Buying a Laptop

[albionmoonlight]

Our laptop died. I am going to buy a new one in the next day or two. I think I remember a few computer buying threads on here, but as you might expect, searches for terms like "laptop" and "computer" and "purchase" are not really helpful on FOFC.

So, I will start a new thread. I am looking for a basic, reliable machine. Anything that I should be doing other than browsing online, looking at cnet.com, reading customer reviews, etc.?

Is there a magic place where I can find cheaper and better laptops? Are there manufacturers at which I should look? Any that I should avoid?

Thanks in advance.

[George]

Check out www.notebookreview.com. Lots of good information there.

[Kodos]

Please note. The fate of IHOF hangs in the balance!

[ThunderingHERD]

Wait until 11/30.

[wade moore]

Originally Posted by ThunderingHERD

Wait until 11/30.

albion - pay no attention to this man!

[ThunderingHERD]

ah, I didn't catch the "in the next day or two" part. Check http://www.slickdeals.net and http://www.fatwallet.com.

[samifan24]

Buy a Macbook and just run Parallels if you really want to use Windows.

[ThunderingHERD]

Originally Posted by samifan24

Buy a Macbook and just run Parallels if you really want to use Windows.

worst. advice. ever.

[samifan24]

Originally Posted by ThunderingHERD

worst. advice. ever.

Ok, why?

[ThunderingHERD]

So, if he wants to run Windows he should pay double for a system that can only run it crippled in a virtual machine environment?

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by ThunderingHERD

worst. advice. ever.

Originally Posted by samifan24

Buy a Macbook and just run Parallels if you really want to use Windows.

i agree. worst advice ever

[lordscarlet]

Originally Posted by samifan24

Buy a Macbook and just run Parallels if you really want to use Windows.

Originally Posted by ThunderingHERD

worst. advice. ever.

Originally Posted by ThunderingHERD

So, if he wants to run Windows he should pay double for a system that can only run it crippled in a virtual machine environment?

First of all, do you need to use windows? If not, OS X, IMO, is a superior OS. If you do need to, and don't want to use a virtual machine (that, really, is not all that crippled) you can use boot camp.

[ISiddiqui]

Get a PC... no reason to get a Mac.

[JetsIn06]

www.delloutlet.com

refurbished dell machines at a great price. also check out their "scratch or dent" option. They'll sell you machines they won't sell normally because of scratches or dents on the outside (that don't affect the inner workings. I guess it's a little risky, but I got mine that was listed as Scratched or Dented, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with it. I saved 400 bucks this way.

also, check out EBAY. you can find some people selling computers from delloutlet.com even cheaper.

edit: the one downside to this is that you won't be able to customize the parts. but, you will usually be able to find what you want. and just as a piece of advice, if you find one you like, go for it. they usually don't last too long.

[Rich1033]

Yea, Dell outlet is a good idea. I also recommend HP since I have had mine for a month or so and love it. You can usually find a 20% off coupon for HP.

I second the notebookreview.com recommendation, great site with tons of info and helpful posters.

[Uncle Briggs]

Dell outlet is indeed a good option. Back in the spring we paid about $700 for a refurbished laptop that would have been $1000-1100 new with the same features. You only get a 90-day warranty (maybe 30, I forget, but not much). And you do have to be quick. I missed a better deal on a scratched case laptop because I decided to sleep on the decision. It was gone in the morning.

[finkenst]

don't buy an hp

[samifan24]

Originally Posted by ThunderingHERD

So, if he wants to run Windows he should pay double for a system that can only run it crippled in a virtual machine environment?

1) If you choose to use Windows, great. If you use it on a Mac running Apple's own Boot Camp or Parallels or VM Fusion, Windows isn't crippled. 3D games don't run as smoothly as they would natively but that is really the only difference.

2) The price difference between a Macbook and a comparable Dell or HP machine really isn't that great and certainly isn't double or anywhere close to that much different.

3) Mac OS X is a superior OS. If you want to run Windows, you might as well run XP anyway.

[ISiddiqui]

Mac OS X is a superior OS.

Total disagreement here. Get Vista. I highly recommend it.

[sooner333]

Wow...I wish I had known about Dell Outlet when I made my purchase a few months ago.

