Laptops... Any suggestions?

[Alchimedes]

I'm right now in the market for a Laptop, not sure about how much they are, what deals are out there. I'm A total novice to this so please do not flame me thanks.
Prefer PC, but I'm open to Apple. They have made some great stuff in recent years.

These are some of my Requirements:
To be Wireless & Wired
Dvd burner and CD burner,
Good sized readable screen,
Plenty of Memory and any other programs someone might think are beneficial.
Thanks!


MUST be able to go online to catch up with MiceAge.

[MiceMan]

That is the same issue I am having right now. That is why I have the question up regarding Mac's ... I am leaning more toward getting a Mac laptop ... but I would say in the PC world go for either Alienware or Toshiba ... both are extremely reputable.

[Cousin Orville]

Get a 15" G4 Apple with Tiger in it, upgrade the ram. they are about 2k depending upon what you want in it, up to 2400. Go play with OSX, you'll also get an 8x DVd burner. I have a tibook Mac and it is rock solid relable and the new ones have backlit keyboards and shock resistant hard drives if they are dropped.

[DisneyMania!]

I HIGHLY recommend Dell laptops.. I have one and i have soooo much crap on it. Still is as good as new! It has a cd burner... and you can upgrade to a DVD burner as well. Dell PCs are great.

[Alchimedes]

Get a 15" G4 Apple with Tiger in it, upgrade the ram. they are about 2k depending upon what you want in it, up to 2400. Go play with OSX, you'll also get an 8x DVd burner. I have a tibook Mac and it is rock solid relable and the new ones have backlit keyboards and shock resistant hard drives if they are dropped.

I will put this one on my list of shopping and researching. We have a Mac store in "Motown" So I will check it out I like the "tiger" Program.

[DOOM BGI]

I just got a DELL 600M and I LOvE it!! CD/DVD RW burner, integrated WiFi, DVD/entertainment remote was only $10.... it works great so far.

It was a great deal, too... wait until they release one of those incredible coupon codes. That's what I did: $750 off of $1499 and over--that's right it was almost HALF off! It expired after like 6,000 redemptions... so you have to jump on it when it is activated (like 6am) before it's all used up. Check out techbargains.com, great deals show up frequently I think.

Good luck!

[Alchimedes]

I HIGHLY recommend Dell laptops.. I have one and i have soooo much crap on it. Still is as good as new! It has a cd burner... and you can upgrade to a DVD burner as well. Dell PCs are great.

I have a Dell PC home CPU. and love it. It has not been forgotten.

[Nephythys]

I am the very happy new mother to my baby Dell Inspiron 6000. Wi-Fi, CD burner/DVD player, lots of room.

I bought at a great time- it was a third off to start with, then I had a coupon # for 10% more. I got this baby for less than $700.00

I'm an Apple girl- I love my i-Mac and plan to get a more powerful desktop from Apple in the future, but this Dell is awesome.

[DOOM BGI]

I'm an Apple girl- I love my i-Mac and plan to get a more powerful desktop from Apple in the future, but this Dell is awesome.

Me too! I'm a MAC user at heart, but I just couldn't resist the c-h-e-a-p prices on pc's and now have two DELL's! A desktop and laptop. I plan to get a new PowerBook when the next big generational platform comes out... (G5?) My old G3 PowerBook is till chuggin' along (on OS9).

[Alchimedes]

Wow, Now I'm torn by which one to get The Dell sounds cool (good deal) and so does the APPLE.

[Nephythys]

Me too! I'm a MAC user at heart, I just couldn't resist the c-h-e-a-p prices on pc's and now have two DELL's! A desktop and laptop. I plan to get a new PowerBook when the next big generational platform comes out... (G5?) My old G3 PowerBook is till chuggin' along (on OS9).

I have to get a new one because the one I have won't run the new versions of iDVD in iLife! I am so ticked off about that!

[MegarooFifi]

Well, I LOVED my Dell laptop... until I had to get the screen replaced - TWICE. That was annoying, but okay... until I had to get the keyboard replaced. Then I was ticked, but didn't fully start to hate my laptop until I got the DVD drive replaced. And let's not even talk about stupid battery life. There's been so many problems, I can't remember them all. And, I truly was NOT hard on the thing.

It's four years old now (and I've been so ready to chuck it out the window for the last two) and luckily everything that went wrong, went wrong within the warranty time period. I was fairly impressed with Dell's customer service, however, since I've had to send it back so many times, my patience has truly been tried. Each time I sent it back, it was around a week turnaround, so I lost a fair amount of computer time there - hard when you're in college. And I won't even get into how the shipping company they used, LOST (yes lost) my laptop. Then found it. Then delivered it to the wrong house (even though it had the right address on it). Then let it sit at the person's house all weekend until picking it up and finally delivering to me.

