Ok, I'm a Jr. and Highschool and i'm interested in buying my own laptop because i'm always on the go between work and other places and it's stupid for me to run home because i live 30 minutes from anywhere so I figured i'd get a laptop so i could program/game to kill time. I'm prejudice against gateway because i've had some problems in the past but if you guys say otherwise i may try it. someone told me sony was bad but i dunno how credible (credable?) they are. I have a HP right now and love it and have heard good things about Dell. I'm looking to spend around 1000-1500 on it. So, if you guys could toss up some recomendations I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks!
i just got a compaq presario 2100, its not much in any respets, but it was only like 900 so it wasnt a bad deal. i like compaq in laptops so far, but i prefer custom desktops. just my 3 cents.
once you know what you want in terms of features and performance the most important things to consider are warranty and support. be prepared to spend a bit more and get good support. i would recommend going with Dell although you may have to pay a bit more.
I will definitely agree with the alienware and apple routes. But looking at your budget, I don't think you will get much out those choices, so off to IBM and Sony with you. By all means, stay clear away from Dell. Dell use 3rd rated components, but if you are in the general public that needs more of tech support than peroformance and power, then...
dell is the way to go if you life in america. here in germany asus rules.. for me. powerbook is just awesome.. but you said between 1000 and ?? hmn. i don´t know how expensive it is. for what do you need the laptop..?? buro stuff?? word.. or games and graphics ?
Ok, from a person whom deals with thousnads of laptops from most every large manufacturer.
Compac: Ok for standard personal use. But if you constantly have it with you on the go and use it everywhere, don't get it. 1 out of 5 LCDs develop problems that require it to be sent back to the factory to be replaced. Oh yeah and that happens in about a year. That is in addition to random general problems that can crop up quite regularly. So if you must have, get the longest warenty you can on the thing.
HP/Sony: Generally better than Compac. (Anything would be better than compac) They also will get the random problems that get them sent into the IT dept on a semi regular basis. These have a longer lifespan than compac, about 2-4 years.
Gateway: No idea. Xerox hasn't tried them out in the southwest.
Dell: Bar none, for constant on the move, off and on use. These are your best choice. They have the longest lifespan and lowest service rate. (Hence why SW Xerox is slowly shifting to Dell laptops)
These were the repeated opinions from a divisional head of IT from a large corp. So if you plan on carting your laptop around with you all the time, you should keep this post in mind when shopping around.
Hey, here's some sound advice, I see you were looking for a laptop for programming/gaming in particular, whatever laptop you choose, ask the person/company you're buying from if they can put in one of nvidia's GO line video cards, in particular the NVIDIA Quadro2 Go, awesome video card for laptops, maybe the best solution out there right now for high end gaming for the mobile user.
I abuse my Portege on a daily basis (drop it, carry it in an unpadded pack, generally treat i like crap) and it always works, If i ever had to pay for one myself, i'd probably get a portege or tecra.
My old laptop was 560x Thinkpad, also dueable as hell, but I think IBM quality has gone down since i got that many years ago.
c72::please refrain from punching me in the face:::
Kingwin case prebuilt with 5 large fans (2 intake, 2 exhaust and 1 on top with 3 colored LED lights built in, also has 3 premodded acrylic blue tinted windows (one on left, one on right and one across the top, all aluminum case with blue tinted acrylic paneling on front.
Processor: Intel pentium 4, 2.4 Ghz with the 533 mhz Front side bus
Mobo: Intel 850 model or something (dont remember exactly)
RAM: 512 mb DDR 333
Video card: Leadec Geforce 4 TI 4600 128mb DDR (the model with 2 fans and aluminum heatsink coving both top and bottom of card, also has svideo out for my 27 in television)
Hard drive: 80 Gig Western digital Special Edition with the 8mb seek or something, dont remember its just fast
Drives: 16x/48x DVD & 40x24x40 Plextor Burner
Microsoft Wireless optical scroll Explorer mouse (6 button) and standard microsoft ps2 mouse when gaming
Microsoft internet keyboard that I've modded with electroluminescent blue string light under the keys and a toggle switch to turn on/off (looks sweet at night and matches blue lighting on case)
Sound card: Sound blaster audigy platinum w/remote control
Speakers: 4.1 Logitech surround sound THX certified 400 watt speakers with really powerful Sub, I also hooked this setup through my existing stereo with 4-way speakers ( 2 tweeters, 1 8in mid range and one 18in sub)
Monitor: 19 in flat screen (not flat panel, flat screen) with .25 mm dot pitch
All drives have been stealthed (including floppy, lol) All internal wires have been covered in neon green looming for better air flow, total fans running in case: 11. Going to order 2 cold cathode light's for the inside of my case, already got the switches ready to mount in an empty bay on the front.
