Where do the tech savy buy laptops?

W

wrugoin

n00b
Joined
Feb 6, 2012
Messages
48
I'm a PC gamer who has built his own computers since 1995. I recently got married and the wife is looking for a new laptop. Her old one is an 8 year old Toshiba with a Pentium IV, 512MB of Ram and Windows XP. It’s painful to use.

Her comment to me was "let's go to Costco or Best Buy and pick one out!"

Being a lifelong hardware junkie and PC builder, that sentence almost stopped my heart. The idea of purchasing a computer form Costco or Best Buy seems like a sin.... but then again, I've never purchased a laptop... ever.

So, where do you PC gurus purchase your wife's, girlfriend's, parent's (aka normal people) laptops? I'm not looking for a custom built Falcon Northwest that can play FarCry 3 at 60FPS. I'm looking for a $750 laptop that will keep the non-geek of my household happy.

We want to purchase retail. She wants to see it and touch it and play with it first. She wants it too look nice. Are Costco and Best Buy really viable options?

... oh, we're American in the Great Lakes region.
 
This may be asking for a flame, but most tech people I know use Apple laptops.

Apple makes the best laptops on the market in my opinion, and if this is for your wife? Definitely a Macbook air.

It's downright shocking how much better the trackpad is on Apple hardware compared to any other brand.
 
Phog said:
This may be asking for a flame, but most tech people I know use Apple laptops.

Apple makes the best laptops on the market in my opinion, and if this is for your wife? Definitely a Macbook air.

It's downright shocking how much better the trackpad is on Apple hardware compared to any other brand.
Click to expand...

I was going to flame but seeing as I own a macbook....

I would suggest going to the big-box stores (BB, Costco, Microcenter) and trying out a bunch of different models. Find the brand/model/series that has the specs, keyboard, and touchpad that you like. Then go online and the same/similar model and purchase it there. (Newegg/Amazon/Tigerdirect.. etc).

Or, if she is interested in a macbook go here: http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1784773 :)
 
Let her use a Macbook and see if she likes OSX. You can find a very good Windows laptop in that budget, I'd suggest going to a deals site like slickdeals to get the best value for your money.
 
Pretty much Amazon after playing withit elsewhere. With their usually good return policy, sometimes it's the best overall option.
 
Kai said:
Pretty much Amazon after playing withit elsewhere. With their usually good return policy, sometimes it's the best overall option.
Click to expand...

Hmm... that may actually be the option I'm most comfortable with. I hate the idea of buying a computer from a big box retail store. Amazon or Newegg may be my path after she plays with it at the store.

Now to combat the lack of the instant gratification she's looking for from walking out of the store with a new toy.
 
Come on, we all know it's going to be a MacBook. Women love shiny, pointless things.
 
The problem is that the good Windows laptops are typically not in stores (as most of the good ones aren't consumer grade). I am thinking the Thinkpad line as well as business class HP and Dell. And if you are looking at gaming, you might have the same issue if you want to go real bleeding edge like Clevo, etc.

Otherwise, Mac is a good option with the bonus of being able to actually put hands on one at an Apple Store, Best Buy, etc.
 
Most definitely AVADirect.com. They're customer service is awesome. They sell their own brand (Clevo) notebooks that you can custom tailor to your needs or you can buy branded notebooks that quick ship. I had problems with my Asus G74 and they were excellent in the RMA process. Even the prices on individual components aren't jacked up like other websites *coughfalconnorthwestcough*
 
I was in the same boat a year ago. I bought my girlfriend a $300 17in AMD laptop as a replacement to an ancient desktop she has. She would have no idea if I told her is was $1000. It just works.

In any case, I throw this out as a comparison to the $800 or so the apple machines start at. Are they nicer? sure. $500 nicer? For the person who's going to use it?

Heck, I just bought a used 12in netbook online recently for $75, and with a SSD upgrade it is awesome (and small). Perhaps a refurb chromebook with a linux distro is all she needs. Those are sometimes under $150.
 
dell buisness level
HP higher end
Apple are good and for I.T they often offer all the tools needed for the job built into Unix already.
 
WOW Just WOW
I never thought I'd see the day where a overclocking forum is actually recommending macs
I don't want to live on this planet anymore.

I would say Puget systems is also a very good place to go as well as avadirect.

