Help Me Buy A Laptop!

Melissa82 said:
Argh, that's really too bad I don't have the coin for that... and that Vista is on it...
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There's nothing wrong with the current version of Vista. As for a laptop, I'd seriously consider eBay...there should be lots of barely used stuff on there right now for a good price from people who got a new laptop for the holidays and would rather have cash.
 
I've never actually used Vista (not even for a second). I'm still stuck in the dark ages of XP.
 
ukeshale said:
I've never actually used Vista (not even for a second). I'm still stuck in the dark ages of XP.
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My laptop has Vista and works perfectly. I turned off a few of the gee-whiz features because I just plain don't care about them, and that definitely can't hurt performance, but the laptop is plenty fast for me as it is. I tried upgrading to Windows 7 and it choked big time, both using the upgrade route and the clean install route; went back to Vista and it's a perfectly-behaving little beast again.
 
Hi Melissa, I know nothing about computer technology. I'm a luddite :( , however when doing research i go here,

http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum/130


Its an aussie site but you may get some feedback when you are close to making a decision, the search function is at the bottom of the page.

Cheers and good luck, Tony
 
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Hi,
i can only give you the following advice:

If you don't want to use the laptop for gaming
you can buy any actual model - they are all more than powerful enough to satisfy all your needs (except gaming).

You should buy at least at Intel Dual Core or a new AMD processor.
At least 2GB RAM (4GB would be great)
OS: Absolutly Windows 7 (if you don't want to use a Linux distribution like Ubuntu). It makes no sense to start on a brand new computer with the 11 years old Windows XP.
Screen: I would never buy a glossy screen again because they aren't usable at sunlight/outside. Screensize: At least 15"
Drive: You can watchout for a DVD-RW/Blueray drive in combination with a HDMI plug if you want to watch also videos in the next years on your laptop

Model/Brand: I've studied computer sience and everyone is bringing his broken computer to me (even if i'm no hardware expert): I've seen 3month old macbook pro with motherboard problems, newer sony vaios with harddisk failures etc....... so it really doesn't matter what you buy as long as the design pleases you and the warranty secures you for at least 2 years.
 
Melissa82 said:
In its last days, I had a fan on it, lol.
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You should have a fan under it at all times. The number one killer of laptops are heat. Get one of those fans that sit under your laptop and plugs into a usb port. The best investment you willl every make!
 
Dino said:
You should have a fan under it at all times. The number one killer of laptops are heat. Get one of those fans that sit under your laptop and plugs into a usb port. The best investment you willl every make!
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For sure, I agree.
 
bbycrts said:
My laptop has Vista and works perfectly. I turned off a few of the gee-whiz features because I just plain don't care about them, and that definitely can't hurt performance, but the laptop is plenty fast for me as it is. I tried upgrading to Windows 7 and it choked big time, both using the upgrade route and the clean install route; went back to Vista and it's a perfectly-behaving little beast again.
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That's pretty surprising; I've heard that Windows 7 fixes all the major Vista problems and that the upgrade is usually pretty seamless. I played around with Windows 7 a bit, and it's definitely an improvement in terms of speed, security and user-friendliness.

I've always had consistently good experiences with HP and Toshiba (with Intel Dual Cores) in that budget range, even refurbished (actually, they've all been refurbished because I refuse to pay retail for anything if it can be helped).
 
I saw an ad a few months ago from Staples for a Compaq Q61 (made by HP) laptop. I shopped around, asked a bunch of computer nerd friends, and decided it was a great deal. So great, in fact, that I bought two of them....one for me, and one for my wife. After all the rebates, discounts, etc, they cost me about $400 each.

They are large laptops, not netbooks. They have ample RAM, although I've forgotten the stats, and a large hard drive (bigger than my desktop's). They have DVD drives, webcams, Windows 7....

Check Compaq's site for the Q61 and see if it meets your needs. I love ours....
 
Melissa82 said:
Yes, it is, thanks :) It was interesting to me because of then 7200 rpm hard drive.
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Awww, you paid attention to my advice *wipes a proud tear away*

That HP looks quite nice, downsides at a glance are that it doesn't have any .n wireless networking, and the graphics chipset is a GMA4500M and not a GMA4500MHD. This means it probably won't be capable of handling 1080p High def content in hardware... both points may or may not be biggies to you, and both points may or may not be fixable with some hardware upgrades.
 
whetu said:
Awww, you paid attention to my advice *wipes a proud tear away*

That HP looks quite nice, downsides at a glance are that it doesn't have any .n wireless networking, and the graphics chipset is a GMA4500M and not a GMA4500MHD. This means it probably won't be capable of handling 1080p High def content in hardware... both points may or may not be biggies to you, and both points may or may not be fixable with some hardware upgrades.
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When would I need anything like that?
 
Melissa82 said:
Thanks for the reply. I had Toshiba for about 4 years and in less than a year, it needed a new hard rive. A year after that, a new fan... so yeah, I know what you mean. As far as I'm concerned with a laptop, it's a 3 year piece of equipment, that's it. A Mac is way beyond my budget!
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why not Dell? I just got a netbook from them and I did some upgrades and ended up paying $600 including a slim DVD/RW drive. Less than 5 pounds, fits in my saddlebags. The keys are a little small but not a whole lot smaller than my old one. I got a 11.6" one. You can get a refurbished one for around $350. My last Dell lap top lasted 5 years but it was a haus.
 
Melissa82 said:
When would I need anything like that?
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Exactly, that's why I said "may or may not be biggies to you" :), but at least from a futureproofing point of view it might be important. OTOH I did also say that both points may be fixable with hardware upgrades... and of course you're trying to work within a budget, so some points may need to be conceeded... let me try and do some more digging, but certainly don't stop looking at other options! Or, if what I've raised are entirely non-issues for you, go for it.
 
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I have about the same experience with laptop lifetimes as Mellissa - about 3 years. I used to travel a lot with them for business, and that is probably hard on them. I also agree that heat is their enemy as well. I have owned everything from Macs to HPs, Toshibas, and even cheap generics. All my HPs were so poorly designed in the heat transfer department that they died an early death. The cheap generic lasted longer, and my Toshibas have been pretty rugged. They also become obsolete pretty quickly and won't run the latest and greatest versions of bloatware, so I just consider them consumables.
 
SweetWaterBlue said:
I have about the same experience with laptop lifetimes as Mellissa - about 3 years. I used to travel a lot with them for business, and that is probably hard on them. I also agree that heat is their enemy as well. I have owned everything from Macs to HPs, Toshibas, and even cheap generics. All my HPs were so poorly designed in the heat transfer department that they died an early death. The cheap generic lasted longer, and my Toshibas have been pretty rugged. They also become obsolete pretty quickly and won't run the latest and greatest versions of bloatware, so I just consider them consumables.
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I suppose laptops are like ukes then? Can never have just one? Lol. I'm a fan of Dell. I had one of those inspirion with a 16" screen. It fit in my saddlebags but I couldn't protect it.5 days a weekn weather permitting, I rode that way to work. I've dropped it 3 times and it was almost indestructible. It died just before christmas b/c I got a virus and while running a system scan for three days (no idea why it took that long) it finally got the blue screen of death. I've seen my wife's laptop flung off table by our dogs and it still works.
 
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