new laptop?

Question

I am looking to buy a laptop with dvd burner. Not too expensive. Any suggestions?

Answer 1

Gateway... Dell sucks ;)

On a more serious note, what do you plan on doing with it? If you want to play games, work on graphics, or eventauly upgrade to windows Vista, you need a laptop with either an ATI x200m (or better) gpu or the nVidea 6100 (or better) gpu. If you pick it up at the store, don't trust the stickers that say "Vista Compatible" (especially if you go to Best Buy). Have one of the service reps open up on the display properties on the demo machine, then have them click on the settings tab, advanced button, then on the new window, the adaptor tab. All the GPU information you need to know should be there.

Outside of that, find out what the recommended systems specs are on the programs you intend on running and make sure your system has that or better. (going to the store comes in really handy here since you can grab the box off the shelf and hand it to the rep for them to find out if you're not comfortable figuring it out yourself)

Answer 2

http://www-131.ibm.com/content/home/store_LNV_PublicCanada/en_CA/notebooks/3000/index.html These are newer machines, Lenovo by IBM...Corel from Ottawa, Canada took this line over and most if not all come with a bundle of their software as well (in my opinion tho, any computer that comes with bundles like this are usually inflated in price to accommodate the package).

These have some features that are unique to them...as a whole, only because most laptops on the market do not have the fingerprint security, the bluetooth capability, Centrino etc. in one shot.

The prices are in my opinion very good...the one I am looking at is $899.00 US, don't know where you are but that would equate to about $1013.00 Cdn (just in case you are in that country).

I was looking at a Mac but my husband, who is A+/Network certified, is totally against my getting one (he's buying it for our anniversary so I best not argue :)

Next would be a Toshiba, but they start at about $900 and go up depending on the features you want.

You want to probably stay away from those that don't allow upgrading (some HP's, Compacs etc).

Consider what you are using it for and how long you expect it to be of service. If just letters, charts, excel etc., then you won't need one with all kinds of fancy whistles...you can go refurbished, some of these are quite decent and you pay anywhere from $500 and up again depending on what they are.

I purchased a Sony Vio off ebay a few years ago...it worked perfectly but when we turned it over to get the serial number for Sony so we could get a new rescue disk and manual...I guess at some point someone had it apart and a screw hit the motherboard...and fry! So you have to be careful and deal from reputable dealers.

I have one currently that I'm replacing...bought it for $700 4 years ago and it's been a great little machine, Dell C800. I have used it for graphic intensive work...run Photoshop CS2 and Dreamweaver 8 as well as MX plus a number of other bulky programs and it is just recently that the fans went and it has become sluggish...once the fans are replaced she'll be fine. However, I'm in need of a larger screen area thus the main reason we're buying one.

Bottom line, buy new if you can afford it, there are decent ones out there for under $1000, do a search, you'll find plenty of them to choose from.

Good luck

Just an add on here: The Dells have been exploding :) thanks to batteries from SONY...so rightfully, SONY sucks...when I had the VIO I wanted to replace the motherboard...it was going to cost me $2500 US and that was in 2003...SONY is garbage in my opinion.

Answer 3

Nebai is right, computer salesman usually don't know anything about the graphics included in laptops, and vendors put "Vista Ready" stickers on everything.

If your trying to stay in the low price range check out Compaq laptops. My suggestion is to look for one with an AMD Turion processor and either ATI or Nvidia(GeForce) graphics. 90% of Dell laptops have Intel graphics which are absolute garbage.

I don't really know what you plan to use your laptop for but at www.hp.com you can customize a laptop to suit your needs.

Answer 4

you buy a dell i bet you, you'll be crying after a few weeks
haha i bought one they have already replaced 3 motherboards 3 dvd drives and 3 hard drives..and sh!t still dont work i asked for a new laptop lets see what happens but dont bother buying a dell... im serious damnit!

Answer 5

http://www.tigerdirect.com/Applications/Category/category_tlc.asp?CatId=17

skip dell go boom

Another Dell Laptop Goes BOOM!
Well this is starting to get ridiculous.
On the heels of last month's Dell-laptop-turned-into-tower-of-flames comes a new story, with a bunch of scary, scary pictures. Dell-laptop-turned-into-tower-of-flames comes a new story, with a bunch of scary, scary pictures. Click through to the post on .Yes, that's a hole burned right through the base of the notebook.

Unfortunately there's not much of a story to go along with the pictures. The laptop was sitting on a desk (closed), then it's suddenly on fire. The resulting chaos required the fire department to be called and the building cleared.

The poster also relates a pretty awesome story about the aftermath (and I fixed the spelling): The engineer whose laptop it had been ... heard there was a fire and that we all had to go outside. Being the noble engineer that he is, he quickly wanted to grab his laptop!

Whoops.

Still no response from Dell on these issues aside from a vague "we're looking into it."
http://tech.yahoo.com/blog/null/1559;_ylt=A86.OXLudiZFqAQAed0nLpA5

Answer 6

I have brought a lap top and computer form dell. you should go to dell.com

Answer 7

Dell. Anything else will stop working.