What laptop brand would you go with?

[Jander]

I was so close to getting a Mac book but punked out at the last second because I don't know shit about Macs.

The new Intel Macbooks are really nice. OS X is easy enough to pick up on (heck you've suffered through Windows, OS X is a breath of fresh air). Dualboot capable if you have things that just won't run in a virtual session and you need a native XP session (FFXI ).

[Aladwar]

Apple. Period.

Edit: See post above me.

[netz]

If so, just give Dell a call, try to understand their help desk people (seems most of them have very, very thick accents)

That's because their consumer helpdesk is a bunch of script jockeys in India. They try hard, but they just can't pass as native English speakers. Sounds like they do their job fine otherwise.

As for the OP, the only qualm I have with the specs listed is Vista Basic. Make sure you understand the differences and know what you're getting.

[Jefe]

Sony Vaio

end of story.

I haven't had problems yet (it better it's new), and works like a charm. Aside all the hardware, the design is really beautiful and slick!. Most Vaio laptops are like the Porsche GT Carrera of computers, if you ask me ;o

http://www.sonystyle.com/intershopro...esimage_FE.jpg < You are mine!!! Maybe one day ;( >http://img462.imageshack.us/img462/7562/gtuw6.jpg

[megabyte]

The only laptop worth having.

[Semitry]

The only laptop worth having.

Weight: 15 lbs with battery

Who the hell wants 15lbs on their lap? I had trouble with a 5.5lb Lattitude. I'm currently using a 2.7lb laptop and love it! A friend has an older Alienware laptop and the thing lasts 30 minutes on batteries lol.

[Saphirea]

Correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't alienware bought out by Dell?

Edit: Yes

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,1941376,00.asp

[megabyte]

\>_>/

I never use my laptop on my lap because..well, that's why God invented docking stations.

[Sadler]

http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/117...FRROQwodfgszjQ

Ferrari 5005WLMI

http://www.laptop4u.dk/produkter/gra...ari5000_01.jpg

http://www.laptop4u.dk/produkter/gra...ari5000_03.jpg

BIG PICTURES!! KEKEKEKE

[megabyte]

Correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't alienware bought out by Dell?

Edit: Yes

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,1941376,00.asp

It's a Youtube-Google style purchase.

They purchased the company but it operates under the Alienware name and they are built the same way, just lower prices than before since Dell buys more parts at once from the manufacturers they get discounted prices.

The best thing about the laptop is it doesn't get overly hot like most laptops but it very heavy as pointed out by previous poster.

Depends on what you are after really. Speed/performance/SUVweight or Lightweight/so-so performance.

[megabyte]

Sadler.. that's awesome. lol

[evilbau]

i really like the design of sony laptops, they are the king of consumer electronics. Nowadays i'm more pragmatic though and go with best value and size (portability).

[megabyte]

i really like the design of sony laptops, they are the king of consumer electronics

As long as they don't use their own batteries! XD

[Correction]

I've had a Dell laptop for close on to four years now and there are lots of pros and cons to it

pros:

very big display
full-size keyboard
good parts service (had to replace a video card and the power adaptor and Dell was quick to provide each)
lots of USB ports (3 total)
2 pointing devices (I don't like touchpads but didn't find out I didn't like them until I owned this).

cons:

Casing quality. It suffered 2 bad drops but each time it was in a well-padded bag at the time. The corners are visibly cracked and the volume/mute buttons along the top of the keyboard started flaking out after about a year. Now they have a tendency to reset the system when I fiddle with them so I don't touch them anymore. Also, the one time I had to take it apart to replace the aforementioned video card it was agony. The service manual told me how to take it apart but the screws took a good hour to torque loose the first time. I suppose if you never intend to replace parts in your laptop (i.e. one thing breaks you dispose of it) this isn't a dealbreaker but it's something I'm looking into the next time I buy a laptop.

Battery life. Lasts about 2 hours, minimum usage, tops. Not good at all.

