laptop brands

[LuvBones]

I'm looking into buying a laptop and am wondering what brands to go for and what brands to stay clear of... any advice on buying laptops? Right now I'm looking at an Inspiron E1705 and have no idea if it's reliable...

[Fillmoe]

dont buy a toshiba i bought one last year and its been problem after problem after problem.... and whatever you do buy.... get the extended warranty.... trust me......

[baseline bum]

Compaq's are nightmares to work with. Steer clear of any crap made in Houston.

[ChumpDumper]

The only problem I've had with my Compaq is that it runs a little too hot; that's enough to keep me from buying another one though. If you're going the cheap route, Acer laptops aren't bad at all. Lots of folks on this board swear by their Dells.

[Melmart1]

I am typing on my Dell laptop as we speak. Love it! Two thumbs up!

[Marklar MM]

I am with Melmart. I have a Dell and it works great.

[leemajors]

depends on how much you wanna spend. if you can afford it, get an apple. if not, go dell.

[Das Texan]

after my dell finally got all fixed i love it again.


and i somehow magically got a 5 year service plan. i dont recall paying for that but i'm not telling!

:lol

[LuvBones]

How much is an apple? I'm looking through dell right now..

[1369]

How much is an apple? I'm looking through dell right now..

They start at about $1100. (http://www.apple.com/macbook/macbook.html)

[LuvBones]

They start at about $1100. (http://www.apple.com/macbook/macbook.html)Thanks! I thought they were more expensive... not bad.

Decisions, decisions.

[Melmart1]

If you do decide to buy a Dell, make sure you shop around for the best deal. Sometimes the same computer at Dell Home is significantly cheaper through Dell Small Business or Dell Outlet.

Also, all of my friends who have Dell got the 1 yr warranty that comes with the computer then got a call a month later offering the extended for half price. Don't know if that will work for everyone, as my Dell is already 4 yrs old and they didn't offer it at the time, but I plan to upgrade shortly after the New Year and will see if it works.

[lilmads]

I have an Inspiron 1505 and it's pretty good... but there are problems here and there... I had to get my dvd burner replaced in this laptop as well as in my Dell desktop... but they have excellent customer service and support...
I wouldn't suggest Compaq because I don't like them overall... I heard Toshibas are awesome though...
and I LOVE apple.. =)
I'd go for the Dell if you want Microsoft or Apple if you prefer that... =)

[ChumpDumper]

techbargains.com usually has lists of the best deals from Dell and other places.

[MannyIsGod]

My acer is pretty bad ass and I know Jess loves her HP. Her HP was a hell of a value if you ask me. Everything she got with it for the price was very impressive especially with the big ass 17 inch screen.

[Spurfect]

we have Acers at work.. both desktops and laptops... they seem to work well
but a friend of mine told me they were pieces of crap. I'll ask him again why, lol

[Neutral Guy]

I'm not sure I could recommend just one.

[resistanze]

It's been said Acers have average to below-average build quality, but my sister's Acer holds up pretty well.

I know ASUS has a reputation for high quality, durably built laptops, part of the reason I went with one.

[Billy Cobham]

I like my HP/Compaq. Nice machine.

[tsb2000]

I've got an IBM T60, and it's top notch. :)

[boutons_]

You can get some excellent, recent IBM/Lenovo Thinkpads on ebay, often within the 3-year world-wide mfr warranty, even if not original purchaser.

Lots of places specialize in the thinkpad repair and parts, which is NOTthe case for many laptop brands.

[THE SIXTH MAN]

I'm very satisfied with my HP.

[Das Texan]

I would get an Apple if some of their programs were compatible with what I have and wasnt so lazy as to not want to manually transfer everything I have onto the compatible software.

That and I have this really nice service policy on this Inspiron that I didnt even know I had until about 5 months ago. :lol

My dell is a 19 incher, so its huge, which is nice, makes watching movies and playing games quite fun.

[Solid D]

I also have an HP. :tu

[Kori Ellis]

I have a Sony and have had it for three years and it's awesome.

[u2sarajevo]

HP is nice. Make sure you research the warranty information of the laptops you are considering..... laptops lend themselves to getting broken more often than stationary desktops.

I do have one pearl of wisdom for you:

Steer clear from stinkpads.....

[AlamoSpursFan]

Compaq's are nightmares to work with. Steer clear of any crap made in Houston.

Compaq's aren't made in Houston. They're made in Juarez, Mexico. HP's are also. We haul them from El Paso from time to time and it's a BITCH waiting for the load to clear customs.

Bought a bottom of the line Dell (Inspiron B130) as a starter machine (never had a laptop before) and I love it so far! Typing on it right now parked in the rest area on I-37 just north of Three Rivers. So far, Texas is the only state I've been to with free wi-fi in the rest areas.

[NASpurs]

What do you guys think? Is this laptop any good for its price?

Module Description Show Details
Inspiron E1705 Intel® Core™ Duo T2250 (1.73GHz, 2MB L2 Cache, 533 MHz FSB)
Operating System Genuine Windows® XP Media Center Edition 2005
LCD Panel 17 inch Wide Screen XGA+ Display
Memory 1GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz
Video Card 256MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ Go 7900 GS
Hard Drive 80GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive
Network Card Integrated 10/100 Network Card and Modem
Adobe Software Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 7.0
Combo or DVD+RW Drive 8x CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW) with double-layer DVD+R write capability
Sound Options Integrated Audio
Wireless Networking Cards Dell Wireless 1390b/g (54Mbps)
Office Software (not included in Windows XP) No productivity suite- Includes Microsoft Works 8. DOES NOT INCLUDE MS WORD
Anti-Virus/Security Suite (Pre-installed) No Security Subscription
Primary Battery 53 WHr 6-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
Warranty and Service 1Yr Ltd Warranty and At-Home Service
Internet Access Service 6 Months of America Online Membership Included
Miscellaneous Inspiron 1705 Dual Core
Dell Recycling Free Recycling Kit
Upgrade to Windows Vista Express Upgrade to Windows Vista Home Premium from XP Media Center Edition
Dell Digital Entertainment Trial pack- Basic and trial products from Corel and Yahoo
Processor Branding Intel Core Duo Processor
Labels Windows Vista™ Capable
TOTAL:$1,246.40

[Billy Cobham]

Compaq's aren't made in Houston. They're made in Juarez, Mexico. HP's are also. We haul them from El Paso from time to time and it's a BITCH waiting for the load to clear customs.

