What are your needs? Intensive gaming? Simple internet/word processing? Sony's tend to be overpriced in my opinion but they're steady. HP to me has been hit or miss, mostly miss. I know people have had issues with Dell and Toshiba, but I've owned two Dells (both XPS) and had no problem so I'd go with XPS if you're going Dell. Toshiba's been a real pain in the rear for the people I know. Horrendous customer service, inferior parts, and a lot of issues. Or you can go Apple.

 

My daughter just got a compaq. she really likes it.


Try best buy.

 

How much are you willing to spend?

 

Ah. Most laptops from the brands I mentioned should do fine. You can find bargains on newegg.com or the manufacturer's websites. Or if you prefer brick and mortar stores, I would highly recommend a Best Buy or Electronic Fry's store (if you got em).

Edit: And I guess l2g already touched on it, but what's your price range? Or are you going for cheapest possible?

 

My nephew just bought a Gateway laptop and he loves it.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8771297&type=product&id=1203815723402

 

Well, there's probably more than I can ever mention, but go with anything that uses Intel Core Duo, at least 2GB of RAM, that'll fit your needs well enough.

 

I'm a little wary of that Turion. Core Duo and especially Core 2 Duo run circles around that processor. It'd be like asking Keith Traylor (Turion) to compete in a race with Ted Ginn. Traylor will finish the job but Ginn does it faster and better.

 

must be a recent development. i have had a toshiba laptop for several years and my wife purchased one last year and both are running fine. Dell is solid as is HP. if money isn't an issue and you really want higher performing machine, ASUS makes a good machine.

be careful with BBY. depending on the store, they will tell you things you need that you really don't. Compaq is a good lower level machine, made by HP, as well.

my suggestion is to visit as many web sites as you can at first. see what's available in the price range you are looking at. get your facts and then go see them in the store(if they are available in store). most sites have the ability to bring up multiple items for comparison. you can even open multiple browsers and shop different sites as well. try Circuit City, Best Buy, Staples and even Wal-Mart. :up:

 

sorry man, i'll take the 8 lane highway with the 90mph limit than the two lane autoban any day. Turion is one of the better Mobile Processors on the market.

 

Or a long standing issue. I worked at our student store and half the repairs we ever had to make were Toshibas. Even my roommate's Qosmio throw blue screens of death. It's like Windows 98 decided to make a comeback. And digging through them, we found a lot of times where hard drive speeds were 4200RPM whereas most these days are 5400RPM, and RAM speeds were painfully underclocked. So even if they work, they work slower in comparison to other brands. Of course, 5/10 means 5 worked, but I don't like those odds one bit. Asus is a good laptop brand though not everyone's heard of it.

 

I think you got that mixed up. Turion's ok for internet/word processing though Intel does it better.

http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/...-2005-cpu,475.html?p=1522,1520,2010,2012,2011

The mid-range Intel Core 2 Duo beats out the top Turion processor. That doesn't even include the vastly better Core 2 Duo based on Penryn.

 

Not quite, there are a lot of different brands and different models of processors. But I guess for simple tasks they're pretty much the same.

Warning: Goes into major geekness. Currently the fastest is a Penryn Core 2 Duo, which is a major improvement over the earlier Core Duo Merom. Even the Merom tops the best Turion processor.

 

Just as an FYI Alen... I've had two Dell laptops... one is now 4 years old, which i gave/sold to my brother, its still working without a problem. This one is a year old, I havent had any problems other than dealing with Vista issues. My folks bought a Dell Desktop system about a year ago, its been no problems at all. I personally like Dell, only because I havent really had a problem, and they have some good deals, and let you customize the system right from the comfort of your existing computer which I always find nice. Thats my two cents on this though... I know people who have had a Sony, and its been fine, same with a Toshiba... but everything ive ever bought was Dell, just because it was easy at first... everything the company I work for is Dell too... if that means anything... and no I DONT work for dell. :lol: like i said, its just my 2 cents on my experiences with them. If anything, at least use the Dell(or any other company) website to build your own system first, then compare pricing from Dell, or HP or whoever, with the big box stores like best buy & circuit city.