Screen brightness. It's always been kind of dim, but I did buy it refurbished. I assume there's always something unsubtly wrong with refurbished gear and this time it was the power going into the LCD.

Heat. It gets damn hot, to the point where I don't rest it on any surface but a desk. I actually blame the heat on my first video card failure.

IEEE 1394 port: uses a mini plug for input. Bad, bad, bad. I've never ever liked these things and I wish they would go away forever. I tried to be careful but munched it after about 6 months and had to buy a PCMCIA card to replace it with 3 full-size ports.

Weight: 10+ pounds with the battery in it.

I bought the laptop because at the time I knew I wasn't going to have access to a desktop machine for a very very long time (2+ years) and it filled that niche very well. That it didn't eat up a lot of desktop real estate was nice. When I eventually got my present-day desktop my needs changed and I use it less and less, which in the end is good since it's at about the end of its useful lifecycle. I'd probably buy from Dell again, but I'd take a harder look at Toshiba/IBM modes as well, since whatever deficiencies I found in my dell laptop (the most annoying of which were the battery life/weight ratio and dim display) might not be present from those manufacturers.

[killerx]

I've never had a problem with Dell's in general they seam to work great, and the support for it isn't too terribly bad. That and i know i can get parts for it if i need it.

[Jefe]

i really like the design of sony laptops, they are the king of consumer electronics

As long as they don't use their own batteries! XD

Maybe it was pre centrino core duo? The longest my laptop has run with battery is almost 5 hours (that's when I saw the low power signal), then recharged it ;x. I wasn't running a billion programs, mind you. Like I'm going to let my princess run out of juice ;(

/snuggles his FE790G

[Rotsu]

Macbook pro.

You will thank me for it.

[edgarfigaro]

I loved Dell laptops...but I'll never buy another one. I've had 2 dell laptops, and my mom has had 5 of them (her practice is dell only, and she doesn't use desktops), and they ALWAYS have something fuckup on them. I had a screen fail on my last one on the 2nd day I had it, took a month to get it back...thankfully it was at the beginning of a semester, unlike the previous one that had a harddrive failure DURING EXAM WEEK. DVD players, video cards, wireless cards, a cracked motherboard out of the package...all 7 we've had have had major problems. My current one is a Toshiba, and other than the funky battery design, I've had no issues with it at all.

[megabyte]

i really like the design of sony laptops, they are the king of consumer electronics

As long as they don't use their own batteries! XD

Maybe it was pre centrino core duo? The longest my laptop has run with battery is almost 5 hours (that's when I saw the low power signal), then recharged it ;x. I wasn't running a billion programs, mind you. Like I'm going to let my princess run out of juice ;(

/snuggles his FE790G

lol no no, I was talking about the Sony-made batteries that were catching fire in laptops, the massive recall they had last year.

Anyway I don't dislike Sony or Dell, I just prefer the Alienware for the processing power they shove into it.

The only 2 brands I will never touch, of anything for any reason are:
E-machines and Gateway.

iBooks have their uses so they are spared. For now. >_>

[evilbau]

keep in mind that you can't expect desktop replacement-type laptops to have excellent battery life... it just wasn't what it was designed for.

You can also get a 9 cell battery (heavier also, just so you know) which helps; the same deal boards showed how to get one for 50 bucks (i think?) which is cheaper than a 7 cell (9 cell i think is 130ish usually?)

I've had pretty good experiences with support for my dell laptop, they sent a courier out the same day with the packing materials. The guy waited while I packed it up and I got the laptop back the same week. The problem was non-functioning audio so it wasn't something big like cracked screen. I think thats a big YMMV thing tho, depending on warranty and your account status.

I can vouch for apple laptops also, I used my sisters powerbook for a couple years (she wanted a dvd burner in it and got the wrong drive, just bought a new one instead lol) and they are pretty slick. I wouldn't buy them though, they are too expensive and I only used it for basic computing.