Laptop suggestions [Archive]

biggiy6

29th July 2006, 02:36

I am getting a second job and I am going to have about eight hours of free time so I need something to keep my self occupied.

A Dell XPS is out of the question. That is way too much for a laptop IMO and I don't want to spend that much and can't. I am not a fan of Dell desktops, the laptops are iffy with me. Don't like them but don't hate them.

Widescreen would be preferred. I don't need a powerhouse inside but just something that I can watch movies on, burn things onto dvd's, and maybe play a few older games. Reports and homework from class will be done on it quite a bit, photoshop, and I might even throw dreamweaver into it to play with.

I don't know what is good and what is bad in terms of bad. If I can get those basic things for under say $800 I would be happy. If I can't then let's keep it under a grand.

kurabii

29th July 2006, 02:55

well it depends what u will use it for.
answer these questions and ill answer it easily: ( i deal with computers and retail)

Is it strictly word processing?
Do you program will you be redering graphics such as CS2 and Blender3d?
Do you have a processor preference?
Is this just an email, internet, word computer?
will you be playing games? what kind? name some please

and elaborate please.
but lemme tell you i fix 10X more laptops that are toshiba than dells.
toshibas allll overheat. every damn one of them and burn out the motherboard.
dells mostly motherboard and hdds.

the best ive seen are really the HP dv5k's or the gateway MX series ( i have the mx7525 AMD athlon4000 1.5gb ram 2.6ghz beast! lol

also a question do u want nvidia or ATI IGP or PCIe

answer that and ill give u a steer in the right direction in my first commings.

here to help: ESA

2JSC

29th July 2006, 02:59

go to Hp/Compaq... you can get a nicly built lappy for that price. Even go to BestBuy and look at the eMachines notebooks, my friend has one and its sweet. AMD Turion 64 & ATi 128mb graphics, plus a DVD burner, I think he got his for like $700?

kurabii

29th July 2006, 03:04

i work at bestbuy :)
the compaq turion builds are junk. they underclock themselves to 800mhz even on battery i try to up it in setting but doesnt help. they are load compromised and really dont serve for more than word processing.

the emachine laptops didnt think they sold them anymore :)
the desktops u can get for a measly 250.

im the geeksquad :)
i do the networking, linux, programming. other than that honestly i build computers for people its funny. i help people order things from my competitor ( i love them!) newegg and they come in bring it in and i build it for them and set up RAID. for wicked cheap. i enjoy building them that i dont charge much at all.

other than that i do backups, and computer hardware diagnostics and repairs i do just about everything.

but do get stumped sometimes :).

PS. now that i think about it. SOnys they are good and all but the keyboard are WICKED fragile. almost 1/10 laptops that are sony are missing keys. and they are on trays with "rubber nips" so they cant be refitted... so our service center just replaced the whole kboard.

biggiy6

29th July 2006, 03:10

No not strictly word processing. I'll be watching movies on it, torrenting a bit, playing music. The only program I have is called 3d studio max and I haven't tried it out yet. It's in my first paragraph.

No processor preference. No preference on the gpu either.

I saw a Gateway model I liked and there are a few dell's that have caught my attention but they are a bit pricey.

well it depends what u will use it for.
answer these questions and ill answer it easily: ( i deal with computers and retail)

Is it strictly word processing?
Do you program will you be redering graphics such as CS2 and Blender3d?
Do you have a processor preference?
Is this just an email, internet, word computer?
will you be playing games? what kind? name some please

and elaborate please.
but lemme tell you i fix 10X more laptops that are toshiba than dells.
toshibas allll overheat. every damn one of them and burn out the motherboard.
dells mostly motherboard and hdds.

the best ive seen are really the HP dv5k's or the gateway MX series ( i have the mx7525 AMD athlon4000 1.5gb ram 2.6ghz beast! lol

also a question do u want nvidia or ATI IGP or PCIe

answer that and ill give u a steer in the right direction in my first commings.

here to help: ESA

kurabii

29th July 2006, 03:16

hmmm. watching dvds. torrenting... minimal games? just widesreen dvd watching crisp brightscreen. the compaqs and hps are wicked good for their widescreen. and picture quality and they usually come packed with a turion and a 200M IGP.
integrated graphics processing.

hope that helps.
you can get an nice hp for like 700 bucks and even those damn sexy special edition (brushed sparkle metalic blood red *chills* for like 900) if that was ur price range or if u wanted alot of torrenting u need hdd space. some of the new hp run like 1k even and have two hdd slots. usually come stock with a 120 and can throw in another.

ESA (whats your price range :) )

biggiy6

29th July 2006, 17:00

Starbuck3733T

29th July 2006, 17:37

biggiy6

29th July 2006, 17:41

Well i'll sound like a broken record, but my recommendation for a good general purpose (not high-end-gaming) laptop is the IBM/Lenovo T series. I had a T43 and it was indestructable, and now a T60 and it's just as good if not better. Check out the 2008-C4U as it's a good base model to work from... PM me if the prices offend you ;)
:jaw: I couldn't afford that if I tried. I need to stay under a grand.

Is a warranty worth the extra $200? It's a three year warranty after the one year ends, seems a bit high but then again I am new to all of this

DickNervous

29th July 2006, 23:41

I just orderd a Dell E1705 that I think is a great deal, but I had a 35% off coupon . So I got a $3200 laptop for $2100 with tax and shipping. Core Duo 2600, 2gb ram, 100gb HDD, 17" Widescreen, 8x DL DVD-R/W, and nVidia 7900 Go GS.

