Laptop computers- Which ones are good and and which are bad?

[exploder3211]

As my live turns..

My laptop died thursday night.. The screen whent blank and kaput.. 18 months old... It was a Dell.. Costs over $500 to fix it.. Forget that noise. SO... I am off to buy a new computer (not that i have the money, but this POS dell thing i am using SUCKS)...

DOes any one have any experiance with a Lennovo or Toshiba?? Those are the two i am looking at...

Dell is iffy... They have ok stuff, but it always seems to have some kind of tech issue (or at least the laptops)

SOny is expensive

HP/COmpaq= No way
Gateway is also out

ANy other thoughts?
No desktops either

And apple is a no go.. I have software i run thats IBM only..

Thansk

 

[sudsmaster]

I used to work with Dell laptops. I think Toshibas are better made. Compaqs tend to be better made, as well. Not that the Dells are all that bad - I would chose one over the Sony Vaio, which like many Sony products is too lightly built to hold up to rough handling (IMHO).

Lennove is basically the IBM notebook. Those are OK too.

CR's reliability ratings for notebooks are fairly tightly grouped, ranging from 16% for the Sony to 19% for the Gateway. Since differences of less than 3% are not considered significant, it may be that there is really not much difference between the selections - at least as far as those who respond to CR's annual reliability surveys. I would say, however, that the general grouping around 15% is not all that great for a consumer product. That means that 15% of all units require some sort of repair. Not good. In fact, it's almost a guarantee that your notebook will fail in some way.

At that point, the mfg's customer service becomes important. There, the ratings for various brands vary more widely, from 87% positive for Apple, to 47% for Compaq. From top down, it's, Appple, Lenovo, Toshiba, Dell, Gateway, HP, Sony, Compaq. Based on these ratings, I'd say either the Toshiba or the Lenovo might be relatively better risks. Still, I'd suggest personally evaluating the units. If you tend to be rough on equipment (as I tend to be), give preference to the heavier, more sturdily built machine.

 

[exploder3211]

Thanks.. The Toshiba seems to be the best choice for me... I just don't see how a $1500 computer could die within 18 months.. Its broken 3 times i can count, i only have fixed it once (it no longer works on battery power either).. Grams has a slightly older dell (the one i am on now) and it SUCKS..

Yes i am rough on stuff.. The few sonys i have seen have been fairly strong looking.. Hmm

Dell is probably a no-go.. I have had quite a few dells and never been 100% pleased with em..

 

[whirlcool]

The Dell laptops USED to be great machines, but I think when production volume went up, reliablility and build quality went thru the floor.
Personally, I use an old IMB ThinkPad and it's built like a tank. The IRS used to use them for field agents. Built like tanks. IBM sold off their laptop unti to Lennovo. I would try one of those machines next.

 

[exploder3211]

Office Depot

Here's what i found at Office Depot for $700..

A Lennovo with everthing i need... LoL

I can get a Toshiba for another $100, with more memory and ram but i think that would be better spent on an extended warranty..

http://www.officedepot.com/ddSKU.do?level=SK&id=143169

 

[tolivac]

I used to have an HP laptop that died within two years-Display backlight driver kept going-then anotherproblem-the LCD display panel went---Haven't bought another computer since-typing this on one at work.

 

[sudsmaster]

That looks like a nice Lenovo, however, the Celeron M processor is relatively old and slow. I've seen Toshiba notebooks with Dual Core Intel processors for $700 locally (Fry's). But then Fry's is a nightmare to deal with.

 

[exploder3211]

They don't have a built in media reader, which i would like to have..

Whats funny is that its the same specs as my current one (a dell) with a 40 gb bigger hard drive... Plus the ram is upgradable..

MY b/f is a computer wiz kid, but i would rather get other ideas besides his..

Although he seems to think the Lennovo is a good idea too..

They also have a Toshiba the same price as well, but i don't like the keybord arrangement

 

[washernut]

Sony Vaio here.
Going on 4 years with no problems and has been used every day. I will never go back to a desktop.
Good Luck
Bill

 

[exploder3211]

ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!
Damn stores.. Thats an online item only... GRRRRRR
Calling around to try and find a computer IN stock for that price.. Yeah right...

 

[revvinkevin]

Fry's is a nightmare to deal with.....

For the initial purchase, Fry's is fine (other then the long check out line).... but yes you are correct, if you have to go back for service, or gawd-forbid to return something... well forget it!

Chad: I'm sure your BF will tell you this too, but, what ever you buy, make sure to upgrade the RAM so you have AT LEAST 1GB (if not more). Windows XP is a real memory pig and the 512MB that most systems come with now is just the bare minimum it needs to work smoothly. If you play games with heavy graphics, or do photo or video editing or other graphics related things, it will not run smoothly and will be very slow!

