Laptop

[hermanj]

I'm thinking about buying a laptop. Does anyone have any suggestions on what to look for in one?

[dwayner79]

My initial reaction is get a MacBook.

If, however you want to stay in the Microsoft world, I prefer Toshiba. I have a satellite that I have had for a few years now. It has held up pretty well (though I did have to replace the keyboard). They are priced well for home use. If you are willing to spend the money, I like HPs professional line (look for black cases). HP's personal line are troublesome, IMO. Dell is, well Dell. Some people love them, others hate them. I have a friend with a dell, and it is nice. Dell is one of those places where I would not buy the bottom of the line, but like HP if you are willing to buy a professional laptop, you would probably be ok.

Now to some specs.

There are two issues with laptops. First is memory. I am not sure why, but it still seems like laptop manufacturers think that 512 Meg Ram is still ok. Its tough to run XP on 512, let alone Vista. If you get vista, make sure you have 1 gig minimum, and make sure it will support more, you will probably want more later.

The second is hard drive space. Because of the smaller form factor HDs are smaller... way smaller. My 60 gig is full, and I have to play games with moving stuff around when I want to do anything that requires a decent amount of hard drive space (like capture from the digital video camera, etc.). Do yourself a favor, budget for an external drive. Get a Mybook, or comparable drive and use the firewire to store your data on that drive. It will save you a lot of headaches.

[kevinmiller]

I would recommend Macbook because it will end up being close to the same price if you were to go with a Dell, for example, but with a whole lot better quality. When I spec'd the Dell E1505 last year with the same as what I wanted in the Macbook, it came out to be like $100 cheaper or so. But the quality and features of the Mac farrrrr outweigh the price and size difference. You will never regret buying a Mac. It's light, fast, stable, easier to use than Windows, and far more streamlined. And if you wait until Leopard comes out this Spring, you will be able to run Windows on your Mac. You can do it now, but you have to get the program whereas Leopard has it pre-installed. That way, if you must have Windows programs in a Windows environment, you can run both OS' straight from your Mac.

But...if you must get a PC, I would probably recommend along the same lines as Dwayne. Toshiba makes good laptops, Sony is reputed for making laptops of excellent quality and Dell keeps it cheap. Don't go too cheap on a Dell though because if you buy a $600 laptop, don't expect it to last you real long. And if you have problems, expect your tech support to be in India, which is the norm for HP now as well. Not sure about Sony.

I would stick with XP at this point because it is updated and fairly stable whereas Vista has just been released and they will spend the next year getting the bugs out. Not to mention it is a very heavy OS and will require you to raise your specs and your price.

Minimum specs nowadays to run decently is 1GB of ram and at least a 1.83 core 2 duo(I recommend at least 2ghz). Video card and hard drive all depends on what you want to use if for. Oh, and another reason to wait for this Spring is that Santa Rosa is supposed to be coming out shortly. Of course, it won't make that much of a difference and I wouldn't let it deter you unless you can afford the wait.

[Pastor Matt]

I'm thinking about buying a laptop. Does anyone have any suggestions on what to look for in one?

It really depends on what you are using it for. They all have strengths and weakness. Overall Toshiba Satellites are the best for your dollar. If you are a photographer and will show off your pictures to clients, then you can really impress them with a Sony Vaio.

[Kubel]

List some of the stuff you will be doing with it.

Here's a start:

Do you care if its PC or Mac? Is brand important for you?

What is your budget?

Do you care about the laptops screen size or weight? There are 4 classes (ultraportable [12"], thin and light [14"], mainstream [15"], and desktop replacement [17"])

Do you want widescreen or standard screen? (widescreen is nice for movies and spreadsheets, not so great for gaming or battery life)

Do you have a preference to the type of screen (glossy [usually a crisper image, but reflects light] or matte [standard on most laptops])

What screen resolution do you prefer?

What kind of optical drive do you need? (dvdrw, etc...)

How large of a hard drive do you require?

What will you be doing with it? (gaming? what kind of games? surfing? office stuff?)