Yea, it may have been a waste of my limited funds but i love it to death, lol
Thanks for all the advice everyone! I know Mac is a good computer but I haven't used one in about 5 years so i'm kinda out of it with that. My mom has a compaq and i'm not too fond of it so i don't think i'm getting that. As far as the system goes i'm looking at 1.5 gigs, 256 RAm but 512 wouldn't be bad, 20-30 gig hard drive, DVD/CDRW drive, and a decent video and sound card but those aren't horribly important. But I figure those specs right there should work decent for programming and gaming. But I have been wrong before so please, if you have a better idea on that tell me. I stopped by Best Buy the other day and looked at a few comps and like Sony, Toshiba, HP, and i've always liked Dell though I didn't see any of those there. Also, you guys know of any places online to get laptops fairly cheap? Thanks again!!!
yea, dont be stingy on the video card if you dont want your gaming experience to look like a slideshow, u can have the best processor and fastest ram in the world but it wont save you from having to turn your game settings way down due to havinga mediocre video card, ESPECIALLY with a laptop. I guess it depends on what kind of games your looking to play on it. If its mostly old school stuff then dont worry about it.
Shinler, I liked the idea of the Nvidia geforce 4 go card but I dunno if I have the funds. how much do one of those things run? Also, is there another option that isn't top of the line but still close to as good? Thanks!
It is difficult to find pricing on laptop components because rarely do people build their own laptop lol, not exactly like desktop bulding. The place I always order parts from doesnt offer it. What you have to do is this, when you call whoever you're going to call, lets say DELL, talk to the technician, they will most likely tell you what their prefabricated laptops have in them, you have to ask him about the geforce 4 go, there's a 90% chance they will be able to pop one in for ya instead of the default piece of junk they already have in there, just ask how much it would cost, they'll be happy to help, if the guy is a moron ask to speak to someone else, dont be shy, and dont get screwed just because you think its not worth it, it's probably cheaper than you think, they nvidia offers several different models for laptops, some are very high end and some are great but priced for the average joe, just ask and you'll find what your looking for. As far as other companies, I dont believe anyone else has come close to nvidia's performance/price for laptop video cards, it's been changing the way people use their laptops a lot lately :)
You may want to check into refurbs. I bought about 45 Dell refurbed desktops where I work, got a great warranty with them and have had little trouble with them. The P4s, about six months old. Previously we had bought about 200 p3 small form factor desktops and even though they were more problematic, Dell was very good about sending parts overnight.
I personally think Dell are very whitebread but they have good warranty and support, even on their refurbs, so that might be a way to get a laptop that was bleeding edge 6 months ago and save some money and get a good warranty at the same time.
c72::please refrain from punching me in the face:::
Hey, I got another question, I heard AMD Athlon is better for gaming than P4's. Whats everyones take on that? And if so should I get 1800, 2000, 2200, or 2400 and what exacly is the difference, just keep in mind the comp is mainly for gaming and programming. Thanks!
check out www.discountlaptops.com they're a distributor for Alienware, meaning you can get the same alienware laptops only $500-$1000 cheaper. The only downfall is that they only come in one color and dont come with a $400 Alienware logo. My other safe-bets would be Dell, and Toshiba. I've used both and they're both very reliable in terms of service and warrantee.
AMD isnt any better for gaming than intel is. My personal opinion is the vice versa but anyways, usually the case is this, people who care about the topic (gamers) who buy a computer specifically for gaming tend to be younger, hence dont have as much money to spend, hence buy the cheaper AMD, hence are very proud and this makes more gamers AMD users since most gamers are young and more than likely have less funds than older people, this younger crowd with the AMD's are going to out-vote, out-flame internet arguments pertaining to AMD vs Intel because there is simply more of them. Which is probably how you got to hear AMD is better to begin with. Don't buy the propaganda, look at benchmark sites and decide, they both have their strengths and weaknesses, One notable advantage to an intel processor, it stays very cool even when under stress and is STABLE, unless you take it out and hit it with a hammer you'll never have problems with it, whereas AMD's processor could heat a small closet sitting idle if you dont have a proper fan on it lol
Oh yea, a close friend of mine in the computer/science engineering department who has been an Intel user all his life recently bought a new AMD setup and was disappointed, he never really told me any specific reasons why, he just said it was the little things that ticked him off. Just wanted to say this because I've never met an Intel user who put together an intel machine and said, gee this thing is always giving me problems, it pisses me off.
