Off Topic Lap Top Computer Recommendation

[svelte]

I just bought a laptop myself this month, using similar criteria to what you used.

Laptops are incredibly cheap right now.

Macs, as they have always been, are way overpriced as is any s/w you would want to load.

PCs can be bought for a song.

If you are going to keep it forever (you kept your last one 9 years – GULP!), here are some things to consider:

– RAM: Don’t short-change yourself on RAM. Windows Vista alone will use 1 GB, so you’ll need 2 GB or more total RAM to run any sort of s/w package…since you are going to keep it a long time, I would recommend maxing the RAM out since s/w packages will require more and more RAM over the years (4 GB is all Vista can use in 32 bit mode,which is what everybody runs in. You can go to 64 bit mode to get more RAM, but that’s probably not necessary in your case).

– Internet: Things are rapidly moving in the wireless direction. Hotels, airports, even coffee shops are now wireless hotspots. Therefore, definitely get 802.11 – it doesn’t cost much and you’ll be glad you did in the long run. Also get a 10/100 network card for using wired ethernet practically anywhere you go. 10/100 cards are dirt cheap anyway.

– Bluetooth: I wasn’t going to get this, then started thinking about how easy it would be to move pics from my cell to my computer. So I bought it. Again, doesn’t cost much.

– Hard Drive: I’m a photo hound, so I splurged a little (but not much) here. Video is getting very popular and really chews through disk space, so in my opinion get at least a 200 GB disk. As videos gain traction, you’ll be glad.

– Screen size: this is a hard one. The bigger the screen, the heavier/bulkier the laptop. I went sorta mid-range with a 15.4 in widescreen.

– DVD: BlueRay on a laptop is still way too costly, so I didn’t get it. I just went with a plain, basic DVD player. I may regret it, but my wallet thanked me.

– Make sure it has at least two avail USB ports: one for a mouse, one for a memory stick. 2 USBs is pretty common now.

I spent a lot of time at Fry’s but could not get all of the above packaged together at a price any less than HP or Dell (I never shop Gateway).

So I pitted Dell and HP against each other and ran the numbers in many ways. Dell won. Here is what I bought…it arrived this week:

Dell Inspiron 1525
3GB RAM
Intel Core Duo T5550
250 GB drive
Windows Vista SP1 Home
10/100 Network Card
CD/DVD Writer (DVD+/-RW)
Dell Wireless 355 Bluetooth
Widescreen 15.4in
85Whr Lithium Ion Battery

Price: $819 plus tax (free shipping)

This thing is sharp! I’m very happy with the purchase.

If you dig a bit, you can probably do better price-wise but I was under a time crunch and got tired of shopping.

Good luck!

[svelte]

With respect to quality issues that have been brought up in this thread, my household has had 5 laptops in the last 10 years: 3 Dell and 2 HPs (their timelines overlap). We usually use them 4-5 years before we donate them to other family members and replace them.

We’ve never needed to do a single repair to any of those laptops, which is probably why I didn’t feel the need to give weight to one brand over the other wrt quality. As far as I know, those machines are still ticking in their current homes too.

In my industry, we have worked quite a bit with HP equipment and the conclusion that many of us came to: HP makes top-notch hardware and crappy software. Those may be out-of-date generalizations now and probably do not apply to their laptop product line at all, but that was their image in my neck of the woods.

[svelte]

With respect to quality issues that have been brought up in this thread, my household has had 5 laptops in the last 10 years: 3 Dell and 2 HPs (their timelines overlap). We usually use them 4-5 years before we donate them to other family members and replace them.

We’ve never needed to do a single repair to any of those laptops, which is probably why I didn’t feel the need to give weight to one brand over the other wrt quality. As far as I know, those machines are still ticking in their current homes too.

In my industry, we have worked quite a bit with HP equipment and the conclusion that many of us came to: HP makes top-notch hardware and crappy software. Those may be out-of-date generalizations now and probably do not apply to their laptop product line at all, but that was their image in my neck of the woods.

[svelte]

With respect to quality issues that have been brought up in this thread, my household has had 5 laptops in the last 10 years: 3 Dell and 2 HPs (their timelines overlap). We usually use them 4-5 years before we donate them to other family members and replace them.

We’ve never needed to do a single repair to any of those laptops, which is probably why I didn’t feel the need to give weight to one brand over the other wrt quality. As far as I know, those machines are still ticking in their current homes too.

In my industry, we have worked quite a bit with HP equipment and the conclusion that many of us came to: HP makes top-notch hardware and crappy software. Those may be out-of-date generalizations now and probably do not apply to their laptop product line at all, but that was their image in my neck of the woods.

[svelte]

With respect to quality issues that have been brought up in this thread, my household has had 5 laptops in the last 10 years: 3 Dell and 2 HPs (their timelines overlap). We usually use them 4-5 years before we donate them to other family members and replace them.

