buying a new laptop

[boomshay]

well my highschool graduation is coming up and i should be getting enough money to buy myself a laptop for college... i've started looking around but realized that i have no clue what i'm looking for... so

if you had 1000 dollars, give or take a bit... and you needed a solid laptop for college, what would you buy?

thanks in advance

[Kass]

I would NOT get a dell. I used to have one, it only lasted 2 years. 2 of my roomates have dells and they are messed up. Just my opinion though. My dad has one of the smaller models and he really likes it.. I guess this doesn't really help you.. sorry.

[john51277]

Maybe something like this.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...53575&CatId=17

or this......

http://www.officedepot.com/browse.do...385+4294938443

[pub spears]

I bought a cheap Compaq with widescreen a while back for around $550(after rebates) shipped with xp pro. Wouldn't buy another. The 1st & the replacement hard drives make clicking sounds. My cheap Dell at work has performed very well. It was part of digitizer package we got about 18 months ago and it is in a pretty unfriendly environment. Of course I,ve seen many a Dell desktop go bye bye. Probably would not buy either again.

[Bkcloud114]

[john51277]

Beware.........the Mac!!!!

[derivation]

I would NOT get a dell. I used to have one, it only lasted 2 years. 2 of my roomates have dells and they are messed up. Just my opinion though. My dad has one of the smaller models and he really likes it.. I guess this doesn't really help you.. sorry.

Most people are going to have varying opinions on major brands like Dell. That being said, I think that dell does make some good laptops, but they generally aren't the ones most people buy. The insperion series (in my experience) is crap. The latitude series, however, I've had great experience with. You can only buy the latitudes through the business portals, but dell doesn't care who you are.

All that being said, I've become a mac guy and would recommend a macbook.

[Kass]

Most people are going to have varying opinions on major brands like Dell. That being said, I think that dell does make some good laptops, but they generally aren't the ones most people buy. The insperion series (in my experience) is crap. The latitude series, however, I've had great experience with. You can only buy the latitudes through the business portals, but dell doesn't care who you are.

All that being said, I've become a mac guy and would recommend a macbook.

I did have an inspirion.

[597]

I personally perfer Sony Viao or a Mac when it comes to laptops. I actually have both, and they are great. The only think is they tend to be on the pricey side near the $2,000 range. My experiance is if you really only use a computer for the internet and occasional other applications go with a PC. If you use a lot of applications go with a Mac, (in my experiance Macs tend to be a little slower on the internet and have some browser compatibility problems). You may want to consider a desktop since it will be cheaper. I realize laptops are great due to their portability but I never used that function when I was in college (although I do now). So if you really are going to use it in class and tote it around campus go for a laptop. Anyway thats my 2 cents.

[cls515]

Wait until classes begin. Your school may have wireless access and place certain requirements for accessibility. Also, your school should have a campus computer store that sells major brands to students at discounted prices. I know that it is very possible to get a Macbook at the lower end of $1000, which is what I'd buy if I was in the I'm going to buy a new laptop.

Sony is ok. I don't have one but some of my classmates have one. I personally don't see why you have to pay 1.5X prices for the name. I also think because Sony is involved with so many electronics quality decreases.

Apple is all about computing, and they do it very, very well, no matter what anyone says.

A lot of my classmates have Dell because they're cheap. Some love them, some hate them. Never heard anyone say they hate they're Mac, IF they have one.

IBM/Lenovo should also be in consideration. The quality will run with the best, but the price...you pay for what you get.

Macbook>Lenovo>Sony in my opinion.

[rpb67]

Lenovo is an IBM and is a great machine.

I use a Sony. It is a great mchine but may be a bit pricey to a college student. I also had a Dell that worked just fine. But I do like this new Sony the better than the Dell.

I suggest Lenovo first for price, if you can afford a bit more go for a Sony.

[heftysmokes]

A buddy of mine has a Toshiba. He swears by it.
I think I saw one at costco for 999, but I didn't look too closely at what the "guts" were so I couldn't tell you if it was a good deal or not.

[ashauler]

Most people are going to have varying opinions on major brands like Dell. That being said, I think that dell does make some good laptops, but they generally aren't the ones most people buy. The insperion series (in my experience) is crap. The latitude series, however, I've had great experience with. You can only buy the latitudes through the business portals, but dell doesn't care who you are.

All that being said, I've become a mac guy and would recommend a macbook.

I agree about the Dell latitudes.....I use a D820 for work constantly, in fact am typing this on it right now. I travel with it all the time and have had no issues after having it for about 1 yr. I think it is out of the price range you mentioned though.

[kevin7]

I love my Panasonic Toughbook fro work. I have dropped it from 4 ft out the truck door already accidentally . This thing is a beast ,too bad it costs 3K

[HersheyWalker]

I use to be a die hard pc fan, but after using a mac for the past year or so, I must say that it is a little workhorse. It's slower than it's pc counterpart and will have a smaller screen, but it has never crashed on me.

If you are pc profficient, go with the pc. You can find all the cracked apps you want on torrents, and it'll be beefier. But on the downside, you'll have to partition your drives to house your data on one side, and your os on the other. Then every month or so you'll have to reformat and reinstall your os. Not that big of a deal, but those moments when you need to fix your computer can come at the most inoportune moments.

I'd say get a cheap mac on craigslist and spend the rest on booze, but that's just me.

[cinda]

I have looked at many laptops in the last 6 month. I bought three each were different but gear toward the person needs. I bought an acer a Sony and a Toshiba. I would say being a young guy your looking for speed and storage. I would just compared the two to the price and buy the best deal. Aways ask if they will honor another stores sale. Staples will and they Will call the store for you too. A store like radio shack will not honnor others prices but look at their prices somethings that store will suprise you. I bought the toshiba for myself.

[AK & Stogie]

I am currently working on my Acer. I like it, and they make a really good product for the price.
Something to think about, the single v. dual core processor issue. I went dual core, but sacrificed a little speed for more multi tasking ability. If you are into high end games, you will want something fast, and with AT LEAST 1GB of RAM. In this day and age however, nobody should have any less than that.
I would recommend stuff with AMD processors, but the Intels have come a long way.
And do not fall into thinking you need a huge screen. Anything over 15.4 is overkill, and you WILL hate lugging it around. Otherwise, 1gb RAM, processor as needed, and DVD+_ RW drive to burn DVD's is nice. HD Capacity is your call too.
Shop around.

[SkinnyDan]

[QUOTE=HersheyWalker;88245]Then every month or so you'll have to reformat and reinstall your os. Not that big of a deal, but those moments when you need to fix your computer can come at the most inoportune moments.QUOTE]

Not to be an ass, but I hate this arguement for Mac fan-boys. I am a pc fan, and I have been using windows almost exclusivly for years. If you know how to stay away from virus infested downloads, and websites that install spyware/malware on your system then there is no need reformat that often. I have been running my Windows XP for about 1 1/2 years right now with out reformatting, and I've been running the pc at almost 100% uptime. Also I have only had Windows crash on me once and I had to reformat, and that was because I was doing some testing on somw software for a friend that turned out to be very buggy.

It's all about being smart with a computer.

[Mikemedic]

You might want to find out whether your school will have macs or PC's beforfe you choose (I think most schools use PC - at least the ones around here). It's nice to put all your work/papers on a flash drive and print it out on the school's paper (trust me, you'll use a ton )

I've heard good things about acer and toshiba in the lower end of the price spectrum. I really like my dell desktop, but I really don't use it for anything more complicated than internet and word-processing.