Laptops...... ugh...

My girlfriend swears by Toshiba.

Personally, I think that the Sony Vaio's are the best laptops out there. My first Vaio I got in 2006, and still runs. Infact I've had it run for 7 months straight as my entertainment system (S video into the TV). I'm on my second Vaio now and for the $600 I paid, it's an amazing machine.

I bought an HP in August year before last. The battery stopped holding a charge 6 months into owning it, it would constantly run at 120+ Fahrenheit with not a single window open even on a cooling pad, and then finally the screen went out. It's sitting in a corner right now as an expensive paper weight

 

I bought my wife a acer 2 years ago, so far no issues with it. Only dumb thing was it came with a webcam built in with NO MICROPHONE! ... go figure

I worked at MSFT for many years, they used 100% Dell's --- I had no issues with either of the two Dell's I had... well others, using the same models always had issues... just with anything, there can be duds in the mix

My suggestion would be go to some where like Tiger Direct (CompUSA) and look at the laptops.. see which ones you like... right down the model numbers and then review the heck out of them. B/c the Acer I got my wife, got GREAT reviews... and like I said before, we haven't had any issues with it... but for the life of me I can't type of the damn thing.

Steve

 

My first laptop was a HP... one of the first 17" full keyboard models... Used it while I was in school at ITT Tech (drafting/design). It originally cost me about $2,000, upgraded HDD & RAM at one point (out of want, not necessity) & lasted 4 yrs before it was stolen out of my car. Average cost was about $500 a year ($1.39 a day) outside of upgrades. Used it for gaming as well, hooked up to my tv for movies... was awesome

I went to a Mac after the HP was stolen. 2.33ghz C2D w/ 2gb RAM. w/ student discount I paid $2,500. Have also upgraded HDD, RAM, & OS on this model. Also have it Boot Camp'd to run Win7Ult. When I don't use it for ripping dvds, playing movies to my 55" LED tv, or running AutoCAD (in Windows), I occasionally get some free time to game on it... WoW might not be the most graphically intense game, but with reasonable screen settings, I can still get 60-100 fps with no screen lag.

Bought this one 5 yrs this month... Average cost again about $500 a year.

I won't buy another PC... I might through a copy of whatever version of whinedows is current, but I know the value of a well made computer.

Macs are awesome for so much more than just editing... Apple is very picky about the hardware they put in their machines... probably why mine's lasted so long.

I don't baby my Mac... The battery's been drained so many times it's not funny. It now tells me to service the battery. I took it with me to Vegas last month - I watched a full-length movie I ripped the day before at the airport while waiting, and then another on the 2 hr flight. Amazingly enough, the battery played through both movies. I throw it around, take it with me camping, travelling, and whatever else. It's got dents and dings all over the casing. The screen is still perfect - not a dead pixel.

Think of it this way - A Mac is to a PC what a Toyota is to a Hyundai or Kia. You didn't buy a Tacoma because it was cheap - you bought it because it was quality and you knew the truck would last damn near forever.

Do you really want to be surfing the net and whatever else in a Kia?

 

Anyone ever have or use the Toughbooks??. My boss is a firm believer in them and is trying to talk me into one. I know the military at one time used them because they can take the abuse.
http://www.panasonic.com/business/toughbook/fully-rugged-laptop-toughbook-19.asp#/31

 

x100!!!

I love my Mac, I will not give up my Mac...

 

Just pick a good laptop deal and research it to see what the negatives and positives are. I bought two Alienware M11x laptops thanks to all of the research on these machines. They have issues but now Dell will repair them even if out of warranty. I find the M11x to be an awesome machine but has its drawbacks if you look them up.

Worked for me though

Mine was a refurbished M11x R2 (with same as new warranty), i5, 4gb memory, bluetooth, 250gb 7200RPM drive, face regonition software, and other goodies for $679 plus tax.

My daughter's is the M11x R1 Core2Duo SU7300, 2gb memory, 160gb 5400rpm drive, Switchable graphics, etc for $549 plus tax.

Both free shipping and used coupons found at Tech Bargains to lower the price on them. Also, Dell has no interest for 12 months on new Alienware machines.

You can find some good deals, Lenovo had their Ideapads on sale as well as HP with the Envy line, each manufacturer will have duds here and there but research will steer you in the right direction Good luck!

 

Mac..all im gonna say

 

love my toshiba. no issues.