More memory will allow the computer to run faster and more smoothly when it's "working".

That is my 7 1/5 cents worth.

 

[whirlcool]

Once we bought a high end HP Color Laser printer from Fry's. We got it home unpacked it and printed out about 10 sheets of print. Then the machine started giving warnings that the color cartridges were low on toner. After looking carefully in the shipping box, we found some printing work from some other buisness in town. They obviously bought this printer for a big print job, printed it and then packed the printer up and returned it. While it did take a few supervisors and the store manager to review the case, Fry's did give us a refund. We would have taken another brand new one, but that was the last they had.
What some people will do!

 

[MrX]

Apple Macs now use Intel and *can* run windows software.

Just to let you know, Apple changed processor from PowerPC to Intel X86, so you can actually install a copy of Windows XP or Vista onto the machine and boot into it if you so wish to run your windows programmes.

you can also get a peice of software called parellels which allows you to run Windows, Linux, or any other PC operating system ontop of Mac OS X, sharing the desktop.

It's pretty seamless and very handy if you've a lot of Windows/Linux software.

The MacBook Pro has an Intel Core2Duo processor 2.16 or 2.33Ghz
Ships with 1 or 2GB of RAM

The more "consumer focused" MacBook ships with a 1.83GHz or 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Processor

 

[jonv112]

Don't forget Boot Camp, if you don't mind running one OS at a time. I've tried Parallels in the Apple Store on a 2.16 GHz iMac, and it ran pretty fast and seamlessly, even faster than my current 1.1 GHz P3 Dell.

 

[sudsmaster]

I never buy anything from Fry's that has been repackaged. Usually they slap a sticker on it that states as such, but I guess in your case, not always.

Also, if I see a lot of product on the shelf that has the repackaging sticker, I suspect that product has some bugs or other problems that make it incompatible with many systems - so I avoid it as well.

A classic Fry's experience: I bought a couple of cheap CPU's (less than $200) for setting up a home test network. I had some problems with one of them, and fixed it by putting in some other memory chips I had around the office. I then took the CPU back to Fry's and asked them to replace the defective ram chips. They gave me a BIG run-around about how I had to contact the manufacturer. I pointed out that Fry's was the manufacturer ("Great Quality" brand) and that it was up to them to fix their product or give me a full refund (it was less than 30 days). After a couple of hours they finally coughed up some replacement chips. It was a real hassle.

Another problem with Fry's are their advertised rebates. I'd say about 1/2 the time I never receive the advertised rebate even though I've followed all the mail-in instructions. As far as I'm concerned, their advertised rebates are mostly fraudulent.

 

[jasonl]

Asus

I have an Asus z70va which is a great lappy. They're the same company that builds motherboards, video cards, etc.

Mine's a year old now and it's been great.

For gaming, you could also get a Sager which has powerful graphics chips in them.

http://www.allasus.com

 

[hydralique]

A good source for laptops . . .

is euclidcomputers.com. I bought a Fujitsu "N" series notebook in fall 2003, and they had a good price, quick service, and didn't charge me California tax. Lots of mail order places (like Dell) will charge you state tax even if they're not shipping from your state, because most states have a clause that if the vendor has any operation at all in the state they have to charge the tax. For me, 8.25% added up quickly on a nearly $2K purchase. Euclid also has a huge, huge list of computers.

The Fujitsu has been OK, but a couple of months ago it developed either a problem in the video driver or video card. The latter requires a new motherboard, so I need to do a clean install of everything and see if that fixes it. To its credit, it spent a lot of time running Autocad Architectural Desktop which is a real graphics pig and it performed better than expected.

I wouldn't buy anything from Dell regardless of their quality. When I bought the Fujitsu I spent a lot of time researching, and found the Dell site to be a huge time waster. They didn't price the options, so you had no real idea of the final price for your preferred combo until you finished. Then if it was too much (and boy did those options add up!), you didn't have any idea which options were the most expensive, so you had to repeatedly add and subtract options and have them recalculate the price. I finally gave up because if they don't care about my time before I order, how can I expect them to care if I have a problem?

 

[toggleswitch]

Dell Inspiron 5100

I have been working on my Dell laptop since Jan '03 with absolutely no problems. In fact, Steve works on this computer too.
I just have to have a 'chill pad' under the laptop since it tends to run hot.
And is was $999 including shipping.

I would get another. The Dell replaced a Gateway, which was a true POS.

 

[gadgetgary]

Ut oh.....

Guess I forgot to change the log-in now.

Did someone say in another post that we would soon be finishing each other's sentences?????