What laptop to buy?

[Anita]

Guys, I really need help on buying a laptop computer.

This weekend I started looking around to purchase a laptop computer and I have really no idea what model to buy. Fortunately or unfortunately (depending on your preference) I must buy a PC, not Mac. I would have a few softwares running like Word, Pagemaker ( desk-top publishing), Filemaker Pro, maybe Photoshop and would like the ability to burn Cd's and play DVD's.

I have no idea what models I should look at.... dell's, HP's, Sony's... ?????? Who has the best quality control, warranty, tech support?

Thanks in advance! ;Dr;

[FeatherFoot]

Anita,

Go to Tiger Direct's web site and look at what they have to offer.

then contact one of there people and tell them what you need.

I hav bought from them for the last 18 years and they have always delivered what I asked for.

www.tigerdirect.com

their phone number will be listed under the contact button.

John

[Dallas4u]

Unfortuantely, or fortuantely, laptops are a tough thing to price. There are SO many options out there.

One thing to note, Dell Home has some good online coupons out right now... 20% off $1499+ Inspiron laptops (SG3KF0?4RL58LG) and 15% off $999+ Inspiron laptops (2JZZ?8QRW5DRMM). You can customize as much as you want with these.

You can also look at refurb'd Dell computers through Dell Outlet. I have been building my own machines since I started in college 8 or so years ago. I finally got fed up w/overclocking and trying to figure out why I couldn't fix certain problems... so I bought a refurb'd Dell Dimension 4600. A P4 2.8Ghz HT w/512mb 400/800mhz RAM, 80gb 7200 rpm HDD, CDRW, DVD drive for $459. Nice machine (and it now has a few nicer items... my preference, though).

You can get good deals out there, and Dell always seems to have something going on.

This being said, I currently use an IBM T23 because that's what work gave me. I like IBM for it's no nonsense business laptops (I don't like their desktops much), but the T23 is way outdated.

[Joe_Black]

I've been supporting Compaq business products for the past seven years and couldn't recommend a better product. Keep in mind, I'm talking about the business line not the consumer. The laptop series is the Armada and you can configure online directly at the website. They don't come with much other than an OS since it's all business products and not retail fluff, plus their warranty is outstanding: 3 years onsite parts & labor for most models. Those that don't can get it added for less than $100. Plenty of options available as well, such as DVD/CD burners in addition to wireless LAN, more memory, upgraded graphics etc.

I've been using an N600C for a couple years now and have been quite pleased. The N800C may be the model to look at since it's newer, just find the right balance of features and pricing to suit your needs.

All my laptop users run theirs on average about 10 hours a day 6 days a week and aren't too gentle with them either. They hold up just fine and take the abuse. Plus with a magnesium case they're some of the lightest in class. Our last batch of Armadas (7400 series) lasted five years and were only replaced due to warranty and support concerns. And they were gettin' kinda slow considering they were, like, Pentium II's!

Remember, in laptops you definitely get what you pay for!

[Capri]

A lot of the warranties among the brands are typically the same, 1 year parts and labor, anything that is factory defect, nothing like if you accidently dropped it on the floor.

Here's my personal opinions (I'm sure some will disagree) on laptops:

- If you're looking for really small and compact design with excellent LCD screens, I'd go with Sony or Toshiba. They also have several models that are really small/tiny and yet powerful. They're typically the most expensive.
- In the HP/Compaq class, if you want those 15.4'' wide screens (so awesome for widescreen movies), then I'd consider a HP or Compaq laptop, as their widescreen laptops are the lowest price, with the same warranty as many other competitors.
- Stores such as best buy or Compusa also has their own service plans on top of factory warranties...some say they're rip-offs, I really think it depends. Laptop parts are not as easily fixable/replaceable vs. desktops. I usually say nay on desktop warranties and yay on laptops.
- Dell, Gateway have proven track record on their desktops/laptops, but I believe Gateway has pulled all of their 'local' stores, which makes sending your laptop in for a fix a huge nuisance, same with Dell. I've heard stories that people have waited for over a month on some memory module slot being replaced. Some say otherwise...

That's my 2 cent...I've had 2 Dell latitudes before, one hasn't had any problem after 4 years, one already died..both had same specs. I'm currently using a Compaq one because of its price, so far (8 months) I haven't had problem. Warranties are the most important in my opinion after price, the fine-writing on how they define as "factory defect" is worth reading. good luck!

[WormGod]

depending on how "make or break" you are about your wallet, laptops are the one purchase that can do both. Only thing is, if you want good, you will definately get the "break" part. I recently purchased a new Dell Inspiron 5150, and tweaked the crap out of it with upgrades. It started around $1400 I believe and when I was done with it it ran me almost $3k. Granted, it will play nearly every game out there and even most heavy 3d applications (which are both important to my business), so I cant complain. I am very pleased with my laptop and I have not complained yet. Check out Dell and pick a base laptop, then modify hardware from their "personalising" option.

Needless to say, it is VERY important to know exactly what you will be using it for before you buy, cause upgrading a notebook isnt exactly 100% possible for all hardware.