What battery life do you need? (most laptops have at least 2 hours of battery life)


If your answer to these questions is "i dont care, i just want a deal", look into the Compaq Presario V6000Z. It's an AMD based laptop, 15.4" widescreen, GeForce go 6150 onboard graphics (much better than gma950 which is on most pcs and macs), and it starts at $479.99 (even cheaper with APP).

[kevinmiller]

What battery life do you need? (most laptops have at least 2 hours of battery life)

The Macbook has up to 7 hours of battery life, 4 hours for DVD-watching.

[hermanj]

I will attempt to answer everyone's questions as briefly as possible:

First of all, I am not a fan of Macs. Sorry Kevin. We purchased 14 of them for the Music Computer Lab at school, and 6 of them are no longer working. I know that with all the people using them you're bound to have problems, but you'd think they could at least last 6 months. Also, I have the Windows version of all of my music programs, and I do not want to have to take the time (or the money) to get Mac versions.

I plan to use it to do basic schoolwork and to run my music programs.

I'm looking in the $500-$750 range right now....but I would be willing to wait and save for something a little higher.

Most of the other stuff really doesn't matter to me.

Thanks for all the comments and suggestions.

[Kubel]

Here's a few to look into:

#1 Asus AS5570 ($719.99, Intel Core 2 Duo T2060 1.60GHz, 14.1" WXGA, GMA950, 1GB RAM, 80GB HDD, Super Multi DVD+/-RW)

#2 Asus AS5100 ($674.99, AMD Turion 64 MK-36 2GHz, 15.4" WXGA, ATI Radeon Xpress 1100, 512MB RAM, 120GB HDD, Super Multi DVD+/-RW)

#3 Compaq V3000Z ($507.99 [APP], AMD Mobile Sempron 3400+ 1.8GHz, 14.1" WXGA, GeForce Go 6150, 512MB RAM, 60GB HDD, DVD+/-RW)

#4 Compaq V6000Z ($439.19 [APP], AMD Mobile Sempron 3400+ 1.8GHz, 15.4" WXGA, GeForce Go 6150, 512MB RAM, 80GB HDD, DVD/CDRW)

For the Compaqs, to get that price, you will have to create an APP (academic purchase plan) account through HPShopping: http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopp ... ter_app.do

Once you sign in, you can shop and it will deduct the APP discount from whatever you are viewing. You can tell you are in APP mode if the site is green or if you see a green APP tag next to the price. A few months back I got a CTO (configure to order) V2000Z on their APP for $350, and it came with a free all-in-one printer. Looks like their prices are a bit higher, but you definately get more for your buck. Faster processor, more memory, better graphics, larger hard drive than my V2000Z. And don't let the Sempron scare you away. It's no Core 2 Duo, but it's a lot better than a Celeron-M even with its crippled cache. They are also S1 motherboards, so you can always later upgrade to the Turion 64 X2. My V2000Z left me stuck on the dead end socket 754. But for the cost, I'm not complaining.

Anyway, if pure speed is all you want, go with #1. For that price, you will find nothing that can beat the Core 2 Duo. If you are into gaming, definately go with #2, #3, or #4 because GMA950 graphics are horrible. If you are into mobility, you will probably find #1 and #3 will be the easiest to carry around. If cost is your only big concern, definately pick #4.

If I were you, I would probably pick the V3000Z and upgrade to 1GB (about +$50). That way I would have a nice mix of everything.

[Anon]

My husband had a Toshiba and it didn't last very long. :sad

[Kubel]

Actually Apple's, Toshiba's, and Sony's are the brands with the least failure-requiring-repair percentages (this study was done a few years ago though, so maybe things have changed, or you got a bad apple... err... i mean toshiba :lol).

[Madeline]

Sony Vaio makes the best laptops IMO. :cool

[dwayner79]

Sony Vaio makes the best laptops IMO. :cool

Sony Vaio makes the FLASHIEST laptops, but not the best

Also, I would avoid an Asus... but opinions are like elbows...

[dwayner79]

I just built this toshiba:

Satellite A130-ST1312
PSAD0UTC7G4M

CPU: Intel® Core

[dwayner79]

BTW, this just came up on Slick deals...

I still hold to my concerns with Dell, but that price is hard to beat.

[Pastor Matt]

That is a good price, but you are right about the Dell's.