Thread: What laptop brand would you go with?    

I have had a Dell for the last three years and it gave me a lot of trouble and I am looking for a new brand to invest in. Durability, quality, and nice casing is what I am looking for. I was so close to getting a Mac book but punked out at the last second because I don't know shit about Macs.

Then Dell comes out with this promotion and I am able to do this:

PROCESSOR Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T7200 (2.00GHz, 4MB L2 Cache, 667MHz FSB) edit
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows Vista™ Home Basic edit
LCD PANEL 15.4 inch UltraSharp™ Wide Screen SXGA+ Display with TrueLife™ edit
MEMORY 2GB DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHZ, 2 DIMM edit
HARD DRIVE 100GB 7200rpm SATA Hard Drive edit
OPTICAL DRIVE 8X CD/DVD Burner (DVD+/-RW) with double-layer DVD+R write capability edit
VIDEO CARD 256MB NVIDIA® GeForce® Go 7300 TurboCache* edit
WI-FI WIRELESS CARD Dell Wireless 1390 802.11b/g Mini Card (54Mbps) edit
BLUETOOTH WIRELESS Dell Wireless 355 Bluetooth Internal (2.0 + Enhanced Data Rate) edit
SOUND OPTION Integrated Sound Blaster® Audigy™HD Software Edition edit
MEDIA DIRECT Media Direct 3.0

for 1,300...

What would you recommend? Help ._.

Originally Posted by Ninjadik

I have had a Dell for the last three years and it gave me a lot of trouble and I am looking for a new brand to invest in. Durability, quality, and nice casing is what I am looking for. I was so close to getting a Mac book but punked out at the last second because I don't know shit about Macs.

Then Dell comes out with this promotion and I am able to do this:

PROCESSOR Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T7200 (2.00GHz, 4MB L2 Cache, 667MHz FSB) edit
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows Vista™ Home Basic edit
LCD PANEL 15.4 inch UltraSharp™ Wide Screen SXGA+ Display with TrueLife™ edit
MEMORY 2GB DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHZ, 2 DIMM edit
HARD DRIVE 100GB 7200rpm SATA Hard Drive edit
OPTICAL DRIVE 8X CD/DVD Burner (DVD+/-RW) with double-layer DVD+R write capability edit
VIDEO CARD 256MB NVIDIA® GeForce® Go 7300 TurboCache* edit
WI-FI WIRELESS CARD Dell Wireless 1390 802.11b/g Mini Card (54Mbps) edit
BLUETOOTH WIRELESS Dell Wireless 355 Bluetooth Internal (2.0 + Enhanced Data Rate) edit
SOUND OPTION Integrated Sound Blaster® Audigy™HD Software Edition edit
MEDIA DIRECT Media Direct 3.0

for 1,300...

What would you recommend? Help ._.

Thats almost the exact one that I have, but I made a few adjustments to what it has, mine was $1800 total. But so far its been really good to me, I havent had any problems with it.

I'd go with Thinkpads, namely the T60 for your specs. They're known for their durability, quality, keyboards and warranty. For instance, when I had a bad hard drive, called them up, they shipped one to me next day with packaging to return the defective drive. You'll pay a little more but if you're an alumni/student or work for a company they have a contract with the prices are very competitive.

Read a few reviews out there comparing other laptop models.

Originally Posted by BarthelloSylph

LBelle,

I just had a keyboard key fall off too! I didn't get an extended warranty, but it hasn't been a year yet, you think I can get it fixed?

And how did you arrange it to get fixed?

If its within a year yes it can be fixed.
Call up dell, I dont know the consumer line. but just goto dell.com and click on contact us. They'll ask for your service tag number and blam itll get fixed.

i would go with dell. as for pc you can generally save a lot if you know how to make one yourself or have a friend do it, however with a laptop it isnt really the case and dell has been the best of the manufacturer's really as of late.

Originally Posted by Sonomaa

maingear.com

wow they are pricey...

thanks for the input! I was really considering a Vaio too, damn my indecisiveness. I'll have to look more into the thinkpads, i haven't ran across one yet.

That is very strange, Lbelle I have had two Dell computers and they are great and last a very long time. You are right as long as they are under warranty they have very good customer service, the weird part is that my first computer the keys on the keyboard stopped working and came loose and it is begining to happen to my current laptop again.

