looking for a laptop [Archive] - Toyota Yaris Forums

Tamago

06-24-2009, 11:58 AM

get a netbook, perfect for what you need. future shop has some good deals lately.
you can get a a netbook like mine Acer Aspire One for 349$ it has 1.6ghz Atom chip, 1GB of ram and 160GB of harddrive. I use it for everything, the movies i made of my yaris were done with the netbook

compusa has a lenovo ideapad S10 (better than the acer) for $329

Tamago

06-24-2009, 12:03 PM

what are the specs of the lenovo? or is it just the name

between the two, i chose the lenovo as the screen and keyboard were nicer. the touchpad had a better feel too.

unfortunately they all come pre-loaded with vista now instead of xP, which means the first mod you'll want to do if you keep the vista is more ram. IIRC there's one slot that'll accept 2GB max ?

Tamago

06-24-2009, 12:07 PM

i know the acer has 500MB hardwired into it so yo cant change that , but you can add a 1gb bar to bring it up to 1.5GB.

yes, that's what the S10 had as well. it's 1.5gb now running xP.. quicker than my 2gb toshiba running vista lol :(

thebarber

06-24-2009, 12:11 PM

get a netbook, perfect for what you need. future shop has some good deals lately.
you can get a a netbook like mine Acer Aspire One for 349$ it has 1.6ghz Atom chip, 1GB of ram and 160GB of harddrive. I use it for everything, the movies i made of my yaris were done with the netbook

we don't want a netbook as we're looking to replace our aging desktop...

buddyjim

06-24-2009, 12:49 PM

Sorry to nitpick but Lenovo is not IBM, they are a chinese company that IBM sold their consumer computer division/brand to. Think pads and the like have not been made by IBM for some time.

thebarber

06-24-2009, 01:51 PM

actually it looks as though my wife is really itching for an imac...id be happy w/ a regular laptop

Tamago

06-24-2009, 01:55 PM

actually it looks as though my wife is really itching for an imac...id be happy w/ a regular laptop

imacs

for people who don't understand how to use REAL computers

lol

no offense to your wife of course.

silver_echo

06-24-2009, 02:11 PM

just so you guys know, it is still possible to find a new computer with windows xp... i JUST got a new laptop with xp from hp... $949+tax & shipping...

http://h71016.www7.hp.com/dstore/MiddleFrame.asp?page=config&ProductLineId=539&FamilyId=2836&BaseId=27265&oi=E9CED&BEID=19701&SBLID=

it is also possible to find an xp desktop... sorry i don't have a link for that though...

yaris-me

06-24-2009, 02:48 PM

You should buy a desk top and not a laptop. There are small and very versatile desk tops that can handle multimedia.:smile:

tomato

06-24-2009, 10:10 PM

anyone know where to get cheap laptop w/ good value?

not doing anything too crazy w/ it....mainly surfing the web, some photo editing, etc

nothing like online gaming and stuff

any ideas?

I usually order from DELL, but the last one (IBM Thinkpad) I got at PC Connection. I really like PC Connection much better than BestBuy, etc. CompUSA's pricing was always off so I avoided them most of the time.
I've ordered a bunch of stuff from PC Connection and never a problem.

http://www.pcconnection.com/

You might look at their mini laptops these days. They're really, really cheap.

tomato

06-24-2009, 10:11 PM

Sorry to nitpick but Lenovo is not IBM, they are a chinese company that IBM sold their consumer computer division/brand to. Think pads and the like have not been made by IBM for some time.

Er, that's true, and I forgot to say that their support sucks. But the computer is built solid so you shouldn't need service.

Why don't you get a Vostro from DELL and custom build it?

tomato

06-24-2009, 10:14 PM

between the two, i chose the lenovo as the screen and keyboard were nicer. the touchpad had a better feel too.

unfortunately they all come pre-loaded with vista now instead of xP, which means the first mod you'll want to do if you keep the vista is more ram. IIRC there's one slot that'll accept 2GB max ?

No they don't, if you buy from the manufacturer directly or at PC Connection.
DELL charges $100 to downgrade to XP but I think the downgrade is actually worth it.

Look into it as XP is far better than Vista IMO.

Thirty-Nine

06-26-2009, 04:13 PM

Man, this couldn't be a timelier topic! I'm looking at getting a new laptop, too.

Anyone had good luck with Toshibas?

thebarber

06-26-2009, 05:01 PM

dont want a small desktop....'round here theyre the similarly priced to a laptop (500 for a small desktop vs 600 for a laptop) and then i lose portability....

still keeping an eye out for stuff

Thirty-Nine

06-26-2009, 05:11 PM

Our local Office Depot had some smokin' deals on Toshibas and and e-machines unit. The e-machine was $285, I believe.

Deltasix

06-26-2009, 05:23 PM

Our local Office Depot had some smokin' deals on Toshibas and and e-machines unit. The e-machine was $285, I believe.

Don't buy an e-machines. When I worked computer retail, they were the second most service computers, right next to Dell. Average lifespan on the computers would be about a year and a half, long enough to be out of warranty, but not long enough to warrant a new computer.

Toshibas are okay, the life on the screen isn't (on average) all that great.

I'd go with Lenovo if you're going to get a regular sized laptop, best performance for the price, great setup, and awesome reliability.

Shroomster

06-26-2009, 05:36 PM

Don't buy an e-machines. When I worked computer retail, they were the second most service computers, right next to Dell. Average lifespan on the computers would be about a year and a half, long enough to be out of warranty, but not long enough to warrant a new computer.

