Buying a laptop

[miroba71]

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.

I know this has been a thread before, but I'm thinking of picking up a laptop during the Friday morning sales. At Best Buy, I saw some HPs and Gateways on sale. What does everybody think of those brands? What's the general opinion on Toshiba?

I'd be using this laptop for word processing, managing my fan Web site using a Web-based editor and viewing some multimedia.

Sony Vaio seems to be the most popular laptop, but I didn't see any of those on sale for Black Friday. Should I hold out for one of those?

 

[BYH]

Just don't get a Dell and you'll be fine.

 

[Birdscribe]

Just don't get a Dell and you'll be fine.

What he said.

I have a Toshiba, my son has a Toshiba and I just bought one for my wife. Love it.

 

[Rosie]

Had a Vaio, loved it.

Just got an HP a couple months ago, so far so good.

My brother uses a Toshiba for work, that's all he'll buy.

For what you're using a 'puter for, any of those brands should be find. Taking cost into consideration -- I would have had to pay almost $1000 more for a Vaio than what I paid for my HP with the same processor speed, hard drive, RAM. Something to think about.

 

[melock]

I have a Dell and love it. This is my second, my first lasted four years with no problems. Got zapped in a storm. The only thing that sux is if you need tech support you end up talking to someone in India you can't understand.

Don't get get a compaq. I had a desktop before and it blew nuts. HP I've heard is not so hot either.

Toshiba, Sony, Gateway are all good options too.

 

[BYH]

Got zapped in a store? What's that mean?

 

[melock]

Got zapped in a store? What's that mean?

Yeah...sorry. Typo. Fixed.

 

[BYH]

Ahh OK. That makes much more sense.

"lalalala I'll just carry my laptop into a store WHAT THE HELL?"

 

[Bad Guy Zero]

The only thing that sux is if you need tech support you end up talking to someone in India you can't understand.

The only thing that sucks about working for Dell tech support in India is that you end up talking to someone like melock that you can't understand.

 

[buckweaver]

I had an HP desktop for five years and loved it.

Just bought a Compaq Presario laptop for less than $500 at Office Depot about three weeks ago. It's outstanding.

 

[BYH]

I had an HP desktop for five years and loved it.

Just bought a Compaq Presario laptop for less than $500 at Office Depot about three weeks ago. It's outstanding.

Interesting. Was it on clearance or did you find a great sale?

And what does it run--Office or Vista? I've heard some not so good things about Vista, but it seems like it's the only operating system these days.

 

[mike311gd]

I have a Dell and love it. This is my second, my first lasted four years with no problems. Got zapped in a storm. The only thing that sux is if you need tech support you end up talking to someone in India you can't understand.

Don't get get a compaq. I had a desktop before and it blew nuts. HP I've heard is not so hot either.

Toshiba, Sony, Gateway are all good options too.

I'm going on a year with my Dell, and I've never had a problem with it.

 

[BYH]

tick...tick...tick...tick...

when it does go, Mikey, make sure to log on from a library and let us know how much it sucks.

 

[buckweaver]

Got a $180 rebate, Beej, so that explains the price. And it runs Vista, which I'm not thrilled with but that's OK. The HP Pavilion notebook that I had my eye on for two months and was saving up for cost $699, no rebate. Mine was $470 ... with the exact same features. Easy decision.

 

[mike311gd]

tick...tick...tick...tick...

when it does go, Mikey, make sure to log on from a library and let us know how much it sucks.

The warranty does end in mid-December, huh. Well, it's a nice library, and I've got the desktop as a backup, anyway. Here's to hoping. ...

 

[Tom Petty]

Just don't get a Dell and you'll be fine.

freakin' hater.

 

[mike311gd]

 

[Bad Guy Zero]

Speaking of annoying commercials.

 

[Mira]

I have a three-year old Dell Inspirion laptop with a 17-inch screen and it works great, but it's heavy.

I know some reporters who have newer, lighter models from Hewlett-Packard that they like a bunch. The screen is smaller, but it doesn't feel like you're carrying a 35 pound turkey.

 

[pseudo]

Typing this on a five-year-old Gateway. Replaced the keyboard once ($40, 10-minute job); other than that, absolutely no complaints.