However, I did get a Dell Inspiron 1501 at Sam's Club, which is a pretty good deal for a more budget laptop. It's an AMD Turion instead of the Intel Chip and comes with 2 gigs of RAM as well as Vista. I've had no problems with it at all.

[daedalus]

since mac os X is a *nix, i'll have to go with an agree on that! bad isiddiqui!

on the other hand, paying for a macbook to run windows seems . . . meh?

[ThunderingHERD]

Originally Posted by samifan24

1) If you choose to use Windows, great. If you use it on a Mac running Apple's own Boot Camp or Parallels or VM Fusion, Windows isn't crippled. 3D games don't run as smoothly as they would natively but that is really the only difference.

Parallels' performance is dreadful. Fortunately for Mac users, VMware Fusion is out now--but that's another $80. Even with Fusion, though, the performance isn't near native speed, and you're out of luck if you need any functionality other than generic sound, keyboard, vesa graphics & 3-button mouse w/ scroll wheel.

2) The price difference between a Macbook and a comparable Dell or HP machine really isn't that great and certainly isn't double or anywhere close to that much different.

The cheapest Macbook (13.3", Core 2 2Ghz, 1GB DDR2, 80GB) retails for $1,099. The price difference between a Macbook and a PC laptop at retail may not be great but, unlike with Macs, there's no reason to pay full retail if you're in the market for a PC. Just skimming over deals from the last week I see a Thinkpad Z61 (identical specs except for a 14.1" screen and 1.66Ghz processor) for $599 and a Fujitsu Lifebook (same processor, 15.4" screen, 2GB ddr2, 120GB, DVDRW) for $695. The price difference on desktops is even more pronounced.

3) Mac OS X is a superior OS. If you want to run Windows, you might as well run XP anyway.

If you prefer OS X, well, that's a perfectly good reason to get Mac. My post was in response to the suggestion that he should get a Mac even if he planned on running Windows.

I am curious, though--what exactly makes OS X "superior"? As for the relative merits of various versions of Windows, I believe you're the first to address the subject--but I'm also curious as to why you would recommend XP over Vista.

[Rich1033]

Originally Posted by finkenst

don't buy an hp

I disagree.

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by ISiddiqui

Total disagreement here. Get Vista. I highly recommend it.

Have you tried running Vista on anything less than, say, 1.5 gigs of ram?

SI

[sterlingice]

I don't know what you're looking to spend but I have a friend who has been fishing in the $500-$700 range and in retail there's a lot out there that's a pretty good buy. You don't (really, can't) go much below that without getting something pretty crippled (Celeron, low RAM, etc) but in that ballpark, just watching the ads, you can get something with a dual core, 1 gig or more of RAM, 80-120 gigs of hard drive, and a dvd burner. The only downside is that almost all of those come pre-loaded with Vista.

SI

[ThunderingHERD]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

Have you tried running Vista on anything less than, say, 1.5 gigs of ram?

SI

You should be fine if you have 1GB. On my old desktop with 512MB their was a noticeable performance drop from XP, but it runs great on my laptop with 1GB (now that the suspend/hibernate issues have been fixed) and my new desktop with 2GB.

[samifan24]

Originally Posted by ThunderingHERD

I am curious, though--what exactly makes OS X "superior"? As for the relative merits of various versions of Windows, I believe you're the first to address the subject--but I'm also curious as to why you would recommend XP over Vista.

Well I'm not going to get into a Mac vs. Windows argument; it's just not worth it. What I will do, though, is tell you why I recommend Macs over Windows machines.

I'm not a Mac fan boy or evangelist but from my own personal experience and from those of close friends, I would recommend buying a Mac over a Windows laptop unless you need to run Vista for some reason.

I consider a Mac to be superior because of its OS. I find Mac OS X Tiger to be more user friendly and intuitive than Windows. I know that my parents find it much easier to use and much less confusing. I believe a large segment of non-techies, especially older folks, find using a computer to be intimidating or confusing. I think Tiger is easier to use and that translates to a better computing experience.

People laugh at that "Windows: Cancel or Allow" Apple ad from last year but it's essentially true: Windows just isn't that user friendly anymore. Macs have their own problems but I find that they are easier to use than Windows running Vista.

