Looking for a notebook for school, any suggestions?

What was wrong with the Sony? All I can tell from your post is that you smashed the screen out of anger and Best Buy refused to replace/fix it because it's not covered.

Sony is usually terrible bang-for-the-buck. Lenovo, HP, Dell, etc. are all better deals. I have a MacBook, and the OS is nice, but my next laptop will be a PC. Nobody can recommend one that won't break down simply because everybody's had problems with every model and the parts on those models like the hard drive, screen, etc. are all built by other manufacturers. I have a Dell Inspiron that I used heavily and traveled with that has performed flawlessly for me for something like 3-4 years now. I had a Toshiba I bought in 1998 that probably still boots up and never failed on me that I can recall. My MacBook developed a crack in the case and I hardly ever take it anywhere and haven't dropped it - no idea what happened. Other people will say Toshibas and Dells are the devil... it's all a crapshoot for the most part.

 

I forgot to write about the crucial details, haha. I'm currently on my 5th hard drive and have had motherboard issues throughout its' life. It has been sent out at least four times for repair. From what I've read, this particular series (it's a S150) has been an abysmal product for many others as well.

I even had a Sony repair technician once admit that it was not properly or adequately developed.

Along with the optical and Magic Gate drives that no longer function, it's more than time for a new one. I also had a Cybershot camera that barely lasted a year.

Like you said, not worth the price you will pay. I'm sure their products are better now, but I won't ever buy a Sony again (though I said the same thing about Macs after having been forced to use the original iMac for a number of years).

 

Is the crack near the palmrest? That's a common problem, just google it. Apple will repair it for free even if you're over warranty. Otherwise, I dunno.

My only opinion is to NOT buy HP's, which I've stated many times. In MY experience I've had two crap out on me in 3 years total. Each only lasted 1.5 years. And I treat my laptops like a baby.

 

My cousin's husband works for Sony and doesn't recommend their products. Not for the quality (or lack-of) but rather for the price/performance value and the expensive proprietary media/cables.

Get a Lenovo if you can't afford (or want more value) than a Macbook. I gave my Ibm/Lenovo t42 ex-roommate. The laptop is from 2002 and still no cracks or hardware problems ever. Actually that's not true.... the wireless minipci card had to be replaced. 'love my current Lenovo Y430 with Win7 RC. Quality-wise, Lenovo laptops shouldn't be mentioned in the same sentence as Dell's or Toshibas.

The trade off however, is that their designs are mostly utilitarian. There's not much flashiness to their products. Black and boxy seems to be their favorite style. But if you want form over fashion, for laptops, they're hard to beat.

 

To each his own. I have a HP dv5t for a year now and it's a beautiful machine. If it craps out in 6 months I'll call you a guru

Before that I had a Dell Inspiron for 3 years and it was ok, though I wasn't satisfied with the computing power because it only had Celeron M processor. I went with HP because it was on sale and I got 2.4 Core II, 256MB nVidia, 1920x1024 screen, 2GB (I bought an extra memory from newegg) for all under $1000, and looks good too. Runs Vista ok but runs Windows 7 like a dream.

My next laptop would probably be a Mac, just so I have a shiny new toy.

 

Hey, I wish you the best of luck. I wouldn't wish the same on others. I'm sure other people have a similar story as mine except they would replace HP with ______.

But I just can't help but feel like I was totally ripped off. Call me a jilted consumer who wants a little retribution by getting the word out.

BTW, I have a cheap $500 Gateway and a Macbook, both of which are still running perfectly after 2 years. I was really relieved after the 1.5 year mark.

 

Hey, thanks. I just Binged it and it seems everybody and their mother has the problem. Even the pics people post look just like the one on my MacBook. I'll just leave it alone for now - it's not that big a deal to me to be honest.


(yes, I just tried using Bing as a verb... bwahaha)

 

My Macbook Pro just came in today! I love this thing! Blows away anything I have ever had! HIGHLY recommended! I bought the 13.3", and the screen is amazing! After years of anti-macs, I am now officially a convert!