If you wait for a Dell coupon to be put up on Slickdeals.net you can get some great deals on pretty decent machines. The only reason I got a Dell is 'cause nobody else gives 35% off coupons. Otherwise I would have probably gotten an Alienware. I wouldn't have gotten a Thinkpad, even though I love them, cause the video in them is crap for games. Otherwise the T series is da bomb.

furious trout

29th July 2006, 23:46

kurabii

30th July 2006, 01:48

I thought the GeekSquad had set prices on their services?

It would be cheaper to buy an external hdd and easier since I move alot of files between my computer and my friends computer since he is still on dial up.

Looking at bestbuy I found two that I liked. Of course the one is almost $1,000 but it has a 17" screen. As much as I like it I will have to pass.

Here (http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7889109&type=product&productCategoryId=cat15107&id=1151657489182) is the one I am looking at.

they do. lets say i build a computer. set up raid, cable manage, everything in boxes set up. just hardware it takes me an hour i charge an hour price.
but if i like the person hes cool and everything ill go quick so im not breaking any rules. but wanna know whats weird that i dont understand that i think is cool...

if you bought a computer from best buy.
and bought a 1900XT from us and had us install it for 40bucks@!!!! and got the insurance on the whole deal meaning pc and install... anything happens to that card we warrant it... i dont understand the logic with best buy but ok... we will cover a 400 dollar video card that isnt made by bb...

but i guess since no OEM computer we sell comes with a overclocking ability. most are phoenix bios. :)

ESA

DickNervous

30th July 2006, 02:37

if you bought a computer from best buy.
and bought a 1900XT from us and had us install it for 40bucks@!!!! and got the insurance on the whole deal meaning pc and install... anything happens to that card we warrant it... i dont understand the logic with best buy but ok... we will cover a 400 dollar video card that isnt made by bb...

but i guess since no OEM computer we sell comes with a overclocking ability. most are phoenix bios. :)

ESA

It is really simple to understnad actaully. Think about it in the big picture. Let's take a $400 video card for instance. And let's assume BB charges $30 for the 4 year insurance on it. If BB sells 100,000 of those cards in a year where people get the insurance they make $3 million dollars. In order for them to loose money that means in 4 years over 12,000 of those cards have to not only fail, but the owners need to make their claim.

When was the last time you heard of 12% of any computer componenet sold in one year fail?

jaguarking11

30th July 2006, 06:21

I just got a t21 lappy. Yes its really old but it does what I need it to do. The only thing I dislike is the fact that I dont have a touchpad. That nipple thing drives me nuts. Got me a 10dollar cordless from newegg and im peechy.

Im with star on this one. These machines are built tough. This is nearly a 6year old lappy and it dosent have a single brocken component. FYI this was a company workhorse b4 retirement and it got passed on to me by a buddy. So 6 years of abuse and punishment. Its ok now its in safe hands. My old dell was almost 11years old when it bit the dust.

The quality is great and IBM has improved upon it in recent years.

If your on a extreme budget at least shoot for a celeron m lappy. There are some nice acer ones on newegg that are in the 500dollar category. They have a fiew pentium M ones in the 800dollar range that meet and exede all your requirements.

As far as toshiba is concerned stay away like the plague. I dont even look at them when im walking by the electronics store. Quality is non existant on those things.

biggiy6

30th July 2006, 07:36

I found this Dell that I actually really like. I would up the memory to a gig and the hdd to 80 since that would put just over an extra $100 which to me isn't all that bad.

Here it is. (http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?c=us&cs=19&l=en&oc=iB130S3&s=dhs)

After looking at the final price with a warranty, the extra memory and hdd it's almost a thousand alone before shipping. I think I will stick to the hp or compaq I saw on the bestbuy site.

Fibbles

30th July 2006, 15:54

Dell, HP/Compaq or IBM/Lenovo are the only candiates I'd look at. I'd stay away from Turions (everyone i've seen has been terrible) too and shoot for a Pentium M (or whatever the latest dual core effort they're pushing is:shrug:) style machine if you can.

In reviews they (Turions) keep up pretty good, more like they're neck and neck :huh:

I want a laptop myself. I'll only need it to watch DVD's, listen to music and have general access to the web while I'm moving. I've been thinking about a Macbook to learn how to use a Mac, but the prices are a little more than I want to spend and I don't have a rich aunt buying for me (no offense Cammie :thumb: ).

I'll probably end up with another Dell (I got one for my little sister many years ago and then another a few years ago when the first got "too old").

At the extreme end, there's also the DIY route and I'd love to try it, but the kits seem to be somewhat hard to find and I don't think I'm patient enough.

DickNervous

31st July 2006, 01:10

At the extreme end, there's also the DIY route and I'd love to try it, but the kits seem to be somewhat hard to find and I don't think I'm patient enough.

I plan on doing a DIY laptop one day, so I can water cool the beasty.... ;)

I just need to design a waterblock that would fit. Couple it with a passive rad (mounted on the back of the screen) and a DDC pump and all is good. :)

biggiy6

31st July 2006, 02:53

After playing around a bit on the dell site again. I chose a different model. The only difference was a 20gb smaller hdd but that is what they make external hdd's for. The total cost with taxes since shipping is free came out to be $736.20 which I don't think is bad at all for what I am going to be doing on it.