And yes, I would recommend XP over Vista to anyone looking for a new Windows machine. In fact, I did this for my roommate and he's very happy with XP on his brand new Compaq. My roommate was concerned with Vista's stability and just found XP to be more reliable and easier to use (the cancel or allow idea but spread out to the whole OS).

I'm not some crazy Mac evangelist but these are just my thoughts on the Windows vs. Mac battle and why I recommend Macs first.

[CleBrownsfan]

I'm looking to buy a laptop - enough for gaming but also want to stay under $1300. I've looked at the above suggestions but anybody find any good deals as of late?

Thanks in advance!

[RomaGoth]

Originally Posted by CleBrownsfan

I'm looking to buy a laptop - enough for gaming but also want to stay under $1300. I've looked at the above suggestions but anybody find any good deals as of late?

Thanks in advance!

I bought a new laptop in September from Cyberpower online. It is manufactured by Lenovo (formerly IBM) and has been pretty good for me so far. I have had some small issues however. First, let me tell you that my "out the door" cost for this laptop was $1470. My goal was to stay under $1500 so I believe I did well in that regard. Here are the specifications for mine:

Intel Core2 Duo 2.2Ghz Processor(s)
Nvidia GeForce 8600m GT 512MB Video Card
Western Digital 120GB 7200 RPM Hard Drive
Windows XP Media Center Edition
Corsair 2GB RAM (Memory)
17" Widescreen Display

The dual processors purr and are very quiet. The RAM is nice to have as well, and I will never buy a hard drive that is less than 7200 RPM as access time for me personally is very important. A 5400 RPM hard drive is too slow. The video card is very near top of the line for a laptop, although I have seen that some 8700's and 8800's are coming out or have been out for a short time now. But for my money, this was the best I could get without entering the $2k + range.

As I stated above, I have had some small issues. Here they are:

My sound driver occasionally "disappears". Yep. I have never experienced this problem before in my life, but the audio driver will just be gone all of a sudden. It is mostly just an annoyance, as I just reinstall it and everything is fine. Not sure why this is happening either.

Also, I was unable to play a few games, most notably Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 1 & 2. But this is not unusual, as those games are very finicky in regards to what video card you have. They did not recognize my newer video card. I also had problems with them on my desktop, so I just got rid of them. Finally, I have had some problems with my Windows Explorer trying to execute without my input, but it is blocked from doing so and is just a minor annoyance as well. I am trying to figure out how to disable it.

My opinion is to do a lot of research and find some good deals. It also depends on what type of games you are playing. If you are looking at graphics intensive games, then you need a much better video card and that will cost you $$. I would never recommend going with shared memory or onboard video, as they are near worthless in doing anything but surfing the internet.

Hope this helps.

[mrsimperless]

I absolutely love my Asus gaming rig. A great mid-high range system for under $2k from a quality company's first foray into the laptop pc market. It whallops the performance of my desktop which was only purchased 6 months prior, albeit at about a $500 cheaper price. Still, I would expect to pay about $500 more at least for a comparable laptop to a desktop and this one beats the performance hands down on top of that. (No benchmarking done, just my observations from playing mostly WOW and Battlefield 2)

[RomaGoth]

Originally Posted by mrsimperless

I absolutely love my Asus gaming rig. A great mid-high range system for under $2k from a quality company's first foray into the laptop pc market. It whallops the performance of my desktop which was only purchased 6 months prior, albeit at about a $500 cheaper price. Still, I would expect to pay about $500 more at least for a comparable laptop to a desktop and this one beats the performance hands down on top of that. (No benchmarking done, just my observations from playing mostly WOW and Battlefield 2)

Asus kicks ass. I absolutely love their motherboards. I have one in my laptop.

[stevew]

I second the dell outlet recommendations. Their laptops were pretty reasonable, and the desktops are insanely cheap. I scored a system for my daughters for Christmas that ended up being like 250 shipped. Of course it's not the greatest PC in the world, but it does everything they need a PC to do. Hell, you couldn't build something with Vista for much less than 250 most likely.

[ISiddiqui]

Well, the Vista Home Premium Upgrade edition was like $200 itself, IIRC (I can't remember exactly how much it cost me when I got it on release day).