 

They're a rising Taiwan based company. They're pretty solid though most people I know who use it are based in Asia and bought theirs in that region. They do have a Ferrari studded one if you're willing to open the checkbook. :wink2:

 

Post up model numbers here before you buy, we can critique them. :up:

 

I have an Inspiron for a little over 2 years and its been so good I got my parents one for their 30th anniversary 3 months ago. Plus Dell allows you to basically build it yourself so you can fiddle with it online before actually ordering one so you can see how to maximize your money.

If youre a good negotiator and I am, you can get them to throw in a free printer or a free external hard drive which i had uses for.

If your parents work for any larger companies they also give discounts for that as they honored my Verizon Wireless discount as well. :)

 

And they have student discounts. I know that they have it for college, but not so sure about anything else. I get 12% off and an extra 6-8% if I choose a warranty (which usually makes it about free so might as well) at Dell.

 

service used to be an issue for Dell, but since BBY now sells them they also service them. keep service in mind as well while looking at them. they all come with a standard 1 year limited warranty. use it if you need to and don't let "joey" from school jack with it a long as there is a warranty attached.

P.S. stay away from ACER on their consumer level. they had problems 10 years ago andgot out of the biz, and i have yet to see any of their new line that is worth a damn.

sorry for the Turion confussion, i have not been active in the field for 2 years and have not paid much attention lately. looks like i need to do some home work. although i will still stay with AMD.:up:

 

Im using an Inspiron 1520 from Dell. My old one hat my bro now has was an Inspiron 2200. My folks desktop is an Inspiron 530? I think. I dont know if that helps, but from my browsing around the Dell site when purchasing mine, the inspiron line seemed to be the one to go with if you dont plan on gaming, and just really want a computer, that works, you can do research and school work on, as well as browse the net. Its basic, its relatively cheap, and... as i said, from my experience theyve been pretty reliable.

 

damn thats a pretty good deal!!!

Personally i dont like the AMD processors.. I talked to our IT guy when purchasing mine, and he told me to avoid them... he had this long techy reason why, but i coudlnt ever repeat it haha I just went with the intel core 2 duou or whatever it was called at the time. and as an FYI, other than the processor, its very similar to my system here and i paid over 1000 (canadian) for mine last july.

Build it on the DELL site though the same way, see how it prices out, and pick some options you want.

Its definately not something you want to rush into.

 

from Best buy and those who sell dell products, probably, cuz theyre just prebuilt bundles by Dell. On their own website, you can build your own and have the selection of what you want in it.

I was told to avoid AMD processors, but im sure some here with more knowledge than me would tell you otherwise, and of course some would agree too.

Really for what youre going to use it for, if its just word processing, research and thephins.com... I dont think what processor brand you get will really matter to you. whatever differences there are, you probably wont even notice.

 

Don't worry about it. You do know I charge by the hour right? I used to get commission at the student store but I enjoy helping others when it comes to tech.

That would get the job done for simple stuff. But don't expect the best performance.

I agree. Service was an issue but they've taken means to fix it. Probably doesn't apply here, but their XPS service is outstanding. Had a heatsink issue with my XPS desktop, they came in next day, couldn't figure it out so just gave me an upgraded CPU and a new heatsink. Another friend had his XPS M1730 video card upgraded when they didn't have spares in stock.

Hmm, I guess Acer is only good if you live in Asia. They have good models in Taiwan.

Ah, yea, Intel really took the lead and ran with it when they debuted the Core series and AMD has had no answer. Now Turions are considered cheap processors whose prices are cut only because they can't get rid of them fast enough. AMD really started lagging all over the place after their merger with ATI, which is a real shame because nVidia began to dominate.

Like the HP one earlier, it'll get the job done but you might fork just a little extra to get an Intel processor. More bang for your buck.

That's because they're like the surplus junk that retailers are trying to get rid of.

 

This will do everything you want. Just go to a store and see if they have it in stock.