Which brand makes the best laptop? Dell? Toshiba? Gateway? HP? Asus? Lenovo?

Define "best." Some manufacturers are better at making certain types of laptops for certain purposes. I wouldn't buy an Alienware for...well, I wouldn't buy an Alienware period. I wouldn't buy a Gateway for business, but I might buy one for a budget gaming laptop. Conversely, I might buy a Lenovo for business, but I wouldn't expect it to play any games.

If you want help choosing a computer, you need to tell us your priorities. Do you want a big screen or a more portable computer? Do you want to play games on your laptop or use it on long flights? Are you a college student, a traveling salesman, a pioneering spelunker? All of that information is important when you're choosing a computer--there's no single "best" laptop for everything.
 
If you want it to last more than a year or two, don't buy a gateway. Dell and Lenovo are the best quality machines, for $750 I would lean towards DELL, unless looking at refurb lenovos, I'm not real familiar with their pricing as I work almost exclusively with DELL.

Or I could be really honest, and say mac for the win!
 
I am a college student and I plan on using the laptop for school work, browsing the internet, p2p, burning CD's/DVD's, watching movies, pRon :p, the whole nine yards. As far as gaming goes, if there is a laptop that is good for gaming at my budget price then I'm sold. Gaming on a laptop isn't really a big priority for me, but I wouldn't mind having the option available. If anything I'll probably download some ROMs, or emulators to older 2D fighters or something, and stick to consoles for GeOW and COD4.

15.4" is a big enough screen size for my needs, at least 2GB of ram, a decent processor speed, a DVD-RW drive, and 120GB+ hard drive is what I'm in the market for. Basically the best bang for your buck at my $750 budget price. Hell a webcam, Vista Home Premium(not basic), a sleek nice black design, pretty lights, and good battery life would be nice too, just as long as I can afford it. I just don't know where to look when it comes to which brand can for fill my needs.
 
aaronearles said:
If you want it to last more than a year or two, don't buy a gateway. Dell and Lenovo are the best quality machines, for $750 I would lean towards DELL, unless looking at refurb lenovos, I'm not real familiar with their pricing as I work almost exclusively with DELL.

Or I could be really honest, and say mac for the win!
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Yes, I am looking for a laptop that can last me awhile; how long are laptops supposed to last?

Not a mac guy, I have a hard time learning how to work with linux.
 
If cost is no object, Lenovo and Mac. If budget is a concern, Dells start to look excellent. Their Vostro line feels incredibly solid although they're quitet massive; the Latitude line is excellent, and the XPSes get good reviews. When you factor build quality in, Lenovo's still decent for the money, but Apple's way out there IMHO.

So, my big three would be Lenovo, Dell, Apple, in that order.
 
Go to the apple store and use one, you'll change your mind ;) It's way simpler than linux. Plus it runs Windows too. Okay, enough of the mac sales guy in me, good luck with your choice.
 
I highly recommend Lenovo's. They're a no nonsense machine that works. I was able to pick up one for $900 new which is over your budget, but if you can swing the extra cash, or find a good deal, it'll last a long time and you won't be disappointed.
 
Apple laptops - only reason to get one is the OS, and perhaps looks.

Dell is good for laptops

Sager as well i beleive..
 
Thinkpad - no question. The thinkpads I've been issued, and I am not kind to my laptops, are rock solid. I travel with two laptops, and the Dells did not hold up. The G4 did OK - went in twice for repairs.

As stuff has come off support, it has been handed down to family and friends. The T series thinkpads (now Lenovo) are the best I've worked with, and every one of them is still getting used. I've actually had a TSA employee fumble my T60p, drop it on the airport floor, and suffer no ill effects. The X series subnotebooks are quite nice too.

If you go thinkpad, know the 'p' often means a bit nicer video card, faster ram, and faster hdd.
 
If you do go Thinkpad, Lenovo has a discount program up now. 25% off. And you can stack other e-coupons on top (search dealigg.com) for more discounts.

