Laptop advice?

[Farzam]

I'm starting to look into laptops, I feel like I really really want one, badly.

So i'm looking for advice.


I'm mainly going to be using the computer for a lot of myspacing and such and downloads. It needs to be pretty quick. I don't need a huge screen but it wouldn't kill me. Built in webcam is awesome.

-How much ram and such like that is necessary?
-Where do I get the good deals from?
-Know of any discount/promotion opportunities?
-Anywhere to get a cheap used/refurbished computer? Especially somewhere that'd be local?
-Good brands? brands to stay away from?


Any info would help. I'm trying to get a good laptop, but the lower the price the better!

[Baka Sama]

I like small, light, compact notebooks with a good video card, so I stick with Asus or the Dells like the XPS M1330.

Its all about what you want to do with it. Most smart phone and I phones now a days can do full internet/mp3 and movie players so I really dont see a need for a laptop unless its for school. Maybe you should look into a good desk top if youre on a budget.

I would go to notebookreview.com to try to feel out what you want. As with anything, you get what u pay for.

[an_orange_s2k]

dell or macbook, depending on how much u want to spend

edit: if u HAVE to get a cheap one, pick up a refurbished one. at least u know that it was sent back and fixed....instead of possibly having a virus

[hustlervibes]

You get what you pay for generally and check out a lot of review sites to see the design flaws with each computer. If you want cheaper versions try to find outlet stores like a sony outlet.

Regarding the ram, if you're getting a new laptop (equipped with Vista) then get as much ram as possible. That new OS of theirs needs a lot of ram to run decent. I'm at 2 gigs right now and I want to get 4 because it's starting to irritate me.

Other than that, just go to stores and feel out each laptop until you find a few that you like the weight of and the keyboard suits you.

[Baka Sama]

^I stick with xp. but if you have to get vista yeah I wouldnt go below 2 gigs.

If you want a cheap laptop tigerdirect always has crazy deals.

[ronmcdon]

if you're just using your computer for downloading stuff and myspace, assuming thats what myspacing means (sorry, i live under a rock), you really don't need anything fancy.

personally, i like to buy from newegg.com , as their pricing is reasonable, and their customer service is generally very good.

as for what computers to use, I've had good experience with alienware, and dell. my current laptop is a gateway, and it seems to work fairly reliably for the past 6 months I've owned it. I got it for 1,200, but apparently you can now get it for 900; :( It's not cheap, but I think it's a good value considering the performance features.

15.4 display
1.8ghz intel core duo processor
4 gig ram
512 mg video card
250 gig hd

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834101154

I have not had good experience with the Sony Viao or HP, but ymmv.
I'm no expert, but thats my opinion anyhow.

[infinitexsound]

if you dont care and need a laptop craigslist..... 300 bucks get one kinda up to date...and up the ram... if you dont care....for $$ get an apple...

computers are can be had for cheap... its just how u justify spending for one for what ever purpose you have for it....

shit im still running on an old compaq desktop 10 years old...

[SC_S13]

if you know anyone who goes to college and wouldnt mind you using their university identity to get an apple laptop with a university discount, you could do that. but i reccomend toshiba. i have a qosmio, and it comes pretty beefed up stock. dell has good support but their laptops are so-so unless you get an upgraded XPS. just for the life of st mary, do NOT get an HP or anything else. 2 gb RAM ftw, and make sure you have adequate harddrive space because DLs will sap it up with quickness. if they offer XP go for it, but IMO vista will get more and more streamlined as they work out the kinks.

[flip3d]

Do you plan on doing any occasional gaming?

[just1pepsi]

i'm real happy w/ my Dell XPS M1530 Its relatively light and compact, is stout performance wise and it looks cool.

the main specs are what I'd suggest for Windows vista:
2.0Ghz Intel core2duo
4gb ram
200 Gig HDD (7200rpm) *iirc
nvidia 8600 graphics "card" -- any Nvidia 8xxx series should run Vista nicely

Any system with the above specs (or similar) will run Vista -no problem. I dont have any problems running things on Vista, like alot of people bitch about, so I dont know what they are trying to do that I'm not.

The rest is just what it comes with:
wifi/bluetooth/sdcard reader/firewire -standard stuff
hdmi port, Integrated webcam, bio-metric device (fingerprint reader --basically useless for me)

Remember that a portable computer is like anything else you've ever purchased, if its super cheap, dont expect it to be worth a damn. Also, I ALWAYS suggest buying the accidental damage warranty, (all major computer companies offer it) because portables will get dropped, and you wont regret the extra money spent if you spill coffee in the keyboard or something.

Toshiba, Gateway, Dell are my top 3 in no particular order.