But for real I'd just browse newegg and try n get the best bang for the buck
most of the laptops at big stores are the same as on newegg except newegg has more variations and you will likely be able to get a more advanced model for the same price. or something like SLI 760s
 
You can post at Notebookreview forums with a criteria (similar to the build a pc thing with General here) and get some model suggestions.

I'd just find a few models you are interested in given your criteria and preferences then shop around for the best prices for those models at stores you prefer to do business with (it could be cheapest at a big box store btw).

If you are looking for a Windows based laptop similar to the Air consider searching for "Ultrabooks," this is the branding terminology used (promoted by Intel) for laptops similar to the Macbook Air in terms of form factor. "Ultra-thins" would be another term you can search for.

One thing to consider though with laptops is the actual elements that interact with the user (eg. the screen, keyboard ,etc.) are not anywhere near as modular as a PC. As such these are actually important considerations when looking at the device as whole (as opposed to just the specs). This is why the look and feel aspect is actually quite important as opposed to just browsing internal specs.
 
Take her to the big shops and then price out the one she likes online. I'm not sure if Costco still does this but at one point they double the manufacture warranty. I know they're fairly competitive on TV pricing but no idea on laptops. Have her try the macbook as well. I'm not sure I'd go the macbook air though since it just seems way to overpriced. You can pick up a 13" macbook and its still small and light enough and save 1K.

www.delloutlet.com also has some nice deals at times. They're referb laptops but usually they come with a 3 year warranty included. We've picked up several here at work and 97% of them have been fine. The others came with next day onsite service and got repaired fairly quick.
 
I have this unit. and my wife has a previous gen unit. They've been really fantastic machines. Depending on your location, they do have them at Microcenter. I don't know if any Best Buy locations have them in store but they carry the DB71 (non-touchscreen) model.

In any case, I can agree with the Macbook sentiment only so far as the physical machine is concerned. It is a nice machine. As such, I went with the above units for myself and the wife since they've got a somewhat Macbook aesthetic, but they're probably beyond Macbook performance for less money, and I just openly despise Apple. So there's that.
 
As an Amazon Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
Another vote for avadirect.com. I have a Clevo I purchased almost 5 years ago and it's still going strong.
 
Along with the macbooks, I'd also check out the Dell XPS line. Very nice machines... none of that cheap ass flexible plastic.

tatm Mrk.RIVE said:
WOW Just WOW
I never thought I'd see the day where a overclocking forum is actually recommending macs
I don't want to live on this planet anymore.

I would say Puget systems is also a very good place to go as well as avadirect.

But for real I'd just browse newegg and try n get the best bang for the buck
most of the laptops at big stores are the same as on newegg except newegg has more variations and you will likely be able to get a more advanced model for the same price. or something like SLI 760s
Click to expand...

Nothing wrong with Apple laptops. Their build quality is above and beyond the vast majority of other laptops on the market and comes with decent hardware as well. When you're looking to upgrade, you'll also recoup a lot more of your $$$ back.

Buying a $400.00 plastic Toshiba laptop doesn't make you [H]ard
 
tatm Mrk.RIVE said:
WOW Just WOW
I never thought I'd see the day where a overclocking forum is actually recommending macs
I don't want to live on this planet anymore.

I would say Puget systems is also a very good place to go as well as avadirect.

But for real I'd just browse newegg and try n get the best bang for the buck
most of the laptops at big stores are the same as on newegg except newegg has more variations and you will likely be able to get a more advanced model for the same price. or something like SLI 760s
Click to expand...

they can take a beating, problem is most laptops are plastic crap and in an I.T environment break easily, snap, or have pieces missing from them.
 
Megalith said:
Come on, we all know it's going to be a MacBook. Women love shiny, pointless things.
Click to expand...

Grumble, grumble, grumble. We talked about it last night and MacBook did come up. Apparently a few women she works with have macs and have been talking them up. It definitely has sparked my wife's interest. She's with me in the fact that they're very very expensive and we can get something just as usable for half the cost... but yes, her eyes lit up at the idea of a shiny macbook.


Zangmonkey said:
What does she want to do with it?
Click to expand...

She's going to be starting a graduate program next spring so this was going to be a Christmas present.