We’ve never needed to do a single repair to any of those laptops, which is probably why I didn’t feel the need to give weight to one brand over the other wrt quality. As far as I know, those machines are still ticking in their current homes too.

In my industry, we have worked quite a bit with HP equipment and the conclusion that many of us came to: HP makes top-notch hardware and crappy software. Those may be out-of-date generalizations now and probably do not apply to their laptop product line at all, but that was their image in my neck of the woods.

[svelte]

With respect to quality issues that have been brought up in this thread, my household has had 5 laptops in the last 10 years: 3 Dell and 2 HPs (their timelines overlap). We usually use them 4-5 years before we donate them to other family members and replace them.

We’ve never needed to do a single repair to any of those laptops, which is probably why I didn’t feel the need to give weight to one brand over the other wrt quality. As far as I know, those machines are still ticking in their current homes too.

In my industry, we have worked quite a bit with HP equipment and the conclusion that many of us came to: HP makes top-notch hardware and crappy software. Those may be out-of-date generalizations now and probably do not apply to their laptop product line at all, but that was their image in my neck of the woods.

[afx114]

Macbook, or even better, Macbook Pro. Yes, they are expensive, but you get what you pay for. The cheapie $599 laptops will last you a year or MAYBE two, and will run like molasses the entire time. Macbook will last you 4-5 years and it’s a great machine. Vista is a complete failure and Apple is slowly taking over all markets they enter (computing, entertainment (music/TV/movie), cell phone, and soon enterprise and handheld gaming).

In a couple years Apple will be dominating multiple markets and you will be glad you decided to go with a Macbook.

I am the designated family “computer guy” and after a decade of advising my family to go with Dell, I’ve had enough of the crap quality of PC manufacturers and software and now tell them, “Buy a Mac. It’s worth it in the long run.” Case in point, after advising my cousin to purchase a Mac, she decided to go with the Dell “because it’s cheaper” and she was begging me 1 month later to come fix her broken brand new laptop. Infected with spyware, slow as hell, it took me 4 hours of formatting/reinstalling to get her back up to speed, and even after all of that it still ran like a Pinto compared to my 3-year old Powerbook. That is why I now refuse to service PCs – they are a waste of time, money, and the hair that you pull out of your head when dealing with them.

Also, Apple will be the first company to bring true convergence to the marketplace. We’re already seeing it. The combination of OSX, iPod/iPhone, AppleTV, MobileMe, etc, etc are the first true steps we’ve taken towards device convergence. It’s only a matter of time before they release iCar, iFridge, and iWashingMachine all controlled by your iPod/iPhone no matter where you are. Get on the train before it leaves the station.

[afx114]

Macbook, or even better, Macbook Pro. Yes, they are expensive, but you get what you pay for. The cheapie $599 laptops will last you a year or MAYBE two, and will run like molasses the entire time. Macbook will last you 4-5 years and it’s a great machine. Vista is a complete failure and Apple is slowly taking over all markets they enter (computing, entertainment (music/TV/movie), cell phone, and soon enterprise and handheld gaming).

In a couple years Apple will be dominating multiple markets and you will be glad you decided to go with a Macbook.

I am the designated family “computer guy” and after a decade of advising my family to go with Dell, I’ve had enough of the crap quality of PC manufacturers and software and now tell them, “Buy a Mac. It’s worth it in the long run.” Case in point, after advising my cousin to purchase a Mac, she decided to go with the Dell “because it’s cheaper” and she was begging me 1 month later to come fix her broken brand new laptop. Infected with spyware, slow as hell, it took me 4 hours of formatting/reinstalling to get her back up to speed, and even after all of that it still ran like a Pinto compared to my 3-year old Powerbook. That is why I now refuse to service PCs – they are a waste of time, money, and the hair that you pull out of your head when dealing with them.

Also, Apple will be the first company to bring true convergence to the marketplace. We’re already seeing it. The combination of OSX, iPod/iPhone, AppleTV, MobileMe, etc, etc are the first true steps we’ve taken towards device convergence. It’s only a matter of time before they release iCar, iFridge, and iWashingMachine all controlled by your iPod/iPhone no matter where you are. Get on the train before it leaves the station.

[afx114]

Macbook, or even better, Macbook Pro. Yes, they are expensive, but you get what you pay for. The cheapie $599 laptops will last you a year or MAYBE two, and will run like molasses the entire time. Macbook will last you 4-5 years and it’s a great machine. Vista is a complete failure and Apple is slowly taking over all markets they enter (computing, entertainment (music/TV/movie), cell phone, and soon enterprise and handheld gaming).

In a couple years Apple will be dominating multiple markets and you will be glad you decided to go with a Macbook.