they're pretty affordable, and come packed with a lot of features... for about 1500, i got it with a p4 2ghz, 60 gb hd, nividiaN graphics card, wireless built-in ethernet, built-in sdram slot, dvd-rw combo drive, 1gig of ram, xp pro, 15.1inch screen, uhh... i think there's more.. check the tosiba site..
this thing is rocking for wc3, cs, photoshop, flash and all my custo needs... ive used it at starbucks... bus trips, and anywhere else i go. this is is faster than my computer im typing on right now..
oh yeah again... the laptop weight is freakin light as hell, went for the plastice v the magnesium casing... if you looking for video/audio support.. this thing comes with a bulit in video out on the side, as well a a headphone jack and mic jack. you can take out the dvd drive and stick in another battery as well. not bad for 1500
Thanks for that info shinler, Some guy at Best Buy was actually the one that told me AMD was better, but i'm definately gonna take your word on this one because I've been through about 4 intels and have had no problems. Ok, tell me if this a decent deal anyone. P4 2.4 gig processor, 60 gig gard drive, 512 DDr SDRAM, Floppy drive, 8x DVD/24x CD-RW drive, 56k modem, ethernet card, cary case, and 3 year warrenty, oh and Radeon 9000 video card for 1900 Also, how does the Wireless built in ethernet card work? Thanks!
Oh-yea, one more thing. How long will it be untill this thing is badly outdated, to the point that I won't be able to play many of the new games on it? I'm hoping it will last me through college but I dunno. Thanks
If you're going to spend up to $2k, then you should be able to get one of the laptops from the distributer that alienware gets theirs from. The mobile radeon kicks ass, just saw it in action the other day. A friend of my roomate brought his laptop over to play some games, and he was playing bf1942 at high settings with no problems.
thanks, thats exacly what this computer is, it's just a few mghz lower and thats it. Whats bf1942? I still dunno how the wireless ethernet card works, if you guys could help me out with that i'd greatly appreciate it. Thanks!
Intel is the kking of throwing money at products that suck. AMD and Intel both have strengths and weaknesses, don't listen to vfanboys and do your own research, I say. I own the following CPUs: Athlon XP 2400, p4 2.0 gig, dual p3s @ 733 mhz each. Assorted other old p2s, T-birds etc. I can honestly say at this time the XP 2400 lords over them all in my home. In a couple of months though, who knows?
I say read whatever you can find and think about your needs. i'd say a faster cpu that costs less is the obvious choice at this time. (i.e. AMD)...unless of course you plan on running apps that take advantage of hyper threading, in which case the P4 is the only way to go.
c72::please refrain from punching me in the face:::
As far as wireless cards go, besides my gf's Airport setup I bought a D-Link Wireless 22Mbps PC Card and it's worked fine so far, although i imagine there's better cards. It was pretty cheap.
c72::please refrain from punching me in the face:::
so a wireless card just lets you be on the internet at any time, anywhere? Or am I misunderstanding... And does it cost any money to keep the service or ??? I'm pretty oblivious on this subject incase you can't tell.
A wireless card allows you to connect to wireless internet hubs that are running. People usually get a wireless hub and plug it into whatever net connection they have without knowing or caring about the security of it. Therefore there are alot of "free" wireless hubs you can get onto depending on where you live. I would highly reccomend getting a cisco 802.11b wireless card since they have usually have atleast one port where you can attach a antenna to and have significantly better reception then any of the other wireless cards I have used. You can find open wireless hubs on www.nodedb.com.
Baboon: I must agree with Colossus. I started out with Intel CPU's 10 years ago. However, since the first Athlon came out, I've used nothing but AMD's---and I have had NO problems whatsoever. They are more powerful AND less expensive, because you're not paying extra for the Intel name.
Many people automatically buy Intel systems for the reason you mentioned: "We haven't had any problems, so let's keep buying them." I honestly think that's why Intel is still in business (or at least why they're still selling PC CPU's).
The only way to believe it is to try it. As some TV commercial used to say, "Dare to be different."
Why did you feel the need to revive this thread 3 months later?
: Nothing's better than takin a dump and checkin out some uber hardware...well...hacking into microsoft while dropping off the Cosby's might be better :