If you have real deep pockets, Apple makes nice portables -Air! but consider what you are going to do with it, and if you use office, I think You'll need the Mac version for the extra 2.3million dollars it goes for or however much.

[kyoru]

Sounds like either a Dell XPS M1330 or a Refurbished Macbook would fit your needs nicely. Dell is always having deals so check redflagdeals.com, Mac has educational discounts so try to find someone with a college/university id. I switched over to Mac recently and it has made a huge difference in productivity.

[Future240]

I had an acer laptop, before i upgraded to their desktop. Its was pretty good, it was perfect for carrying around, wasnt really all that expensive costed me 609 (did ebay, 150 more in stores) and the specs were pretty decent. it came with a gig of ram, but i could have installed another. the graphics card was good for the price, wasnt going to run anythin hi powered on it, but daily computing things were a breeze for it. I would suggest since you are goin to have vista, look for a laptop, that is expandable to 3 or 4 gigs of ram. HD for what you say can be about 120 GB, if you dont plan on doing any gaming, you dont need one of those super high graphics cards. As for the processor, nothin less than a dual core 1.6. Screen size, 15, or 17 is good.

[SW20Racer]

www.newegg.com

[PBucch]

dell 1501 refurb, $530 shipped

1.9ghz dual core
2gb ram
256mb gfx
160gb HD

dell outlet store, get up on it.

[aznpoopy]

dell has sucked for about the last 7 years. their customer service is terrible and something is always breaking on the computer. the upside is you can get the shit cheap. i suggest acer or asus. asus has a pretty kick ass 2 year free warranty that comes with all their computers automatically.

i use techbargains.com to hunt for cheap computer stuff. it lists sales, coupons and specials from all major vendors and manufacturers, including newegg. its also linked into pricegrabber so you can compare deals quickly.

nowadays 1GB of memory is bare minimum. 2GB is recommended.

the other thing to keep in mind is that the videocard in a laptop is generally non upgradeable/swappable. so if you plan on doing any gaming you should really shell out for a laptop with a stellar videocard from the start. if you get a laptop with a subpar videocard, you'll have to settle for playing older games.

[azndoc]

So you have money for a labtop, but no money for a premie membership?

hmmmm

Anyways.

I have a dell and I found the deal of gotapex.com or newegg.com can't remember. It started off at a good price of $600 and by the time that I was done with it the total came out to be around $1200.

I just knew at the time that I wasn't going to be buying labtops every year so I might as well purchase the latest and best parts at the time.

[BustedS13]

-How much ram and such like that is necessary?
2 gigs is good, more is great (in a laptop)

-Where do I get the good deals from?
www.newegg.com (http://www.newegg.com)
www.tigerdirect.com (http://www.tigerdirect.com)

-Know of any discount/promotion opportunities?
no

-Anywhere to get a cheap used/refurbished computer? Especially somewhere that'd be local?
www.craigslist.org (http://www.craigslist.org) (make sure you grind the serials off when you buy it though)

-Good brands? brands to stay away from?
just get a Thinkpad, they're the best.
Lenovo is solid, Toshiba is solid, Acer is fine. people seem to like HP but i've had nothing but trouble with them. Compaq is crap.

Any info would help. I'm trying to get a good laptop, but the lower the price the better!

seriously, if you don't use it for anything extreme, you can get a very good price on a Lenovo (formerly IBM) Thinkpad. they're solid as a rock.


or if you're gay you can throw away money on an apple.

[F3600]

don't buy a toshiba laptop with vista. They have a lot of drivers problem, trust me.

[BustedS13]

you know, i've never had an issue with vista except for when i was running RC1... but i have switched back to XP just because everything seems to be more compatible with it. but this happens with every new version of windows.

"but why doesn't it happen with osx lol?"
because when you have a closed source system and five applications, you can go ahead and make sure everything works fine before release. when you have something that is used on 90% of computers world-wide that every software company on the planet cranks out software for, there's going to be some issues.

[SimpleS14]

If you're doing simple stuff like that....why drop $$ on a laptop?


Anyways, if this helps you a bit...I bought a used HP laptop (twice) and had no problems with them. I sold one since I need the cash, and I bought the other one since I now have the money, like the look of the current design and need the portable computing (beyond downloads and blogs).

Memory was cheap and easy to upgrade (2 gig) and Vista x64 runs much better than when I had XP (x86) on there.

Computers from last year have more than enough for what you're looking for, just do a bit of research, read feedback and really ask yourself if its really worth it.

