I want to buy a laptop for work and home. Every store I go to has a different opnion as what is better. ?

Question

I don't know anything about GB or memory or what celeron stuff is. I want the best that will last me for a while. If any one knows what I should be looking for or a great computer please let me know. My friend has a toshiba and swears by it. Please only serious answers because it is alot of money for a good laptop. Thanks!

Answer 1

you want to buy a notebook that has a centrino or core duo processor. Do not buy a plain pentium 4 processor because the notebook will have no battery life and get hot, they also tend to be bigger laptops that are heavy.

Do not buy Dell, they are cheap for a reason.

If you call PC Connection at 888-800-0323 they have salespeople that can help you.

So for about $1000-$1200 you can get a good laptop with a good warranty (3yr)

So here is what you want minimum:

Centrino or better processor
512MB or more in RAM
40GB Hard Drive or better
CDRW or better (so you can burn CD's at least)
Wireless (all notebooks now come with this)
15" TFT Screen
32MB or better graphics

Best mfr are Lenovo (formerly IBM), Toshiba, HP, Sony, Apple

Do not buy a Dell or Acer they are not good. As the saying goes, "if it's too go to be true, it probably is" That would definately relate to the price on the Dell's and Acer.

Darrin

Answer 2

There are three groups:
1. The buy from
2. The buy from but know what you're doing
3. The do not buy from

Group 1 consists of Dell, Gateway, Lenovo (IBM), perhaps Toshiba, and maybe one other that's not coming to mind.

Group 2 consists of HP/Compaq, I guess Sony (against my better judgement), and basically every other WELL KNOWN notebook/laptop vendor not in group 1.

Group 3 consists of everyone else (and in my better judgement, Sony).

Group 1 sell systems that are generally good and generally have or can purchase 3 year warranties (which should be MINIMUM on any laptop - they go through more abuse and are more subject to problems than desktops and they cost a lot more to fix when they are out of warranty).

Group 2 are major companies that won't be going out of business any time soon (perhaps they'll be bought by someone, but they and their product line will still exist. BUT the companies don't like you to do anything with their computers - meaning when Vista comes out - if you upgrade - you can pretty much forget about support "if it didn't ship with that, we can't help you" is their favorite response.

Group 3 are smaller companies that may not be here next year and have questionable support. Even if they offer a 3 year warranty, what good is it if they are out of business in a year?

I don't like Sony as in my experience, their support can take a month to return a computer sent in for repair and the warranty periods are 90 days (last time I checked) unless you remember to register the computer with Sony.

One other thing - if you want to go to vista, get it with 1 GB of RAM. If you want to forever have it run XP, get it with 512 MB of RAM. If it comes with 256 MB, pass it by - that's too low today.

Answer 3

Stores are on either a commission or they push for the higher of the items. This is just proper business. If your are going to use it at home for business, gaming, email, web, and the such then look for something in that field. If you are using it more for business the make sure you can upgrade and have enough space and memory for any applications you will run. Gaming uses more graphics than just word processing. Just weigh your options and want and go with the best from there.

Answer 4

Read reviews for it online they have nothing to make off a sale unlike in store associates, who may have no idea what they are talking about anyways. Also post links to specific laptops here and maybe I or others can give you some input.

Answer 5

A good place to get computer specifications is http://comprec.com. Once you have the specs you can shop around and compare prices from different manufactuers, stores, etc. and they can't BS you as much.

Answer 6

if u live in usa
next sunday go to circuit city store or circuitcity.com
and buy acer AS5003WLMI
it will be 499 next sunday
it will beat your friend's laptop
price wise and performance wise

Answer 7

Dell has difficulty
http://www.moneyandmarkets.com/press.asp?rls_id=390&cat_id=6&

I would read that before buying.