[Reg Hinnant]

Hi Anita,
Here is a good site thats always up on what's on sale & rebates.
They have the answers on playing Dell's game to find a good deal.
The items change daily.
http://www.gotapex.com/deals.php
Cheers,
Reg

[Yefim]

Originally posted by Reg Hinnant
Hi Anita,
Here is a good site thats always up on what's on sale & rebates.
They have the answers on playing Dell's game to find a good deal.
The items change daily.
http://www.gotapex.com/deals.php
Cheers,
Reg

I can add another site that has good deals and coupons posted regularly: FatWallet Forum

I bought a new laptop for my mother from Dell and I also bought a refurbished desktop for my dad from Dell. So far, both have no problems at all and the prices were hard to beat. I have an older IBM Thinkpad and that thing can definitely take some beating... I donno how many times I dropped it and it is still flawless. But IBMs are overpriced in my opinion so I would recommend them only if money is no object. I recently bought a Gateway Media Center PC and I have constant problems with it and support is terrible so I would stay away from Gateway, especially since they closed their stores. I don't have any personal experience with Compaq computers except that I had an iPaq PDA which was ok. I now have a Dell Axim PDA and it is the best value for the money. Dell laptop would definitely be my first choice - they usualy have best deals with coupons that are floating around and free shipping.

[Dallas4u]

A couple others... Techbargains and the hot deals forum at Anandtech.com

[johnnyapollo]

I look for deals on these sites:

http://slickdeals.net/
http://www.hotdlz.com/
http://www.techbargains.com/
http://www.gotapex.com/deals.php
http://www.xpbargains.com/sitedeal.php
http://www.couponmountain.com/
http://www.fatwallet.com/
http://www.pricewatch.com

Got Apex is great for the best Dell deals. I've also got some coupon codes for Dell if you need them.

A lot of times I do comparisons on pricewatch then see if coupons are available on couponmountain.

You pretty much can't go wrong with Dell. It may behoove you to come into Dell under the Small/Medium Business rather than the Home user. The Business lines (especially with the Latitude) comes with a 3 year warranty. I can call dell with the service code about a problem and they have a technician out the next day with a replacement part (motherboard, hard disk, TFT). We've had great luck buying from Dell for the past 5 years for all our office infrastructure (We use high-end IBM for our production equipment).

-- Best, John

[omegavx]

The only laptop's i'd personally recommend are the following, this isn't to say there arn't other really good ones. But, these are top of the line, with good warranty and great equipment.

http://www.alienware.com
Area 51 [Mobile] - http://www.alienware.com/system_pages/area-51m.aspx

http://www.dell.com
Inspiron XPS - http://www1.us.dell.com/content/prod...=19&l=en&s=dhs

[WyrreJ]

I gotta disagree about tigerdirect. All my dealings with them have been average to terrible. Usually you get what you order, but if anything goes wrong like a mis-shipment or DOA, be prepared to bend over and take it like pee-wee herman in the federal pen. I've been on their spam list for 3+ years now, despite numerous attempts to be removed. They even rent out their spamlist and tell the rentees that everybody on the list are voluntary spam recipients (I know this because tigerdirect thinks my email address is tigerdirect@mydomain, so I can track them by the To: address, I ended up talking to the advertising buyer for citibank or nation's bank (on of them big banks) about why they were spamming me using the tigerdirect address, he told me how tigerdirect was presenting the spam list to renters, he cancelled their spam contract with tigerdirect after hearing from me).

I was going to point you to the entry at reselleratings.com for tigerdirect, they used to be down in the less than 2 out of 10 rating level. But oddly enough, in the last six months they've gone from about 600 reviews over the last 4+ years to 1800 reviews. Those 1200 reviews in the last six months make me think astro-turf since they've brought the rating up to 8.5 out of 10. It would be completely in character for tigerdirect to run an astroturf campaign on reselleratings.

If it needs to be sexy and stand out from the crowd, being hollywood and all that, Ferrari and Acer make a high-quality, high-performance and high-priced line of notebooks that are unique:

http://global.acer.com/products/notebook/

review: http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=16219

[Anita]

Wow, thank you all for your input. Now I have to weigh all this information and make a choice. I appreciate you all so much!

[Daver]

I used to shop at Tiger Direct, but I doubt I will again:

http://www.hotdealsclub.com/text/tigerdirect2/

-Daver

[drdavidr4u]

Hi Anita!!

I'm so sorry to hear you cannot buy a mac!

There are so many folk that didn't go with my suggestion for a mac powerbook and bought a PC laptop.

They have all sooner or later bought a mac powerbook and have not stopped thanking me for the suggestion. Some even run PC only programs on the mac in "virtual PC" and love the mac for all its other easy wonderful seamless software it comes with!!

If I can be of help ....

Best of luck with your PC,

Dave ....owner of 3 mac powerbooks!!...12" for mobility, 15" office computer and 17" home unit!!!

PS...I'm sure the group will slam me for this response!!!!