 

all the HP's i have ever used have sucked. the quality of their laptops are terrible.

if i were to ever buy a PC (wich i would never because macs are amazing)
i would do ONLY do a toshiba or a sony vaio.


Get a mac you pansy-ass.

 

Asus makes good stuff in all price ranges, and they have a pretty sweet warranty from the Manufactorer (includes accidental damage from drops and water spills)

Another good site for research is
http://www.notebookreview.com/

 

Being in the tech field, I will verify the pattern we have seen here. Every manufacturer has failures and statistically, some are more significant than others.

Squaretrade has released data about failure rates which can be found summarized here.

Here you will find scores by brand according to one website and its readers. Be aware of the Apple paradox - consumers pay more for a product and therefore have an instinctive tendency to want to justify their purchase, thereby scaling up their reviews accordingly.

Find exact laptops that meet your needs then research them to see if they are reliable. All makers do make reliable laptops, but certain series are more prone to failure, which is why you need to research.

 

Getting really tired of the Mac mentality of closing your mind and opening your wallet.

ASUS is more reliable than Apple in 2009
HP more reliable than Apple in 2010

PC hardware does not equal Microsoft.
Other than the motherboard and case, Apple hardware is made by others. Your mouse is made by Logitech, your hard drive most likely made by Seagate, your RAM is Samsung/Micron/Hitachi/Hynix/DMS, Your monitor by Samsung or LG, your video card by ATi, your processor is made by Intel, and so on.

Macs have plenty of problems.
My mom just replaced her CD drive on her macbook after one year of ownership (just out of warranty), and she's rarely used it.
My friend was able to drag the hard drive icon to the trash. It nuked the computer and we had to send it in for hardware repair
the iMac was a giant piece of crap. It overheated like mad, and the ATi video card was awful for reliability and performance.
I worked at a school computer department when I was a kid. We had a shelf of dead macs. We had a shelf of dead PCs. The difference between the two is that you could slap the PCs and one out of five would come back to life.


The reason to go Mac is if you like the OS. All other discussion leads to an equal playing field.


I'm currently running a Dell E6500 at work, it has about 670 hours on it with no flaws.
My past machine was a D630 with about twice as many hours. I had to drop it 3 times from a height of 5 feet before the screen backlight died. All other components continued to work. Barring the fact that I don't get to choose my work computer, do I assume Dell is the be-all-end-all, and would buy one for personal use? No, I do my damn research and figure it from there.

 

go cry about it. my mac is better than you pc for what i need.

 

Who said I'm crying? And as for what I need, my pc just helped $678 million go towards feeding the hungry last year.

 

Actually, for me, moving to a Mac was more about opening my mind to the option, not closing it. Opening my wallet was something that I was prepared to do, regardless of a Mac or a PC.

Personally, I feel, and felt, that moving to a Mac was about reliability and stability. Other than my OS upgrades, I haven't had to reinstall the OS on my mac in 5 yrs... my HP i did it about every 6 months. My DVD drive has worn out as well... it still works, most of the time. Considering that I've likely ripped well over 200 discs and played an equal number of them, I don't feel that I've been shortchanged on it.

As for dragging the hdd into the trash, you can do just as much damage in Windows by clicking or dragging similar folders - My sister recently managed to somehow erase her "Windows" and "Program Data" folders off her PC with Vista loaded.

I'm only a couple of years older than you, and I remember Macs and PCs from back when we were kids... never worked in the computer dept, but comparing THOSE computers to laptops these days - Mac or PC - would be like trying to compare your Tacoma to a Model T or something...

Anyhow, nice to see another Oregonian here in TW... oddly enough the more I browse (read: troll) TW, the more of em I find

Wow... don't think that was really necessary

 

Believe it or not, we are on the same page, because your improvements were a direct result of the OS. My examples were only to disprove Mac myths of "it doesn't happen". My point is that the problems are usually due to the OS rather than hardware.

I was comparing a 286/386/486 to a Mac Classic, so it was nearly same era. I don't remember working on any 1st gen Pentiums at the time

Jump in the northwest forum! We are always talking and we are starting to do monthly meetups

 

I'm really liking my Sony Vaio. No problems yet!

 

youre right i took that a little too far lol

but Mac is amazing for me. and I dont want PC because my Mac has out performed any pc i have ever put it against.

to each their own i guess...

 

I totally agree... I won't go back to a PC because it's worth it to me to spend the money on a Mac... but that's my own

Nice to have ya admit to taking things a little too far... +1 for admission