Drop, charge, and lose the cords
Miscellaneous laptop discussions : Buying first laptop, help please.
Anything but acer
by jp200069 - 2/1/08 8:42 PM In reply to: Don't cut corners by gkamerI suggest HP!!!!! I've had three HP's and never really had any problem with and matter of fact i'm on one right now thats 3 years old. I bought a acer 9100 notebook 18 months ago and it has been nothing but a problem. I sent it in for repairs to the usb ports and since then gave it to my nephew to play games on it. Well just last week I opened it up to install 120gig kingston harddrive and 2 more gigs of corsair ram and to my suprise there was 9 screws missing (only one screw holding the fan in place). I notified customer support and the told me that I had to send it in to place the screws in but I had to pay the shipping. Well all I have to say is customer support is important!!!!! HP is the way to go in my books. LOL they had HITACHI ram in it
Great Laptops in your price range!
by diesel503 - 1/26/08 8:23 AM In reply to: Buying 1st Laptop by frugum2Check out the TOSHIBA QOSMIO! This is a great laptop for all uses. Weather it is for school,gaming,entertaimnent or whatever you need this machine is a powerhouse. The model I have in mind is the G35-AV600. Priced anywhere from 1300 to 1700. This model has dual hard drives. 80 gigs a piece. NVIDIA graphics card. HarmonKardon speakers. TV tuner for watching and recording tv shows. FAX MODEM, Wifi etc... You can purchase this model at Amazon.com or go straight to the Toshiba website. This is one of the highest rated laptops by CNET if the the highest. This also has a 5 in 1 memory card reader, 17 inch screen, bluetooth and too much for me to include. I own this machine and love it. DVD burner works fast and reliable for burning movies,songs,tv shows, etc. GOOD LUCK!
After the basics, what feels good to you?
by prov2001 - 1/26/08 10:00 AM In reply to: Buying first laptop, help please. by lisa.s.25Good discussion. So much depends on what you want to use it for, and WHERE. I currently have a Toshiba Satellite which I like, and I had no trouble switching from XP to Vista. A few points from my laptop experience.
- My laptop is my only computer. I love being liberated from sitting at a desk...and, in my three-room apartment, it's great to have a wireless network. I can do computering anywhere in the house... connected to AC or on battery...including in bed, or in the kitchen, if there's a recipe on the screen that I need to consult. And, with the wireless network, friends can visit with their laptops and use them at my place.
- Weight is important to me, and probably will be to you if you are going to travel, or carry the computer when you are out and about. My first laptop weighed nine pounds and it was drudgery carrying it all over Europe; and the weight was a disincentive when I went out to cafes, etc. I find 4 to 4 1/2 pounds a good weight for me...including CD/DVD drive. (Some laptops have detachable CD/DVD drives, which is a nice idea.)
I recently spent a day in a hospital waiting room which was a WiFi Hot Spot....very, very nice to be able to pull my computer out of my backpack and be online!
- How do the keyboard, screen and touchpad (mouse) feel to you? It's important for me that all three feel "just right".
- A word about extended service plans. I've been happiest with an American-based 3-year comprehensive ESP, which includes one replacement of the display screen...which I purchased at Staples.
Within two and a half years, I had a couple of electrical power issues for which the laptop had to be sent to the shop; a problem developed with the screen and it needed to be replaced; and, finally, something happened (I don't know what it was) and the computer could not be repaired so, under the 3-year ESP, it was replaced (free of cost to me) with an excellent Toshiba notebook. The cost of the ESP was repaid several times over in this case.
You should know that, in many cases, a laptop needs to be shipped somewhere to a regional shop for repair. This ESP always shipped pre-paid packaging materials to me by OVERNIGHT EXPRESS; the turn-around time was usually about 10 days. Obviously, this is far more inconvenient than dropping it off at the neighborhood repair shop but, all told, this service plan offered so much that I found it worthwhile to send it out for repair.
Good luck to you!!
RonInRI
First Laptop
by Zouch - 1/26/08 1:26 PM In reply to: Buying first laptop, help please. by lisa.s.25Hi Lisa,
some great advice here, so I won't repeat it but just add a further thought. I'm biased - I think that IBM/Lenova Thinkpads are the best around for features and reliability. IBM have a factory refurbished outlet http://www.ibm.com/products/specialoffers/us/en/icue.html
You might like to check it out if you are in the USA. There are some rather nice examples of T4x and T6x machines that are 25-60% of your budget.
But as others say, if you are still at school, getting one similar to theirs is a good idea, especially if they use Macs. If you've finished school, the same applies to your employer.
Good luck.
Do the research and shop til you drop...
by jbm1113 - 1/29/08 6:23 PM In reply to: Buying first laptop, help please. by lisa.s.25I have purchased 3 of my college aged children their first lap top as they were freshman and am on my personal 2nd one. I used to believe that bigger and totally loaded expensive laptops were the way to go. I have bought Dell, Vario and Toshiba's for them and myself. Not being a techie of any type I grew tired of throwing money at these machines after 3 years as they became slow and gummy to open files, boot up and process todays more memory laden programs. I have finally learned to concentrate on the guts and leave the flashy, big ticket names behind. I just bought my wife an ACER laptop with a 2.2mg AMD core duo processor(I would only buy Intel in the past), 2 gigs of dram memory(a must!), 320 hard drive and 256 of installed(not shared) video memory with a 15" screen and vista premium OS. I paid $598.00(not $1500+ like all the others I bought) at Walmart of all places. Very unfancy enclosure but fast as all get out. I'll pitch it in 3 years if it starts to act up and be way ahead. The conclusion: my laptops aren't long term investments anymore, the technology outdates them to quickly. Good luck. Hope this helped!
JBM
Just what I was looking for...
by jw_2103 - 2/1/08 3:21 PM In reply to: Do the research and shop til you drop... by jbm1113... a forum on buying a first laptop/computer. I have just started to research buying my first laptop and all this advice is perfect. If I may, can I throw another few quetions out there?
I am intending to use my laptop as my only computer in my condo, and will be using it primarily for email/SKYPE chatting, surfing, downloading music. I don't play games (and therefore don't need a fancy video card?) and won't be doing any editing or even any work on the computer.
What should I be looking for? I want to spend as little as possible and have seen what I gather to be good machines for as little as $599 (Lenovo 2GB Intel Dual Core) and $699 (Toshiba 1GB Core 2 Duo)
Specifically -
1GB vs 2GB? will it make that much of a difference?
Windows XP vs Windows Vista preloaded?
Brand? I'm leaning towards Toshiba, Sony and Lenovo
I appreciate any advice!
2GB Intel Dual Core) and $699 (Toshiba 1GB Core 2 Duo)
by R. Proffitt
- 2/1/08 4:24 PM
In reply to: Just what I was looking for... by jw_2103
In short, when you get Vista, go for the dual core machines and 2GB RAM.
Bob
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