I picked up a T61p (different from your budget) for $1900 after taxes and shipping, with penryn and a 1900 x 1200 15" screen. :eek: But the same pre-discount would probably be beyond $2500. Similar spec'd Apples are $2500 too. Lenovo's are business machines, and arent' as slick some of the other brands. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Without the discount programs, Dell is generally the best value and solidly built. I believe you can get some Gateway FXs at bestbuy with 8800GTS video for about 800, but it's a slower core2duo. Check the hot deals forum, I thought I saw something there.
 
My Top 3

Asus - Best Bang for your buck

Dell - As long as you can use a coupon

Sony - Best build quality and screen
 
I think you'll get the most laptop for your money from the dell outlet. On a $750 budget you could get a kick ass computer. Make sure to grab a 25% off $999+ coupon from somewhere on the net (slickdeals, fatwallet)

Quality wise, I think thinkpads are the best. Various Mac's would be 2nd

Globe
 
Asus makes their own laptops and therefore saves the best for themselves
Macs are made by asus and are second rate quality (best quality is kept to asus themselves), except macbookerror, i think its made by honhai (crap quality)
dell latitudes are made by Quanta, ok quality but dells designs are crap
dell inspirons are made by compal i believe (may have changed) garbage quality
dell vostros are made by ??? Asus? they are good quality either way
Sony's are made by Asus and are good quality but like the latitudes they are crap design and the performance BLOWS, the bloatware crap preloaded on to the vaios are rediculous
Sagers are Clevos, decent quality but are really ment for gaming, they dont make good portable laptops at ALL.
compaq/hp made by compal, garbage quality dont even both eith them unless you can get it for a half price.
thinkpads are made by lenovo, made in china but OK quality, way too expensive, performance is OK, generally OK but nothing stands out as being excelent

with dell's crazy coupons, they DO have the best deal, ive seen some bastards get away with a full gaming laptop and they paid only $499 or something.

if you cant get a deal, get Asus.

Toshiba laptops... well i dont even concider them to be laptops, they all suck

Gateway stuff is usually made by multiple ODMs i cant keep up with their original manufactures.

others? LG? samsung? fujitsu? not really sure about, personally i hate LG so i wont recommend them
 
Mr. Wolf said:
My top 3:

Mac

Asus (they also make Mac laptops)

Thinkpad
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macbooks are cheaply made, thin plastic casing, iwouldnt trust them much, they mark easily as well.

macbook pro, since aluminum i assume are made better, but macbook's Apple went cheap on the material used, with in days of owning mine it has scuffs on the bottom from sitting it on a coffee table.
 
Thinkpad's are expensive, but tend to be better built to stand up to years of use than Dells (comparing to Latitudes)

Asus seems to be quite nice, but I've not seen enough old ones to know how they hold up.

I've used Thinkpads that were 10 years old and still as good as the day they were new, other than the expected signs of wear (shiny keys, crappy battery life). 600Es, and older. I can't say the same for the Dell C series Latitudes, they tend to not hold up as well.

In your budget, I'd look at Dell primarily. Lenovo doesn't start becoming a good option until you're at the $1000 limit, and even then, you can spec out a Dell system for much better than the Lenovo. You're paying extra for a more lasting build quality, at the expense of power per dollar.

HP, Toshiba, Gateway, I've primarily dealt with their consumer line. You can get a very nice Toshiba or HP for $750 at retail stores. 2GB RAM, 160-200gb hdd, etc, but won't find dedicated video for that price. That being said, I prefer the HPs to the Toshibas. The Gateways seem nice, but they're not sold in enough volume at the store I work at to really get a good feel for how they hold up.

One brand you didn't mention is Acer. Their ODM is the same as HP's, their laptops tend to have a few more features in that price range (a subwoofer on one, dedicated video on another). Software wise, they're pretty sparse, which I think is a good thing. Less shit to take off of it.
 
