lifebooks..some have really good ratings. THe HP's arethe ones gettign the best ratings so far and price is resonable.

Lol Beez, I know you've been having trouble lately, naw you're not jinxed, I think it was the avitar....too many hands and the LT thought you needed something for each hand. I have been writing down everything everybody says, thanks gal.....some good advice from some bad experiences and good experiences. Helps me........

[asirimarco]

HP has excellent tech support too
ann

[C L]

HP has excellent tech support too
ann

Thanks Ann

[asirimarco]

Did you buy a new laptop - I went to computer repair to check on real price for fixing my broken screen - they just laughed and told me to buy new one - so went on line and found a couple REALLY GOOD DEALS at Frys.com - got everything I had and more (dual core) for what it would have cost to fix it - might want to check out Frys.com just thinking about you

[tweet645]

If you can afford it get a **** my first choice, next would be Gateway, stay away from Compuke and HP.Don't even look at Dell and make sure get 1 gig of memory at least.

Carl

[C L]

UPDATE

Hey everybody, I made my purchase, best price I could find with almost all the features you were saying.

Laptop Acer, AMD Turion Processor 64 dual core, 1024 mb, 120gb harddrive, Windows XP with Vista upgrade. $800.00 cdn

Thanks to everybody for all the advice!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

[asirimarco]

may you have LOTS of fun with it - enjoy also Happy New Year

[C L]

may you have LOTS of fun with it - enjoy also Happy New Year

Thanks Ann, and same to you, may you have lots of fun with yours. Thanks for all you imput!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

[Dream Lady]

Hey CL! I hadn't seen this thread before....so as ususal...I'm behind the times. I like your new TV!!! I want one of those. Also congrats on your new laptop and I hope it works well for you! My only advise at this point, is to load it up and use the H*** out of it now, while its still under warranty to make sure it is the work horse that will hold up for your needs!!

[C L]

Hey DL! Good advice! I'll do that.........lol The TV is awesome, really nice when you watch a movie, the laptop is nice too, I am trying to get the hang of it...........

ps: I think you've been into the spirits way before NEW YEARS.......lol You and Liz...........holding out on us.......little rascals.

[pemdas21#2]

just hope it wasn't hp... Have you seen my thread?

[LadyEye]

just hope it wasn't hp... Have you seen my thread?

I've been using hp since I started with computers, 5 great years out of one, and I'm on my second, I still have the other, it's a 2nd computer now ...