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Laptop suggestions?

Discussion in 'BBS Hangout' started by yipengzhao, Nov 15, 2007.

  1. yipengzhao

    yipengzhao Member

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    I need a new laptop since my old one is dying. I don't have a desktop so this would be my primary computer. I was wonder if you guys

    a) had any suggestions (brands w/ good or bad experiences)
    b) know of any deals (black friday?)

    Things I would value in a laptop include

    -Sleekness/portability (i.e. thin)
    -But not super small like my office dell, because the keyboard is too small and makes it tough to type
    -Does not overheat (I've always been nervous about how hot some laptops get, makes me fear that the hard disk will melt and I'll lose all my data. maybe this is a false concern)
    -I don't need super high end processor speed or graphics, because I'll be using it mostly to check email, read clutchfans, and make office documents

    Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
     
  2. bladeage

    bladeage Member

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    Check out the Black Friday thread...
     
  3. yipengzhao

    yipengzhao Member

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    Yeah... I see a pretty good deal for a VAIO... Has anyone had experience with those? Are they reliable?
     
  4. bladeage

    bladeage Member

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    My neighbor has one.. and they rock! If I get a laptop it would be a Sony or a Dell XPS.
     
  5. JD2010

    JD2010 Member

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    i recently got a Compaq Presario C700 at Bestbuy for about $500

    15 inch widescreen laptop
    120gig hard drive
    1 gb of ram
    its not that bad
    windows vista premium

    its not that bad
    no problems at all
     
  6. raw10628

    raw10628 Member

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  7. AroundTheWorld

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    IBM (Lenovo) x61s

    I also have a T43p, but it's really nice not having to carry that big monster around. I love the 1600 x 1200 screen on the T43p, but other than that, the x61s gives me everything I need.
     
  8. JuLiO-R-

    JuLiO-R- Member

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    What are the pros and cons on the Macbooks? I've been looking around at laptops too, but haven't really considered Macbooks.
     
  9. IROC it

    IROC it Member

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    Those lower priced VAIO's are trouble...

    And you can get a much cheaper, yet more dependable, similarly equipped laptop by buying a, get this, Gateway...

    Well, at least until the latest merger in the works.

    My first Gateway (a Win95, PII) is still running strong, I upgrade the OS from 98 to xp of course... a little slow but still running...

    My current laptop, Gateway MA7, is smooth as silk.



    Now for a desktop, my VAIO - the cheap one Wal-Mart used to sell, is great... But a friend of mine had the entry point laptop by Sony and it was ragged out in a short amount of time.
     
  10. rockbox

    rockbox Around before clutchcity.com

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    Thinkpads have come down drastically in price. You can get a T61 for less than a grand.
     
  11. rockbox

    rockbox Around before clutchcity.com

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    pros.

    pretty
    OS X

    cons
    price
    crappy keyboard
    questionable reliability
     
  12. Xerobull

    Xerobull ...and I'm all out of bubblegum
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    You didn't mention a price- you can get a laptop for as low as $300 or as high as $6000.

    Check out the (award winning) Dell XPS M1330. It's what I'm using right now- slick, thin, and powerful. You can get it for around $2K.

    As far as the keyboard being too small- most laptop keyboards are about the same size. You can get a usb keyboard for when you're at your desk.
     
  13. Nuclear Yak

    Nuclear Yak Member

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    What is questionable about their reliability? And I personally prefer the macbook keyboard to regular keyboards.

    It's all about the little things with the MacBook.
    MagSafe power adapter...instead of a plug that plugs into your computer to charge it, theres a magnet so that if you trip over your cord, your computer doesnt go flying
    the magnetic latch...no moving parts, less easy to be broken
    Front Row...plays your movies, music, dvds, pictures etc with the included apple remote
    integrated iSight camera...for videochatting, webcasts, photobooth (pretty addictive)

    Plus you dont have to deal with Vista.
     
  14. rockbox

    rockbox Around before clutchcity.com

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    Mac users are like volkswagen owners. They can't stand hearing anything negative about their purchase because it makes it harder for them to justify the price premium they paid for their machine.

    http://www.macintouch.com/reliability/macbooks.html

    According to this survery 18 percent of all 15" macbook pros have had to be serviced. I two close friends that have macbook pros and both had to get them replaced due to reboot issues (apples version of the blue screen of death).
     
  15. xcrunner51

    xcrunner51 Member

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    I'm a business laptop man myself. I own an IBM Thinkpad T42 (imho the last great Thinkpad) but if and when I have to buy a new laptop I'm probably going to get a Dell Latitude 630 Series with a nice 3 year complete care warranty. A decently spec'ed 630 series will run you about ~$1300-$1500. Latitudes are just solid laptops with little to no flash.
     
  16. JoeBozz

    JoeBozz Member

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    macbook is a solid machine. i would suggest the new asus eee machine at $400 however its 7'' screen is small. It is rumored that they will release a 10'' model.
     
  17. WWR

    WWR Member

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    My girlfriend's DELL is a nice machine. It does what she needs.

    My SONY VAIO is also a nice machine. Kind of heavy, but it gets done what I need it to.
     
  18. yipengzhao

    yipengzhao Member

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    Good point... I think I want to spend less than $1500. I don't need a fancy graphics card or a huge amount of memory because I'm not going to be playing games or anything, all I need to do is write office documents and browse the web. That said, I hear Vista takes up a lot of RAM so it's adviseable to have 1-2 gig anyway?
     
  19. TeamUSA

    TeamUSA Member

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    Dell and only Dell.
     
  20. yipengzhao

    yipengzhao Member

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