icebergshorty said:
15.4" is a big enough screen size for my needs, at least 2GB of ram, a decent processor speed, a DVD-RW drive, and 120GB+ hard drive is what I'm in the market for. Basically the best bang for your buck at my $750 budget price. Hell a webcam, Vista Home Premium(not basic), a sleek nice black design, pretty lights, and good battery life would be nice too, just as long as I can afford it. I just don't know where to look when it comes to which brand can for fill my needs.
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I don't know what your local Wal-Mart stocks but I just bought your exact laptop a couple of months ago for $598, the Toshiba A215-S5808. It will do everything you listed with ease. I love mine. Here's the specs:

http://www.toshibadirect.com/td/b2c/rdet.jsp?poid=404159&seg=HHO

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=8221590


# TruBrite 15.4" widescreen LCD

# 1.8 GHz AMD Athlon 64 X2 dual-core processor TK-55

# ATI® Radeon™ X1200

# 2 GB of DDR2 system memory

# 120 GB hard drive, 5400 rpm

# SuperMulti DVD+/-RW drive

# Realtek 802.11b/g wireless LAN

# Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium Edition
 
klowngoblin said:
Asus makes their own laptops and therefore saves the best for themselves
Macs are made by asus and are second rate quality (best quality is kept to asus themselves), except macbookerror, i think its made by honhai (crap quality)
dell latitudes are made by Quanta, ok quality but dells designs are crap
dell inspirons are made by compal i believe (may have changed) garbage quality
dell vostros are made by ??? Asus? they are good quality either way
Sony's are made by Asus and are good quality but like the latitudes they are crap design and the performance BLOWS, the bloatware crap preloaded on to the vaios are rediculous
Click to expand...

Wow. I never knew Asus is the maker behind all those brands.
 
Anyone who claims Mac laptops are cheaply made and that Asus keeps their highest quality construction restricted to their Asus brand alone has no idea what they're babbling about. I had a white MacBook that was more solidly put together than any Dell, HP, Acer or Sager I've ever owned. My MacBook Pro's construction is better than my Asus V6Va or Thinkpad T61p. Oh yeah, my MBP runs Windows and OSX. It also games better than my Sager 5720 17" monster.
 
I think the LG and Samsung machines tend to be pretty good. They make them in Korea (maybe the only ones now) and the quality is there...only problem is they are so freaking expensive!

These Origianl Design Manufacturers (Quanta, Compal, ASUS, Winstron, Clevo, Arima, Inventec, FIC, Mitac, etc) basically secure contracts from the name brands (Sony, Apple, HP, Dell, etc) to make so many notebooks for them. While their are some relationships that have been fairly exclusive, some of the examples given about "all" of this brand is being made by a certain ODM is not entirely accurate. I also don't think that labels of bad design really mean anything considering how these are marketed and sold. What is a good laptop for you (say for instance a 17" monster gaming rig) would be a "bad design" for someone else who is looking for extreme portability. When it comes to bloatware, I think people tend to marginalize and make things seem worse than it is considering how easy it is to uninstall of lot of that crap.
Overall I think the whole brand versus brand stuff can get so muddled. Here is an example. We all know someone who hated a brand because they got a bad product or two from them (say...a canon printer and scanner) and they railed not only against those products that went bad but extended it to everything made by canon (cameras, projectors, calculators, even their binoculars. Now extend this to any brand and the biases anybody can develop and it becomes clear that someone will always be willing to make summary judgements about a certain brand. One thing you don't see around much anymore that used to be quite prevalent in the past was "return rates" based on units delivered and other objective measures that helped to truly inform people.
I can say, personally I would not buy an Acer Notebook or a Compaq laptop but then I run into one at work and I am impressed how well one works based on what I expected. So in the end the best advice I could give is do a needs/wants assessment and then do your research on the various brands that meet those criteria and then make a decision. When you get the product, put it immediately through some paces to see if meets what you expected and if it does, keep it, if not, send that sucker back right away.
 
Mr. Wolf said:
Anyone who claims Mac laptops are cheaply made and that Asus keeps their highest quality construction restricted to their Asus brand alone has no idea what they're babbling about. I had a white MacBook that was more solidly put together than any Dell, HP, Acer or Sager I've ever owned. My MacBook Pro's construction is better than my Asus V6Va or Thinkpad T61p. Oh yeah, my MBP runs Windows and OSX. It also games better than my Sager 5720 17" monster.
Click to expand...

Asus W2v
Brushed Aluminum everything (even your wifi button is brushed aluminum)
http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=2588
 
I like Dell's business line of laptops (the Latitudes)

MacBook Pros

also Thinkpads

I hear good things about Fujitsu.

Stay away from Acer, HP, Compaq and other type of shoddy and rickitty and loose and plain horrible laptops sold at big box stores.
 
