I am shopping for a new laptop- and out of curiousity i wondered what you all use- most importantly, if you could do it all over again, would you buy the same one? (if not, y?)
thanks all
my stats- bought a sony vaio 4 years ago(eek, yeah, time to replace it), and i love it- but mostly because i do not have any "special needs" just internet for shopping, email, stylethread ;)- MS office for school stuff, cd-r and space for music and at least a 14" screen for movies and my poor eyes
oh- and did i mention that it is metallic silvery purple? that was the clincher
however, this time i need to be "practical" and not buy purely based on aesthetics (sony lacks in support services) but at the same time, i don't want anything too heavy
but goodness, have you seen THIS thing?
it makes the idea of purchasing a thinkpad or the like painful (its "thumb width", 3.5 lbs, with 14" widescreen- i'm in love)
If I had it to do over again I would get a Mac. Either a Powerbook or iBook. For one, they're very trendy and I'm a suck for marketing. And Apple support has been really good in my experience. And my friends with Macs have way less problems than my friends with Dells (the PC of choice on campus cause the college gave us a discount).
My assistant has another Dell notebook, but hers is a bit larger because she wanted a larger screen and keyboard, but hers still doesn't weigh very much. I can't remember which Dell she got, but she likes it too.
I have an iBook and I absolutely love it. Maddie is right: I pretty much have no problems with it, unlike the PC I use at work. It's also very user friendly.
I have an Acer TravelMate 4010, and I have it because my parents bought it for me about a month ago for school. I had no input whatsoever. They went laptop shopping with my cousin (he has a masters in something about computers... he's a computer genius, I guess ). My cousin and the guy at the computer store agreed that this would be the best computer for me (and for my sister, she got one too). I'm not too sure why it's good for me and what it does, and frankly, I've never even heard of Acer... but I love it and it has given me zero problems so far. The screen is nice and big, but it's still lightweight and cute . If I could do it all over again, I'd probably get a Mac (for the same reasons as Maddie), but I my Acer.
I also have the Dell 700m. I really love the computer, I have had no problems with it. I did have the worst experience ordering and purchasing it. Their sales people gave me the runaround and flat out lied to me. When I called them on it it became my problem. I could go on all day about each time I had to call them I was on hold for an hour then disconnect only to wait on hold again.
I have heard their support is good but I have not had that problem yet.
I used to have a gateway and their support was great.
i have the inspiron 6000, which is a clunker in terms of size and weight (15.4" widescreen, about an inch in thickness), but i'm a sucker for aesthetics as well... i've owned 2 sony vaios previously, both r505's, i think. they were small and cute, but they overheated ridiculously and the fans were really really loud. the fact that one ran on windows ME probably didn't help matters, either. every time i see a sony, i drool, but i have to walk away. i swear it's like the-ex-you-never-got-over.
if you're looking for cheap prices, i highly recommend dell computers. i got mine through a coupon code that gave me $750 off $1500+ computers (can you BELIEVE?), so i configured mine to about $1550 and got my computer for about 800. it's a solid computer and it's held up well. i would most definitely buy this computer again.
there are a few stylethread/reesycakes equivalents of electronics which are good for coupons and deals. i also got my digital camera at 40% off thanks to these sites
I have an IBM ThinkPad through work. I can't tell you the model number or price but I love it. I never thought I'd like a laptop but I do. I think the coolest thing is the fingerprint swipe that will unlock windows for you. Pretty cool.
I have a dell inspiron. I HATE it. I will never buy another one. It's is just under two years old- the battery fied after about 6 month so I have to leave it plugged in at all times now (what's the point of having a laptop then?) and a few weeks ago my screen died so I can't see anything. I thought the whoel thing died, but FH figured out it was the screen so now we have it hooked up to a regular monitor. I have had nothing but problems with the thing.
I have a Dell Inspiron 6000 with every possible upgrade imaginable. I like it. It's one fast machine. I probably would have bought a Mac if I could have. But, my mom used her employee discount to get the Dell and all of my software is PC software, so buying new sofware would have been even more expensive.
For the most part, though, I like my Dell. Don't buy Compaq. Ever!! I had a Compaq desktop, my mom still has a Compaq desktop and they are big hunks of crapola!!
I thought I should add that I have a Dell Latitude D600 and last year the hard drive just died for no reason. The same thing happened to my roommate too.
I have a Toshiba Portege Tablet PC. It's pretty cool because you can write on it with a stylus. You can turn the screen around and fold it over so it is flat and write on it with the stylus as if it were a notebook. I never use this feature, but it would probably be cool if you were a student. I haven't had any problems. Oh...oops! It has a 12" screen. There are 2 other ones in the same family that have 14" screens. Here is a link: http://www.toshibadirect.com/td/b2c/ebtext.to?page=tabletpcfam&ccid=1291021&seg=HHO&sel=1
i have an emachine (it's owned by gateway). my parents had a ton of gift cards to best buy so i HAD to buy it from best buy. and my needs are sooo basic. it was $500. i bought it with the intention of replacing it in two-three years. for my needs i would buy it again especially for the price (it is *kinda* heavy for a laptop, but i don't tote it around).
my bf who knows a lot about computers (and his dad knows an insane amount) said:
unlimited budget: ibm thinkpad
limited budget: dell
hth!!!
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"i tell you one lesson I learned
If you want to be something in life, You ain't gonna get it unless, You give a little bit of sacrifice, Oohh, sometimes before you smile you got to cry.." -The Roots
I have a Compaq now and I hate it. I don't hate it, hate it but I just feel like it's rebelling against me. I never wanted a Compaq but my dad bought it for me because it had everything I wanted -- the same kinda thing in the Dell 700 that I really wanted instead (and he ended up getting it for himself... BURNED!). I've gone through 2 laptops now and I still think my Dell was better. My next laptop will definitely be a Mac. I hate dealing with Windows security issues.
CarrieS wrote: I have an iBook and I absolutely love it. Maddie is right: I pretty much have no problems with it, unlike the PC I use at work. It's also very user friendly.
As far as what I hate about it: Nothing
Ditto.
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I have an IBM Thinkpad and it's the best laptop ever. I was lucky since my friend's brother is an IBM employee and I got a huge discount which made the price comparable with other PC models out there - not cheap, but manageable. I would definitely choose it again.
NCshopper wrote: Recently I got the Dell Inspiron 700 for work and I love it. It's got a 12" screen, which is smaller than what you have, but the up-side is that it's 4.1 lbs. Dell's customer service is notoriously good, but luckily I haven't had to use it. Here's the link to the website: http://www1.us.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/inspn_700m?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs My assistant has another Dell notebook, but hers is a bit larger because she wanted a larger screen and keyboard, but hers still doesn't weigh very much. I can't remember which Dell she got, but she likes it too.
i have the Dell Inspiron 600m for work and i love it. it is not too heavy and i carry it often...