  • Word Processing
    Spread-sheeting
    Presentations
    Internet Research
    Online classes
    Classroom Video Streaming

    Entertainment stuff
    Video, YouTube, Netflix
    Music, iTunes, Pandora
    Facebook, Flash Games
    maybe.... MAYBE Minecraft (I'm working on that one. She likes to watch me play)

Nothing is needed for gaming. She doesn't play the Sims or Wow or anything like that. If I get her to play a little minecraft with me, I'm sure the Intel HD built into Haswell would work for any fleeting interest she may develop.

Budget will be around $600-$1000.
 
Last edited:
I like Costco because I can get my hands on the machine before I buy it. Plus I have an Executive Membership, so I get a kickback every year.
 
Let me put it this way. Ive dropped my MBP screen side down off a table, worked fine. Spilled iced tea on it. Worked fine. Dropped it off another table, worked fine. Stuck it in my backpack and lugged it to and from school for three years so far, works fine. Got into a car accident as a cyclist and fell onto it. Works fine.

Couple chips and dents here and there. But still trooping.
 
wrugoin said:
Grumble, grumble, grumble. We talked about it last night and MacBook did come up. Apparently a few women she works with have macs and have been talking them up. It definitely has sparked my wife's interest. She's with me in the fact that they're very very expensive and we can get something just as usable for half the cost... but yes, her eyes lit up at the idea of a shiny macbook.
Click to expand...

Gotta shake the stereotypes, man! The Air will kick the stuffing out of something half its price on most everything but raw drive capacity (and for your wife's needs, capacity isn't a factor). The only concern is that it may be overkill.

Consider this: it's a welcome-to-graduate-studies present that will also be a practical tool. Why not get your wife something nice that you know she'll like, as long as it won't break the bank? Check out the 11- and 13-inch Airs in a store, but don't necessarily buy right away -- you can either get a $50 educational discount from Apple, or a similar bargain at retailers like Amazon. If you go through an Apple retail store, your wife can get personal setup or even schedule one-on-one training sessions, if she feels they're necessary.
 
Aurelius said:
Consider this: it's a welcome-to-graduate-studies present that will also be a practical tool. Why not get your wife something nice that you know she'll like, as long as it won't break the bank? Check out the 11- and 13-inch Airs in a store, but don't necessarily buy right away -- you can either get a $50 educational discount from Apple, or a similar bargain at retailers like Amazon. If you go through an Apple retail store, your wife can get personal setup or even schedule one-on-one training sessions, if she feels they're necessary.
Click to expand...

+1, although I highly recommend the 13" if she plans on doing any sort of word processing.
 
The air is definitely worth it. She'll love it. Even though the screen is TN, it's a surprisingly nice TN screen. Spend money you will, but useful it will be.
 
I also have a MBP and built my gamers.

I will point out the obvious from experience. You should let her pick it out. Give her advice but let her decide. More important to make your inner geek happy with buying the computer or your marriage? The laptop is minor in the coming decisions.
 
There are only two lines of laptops I will own these days. Thinkpad and Apple. Hated apple until i got issued a MBP at my old job. Took every once of abuse my Thinkpad has.

Until just recently Apple was about the only one offering a laptop with a decent screen res.
 
Last edited:
I have three college age children.

One is also a hard core gamer.

One is an Apple junkie......so ......MBP there......cost me a bunch of money, still perfect 3 years in.

The other two have been purchased from Powernotebooks.com. Both are MSI based laptops. One was beefy for gaming, the other was more a light-weight gaming theme, but heavier on college tasking.

Powernotebooks has been awesome. Laptops were built to my specs, excepting the chassis, very good warranties, and also included a gratis MSI spill guarantee. Their prices are very reasonable and they offer very personal service and are awailable after the sale easily.

Not one single problem in two years on either Laptop.:D
 
I buy used on Craigslist. Why pay new when you can get damn near new for 50% off from some dope that made an impulse buy and now needs to pay rent.

I like T and X series Thinkpads and I run current version Windows and some current form of a Debian Distro plus all my assorted VM's. Personally not a fan of Apple Laptops cause OSX does not have some of the applications I use constantly, but the hardware is solid.

Either way, buy used and put the money saved into SSD's, mSSD's and RAM.
 
Macbook or Thinkpad. I prefer Macbook due to the trackpad being 10000x nicer than anything else. Depending on software you want to run though Thinkpad is decent alternative.
 