I am thinking about upgrading to a new laptop again soon not sure if I want to get another Dell, they have such good deals, or go with a different brand.

Well lets look at what you're trying to accomplish first. That would be the foremost thing to do.

I've been a dell supporter for a very long time, I've worked at bestbuy in the past and have been in the IT world for going on 11 years professionally, I *personally* only use dell for laptops. Lenova (formarly IBM) made what I think the highest quality at the highest priced laptops, however, the only draw back is the price. But in a market where you get what you pay for, sometimes it's worth it.

I like dells, I use dells, I use them at work and at home. My brother has one, my mom and dad have one, all my government jobs had them as well. The 3 year upgrade to the warrenty is awesome, especially on desktops, nothing like having a real person at your doorstep next day with parts in hand ready and able to fix your problem. I've never had a problem with thier support but then again, I've only dealt with product support through thier medium buisness end. I have heard horror stories from the consumer line support.

One thing to check, if you're a college student, most colleges have an agreement with one computer manufactuer or another and are able to get group buyin deals. My school used dells, we all got 15% off. I work for Toyota now, we get a percentage off as well, government employees same with ford / chevy get a discount as well.

Look around, a lot of times, dell will price match with competitors same with customer places, bestbuy comes to mind with what limited selection they had.

Only thing I will say, stay the fuck away from compaq.

should hit up the deal sites before pulling the trigger:

Inspiron 6400 Dual Core
Intel® Core™ Duo T2250 (1.73GHz, 2MB L2 Cache, 533MHz FSB)
Genuine Windows Vista™ Home Basic
15.4 inch Wide Screen XGA Display
2GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHZ, 2 DIMM
160GB 5400 RPM SATA Hard Drive
8X CD/DVD Burner (DVD+/-RW) with double-layer DVD+R write capability
Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 950
Dell Wireless 1390 802.11b/g Mini Card (54Mbps)
Integrated Audio
Media Direct 3.0

$699, T7200 upgrade is $210 extra

edit: add the vid card you want for $129 extra. still way under your price though

edit2: FYI deal dies 4/4

I bought an inspiron 9400 from dell recently and it works great.

Originally Posted by evilbau

should hit up the deal sites before pulling the trigger:

Inspiron 6400 Dual Core
Intel® Core™ Duo T2250 (1.73GHz, 2MB L2 Cache, 533MHz FSB)
Genuine Windows Vista™ Home Basic
15.4 inch Wide Screen XGA Display
2GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHZ, 2 DIMM
160GB 5400 RPM SATA Hard Drive
8X CD/DVD Burner (DVD+/-RW) with double-layer DVD+R write capability
Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 950
Dell Wireless 1390 802.11b/g Mini Card (54Mbps)
Integrated Audio
Media Direct 3.0

$699, T7200 upgrade is $210 extra

edit: add the vid card you want for $129 extra. still way under your price though

edit2: FYI deal dies 4/4

That's the same deal I found on the deal site. I just upgraded a lot of the stuff which brought it up to 1300 lol.

The last few laptops I purchased were Sony Viaos and I was pretty pleased with them. I like their nice 1600x1200 displays

and it came out to double? lol i wouldn't add all that stuff, imo. pay for the sweet spot. in 6 months or less both laptops will be worth within 100$ of each other.

how did you get 100GB hd anyway, the promo was 160 gb and was displaying as 80 gb for a lil while... hope you aren't paying extra for 60 less gb lol

edit: nvm i didn't read closely. you picked 7200 rpm. beware of 7200 rpm laptop hds tho, they run hot and have a higher defect rate

Originally Posted by evilbau

and it came out to double? lol i wouldn't add all that stuff, imo. pay for the sweet spot. in 6 months or less both laptops will be worth within 100$ of each other.

how did you get 100GB hd anyway, the promo was 160 gb and was displaying as 80 gb for a lil while... hope you aren't paying extra for 60 less gb lol

edit: nvm i didn't read closely. you picked 7200 rpm. beware of 7200 rpm laptop hds tho, they run hot and have a higher defect rate

Yea, i upgraded to 7200 rpm. I had no idea 7200s did that because dell laptops already get really hot running a 5400 rpm hd. You do make a good point though. I always get carried away when it comes to big purchases lol >.>