Switching from desktop to laptop...

RicKuRuKuS

RicKuRuKuS

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Mar 21, 2003
Messages
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Hey everyone, forever I have been obsessed with my desktop and upgrading it slowly over time, but the time has come where my career isn't going to let me do that much longer. Just got through with my flight training and I am constantly on the road and in different states and this is the first time I have been back home on my nice desktop... Well it's pretty damn hard without a computer while out and about and I am just now starting to get into laptops...

only problem is where do i start? im looking at one that will play a few games like cs-source decently and that has good wireless for sure... mostly i just need a way of being able to pop on the internet at different wi-fi places (always at random airports and coffee shops) ... its really hard because i love my quick desktop and all the tweaks i have on it right now but i think its time to sell out my rig and move on to a decent laptop for a while...

anyways any suggestions on brands, build your own laptop websites, where to find laptops for good prices, used laptops anything really helps im totally new to the laptop world and dont want to put my money into something im gonna regret in a year or two...

thanks for any help guys! i love hardocp! :D

-rick
 
The most durable and versatile notebooks are made by:

IBM
Dell
Toshiba


High end gaming machines are made by:

Alienware
http://www.alienware.com/product_pages/notebook_all_default.aspx?from=PAIDSEARCH:gog&s_kwcid=high%20end%20laptops|790362606&gclid=CKqa8IiJy48CFQUngwoddSLQ-A

Falcon Northwest
http://www.falcon-nw.com/

Voodoo
http://www.voodoopc.com/

These are real desktop replacements, but that is reflected in their price.


Notebooks to avoid:

Sony (!!!)
HP
Compaq (now owned by HP)
Acer
Asus (some models)


Apple makes very nice notebooks as well, in fact MacBook Pro has the highest benchmark rating for running Vista, meaning Vista works faster on a MacBook Pro than on any other notebook (PC World article, although I have some doubts about this claim).


Hope this helps a bit..
 
IMO, Dells are only good if you stay away from the inspirons. Other than that, I think they're alright.

I personally bought a T61p 15.4", and it's been good to me. It'll play COD4 (when it doesn't lock up - it does this a lot, the demo was fine :(), UT3 (demo at least), POTBS, and it also gets ~4hrs of battery life. Wireless range is pretty good and the bluetooth worked right away with the Logitech laptop mouse I got. I recommend it, if it's in your price range and you don't mind plain black :p Look for deals on it - mine was ~$1330, a savings of $500 or so.
 
Why should you avoid sony, asus and hp? that comment sounds like it came from someone who had a single bad exprience or read some bad expriences. I can say the same about all the brands you recommended. Why is it that he should stay away from asus? Being a top dealer for them i can list some reasons but i just want to know what it is you think makes them bad?
 
BtoTech-com said:
Why should you avoid sony, asus and hp? that comment sounds like it came from someone who had a single bad exprience or read some bad expriences. I can say the same about all the brands you recommended. Why is it that he should stay away from asus? Being a top dealer for them i can list some reasons but i just want to know what it is you think makes them bad?
Click to expand...

I'll second the suggestion that Sony is not any good. My wife bought a super-expensive very light carbon fiber SZ110 (or something like that) and it's been nothing but trouble. And Sony's technicians didn't fix the problem the first time and broke it good the second time.

All issues pertained to the trackpad buttons and any attached mouse buttons not being recognized. You could move the cursor around but not click on anything. Not cool at all.
 
But how does your isolated case apply the their product quality and reliability in general? every brand has broblems. not a single notebook manufacturer can avoid them. sure sony is not know for its excellent tech support but you know neither is dell (unless you pay for their business plan)
 
BtoTech-com said:
But how does your isolated case apply the their product quality and reliability in general? every brand has broblems. not a single notebook manufacturer can avoid them. sure sony is not know for its excellent tech support but you know neither is dell (unless you pay for their business plan)
Click to expand...

I disagree DELL has very god tech support for all their hardware.