Toshibas are okay, the life on the screen isn't (on average) all that great.

I'd go with Lenovo if you're going to get a regular sized laptop, best performance for the price, great setup, and awesome reliability.

I have a desktop emachine going on I think 6 years now...only problem was motherboard fried itself but that was covered under warranty and then later on I had to replace the power supply for $20, & i added 1gb of ram...she is running like a champ still.

there are going to be hit&miss with every brand, I got the good end of the spectrum and deltasix has seen the bad end...

Black Yaris

06-26-2009, 05:40 PM

just buy a desktop and a laptop like we did
we got both for $1200
we have a 2.4Ghz quad core in the desktop with 2Ghz of DDR2
we have a 2.0Ghz duel core in the laptop with 2Ghz of DDR2

we love both of them

tomato

06-26-2009, 06:36 PM

Man, this couldn't be a timelier topic! I'm looking at getting a new laptop, too.

Anyone had good luck with Toshibas?

My information may be outdated but as far as I know, Toshibas are still considered good business machines (business machine = not the one with the most bells and whistles, not necessarily the most updated one either, but the one considered the most reliable). I can't tell you what they're like from the consumer's view point, but businesses like them. They also buy DELL (business line is somewhat superior from the reliability viewpoint), LeNovo, Sony's.

tomato

06-26-2009, 07:28 PM

And Sony's historically cost more.

People will tell you that DELL's get serviced *all the time* but you also have to take into consideration how much share of the market DELL has and how many others don't get serviced.

I still have my 'old" Latidude from DELL. Works great for all purposes, even watched a movie online last night on it, but it's slow for some things (pictures, etc.) I paid too much for it at the time because I wanted to have XP Pro, and the MS suite Pro, the most comprehensive warranty available for the longest possible time, etc., so now I feel I have to keep it as long as possible, but if I had to do it over again, I'd buy something like a gaming laptop and plan on keeping it only a couple of years and use my already existing software, this time saving money on licenses and warranty.

Whatever you do, be sure to "test-drive" your computer. Go to Costco or BestBuy or an Office supplies retailer and put your fingers on the keyboard, etc., get a good feel for it, make sure you're OK with how much it weighs, etc. Then go online and compare prices.

Hope that helps.

Thirty-Nine

06-26-2009, 07:29 PM

That's great advise, tomato. I will definitely do that. Perhaps I'll hit up Best Buy, Office Depot, and such this weekend.

tomato

06-26-2009, 07:47 PM

Glad to help. I'm not up to speed on the latest, latest stuff but I've bought a few computers in the past. The process is pretty much always the same.

First you have to decide what you need it for (a gaming machine will have the most power, and some applications require a lot of memory and processing power, but if you travel all the time, you'll need to go for the lightest one instead, so first decide what your needs are). Decide what your budget is.

Don't get the "latest stuff" get the stuff that came out 6 months ago or a year ago to get the best possible prices (the latest stuff will be obsolete 2 months from now anyway, so no need to pay a premium for it).

Good luck!

Deltasix

06-26-2009, 10:06 PM

I have a desktop emachine going on I think 6 years now...only problem was motherboard fried itself but that was covered under warranty and then later on I had to replace the power supply for $20, & i added 1gb of ram...she is running like a champ still.

there are going to be hit&miss with every brand, I got the good end of the spectrum and deltasix has seen the bad end...

Oh, I've seen a few that run well. However, your experience is based off of one unit, I'm talking about a few years in the computer repair business, computer sales business, as well as time as an on station tech for a small business and what I've seen in that.
Not just my personal PC.

One other point:
No matter what is said, someone will have a computer/car/whatever that, despite being a crap brand, has run for 18 million years or whatever. But these are the exception.

Treyz

06-26-2009, 10:14 PM

I just got a Dell INSPIRONmini 10V and love the little sucker. Only setback is that if you want to watch DVD's or a game that requires a CD, then you have to purchase an external CD/DVD drive. I'm gonna check NewEgg.com to see what they have since their pricing is normally good. Also, it seems that these mini laptops come with Windoes XP SP3 only. I'm fine with that though I really have no problem with Vista. I just transformed the theme to Vista and looks legit. They start at $349 I believe for the 10. The difference with the 10V is that it has a webcam built in. I really don't need the webcam, but we got it as part of a promotion where if you get a regular INSPIRON laptop, you get the mini 10V cheap.

chongopants

07-15-2009, 04:25 AM

www.microcenter.com 299.99 for a real laptop.

Bob Dog

07-15-2009, 04:33 PM

Flame away if you choose, but I've never been able to wear out an HP. They obsolete out first. I still use a old win98 HP to run my vinyl cutter.

supmet

07-15-2009, 04:46 PM

Flame away if you choose, but I've never been able to wear out an HP. They obsolete out first. I still use a old win98 HP to run my vinyl cutter.

I used to test HP computers coming off the line. When the talking monkeys working on the line would put the CPUs in wrong, bending a corner pin, the repair techs would take a razor, straighten out the bent pin, and put it back in a computer to be sold to the public. That's just one of the worst, but you wouldn't believe the crap that went on in there on a daily basis.

Sir A.Y. Atoyot

07-15-2009, 06:07 PM

actually it looks as though my wife is really itching for an imac...id be happy w/ a regular laptop

You'd be a whole lot happier with the iMac. For a bit more money, you could compromise and get a Mac laptop - for example, a MacBook Pro.