looking for a laptop

[Deltasix]

Originally Posted by Thirty-Nine

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]

Originally Posted by Deltasix

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]

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]

Originally Posted by Thirty-Nine

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My information may be outdated but as far as I know, Toshibas are still considered good business machines (business machine = not the one with the most bells and whistles, not necessarily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]

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]

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

[tomato]

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]

Originally Posted by Shroomster

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]

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]

www.microcenter.com 299.99 for a real laptop.

[Bob Dog]

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]

Originally Posted by Bob Dog

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]

Originally Posted by thebarber

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.

[highwaypass]

toshiba satellite a series?
-the not-so-expensive one.
*mine A135-S4487,not very good in graphics but comes very handy in presentation and daily uses