I am the designated family “computer guy” and after a decade of advising my family to go with Dell, I’ve had enough of the crap quality of PC manufacturers and software and now tell them, “Buy a Mac. It’s worth it in the long run.” Case in point, after advising my cousin to purchase a Mac, she decided to go with the Dell “because it’s cheaper” and she was begging me 1 month later to come fix her broken brand new laptop. Infected with spyware, slow as hell, it took me 4 hours of formatting/reinstalling to get her back up to speed, and even after all of that it still ran like a Pinto compared to my 3-year old Powerbook. That is why I now refuse to service PCs – they are a waste of time, money, and the hair that you pull out of your head when dealing with them.

Also, Apple will be the first company to bring true convergence to the marketplace. We’re already seeing it. The combination of OSX, iPod/iPhone, AppleTV, MobileMe, etc, etc are the first true steps we’ve taken towards device convergence. It’s only a matter of time before they release iCar, iFridge, and iWashingMachine all controlled by your iPod/iPhone no matter where you are. Get on the train before it leaves the station.

[afx114]

Macbook, or even better, Macbook Pro. Yes, they are expensive, but you get what you pay for. The cheapie $599 laptops will last you a year or MAYBE two, and will run like molasses the entire time. Macbook will last you 4-5 years and it’s a great machine. Vista is a complete failure and Apple is slowly taking over all markets they enter (computing, entertainment (music/TV/movie), cell phone, and soon enterprise and handheld gaming).

In a couple years Apple will be dominating multiple markets and you will be glad you decided to go with a Macbook.

I am the designated family “computer guy” and after a decade of advising my family to go with Dell, I’ve had enough of the crap quality of PC manufacturers and software and now tell them, “Buy a Mac. It’s worth it in the long run.” Case in point, after advising my cousin to purchase a Mac, she decided to go with the Dell “because it’s cheaper” and she was begging me 1 month later to come fix her broken brand new laptop. Infected with spyware, slow as hell, it took me 4 hours of formatting/reinstalling to get her back up to speed, and even after all of that it still ran like a Pinto compared to my 3-year old Powerbook. That is why I now refuse to service PCs – they are a waste of time, money, and the hair that you pull out of your head when dealing with them.

Also, Apple will be the first company to bring true convergence to the marketplace. We’re already seeing it. The combination of OSX, iPod/iPhone, AppleTV, MobileMe, etc, etc are the first true steps we’ve taken towards device convergence. It’s only a matter of time before they release iCar, iFridge, and iWashingMachine all controlled by your iPod/iPhone no matter where you are. Get on the train before it leaves the station.

[afx114]

Macbook, or even better, Macbook Pro. Yes, they are expensive, but you get what you pay for. The cheapie $599 laptops will last you a year or MAYBE two, and will run like molasses the entire time. Macbook will last you 4-5 years and it’s a great machine. Vista is a complete failure and Apple is slowly taking over all markets they enter (computing, entertainment (music/TV/movie), cell phone, and soon enterprise and handheld gaming).

In a couple years Apple will be dominating multiple markets and you will be glad you decided to go with a Macbook.

I am the designated family “computer guy” and after a decade of advising my family to go with Dell, I’ve had enough of the crap quality of PC manufacturers and software and now tell them, “Buy a Mac. It’s worth it in the long run.” Case in point, after advising my cousin to purchase a Mac, she decided to go with the Dell “because it’s cheaper” and she was begging me 1 month later to come fix her broken brand new laptop. Infected with spyware, slow as hell, it took me 4 hours of formatting/reinstalling to get her back up to speed, and even after all of that it still ran like a Pinto compared to my 3-year old Powerbook. That is why I now refuse to service PCs – they are a waste of time, money, and the hair that you pull out of your head when dealing with them.

Also, Apple will be the first company to bring true convergence to the marketplace. We’re already seeing it. The combination of OSX, iPod/iPhone, AppleTV, MobileMe, etc, etc are the first true steps we’ve taken towards device convergence. It’s only a matter of time before they release iCar, iFridge, and iWashingMachine all controlled by your iPod/iPhone no matter where you are. Get on the train before it leaves the station.

[ucodegen]

I also have a Dell Precision M90 (the laptop that the HP replaced) and it was a piece of junk. Keyboard went first, followed by CD/DVD drive and the hard drive started persistently overheating.

The company I work for uses M90s very heavily, including for travel. The only problem we have seen is battery life and weight and one charging power supply starting to go bad (which was replaced very quickly). Maybe because it was purchased as a corporation, that we got notebooks that were better constructed. I do know that several companies that had support with Dell complained when Dell decided to outsource support to India. The Corporate I.T. folks were getting tired of dealing with people reading from scripts and wanted people on the other end with real knowledge (no needing to tell I.T. people how to power cycle their machines etc). The end result is that support on corporate purchases is done in the United States, not India. Suffice it to say, I buy my personal notebooks through the company I work for. I don’t need to have to work through phone support telling me how to power cycle my machine..

