Posted on 09/16/2011 9:22:07 AM PDT by Maceman
When I last bought a laptop in 2006, I asked my fellow Freepers for advice and got such great responses. Based on those responses, I finally bought a Dell D820 and was completely happy with the result.
So now it's time for a new one. I am going to stay with the PC for business reasons, and also because Apple is too expensive.
I use the computer primarily for work which means I'll be running MS Office Pro -- and most of my work uses MS Office apps.
I'm not a gamer, but I do want fast video. Any thoughts about the chipset would be helpful.
I'd also love opinions about any manufacturers to avoid. My Dell has been a great machine, even though I needed the screen and motherboard replaced at last three times since I bought it. But that was OK because Dell's next-day onsite service warranty has been very reliable.
(By contrast, I bought an HP desktop from Circuit City a few years ago, but it had constant problems. And when Circuit City closed, I could no longer get support and repair. So it's just a dust collector now.)
Anyway, I'm strongly considering a Dell Vostro 3550, but would certainly welcome advice from my fellow Freepers regarding what to buy and what to stay away from.
Thanks, as always.
I have a MacBook Pro and very happy with it. I would recommend it 100 percent.
Ping for later - I’m in the market myself - thank you very much!
Are you concerned with HP’s desire to exit the PC market?
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
I think you should get Windows 7 Pro and not Home.
I just bought this HP laptop
HP ProBook 4525s $409.99
And added 4GB RAM for $22.29
G.SKILL 4GB 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM DDR3
There is an empty slot for the RAM. It is very easy to do yourself.
Then you call HP and they will send you Windows 7 Pro 32- and 64-bit disks. Install the 64-bit version, and you have a heck of a laptop for under $450.
HP only sends you the disks for the Pro laptops. If you buy anything else they won’t send them.
I am very satisfied with mine after six months. I am a developer and have SQL Server 2008 installed on it and it runs great.
Good info! Thanks
I’d nix the Vostro line. Kinda cheapo.
Also, ‘Dell Outlet’ is an awesome way to save up to half the cost on a new laptop. Look for ‘Outlet’ on the Dell.Com web page. They are as good as new but WAY cheaper and also immediately available.
My experience has been with Dell laptops. I’ve purchased the lower end units. 1000 and 1525. The 1000 is an XP which is stable as a rock. I had to rebuild the disk once after a funky power surge and outage in our neighborhood. I still use it daily, it’s almost seven years old. At some point I maxed out the memory.
The 1525 is three years old. I did lose a disk on it after a year and one half, cost me $65.00 to replace it. I bought it with Vista and have upgraded to Windows 7. It works fine. Only adults in the home so it escaped kid abuse.
Thanks for the ping.
In terms of chipsets and/or cpu’s, I would tend to stay with Intel Core2Duo or newer. Even though Core2Duo is a dated platform, it is plenty fast for everything you would be doing and typically would save you significant $$$ over newer technology, if price is a big factor.
I have had a Macbook for 4 years and love it....I have never had a single problem with it.....
I second the recommendation to use tigerdirect.com. I’ve done business with them for many years and have been very happy with them.
Don’t buy a Compaq or HP. If you have any customer support issues you’ll end up in phone hell with someone in India. Trust me on this- 14 hours just trying to get them to ship an omitted disk. They outright lied to me multiple times. I finally found a “secret” number for U.S. phone support.
Also avoid Acer unless you want a “throw away” laptop that you’ll replace in 6 months to a year. They’re poorly built. I bought one solely because it was cheap (I was short on cash) and had options obviously geared to a European consumer.
My husband bought a Toshiba we saw on sale at BestBuy. It was very nice and at a great price. I liked it so much when I replaced my crappy Acer I went with a Toshiba from tigerdirect. I’ve been very happy with it. My daughter has a Gateway which also seems to be a very nice machine. She also had a Gateway desktop that was a great machine.
As for Sony, I think they’re over priced and over rated. My other daughter had one that only lasted about a year before dying.
Lenovo I hear is also highly regarded. I tend to look at what are the top sellers on tigerdirct.com (they’re listed) and compare products. If you sign up for their email you can get sale alerts. They’ve been having great 24-72 hour sale alerts.
I can’t say much about Dell. I’ve never considered one since their customer service problems years ago. The horror stories permanently put me off. I wish you the best with your purchase.
BUT.....what about my old software????
Will I have to buy brand new software because the new OS won’t support it? The new software priced at the cost of a new computer itself?
And this includes my older printer???
I suspect the same thing will happen with HP.
If you do find out, send me a PM (if you would). I'd be interested to know.
I finally moved from Dell to ASUS and am satisfied with the laptop and service. If you really want fast, get one with an SSD (solid state hard drive).
My suggestion.
Look for decent Dell 1525 on craigslist. You’ll get an excellent machine for a great deal, no sales tax. If you’re worred just wipe and reimage the machine. They are light, can still get batteries, no major design issues with this particular model line (like some others they have).
For anything other than an older style Tablet Pc, which I love, I recommend you go to www.sagernotebook.com before you buy. Sagers are made by Clevo. Clevo is an ODM, OEM. They make many of the name brand laptops and components by HP, Dell, Asus, etc. Their stuff is quality at reasonable prices. Oh, their customer service is in California, not India.
“does anyone know anything about firefox not working for amazon?”
Amazon is moving to a redesign of their website, so it’s possible there might be some broken things.
What version of Firefox and OS are you running? If you’re not running the current version that might be the reason for the problem.
I’m running Firefox Nightly, http://nightly.mozilla.org/ . The current version is Firefox 9 alpha. It is really nice. Nightly updates every day but it is automated and really smooth. Very fast, good features, no problems that I’ve seen. You can also use most if not all of your extensions by disabling extension compatibility checking.
For versions a bit less on the cutting edge there is Firefox Beta (version 7) and Firefox Aurora (version 8) at http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/channel/ .
One more thing, I bought it during Dell's “Black Friday Sale” and saved 40% on the price. So if you can hold off a little bit I'd buy it then.
Lenovo Denies Its PCs Are Security Risk
http://www.crn.com/news/security/188500323/lenovo-denies-its-pcs-are-security-risk.htm?pgno=1
Plus HP announced they are getting out of the consumer computer business, so future support is going to be even more suspect.
Well unless they find someone to buy that part of their business. But unlike IBM, they stupidly didn’t line that up BEFORE making their announcement.
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