laptop purchase 3

[itsmystie]

Hello everybody.

I'm planning to acquire a laptop but seeing so many brands available i'm at a loss at which one to choose. The 2 main characteristics i'm looking for is portability (should be the lightest possible) and long battery life. Can you folk please recommend me which brand or model to choose? Thanks.

 

[gbaughma]

I like Dells for service. I like HP for flexability. Both have excellent support.

It's really not that hard.... make a list of the features that you want, and the maximum amount of money you want to spend. Then research on the Net, looking for the features/price balance.

Stick with a name brand, because you'll get the best warranty. The specs will include the weight.

Personally, when I bought my laptop, features were more important than weight at the time... so I ended up with a WHOMPING 3.0ghz, DVD+RW, 80GB, wireless, etc. etc.... but the thing weighs about as much as a VW Bug. <LOL> I love it though. Got it for $2500 including a 3-year warranty.



Just my 2¢

"In order to start solving a problem, one must first identify its owner." --Me
--Greg

 

[vacunita]

My 2¢, don't buy a Vaio, even though they are great looking, they have given me nothng but headaches. Many familiy members have bought Vaios because they look really cool being so small and nice. but they are a pain in the neck to restore should something go wrong. Drivers are never available for all he niceties that are built in, if they dn;t come from the vaio site and sometimes even if they do, drivers won't install, or if they do install, some feature will have been disabled.

Terrible laptops, terrible Tech Support, and even worst price tags.

I think Dell has a pretty vast array of Laptops in any price range. As gbaughma said make a list of what it is you need the Laptop to have, and how much you want to spend. Then you can check against the major brands for one that macthes the closest to your list.



----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.

 

[paparazi]

As technology changes so fast it's difficult giving recommendations.
Magazine reviews seem to offer the best "head to head" comparisons but be aware that whatever you read needs to be know more than a few weeks old as models simply change so fast.
Look for mobile processors (designed specifically for low power consumption) they power down when not being used intensively for extended battery life.
Even though on paper their lower clock speed may be a "put off" their superior design definately is a plus, don't be tempted to go for one of the many laptops that are fitted with "what are essentially" desktop processors, they look more powerful but in reality run hotter and use much more power making them heavier and with a short battery life.

Look for the screens sporting the better XVGA format
The widescreens are nice

If you intend to do any 3D work or (gaming?) then many of the higher end laptops come with seperate mobile graphics assemblies, just like desktops the better the graphics chip the higher frame rates/resolutions etc can be used.

Martin

We like members to GIVE and not just TAKE.
Participate and help others.

 

[paparazi]

Scrub the last sentence! lol, whatever laptop you choose it will have a default max resolution (basically one fixed resolution that you must use for the best image display)but the frame rates will be higher and features like SM 3.0 will give you better visual effects if the laptop has one of these better mobile GPU's eg: Nvidia's Go 6800 series.
But then again, this extra expense may not be necessary depending on the intended use.

Martin


We like members to GIVE and not just TAKE.
Participate and help others.

 

[LWComputingMVP]

I have two important points on purchasing a laptop - at least one has been directly mentioned and the other has been implied.

1. Buy a major brand. Sony, Dell, HP, Toshiba, Lenovo (IBM), Gateway. Maybe a couple of others, but that generally covers it. You want a company that will be around to honor your warranty 2.5 years later (or at least be bought by a company that will honor the warranty).

2. Buy a 3 year warranty. These things get banged around much more than a desktop and no matter how hardy they are supposedly made, they are still delicate. Most vendors will honor 3 year warranties for problems that are not OBVIOUSLY user neglect (drops, spills, etc). Consider it insurance - it's usually well worth the extra 200-300, because repairs would probably cost you AT LEAST that much.

After that, I'd probably consider Dell, Lenovo, and possibly Gateway as the top candidates in my book. Dell has OK support - but their warranty repairs are usually very quick. Lenovo has a great reputation for quality, but can be hefty on the price (IBM's PC line, including laptops, was bought out by Lenovo about 1.5 years ago - but nearly all the people at IBM who worked on the line transferred over to Lenovo, so the quality SHOULD NOT have suffered). Gateway I haven't used in a while but have begun hearing trickles of good things again about them.

What to avoid like the plague: Sony. Why? Support sucks. I've had nightmarish support stories too and I hate their (former?) warranty policy - which basically stated that if you didn't register your notebook with them, then the warranty was 90 days. That's 33 months shorter than it should be.

Everyone else I don't know enough about or have heard mixed stories on.

 

[paparazi]

Just thought of one obvious!!!! 64bit capable!! lets be honest, Vista might turn out to be desireable, well at least when Vista SP1 arrives lol let everyone else have the problems.
Martin

We like members to GIVE and not just TAKE.
Participate and help others.