[kyoru]

don't buy a toshiba laptop with vista. They have a lot of drivers problem, trust me.

vista is alright, just make sure your not running a nvidia card or else your gonna get hammered

[just1pepsi]

dell has sucked for about the last 7 years. their customer service is terrible and something is always breaking on the computer. the upside is you can get the shit cheap.



lol. It depends on what you are buying, there are high and low ends of the spectrum. Also, most computer problems are user or software related. trust me on this.

[SW20Racer]

So you have money for a labtop, but no money for a premie membership?

burnananananaaa

http://www.adultswim.co.uk/assets/downloads/76/perfect_hair_1024x768.jpg

farzie, ill trade you something for a premie membership.
whats it worth to you?

[sillydrift]

like everyone says, you get what you pay for, i would look into a mac book though they are cheap and good, and have built in web cams. i have a old powerbook G4 and it has never crashed on me or froze, and viruses dont affect macs :) but it always depends on the user, thats where almost all the problems begin

[Farzam]

The computer is going to be used for storing/downloading mass amounts of music (legally, mind you), photoshopping, having 20 firefox windows up and plenty of deadAIM/AIM+ windows, and mass amounts of gay pr0n.

I also like nice things, but I know I don't NEED a $3000 laptop, and I don't have that kinda money to play with, so i'm trying to be cost effective and get not quite the bare minimum, but something to make me be comfortable.

I will do mild gaming. Mostly online beer pong tournaments and some NFSU.

^I stick with xp. but if you have to get vista yeah I wouldnt go below 2 gigs.

If you want a cheap laptop tigerdirect always has crazy deals.

I like XP a lot more, so i'll probably go with that.

burnananananaaa

http://www.adultswim.co.uk/assets/downloads/76/perfect_hair_1024x768.jpg

farzie, ill trade you something for a premie membership.
whats it worth to you?

How about you pay for it
I get $10
I put it in an envelope
I penny shot it
I address it to your household
And I make a video of me dropping it in a mail dropoff thing



Currently don't want to hassle with a bank until I have a good sum of $$ to throw in there, and i'm unverified on paypal due to no CC/DC/bank acct soooooooo I have $90 on there doing nothing but collecting e-dust.

I'm also not paying for the laptop. I'm selling my desktop and then probably sucking some cock and saving up. I hope to get one in the next month or two. I want my sis to trade her laptop for my desktop but she's being a bitch about it. She doesn't even take advantage of her laptop. It just sits on her desk in her lame house.

[kyoru]

http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/xpsnb_m1330?c=us&cs=04&l=en&s=bsd&~tab=bundlestab

Check out this link, go with the first option and add the 320GB hd for only $100. Now that is one smoking deal for around $1k

[halfabeaner]

aw hell. link didnt work. ill try again i a minute

[SW20Racer]

farzam, when i get the $ ill have hannah take pictures of me paypal-ing zilvia on your behalf and ill pm you a copy of the receipt. if i can figure out how to take screen shots by the time it gets here, ill do that as well.

[fromxtor]

^^ PrtSc (print screen) button, then open up ms paint and click ctrl V aka paste.

[Tenchuu]

I got this one:

Sony VGN-AR610E
$1200 ish
http://www.jr.com/vaio-vgnar610e-notebook/pe/SON_VGNAR610E/

and upgraded the 2Gb RAM to 4GB corsair gaming memory. i use it for auto cad, 3D modeling, run a ton of shit on it, and it is a beauty for me. the 17" wide screen may be big by your standards, but it grew on me fast, and i love it for CADing. and watching movies.

specs as shipped:
Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T7100 1.8GHz
2GB DDR2 SDRAM
17-inch WXGA+
200GB Hard Drive (2 hard drive bays, i am rocking the stock 200 and a 300GB 2nd a spare in the laptop)
HDMI outputs
Windows Vista Home Premium
nVidia GeForce 8400M GT 256 memory

[Gnnr]

-How much ram and such like that is necessary?

1GB at least. 2GB preferred.

-Where do I get the good deals from?

slickdeals.net

-Know of any discount/promotion opportunities?

same as above

-Anywhere to get a cheap used/refurbished computer? Especially somewhere that'd be local?

You can look at the outlet/refurbished sections on the website of most manufactueres.


-Good brands? brands to stay away from?

IBM. Well, Lenovo now. Anything labled Thinkpad from Lenovo is still the IBM stuff. T and R series are good. Very strong sturdy notebooks. Don't flex like the cheap Dells. Stay away from Dell.

Best advice I can give you is to try and go to the store and try them out in person. Laptops are like cellphones, its got to feel right in your hands. The keys, touchpad, the way the screen looks (glossy, not glossy), how much the plastic material its made of flexes, does it feel sturdy, etc.