I'm in the market for a new laptop. Trying to get some ideas on which to choose. I want a P4 with built in wireless. Its not gonna be used for serious gaming, maybe some of those goofy trivia style games. I was really like the Toshiba, seemed to be well priced. What would you guys with laptop expect?

 

I recently picked up a Dell D600. So far I love it. Integrated 802.11G wireless, bright screen, good battery life, 1gb RAM, 80gb drive. It's shaping up to be a very satisfying machine.

 

I would go with Dell also. Lots to pick from and are all very good machines.

 

Besides Apple, IBM makes the most solid laptops. If I were ever to buy another PC it would have to be an IBM. I just got one for my dad, and his previous Dell is nothing compared to the IBM; just the construction of the laptop alone.

 

Interesting. My experience is quite the opposite. I have a lab full of laptops at work, literally dozens and dozens of them, all makes and models and the IBM's constantly have problems, where the Dell's work well day in and day out. Based upon my experience there, you couldn't GIVE me an IBM.

It's always interesting to hear another perspective on what I have seen in the lab.

 

Just curious, what is the age difference between the IBMs and Dells?

 

We replace the oldest of the machines every year, so I have older IBM's and older Dell's and newer IBM's and newer Dell's, all side by side in racks, along with Toshiba's and other brands.

 

I love my 15" Apple Powerbook G4! 1.5ghz G4, 1gb ram, 80gb hd, built in 802.11b/g wireless, combo drive. ALWAYS reliable..most unlike my old Dell Inspiron 8200. I'll never go back to PC.

 

Well after checking out everything I'm probably going to go with the dell.....its alot less expensive then the IBM, I know you get what you pay for but the difference in similar systems is like 600 bucks...I almost bought one, Intel Celeron 1.5ghz Inspiration 8600 for 899.00 but I'll hold off and keep shopping a little.

 

Actually I take that back....I might get a toshiba, definately seems like you get more for you buck....

 

The quality of the components inside the machine has a lot to do with that.

 

go to slickdeals.com ... about a month ago they had a coupon for $650 off the price of a dell laptop ... they run one day specials from time to time.

 

well all the components are made buy other companies, Intel, Ati, Nvidia etc etc......I dont know if I like Dell or not, I'm on a Dell desktop right now and I've had my fair share of problems but its about 3-4 years old, power supply died less then a year after I got it (was covered under warrenty), all the fans have died and been replaced, the speakers are blown and have always acted wacky....other then that it runs pretty good for its age....

From handling Laptops at stores its always felt like IBM was the toughest, but seems a little pricey. I dunno maybe I'll wait for an unbeilable deal....

 

Well I was looking online an I figured I'd run into Best Buy see what they have going on. So I found the one I liked, its a Toshiba Satellite M35X, it has a Celeron M 1.5ghz, 256 meg ram, dvd/cd burner, widescreen 15.4 wvga (1280x800) lcd, built in wireless b/g.

It exactly what I was looking for, it had the dvd player a pretty big screen, built in wireless. I know its only a celeron 1.5ghz but its surprisingly fast, and dvd's look great. I only use this machine to surf the web and word processing, so it has plently of power. While I was there I picked up another stick of 256 ddr ram, so it has 512 meg.

Now heres the kicker, so after I buy the computer 999 w/ 200 dollar mail in rebate, the guy tells me he cant find the rebate. The computer didnt print it and he looked and its not even in the computer, although the tag over the computer clearly states 999.99 with 200.00 check, after mail in rebate. So they call best buy headquarters yada yada, anyway they tell me to go home and the computer manager george will take care of the problem and give me a call the following day. So I end up calling him and I go in and talk too him, he tells me not to tell anyone but they made a mistake but for me to come back in on Sunday and talk to him and he would get everything taken care of. So I come back in Sunday and sure enough I see my computer on sale at 950.00 with a 300.00 dollar mail in rebate. George tells me to just do a return exchange everything worked out great....got the computer I wanted for cheaper then I thought possible.

 

I just bought a new laptop too .. mine crashed on me ..

I got the new HP dv1040us for $1249.



Processor
Processor brand Intel®
Processor type Centrino™ (Pentium® M)
Processor speed 1.6GHz
Frontside bus speed 400
Level 2 cache 2MB
Memory
RAM 512MB 266MHz DDR DRAM
RAM expandable to: 2048MB DDR SDRAM
Storage/Drives
Hard drive size 60-70GB
Type of drive DVD+RW/CD-RW
Maximum CD/DVD speed Unavailable
1.44 MB floppy drive External USB floppy disk drive (sold separately)
Graphics and sound
Screen type WXGA High-Definition BrightView Widescreen
Maximum screen resolution 1280 x 768
External monitor maximum resolution Unavailable
Video memory Info unavailable
Graphics type Integrated Intel® Extreme Graphics 2
Audio 16-bit Sound Blaster Pro-compatible audio, internal Harman/Kardon speakers, AC audio link, volume/mute buttons
Ports
USB 3 USB 2.0
FireWire 1
Parallel port 0
Serial port 0
Infrared port 0
PC card/expansion slots One type I/II 32-bit CardBus (supports 16-bit)
Internet/networking
Ethernet Yes
Wireless 802.11g with SpeedBooster™

 

Hmmm nearly the same as mine cept yours in the centrino....i looked at that one or one similar but I wanted a bigger screen....and plus I couldnt beat the deal....650 bucks....

 

you know what I liked about this one .. it weighs less then 3 lbs .. a stack of papers weighs more then this thing. The 14" Hidef widescreen is actually better then the 15" XGA screen, you get to see 25% more screen information. How do I know this? There is a sticker on the laptop telling me so.

but yea 650 is dirt cheap.

 

yeah i notice the screen is a little dated but with it set to 1280x800 it looks real good but after having it set to that for a while I realized i'd rather run it at 1024x768 so I opted to not have the fantasic screen since I wont be using it too all its potential....this one weighs 6.6 lbs so its a little on the heavy side as far as laptops go but I'm not a salesman so I dont carry it around alot....even still its only 6 lbs when its in its case and on my shoulder I forget its there, has alot to do with being in the service industry for 6 years and carrying a 85 lbs tool bag all day long to peoples house.....the only other bad thing is the battery only last 3-4 hours, but like I said I dont travel alot so its usually plugged in.....

But like I said this one is perfect for me, obviously its wont be perfect for everyone......