Computer people: laptop shopping?

[OptionZero]

Hey, anyone have links to deals on laptops or general advice on buying one?

My desktop's been spazzing out on me, it's over 6 years old and I'm gonna need a laptop for law school eventually anyways. I heard dell had some deals a little while ago.

[bp057]

Dells got some good stuff, but their support sux. New Toshiba Tablets are pretty damn saucy. :drool:

[Romeyo07]

toshiba for sure

[Yoshi]

I can get maaad deals on dell, but ya, if you don't buy from the SOHO, then service blows.

my favs are: Dell, Alienware, Fujitsu, and some toshibas

Stay FAR away from : HP/Compaq, eMachines, ProStar, and most other small time/fly-by-nite places.

[RJF]

3 years ago I would have suggested a Toshiba, but their manufacturing quality seems to have gone downhill. I've had a Sony Vaio for 3 years now without any problems.

[Yoshi]

3 years ago I would have suggested a Toshiba, but their manufacturing quality seems to have gone downhill. I've had a Sony Vaio for 3 years now without any problems.

doh, totally forgot teh Vaios.
I HATE sony sooooo much, but Ican't dispute that the VAIOs are really stable... but when u get one, u get bent over on the price since your paying for the name.

[RJF]

doh, totally forgot teh Vaios.
I HATE sony sooooo much, but Ican't dispute that the VAIOs are really stable... but when u get one, u get bent over on the price since your paying for the name.

I say you're paying for the quality. I travel alot and the laptop is in and out of the car trunk or the overhead bins on planes, and they are just built real well.

[OptionZero]

i'm now debating whetehr to get a cheap <$700 desktop for now, and then a laptop later

I dont need the laptop till next year, and price and performance always change in that span...

so gr....replace desktop and get laptop later, or get laptop now...decisions...

[cali240sxdrifter]

right now, anything Dell with their Centrino CPU's... Very nice, nice long battery life, and really light.

[mjjstang]

www.bfads.net, walmart has one for 390 or something no rebates, hp but its built for walmart. so its basically bottom of the line shit i assume, but hey im sure theres gonna be some other ones when the BB, CC and compusa ads come out, these are all the day after thanksgiving deals, im savin up for one and will get whatever is a good deal then.

[mooboy]

www.gotapex.com They always have dell deals... also you can try outlet.dell.com for refurbished dells.

[Ghettokracker71]

Well,I'm on an Ibook now :lol:


But I would say Toshiba is the hot shit right now

[Bryants95240sx]

Alienware rules........
check out cyberpwerpc.com they have decent laptops

[RightWheelDrive]

I have had a dell for 3 years now. Not a single problem. Words of advice, if your gonna get a laptop, get one that is crazy light and easy to carry, otherwise why get a laptop in the first place. So that means go for the centrino for weight and battery life. But if you don't need a laptop until next year, don't get one. The technology and prices of laptops would change a great deal. What is going on with the computer your using right now? If its a small thing, just fix it so it would last a year and then bust an "office space" on it. <--- if you choose that route, let me know because you need three people to do it.

[Jeff240sx]

Speaking like the educated person I am (not 'hey, get xxx brand cuz its h0t shit'), and the fact that I just did A LOT of research on laptops.. I've come up with:

Stay away from HP/Compaq. I bought one for college 3 years ago from Best Buy. Bought the service plan, too. After repairing it 6 times, they junked it out literally 8 days before my 3 year service plan expired (it ran out as the laptop was at the factory). The laptop had it's heatsink replaced once, twice went in for cleaning and reapplying thermal grease. I lost the hard drive 3 times. CPU was replaced once. All this comes from a heat issue. So, knowing that I had a free laptop comming.. I went searching.

Only get something that uses heatpipes, and not a heatsink. Heatsinks clog with dust that you need to open the laptop to really clean (read: voids warranty). Heat pipes you can blow a can 'o air through the ducts and get all the dust out.
Centrino are hyped. My old Compaq P4 2.0 got 2 hours of battery life. The Sony Vaio I just bought had 2hrs 15mins battery life out of the box. With Centrino control tools, I've lowered the voltage to the cpu by about half, running my 1.73ghz at 800mhz, screen on the dimmest setting and no power to the optical drive, I get 3hrs 20mins. That's alot you say? My friend's powerbook gets 4hrs playing dvds. Out of the box. And, the centrino runs hot. I've seen 73*C on my vgn-s460. Intel says the operating temps of the cpu are up to 100*C.

If you can use an apple, get one. I was so close.. and really wanted to, but the powerbooks are using such old hardware I just couldn't bring myself to buy a "new" computer running on 2 year old stuff.

That said, Toshiba is good, Sony is great (but hot!), alienware are powerful, but.. you'd get the same portability as if you stuck your desktop tower in a suitcase. About the same battery life, too. And, they're the price of a small car. But whatever you go for, check it's cooling setup.
-Jeff

[mooboy]

As someone that works on laptops everyday for work. I would really suggest Dell or IBM. Generally very solid hardware and if something fails parts service is super fast. Even with the most basic 1 year warranty you can get replacement parts the next day. For a laptop I would suggest paying a little bit more for completecare because that covers cracking the lcd (yes it happens). Only downside for both companies is that occasionally you will be routed to india for support calls. :P

Like someone said earlier, make sure whatever laptop you get is relatively light. I personally really like the Latitude D600/D610 laptops. around 5 pounds, centrino, relatively good battery life. (Brand new I get 3-4 hours easy) I also really like IBM thinkpads. Very solid case, nice keyboard, excellent trackpoint, great 3 year warranty. I use the T series (1 spindle, 5 lbs, 14.1in lcd) Dells are definetly cheaper though.

Be aware that with time battery life will shrink with time. I applaud road warriors who think they will try and last as long as they can without ac adapter, but realistically laptop batteries lose their charge time with age.

[S14DB]

I wouldn't buy IBM now that they sold the laptop line to another company.

6yrs with the same computer? Good Lord.

[aznpoopy]

don't get a dell... i have two.

for some reason they design them so they run super hot nowadays. hard drive just went out on one i bought only two years ago.

also, law school? awesome. which school are you going to? i'm currently finishing up my first semester at rutgers law in jersey.

[Bryants95240sx]

Yeah my G.f's dell laptop does seem to run pretty hot. They need to come up with a better cooling solution.

[TheTimanator]

anybody have any opinions on the Panasonic Toughbook?

[Jeff240sx]

Heat seems to be a Centrino issue, as I said earlier. Also, as laptops get lighter and lighter, the insulation gets the boot, making them louder and hotter externally.
-Jeff

[matlock]

I just bought a Sony Vaio about a month ago and I love it. It is very powerful and is designed for what I use it for. (video editing, web design, graphic design, etc.) I was inches from getting an Apple iBook since my GF just got one for school and I liked it, but the Vaio had so many more options and was like $200 more in price. I got a few rebates on mine and some other stuff and it was right around a grand. I personally hate the Dell stuff, it is very unstable and cheesy. I am not 100% on their laptops, but their desktops just have corners cut everwhere which is why they are so cheap but that is just my opinon. I was between Vaio, iBook, and Toshiba. Toshiba was sold out, iBook was not as powerful and didn't have as many options, so i went with the vaio. I did a lot of reading on sites like epinions.com and just read reviews and got the pros and cons to all the computers. Hope some of my info helped you out.