Thank God, I haven't had any problems in the last year... oh wait, I take that back, it's been overheating and shutting off. As you can see, I'm not bitter

Anyways, my next purchase will not be a Dell. I will never buy a Dell again so long as I live. For those of you who have great experiences, I'm happy for you, I really am! My next laptop will be an Apple (should be purchased next April) for sure. I used to work at Best Buy in the computer department and I got the chance to grill lots of reps and test out some stuff that's just hitting the market now. After working with Apple's products, I will be going Mac... they've got some amazing stuff!

However, the most important point is - what is it that you want to do with your laptop? Is it for internet/word processing? Heavy gaming? What's your budget? That will help for recommendations for sure...

[Adventurer]

Get a Mac.

Get a Mac.

Get a Mac.

It comes with iLife which has no equal in the Windows world, both in what it is, and the quality of the individual apps.

Airport is standard.

Standard Memory has been upgraded.

PC's are dreck.

[Mr D]

Whatever you do reconsider how delicate a laptop can be, I had a top of the line Toshiba Satellite a couple of years ago, it cost me over $3,000 and after a drink was spilt on the keyboard the "extra warranty" I paid for from CompUSA was worthless. Its been a doorstop for over 2 years now.

You want the best? get a Sager. They have exactly the same components as Alienware and use the best screens available. Expect to pay over $2,000 if you want a lot of bells and whistles.

And don't buy any extended warranty programs unless they cover everything.

[DOOM BGI]

I just got a letter from Dell today offering me an extended warranty discount on the new laptop (I declined on purchase). After thinking about it, I'm defintely going to take them up on it. It's an extra three years of "peace of mind" and less than $200 with the discounts/rebate they're offering. They give you 45 days after purchase to buy it if you want.

[Alchimedes]

Wow, that is very cool!! I'm still doing my research though on what I can get.
A coworker suggested that Sony is always closing out Laptops as well. The warranty is a definite plus and as I've read that is either good or bad.The good being they follow through by covering issues with the product.

[Nephythys]

Get a Mac.

Get a Mac.

Get a Mac.

It comes with iLife which has no equal in the Windows world, both in what it is, and the quality of the individual apps.

Airport is standard.

Standard Memory has been upgraded.

PC's are dreck.

I've been a Mac girl for decades. I still am. Most everything I WANT to do I need my Mac for- but there are advantages to a Windows machine as well.

Right now I am VERY frustrated with my Mac- in order to do what I want to do (which is video editing and DVD burning) I have to buy a whole NEW system. That ticks me off to the tune of a couple grand. Otherwise features of iLife are USELESS to me. My iMac has become close to a doorstop because I can't do what I want to do with it right now and it will be a while before I can afford a new one. Macs are EXPENSIVE and while they are fabulous machines and I love them- a PC laptop is NOT a bad idea when one does not want to plunk down several thousand dollars for one.

Bottom line- get what works best for YOU- for price and features. Both have their good points and their downsides.

[maxime29]

I'm hoping you are still looking since I typed this all out to benefit you.

Check www.resellerratings.com for any new offers on Dell computers. Normally you can get from $300-$1000 off a desktop or notebook PC. I know right now they have a code for up to $700 off a notebook $1999 and up.

I highly recommend shopping at www.newegg.com. Very good prices, and free Fed-Ex 2-3 day shipping on most items. I do not shop at Best Buy or CompUSA anymore because their prices are a lot better.

Warranties from stores like Best Buy and CompUSA (if you do buy your notebook from there)...DONT GET THEM! Sure it sounds safe, but they really don't honor them. Too much fine print gets them out of jams to send your notebook off to repair it.

I prefer AMD over Intel. If you can find an AMD 64 laptop with the new Turion chipset (similar to the Centrino), I recommend looking into it. Hard to find a laptop with AMD though Assuming you are an average PC user (reading email, internet, Microsoft Office), get 512MB of RAM. Graphics you shouldn't worry about too much unless you play games. Anything for a monitor size above 15" is good. Make sure the keyboard is comfortable. One thing I hate about keyboards on laptops is that they are too small and easy to miss a key. I have found some internal wireless cards work better than others. An external PCMCIA wi-fi card normally has a better range. Depending on your location to a wireless connection, you could be fine without an external. Most laptops include 56k and 10/100 ethernet ports.

Now for my recommended brands:
Sony
Toshiba
HP (their quality has gotten better IMO)
ABS (found on NewEgg)
Acer (Found on NewEgg)
Dell (I'm still iffy on them, but again, you can get good deals as I stated above)
Alienware (overpriced, but you have bragging rights that you can play games like Doom 3 on a laptop)

[Captain Zissou]

OMG Get a Mac! I've had my iBook for a year and have had zero problems caused by it. (However I've caused several serious problems myself from falling asleep watching movies and having it drop off my bed, did about $2,000 damage in 1 year) but Apple Care is awesome and I didn't hafta pay for any of it. It's fast efficient and has really good protection .I'd prob marry it if I could.

[Alchimedes]

The only thing that is deterring me form buying the Mac is that Tiger OS won't allow you to play games. I occasionally liketo play a good strategy game. This is what someone told me. Mac is very clean and well made.