So I shouldn't buy a laptop that are available at retailers such as Toshiba, HP, Gateway, Compaq, and Acer.

I should look at Macs, Asus, Lenovo, or Dell for a good laptop.

I for damn sure ain't buying a Mac; 2 grand for a laptop with the same features as a laptop sold for like a $1,000. Apple is known for this with both their desktops and laptops. Asus and Lenovo laptops cost a friggen fortune too. I would have to spend over a $1,000 just for one with decent specs. I guess Dell is the only option I have for best bang for my ($750) buck.

So dell?
 
You specifically asked who made the best laptop, not the best for the money.

And, yes, in your budget, Dell is a fine choice.
 
Well I purchased an HP last Christmas and I love it. No problems, came with XP and they gave me the Home premium Vista disks to load if I wanted. Which I do not want to.

The support is good and the computer works like I wanted it to, just shop arround for what you want in a lappy to get what you need to do what you want it to do for your vocation.

Have fun
 
I don't know what you guys have against Gateway. I have 3 of them that have been in constant service for 3 years and don't even have a scratch on them. One is my linux laptop, one is my fiance's linux laptop and one I gave to my little brother. They have excellent build quality, no flex, tight hinges, and are easy to upgrade.
That being said, my main laptop is now a sony vaio sz650n. After a clean install of XP it absolutely flies and I love the carbon fiber shell. I am a bit concerned about the long term health of the lid though. It is quite thin what with the led backlight, and there is a lot of flex in the middle of it. Looks great though. :)
 
I see more Gateways in my shop for hardware problems than any other brand computer. They are built cheap and sold cheap, and typically show it.

However, my opinion may be a bit biased because, Gateways are the cheapest computers on the market, and it would appear, that most of my customers that buy the cheapest stuff, do not take very good care of them.

How do you buy three crappy Gateways and then jump to a Sony? lol.
 
By adding 40% to my salary and getting completely out of debt. ;) Now I can afford nicer things.
 
Opinons on this one will probably be as varied as the day is long. I went through some of this recently myself.

If you go Mac, go online to the Apple Certified Refurbished area within the Apple Store. You'll get new looking and functioning machines with the same warranty as new (and the option to extend via AppleCare) for far less than what Apple wants for their newest machines. Since Apple just released a new MacBook Pro, for example, the previous 15" version (certified refurbished) can be had for $1449 compared to the new one at $1999. That deal won't last forever; it comes around whenever there is a change in models (normally, a current certified refurbished would be around $1699, sometimes more in the early stages of a production cycle). I still couldn't afford (perhaps justify is a better word) $1449, and I didn't want the integrated graphics of the MacBook, so I nixed this idea, though they're both decent systems.

I like Dell and a lot. Dell's Latitude D630 and D830 are killer business laptops, tough, reliable, well-designed. Their Inspiron and Vostro lines are chunkier, but aren't bad, though the Latitudes definitely beat them out IMO. If you want high-end graphics, look for a Dell Precision Workstation based on the Latitude D630/D830 line, such as the Precision M4300. Most Latitudes and Precisions come with a 3-year warranty standard. I look after several mobile labs stocked with D630's, and almost bought one. If you're on an extreme budget, check out the Vostro 1400 and 1500. Not as rugged, not as thin or light, but a lot of the features at around $800 for a discrete graphics model.

After narrowing it down, I finally bought a Lenovo ThinkPad T61 myself. I made a bit of a gamble, since I haven't gotten to play with them recently, but I always wanted a ThinkPad (ever since the 755 days) and I wasn't disappointed. Lenovo has some "steal this" type deals on their notebooks recently, and unlike the Latitudes (or HP's business line, their other near competitor) Penryn-core processors are available. I got my T61 with discrete graphics, most of the toys, and a 2-year warranty (you can choose 1-5 years) for right around a grand. It's got the best keyboard of any laptop I've ever used, and some really neat business features. I also like the UltraNav button that lets you scroll with the Trackpoint (I like Trackpoints, as I can type fast; I don't have to take my hands off the keyboard to use the mouse). If you want high-end graphics, look at the T61p workstation variant; I didn't mainly because their display resolutions are too high to work well for my eyes.
 
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