It was mentioned that one of the kids may bring the notebook to school. I would almost suggest 2 notebooks because of the breakage factor and the possibility of unknown software being added (wouldn’t want to put a critical machine at risk). I would avoid the large 15″ or larger screened notebooks (unless the kid is older than 16) because of the weight. I would also avoid the ‘Home’ version of Windows like the plague. The professional versions have better access control over accounts.

I agree with the comments on Apple. Nice.. but.. In addition, if you are going to play computer games or software from other vendors, your selection under Apple is going to be smaller.

[ucodegen]

I also have a Dell Precision M90 (the laptop that the HP replaced) and it was a piece of junk. Keyboard went first, followed by CD/DVD drive and the hard drive started persistently overheating.

The company I work for uses M90s very heavily, including for travel. The only problem we have seen is battery life and weight and one charging power supply starting to go bad (which was replaced very quickly). Maybe because it was purchased as a corporation, that we got notebooks that were better constructed. I do know that several companies that had support with Dell complained when Dell decided to outsource support to India. The Corporate I.T. folks were getting tired of dealing with people reading from scripts and wanted people on the other end with real knowledge (no needing to tell I.T. people how to power cycle their machines etc). The end result is that support on corporate purchases is done in the United States, not India. Suffice it to say, I buy my personal notebooks through the company I work for. I don’t need to have to work through phone support telling me how to power cycle my machine..

It was mentioned that one of the kids may bring the notebook to school. I would almost suggest 2 notebooks because of the breakage factor and the possibility of unknown software being added (wouldn’t want to put a critical machine at risk). I would avoid the large 15″ or larger screened notebooks (unless the kid is older than 16) because of the weight. I would also avoid the ‘Home’ version of Windows like the plague. The professional versions have better access control over accounts.

I agree with the comments on Apple. Nice.. but.. In addition, if you are going to play computer games or software from other vendors, your selection under Apple is going to be smaller.

[ucodegen]

I also have a Dell Precision M90 (the laptop that the HP replaced) and it was a piece of junk. Keyboard went first, followed by CD/DVD drive and the hard drive started persistently overheating.

The company I work for uses M90s very heavily, including for travel. The only problem we have seen is battery life and weight and one charging power supply starting to go bad (which was replaced very quickly). Maybe because it was purchased as a corporation, that we got notebooks that were better constructed. I do know that several companies that had support with Dell complained when Dell decided to outsource support to India. The Corporate I.T. folks were getting tired of dealing with people reading from scripts and wanted people on the other end with real knowledge (no needing to tell I.T. people how to power cycle their machines etc). The end result is that support on corporate purchases is done in the United States, not India. Suffice it to say, I buy my personal notebooks through the company I work for. I don’t need to have to work through phone support telling me how to power cycle my machine..

It was mentioned that one of the kids may bring the notebook to school. I would almost suggest 2 notebooks because of the breakage factor and the possibility of unknown software being added (wouldn’t want to put a critical machine at risk). I would avoid the large 15″ or larger screened notebooks (unless the kid is older than 16) because of the weight. I would also avoid the ‘Home’ version of Windows like the plague. The professional versions have better access control over accounts.

I agree with the comments on Apple. Nice.. but.. In addition, if you are going to play computer games or software from other vendors, your selection under Apple is going to be smaller.

[ucodegen]

I also have a Dell Precision M90 (the laptop that the HP replaced) and it was a piece of junk. Keyboard went first, followed by CD/DVD drive and the hard drive started persistently overheating.

The company I work for uses M90s very heavily, including for travel. The only problem we have seen is battery life and weight and one charging power supply starting to go bad (which was replaced very quickly). Maybe because it was purchased as a corporation, that we got notebooks that were better constructed. I do know that several companies that had support with Dell complained when Dell decided to outsource support to India. The Corporate I.T. folks were getting tired of dealing with people reading from scripts and wanted people on the other end with real knowledge (no needing to tell I.T. people how to power cycle their machines etc). The end result is that support on corporate purchases is done in the United States, not India. Suffice it to say, I buy my personal notebooks through the company I work for. I don’t need to have to work through phone support telling me how to power cycle my machine..

It was mentioned that one of the kids may bring the notebook to school. I would almost suggest 2 notebooks because of the breakage factor and the possibility of unknown software being added (wouldn’t want to put a critical machine at risk). I would avoid the large 15″ or larger screened notebooks (unless the kid is older than 16) because of the weight. I would also avoid the ‘Home’ version of Windows like the plague. The professional versions have better access control over accounts.

I agree with the comments on Apple. Nice.. but.. In addition, if you are going to play computer games or software from other vendors, your selection under Apple is going to be smaller.

[Author]

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