The Gang of Five
Beyond the Mysterious Beyond => Hobbies and Recreation => Computer and Electronics => Topic started by: pokeplayer984 on February 11, 2008, 11:41:03 PM
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I am about to get my tax return and my work bonus, which has come to quite a substancial amount of money. As such, I've decided to use it to get a labtop that I've wanted for quite some time.
Just want to know somethings before I make the big decision. Are there any suggestions on what kind of labtop I should invest in? Anything I should know about certian kinds before deciding to buy them? What should I know about it all before I do so?
I've wanted one for a while. I'm just not sure what kind I should get. :)
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Okay. Here are some brands you should stay away from:
Dell
Emachines
Gateway
Each use cheap crap hard drives and ram from china even when you buy their laptops that cost thousands of dollars. Dells hard drives die in under 2 years and the others might last a little over 2 years, but not 3.
I would recommend a compaq presario. They're about as cheap as Dells, but their quality is so much better. Honestly though, I would recommend buying a used laptop off craigslist.org. Unless you're gonna get a really fast laptop, it's not gonna handle vista very well, even out of the box. You can always downgrade, but that's gonna cost you an extra $140 for the xp disk. Besides, you can get a laptop that's only a year old for about $250 and they usually have no better specs than a new laptop that's $700. They're just cheap cuz it's used. You may have to buy a new battery for some of them, but ebay has brand new laptop batteries for only $50 for most models. take a look at this computer:
http://seattle.craigslist.org/see/sys/571276357.html (http://seattle.craigslist.org/see/sys/571276357.html)
to get a computer brand new with those specs would probably cost around $800. Yeah, it's older, but honestly, if it saves you $600, then who cares? take a look at this one:
http://seattle.craigslist.org/see/sys/571086558.html (http://seattle.craigslist.org/see/sys/571086558.html)
You'll need a new battery and a new HD most likely since it's a Dell. I estimate a repair cost of about $100 AND you can replace the HD with a 80gb one.
Another great deal:
http://seattle.craigslist.org/sno/sys/570659776.html (http://seattle.craigslist.org/sno/sys/570659776.html)
They're everywhere!
Look at this brand new computer:
http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping...=V6700TX_series (http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping/computer_can_series.do?storeName=computer_store&category=notebooks&a1=Usage&v1=Everyday+computing&series_name=V6700TX_series)
It has a 1.67 ghz processor. How lame :rolleyes: The used ones I posted had an equal processor or better and they are tons less. Besides, they have the crappy vista. Also, I doubt you'll be spending $800.
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I would agree and stay away from Dell, even though I have two of them. I've seen numerous quirks with them, which I've lived with and worked around in various ways. What bothers me is the fact that I can't renew the warranty after it expired (accidentally) so if anything goes wrong, I'm out of luck.
Really, the question comes down to what you'll use the laptop for. If you're not planning on playing hi-res games, you're ok, because just about every laptop isn't designed for those. If you want to just web browse, write essays and email, maybe watch some video evey now and then, you won't even need Vista or a fast processor. 1.5 ghz is plenty, as would be 1 gb of RAM. That should easily keep the cost low and within the boundaries of your tax rebate.
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chances are, if they need to play games on a laptop, they'll need to buy a new one with at least 3.6ghz thanks to vista. -_-
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I knew THE computer expert, LBTLover would come by. :P:
Anyways, thanks for the tips, LBTLover. I'll definately make sure to keep away from Dell. I've heard nothing but bad stuff from it anyways.
Just so you guys know, I'll be using it for web browsing and working on a few fic projects. (These ones will be quite secretive.) Not to mention that I do plan to use it on the go mainly. (Especially with several trips coming up. I'll need something to keep me entertained for the long car, bus, plane and boat rides. (One of these involves a cruise coming up in several months.)) Let's just say that my Pokemon game on my DS isn't fulfilling my entertainment means anymore.
So with this information in mind, anything else I should know?
Oh, and curious, are there any with long-lasting rechargable batteries? You know how much stuff like that can save these days. :) (Anything portable I plan to have this as my #1 priority.)
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Get an Acer. My dad has one of those, and he says it's great.
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A lot of computers go into about a "1/2 power mode" when on battery to conserve power. Mine can go about five hours in standby, and about 2 1/2 to 3 hours actually doing something (watching a dvd). The best way to handle battery life is to buy a second battery. You aren't going to be able to get around that if you need your computer away from a power source that badly.
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Get an Acer. My dad has one of those, and he says it's great.
I agree with Pteranofan.
Acer laptops have a good popularity here in Puerto Rico. They arent expensivesand come with good specs. I sell these at my job. At the moment we have a lot of happy customers.