MrGuvernment said:
dell buisness level
HP higher end
Apple are good and for I.T they often offer all the tools needed for the job built into Unix already.
Click to expand...

Yea in that price range you are getting into business notebook pricing. I'd look at a business dell or hp. A thinkpad would be another choice. You can get them with an onsite warranty as well. I know a few people with samsung ultrabooks in that range that love them too.

Past that I'd say a macbook. Not a fan of the newer ones though with the complete lack of an ability to upgrade. I don't think I've ever had a notebook that I've left stock. A year or two in I upgrade the memory. At some point in its life I go to reload it to upgrade the os or just clean it up and put a newer bigger, faster hard drive in.
 
Macbook Air 13", 4-8GB RAM is enough for nearly everyone.
 
Aurelius said:
Gotta shake the stereotypes, man! The Air will kick the stuffing out of something half its price on most everything but raw drive capacity (and for your wife's needs, capacity isn't a factor). The only concern is that it may be overkill.

Consider this: it's a welcome-to-graduate-studies present that will also be a practical tool. Why not get your wife something nice that you know she'll like, as long as it won't break the bank? Check out the 11- and 13-inch Airs in a store, but don't necessarily buy right away -- you can either get a $50 educational discount from Apple, or a similar bargain at retailers like Amazon. If you go through an Apple retail store, your wife can get personal setup or even schedule one-on-one training sessions, if she feels they're necessary.
Click to expand...

It's funny, but I don't have a negative stereotype for MacBooks. We have Apple products in our home. 2 iPhone 4s and an iPad (3rd gen)... so I'm not an apple hater. I'm more of an oddity in that I'm a hard core PC gamer, but love the iOS platform. I think my only stigma I have about Macs is the price... and the fact that it's not an optimal gaming platform... but this is for my wife, so that doesn't matter

We're leaning towards a mac now, but I've got some time before the holidays to think.


schizrade said:
I buy used on Craigslist. Why pay new when you can get damn near new for 50% off from some dope that made an impulse buy and now needs to pay rent.
Click to expand...

This is going to be a strong consideration if we go down the MacBook Pro route. If I can pick up last year's model for 40-50% of the cost, I think that'd be totally worth it.
 
Last edited:
wrugoin said:
It's funny, but I don't have a negative stereotype for MacBooks. We have Apple products in our home. 2 iPhone 4s and an iPad (3rd gen)... so I'm not an apple hater. I'm more of an oddity in that I'm a hard core PC gamer, but love the iOS platform. I think my only stigma I have about Macs is the price... and the fact that it's not an optimal gaming platform... but this is for my wife, so that doesn't matter

We're leaning towards a mac now, but I've got some time before the holidays to think.
Click to expand...

Ah, cool. In my experience, Apple's issue is more that it doesn't offer systems below $1,000 new; they're good values... just expensive values.
 
Aurelius said:
Ah, cool. In my experience, Apple's issue is more that it doesn't offer systems below $1,000 new; they're good values... just expensive values.
Click to expand...

MBA is less than $1000. You can get official refurb systems under $1000 easily.
 
450 said:
MBA is less than $1000. You can get official refurb systems under $1000 easily.
Click to expand...

I was using the rough figure -- refurbs are cheaper, of course, but new-in-box is close enough ($950-999 might as well be $1,000). That and 13-inch models typically sit above $1K.
 
Macs are pretty, sure, but I'll never get over the fact of price-per-performance gained when considering a Windows-based PC...I know Apple reels you in by using ease of use as a selling point, but c'moonnn.
 
jmundy1208 said:
Macs are pretty, sure, but I'll never get over the fact of price-per-performance gained when considering a Windows-based PC...I know Apple reels you in by using ease of use as a selling point, but c'moonnn.
Click to expand...

Yes, absolutely you get less horsepower for your buck when it comes to Mac. Something people don't understand though, and it has been mentioned before in this thread, the trackpad is generations more advanced than any other product. Before I started using my Air, I HATED not having a mouse with a laptop. Apple changes that, I could care less if I had a mouse or not, all because the trackpad and gestures are so flawlessly implemented.

I should say, I didn't buy it for the "ease of use" or CPU inside, I bought it because it is a fantastic mobile computer.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top