Bought a bottom of the line Dell (Inspiron B130) as a starter machine (never had a laptop before) and I love it so far! Typing on it right now parked in the rest area on I-37 just north of Three Rivers. So far, Texas is the only state I've been to with free wi-fi in the rest areas.


FYI - HP owns Compaq.

[AlamoSpursFan]

FYI - HP owns Compaq.

I already had that information. But thanks. I kinda figured it out from the "HP/Compaq" on the load manifest.

:lol

[Solid D]

Even though HP bought and merged Compaq a couple of years ago, the merging of the two companies has been slow and a bit painful. On the home desktop PCs and notebooks, there are still Compaq Presarios and HP Pavillions. Once you get into the Small Business or Enterprise desktops/notebooks/tablets, they are actually branded "HP Compaq" using both names.

[MannyIsGod]

What do you guys think? Is this laptop any good for its price?

Module Description Show Details
Inspiron E1705 Intel® Core™ Duo T2250 (1.73GHz, 2MB L2 Cache, 533 MHz FSB)
Operating System Genuine Windows® XP Media Center Edition 2005
LCD Panel 17 inch Wide Screen XGA+ Display
Memory 1GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz
Video Card 256MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ Go 7900 GS
Hard Drive 80GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive
Network Card Integrated 10/100 Network Card and Modem
Adobe Software Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 7.0
Combo or DVD+RW Drive 8x CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW) with double-layer DVD+R write capability
Sound Options Integrated Audio
Wireless Networking Cards Dell Wireless 1390b/g (54Mbps)
Office Software (not included in Windows XP) No productivity suite- Includes Microsoft Works 8. DOES NOT INCLUDE MS WORD
Anti-Virus/Security Suite (Pre-installed) No Security Subscription
Primary Battery 53 WHr 6-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
Warranty and Service 1Yr Ltd Warranty and At-Home Service
Internet Access Service 6 Months of America Online Membership Included
Miscellaneous Inspiron 1705 Dual Core
Dell Recycling Free Recycling Kit
Upgrade to Windows Vista Express Upgrade to Windows Vista Home Premium from XP Media Center Edition
Dell Digital Entertainment Trial pack- Basic and trial products from Corel and Yahoo
Processor Branding Intel Core Duo Processor
Labels Windows Vista™ Capable
TOTAL:$1,246.40Jess' HP has almost the exact same specs but she got it for 150 less AFTER taxes at Best Buy. I'd shop around more if I were you.

[E20]

Dude, get a Dell.

[MannyIsGod]

If you care at all, you may want to do some research on the board and processor type that you're getting to see if you can upgrade the processor at a later time. My laptop doesn't have a dual core CPU right now, but the board can take one so at a later point I'll probably throw it in there. My board also supports up to 4gbs of RAM and a lot out there only support 2gb. Because your laptop will probably have to last longer than an average desktop, these are pretty important features to me.

I'd also look into seeing how long your battery lasts. Also, while a bigger screen size is great on one hand, if you're going to be lugging your machine around a lot then its not always all that great.

[NASpurs]

Jess' HP has almost the exact same specs but she got it for 150 less AFTER taxes at Best Buy. I'd shop around more if I were you.That laptop right there isn't a Core 2 Duo which basically sucks so I'm scratching it off the list. Big diff from a Core Duo to a Core 2 Duo correct?

[dougp]

Jess' HP has almost the exact same specs but she got it for 150 less AFTER taxes at Best Buy. I'd shop around more if I were you.
Honestly, it's doubtful that Jess' HP has a 7900GT in it ... and that is worth more than the $150 difference.

[LuvBones]

Thanks for all the input.. and NASpurs thanks so much for putting that laptop together for me. :) I'm really thinking of buying that.. just looking around some more.

[MannyIsGod]

Honestly, it's doubtful that Jess' HP has a 7900GT in it ... and that is worth more than the $150 difference.Neither does that one he posted. The one thats posted has a 7900GS CHIPSET, but it shares the memory with the system memory.

Either way, that only makes a difference if you're going to use the machine for gaming, and if you are expect it to run very hot.

[MannyIsGod]

That laptop right there isn't a Core 2 Duo which basically sucks so I'm scratching it off the list. Big diff from a Core Duo to a Core 2 Duo correct?I think so, but depending on what you're going to use it for I doubt it matters all that much. I don't think many people actually push the limits of processors and they usually pay for extra speed they may never need. It just depends on what you're going to use it for.

[LuvBones]

I just want a laptop that'll connect me to the net and allow me to play my Sims game.. I'm addicted to that game!

[Billy Cobham]

Even though HP bought and merged Compaq a couple of years ago, the merging of the two companies has been slow and a bit painful. On the home desktop PCs and notebooks, there are still Compaq Presarios and HP Pavillions. Once you get into the Small Business or Enterprise desktops/notebooks/tablets, they are actually branded "HP Compaq" using both names.


That is how mine is branded.