And the reason I listed Sony, HP and Acer as ones to avoid is due to the fact that there are loads of bad reviews about the brand's them selves and specific models, I recently purchased a notebook my self and did extensive research on the subject. They are very good budget laptop's, or for kids. But this guy is interested in decent machine to store all his files on and use for gaming. If he said he was looking for a budget laptop to use for webbrowsing then HP, Acer and (maybe) Sony would do fine.



Oh, one more thing, check the DELL Outlet on their website for refurbished computers at sometimes better prices (most manufacturers have outlets just look for them, for one Apple has a fairly decent price reduction on the stuff in their outlet)

============

www.dell.com/outlet

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I've never had a problem with dell. I do a Dell Chat... they send me parts. I send back the dead ones, everyones happy! :D
 
Dell home warranty is vastly different from their business warranty. most users for dell have home warranty which has support based overseas. their gold and upgrade warranty is great. HP and Asus have rival warranties that offer the same level of service. Asus for example bundles 24/7 domestic support, a 2yr global warranty, 2 way overnight shipping, 1yr accidental warranty, cross ship and super fast turn around all part of their home warranty which is bundled with every prebuilt system. To get that from dell you need to upgrade to gold or whatever or you need to purchase their business class machines. Dell is no leader in support or quality. They certainly are a leader in quantity and price
 
BtoTech-com said:
Dell home warranty is vastly different from their business warranty. most users for dell have home warranty which has support based overseas. their gold and upgrade warranty is great. HP and Asus have rival warranties that offer the same level of service. Asus for example bundles 24/7 domestic support, a 2yr global warranty, 2 way overnight shipping, 1yr accidental warranty, cross ship and super fast turn around all part of their home warranty which is bundled with every prebuilt system. To get that from dell you need to upgrade to gold or whatever or you need to purchase their business class machines. Dell is no leader in support or quality. They certainly are a leader in quantity and price
Click to expand...

Ok I can see why you would argue that from a sales point of view. But I have had a lot of experience with DELL, HP, Compaq (original) and Toshiba machines. And I know that over all Dell has rugged, well built, well supported and thought through computers. And in this case the Dell's I am talking bout are mid to upper class, not Inspiron's.

Acer in general is quite 'cheap', they are excellent budget notebook's (as I have said previously) but they will literally fall apart when taken every where, and this guy plans on traveling quite a bit, so durability is important. I have nothing against Acer, just in this case it is not a good choice.

HP on the other hand, is very disappointing beyond their servers, and their notebooks are practically disposable. And just because there is a good warranty plan does not make it any easier to deal with the issues that are deemed to rise.
 
Those sound like some good suggestions... The price range on that T61p looks very nice to me ($1000-$1500) ... I do have a few friends that have the Dell XPS laptops that seem pretty nice and quick (not to mention pretty) which have caught my eye and they have recommended them to me even, but I think they paid a steep price for those huge screens and glowing lights on the case ... I will definitely check out the Dell outlet for stuff... other than that newegg.com for laptops / ebay good places to search too? And what kinds of differences are in the specs such as processors and whatnot? I know some companies try tricking people by saying certain things and trying to make their computer the best when really it's just a bunch of mumbo jumbo... sry for all the questions i just havent built a computer or followed any of the new series of processors or graphics cards for about 5-6 years .. Thanks a ton for the help so far guys these replies are great!

-Rick
 
Lenovo
Toshiba
Apple

I work in sales, and i deal with about 50-70 notebooks per month. I can say that i take more returns on Sony notebooks than any other two combined.

Lenovo is hands now a huge seller for me, and i love my T61. Very simple look to it, powerfull and the built in back up is prety nice.

I'm not really a Mac guy, but i can say i like the Macbook Pro a lot. Very good looking, and you can run windows on it too.

I've played with a few toshiba's also, and i have nothing bad to say...i think thier M9 is pretty good. The Screens on the Toshiba's is maybe the best i've seen on a notebook. So crisp and bright
 
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