Look this one Acer Laptop (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834115451)
If you are looking for a gamer laptop well I suggest you models like Alienware or Nvidia hi end laptops. I warn you, these aren't cheap.
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I would recommend that you should get a computer that can handle your needs. Personally, I would recommend an Apple laptop. The operating system is way better than Vista in terms of speed. That is if you want to pay about $2,000 for a fairly nice one.
If you want an okay laptop, why not try HP? Their printers stink, but the computers are of good quality. Or so I have heard.
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If you want battery life, you certainly don't want a computer with vista. Studies show that vista uses 32% more power than xp when doing the same thing! Not surprising. :rolleyes: The best for long lasting power is the sony vaio, but you'll probably not be able to afford one of those in any decent quality. When ya get one of those, you have to spend at least $1,700 because they're impossible to upgrade without buying really expensive upgrade parts specialized from sony. However, sony laptops usually have 2 different battery options. One is a smaller battery that lasts 2-3 hours and then there's one that's larger that'll last about 4-6 hours. A big plus. I would not recommend an apple unless all you want is a computer that will last about 1-2 years and you can't do anything but type on it and surf the net occasionally.
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I reject that comment. Apples are very useful. Ever since they had Intel chips, they became a lot more awesome.
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True, but since apple operating systems require much less resources than a microsoft operating system, they're specs are significantly less so they suck when you put xp on them. I do agree that mac X is MUCH better than vista. Apples themselves are pretty useless though unless you want to spend a billion dollars on software. Also, they become obsolete faster than ever. I just went into target and the printer they had required mac 10.4 or above. My god, that means that your computer can't be older than freaking 9 months. :blink: They just get obsolete way too fast.
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I was comparing speed. I'm changing that commet slightly. And my computer is about two years old. It still works fairly well. Before this gets any further, lets just agree to disagree. Okay?
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Sure thing. That's what I've always had to agree with with my mac friends. B)
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I've definately heard nothing but bad stuff about Vista. I was even MORE disappointed when I decided to head to the Best Buy near my work and saw that ALL of their laptops had Vista on them. So, forget Best Buy. :(
Thanks guys! This will all definately come in handy when my $1,000+ tax return finally comes. (It's still at least one week away.)
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Another thing, just to point out if you go Mac, there's a lot of things that are Windows-only. Make sure you don't need/want them so much that you buy a Mac and realize you can't run your favorite stuff.
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Well, I finally got my own laptop. :)
First off, it is a Compaq. So yes, I did go with LBTlover's advice. :D
However, I did go with the Vista in the end. I just wanted a laptop SO badly. Forgive me. -_-
It has the following configures:
Windows Vista Home Premium
AMD Turion(tm) 64 X2 Mobile Technology TL-58
1.93 GB RAM
NVDIA GeForce 700M/nForce 610 M
160 GB Hard Drive
1.90 GHz
32-bit Operating System
2 USB Ports
Along with this, I got the 1 year warrenty. (So, if there are any problems, they'll fix it or replace it.) The 6 month payment plan. A Targus Chill Mat. (Don't want it overheating now, do we? ;)) And a Leather Travel Case.
How much did it cost? $826.59 (Without tax, it cost me $773.96. Geez! Makes such a difference.) -_-
Still, here's hoping it was worth EVERY penny. :)
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Sounds a-ok to me save for "Two USB ports". Depending on if you connect a lot of stuff, you're probably going to need a usb hub.
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Sounds a-ok to me save for "Two USB ports". Depending on if you connect a lot of stuff, you're probably going to need a usb hub.
WAY ahead of ya there! I've already got one for my main computer. Shouldn't be too hard transfering it. :)
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Congrads, I hope it meets all of your needs.
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Well, the processor is rather slow, but to be honest, right now, it's better to have a 1.9ghz 64 bit processor than a 3.2ghz 32 bit processor. It was a smart buy. You might want to look into the Vista Exchange Program if it still exists. It was originally made for people who bought a new computer with windows xp around a month or so before vista came out so they could get a free copy of vista, but if I understand correctly, it works both ways. I believe you can ask microsoft for a free copy of windows xp if you don't want vista.
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And speed doesn't really matter if you do not need it. If a 1gz does all you need that is the perfect speed for you. If a 500 megahertz does all you need then its also the perfect speed for you too.
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What is good for you now though might not be good enough for you tomorrow. You should always buy way more than you think you need. I remember when I thought that 500gb would last me forever, but now I have over 20,000gb of data on my server and my master computer.
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For some people. For others they only want a pc to web surf, check email. Those folks do not need quad cores.
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Yes, however 64 bit processors are going to be required just to be able to run the latest operating system in 2009.