i am using a refurbished gateway and love it.
2 year old machine that was returned by a school distrect as surplus.
they went over it and upgraded it.
and it only cost $250.
__________________
Tom
JOIN THE NEW JERSEY CHAPTER CLICK HERE
I have a Sony and used to love it.
Then, a little problem (that has plagued Sony for years) cropped up.
COLD SOLDER JOINTS!!!!!!!!
PC would not boot.
Long story short, this happened the day after the warranty expired!
Avoid Sony laptops!!!!! Sony wanted $700+ to replace motherboard!
Now, my company allows us to get one of their laptops that are 'refreshed' (replaced) for a $75.00 donation to a charity that our company sponsors.
I've got several HP/Compaq laptops that have been incredible!!!!!
I've got one, an nc6000 that has been through the devil's house, and back, and is like new.
My wife has an nc8230 that is nothing short of phenomenal!!!!!!!
The TWO disadantages to these pcs. . . .
• The hdds have been wiped clean. Sterile.
• The hdds are Western Digital. (Used to have a good reputation. No longer. Seagate, Maxtor, Toshiba, Hitatchi drives are MUCH better!)
I'm on a 5 year old HP laptop that was given to me by my stepdaughter after she started having problems with it such as malware etc...
Nothing extravagant about this machine, AMD Sempron 3200 processor, 384 megs of ram and a 40 gig HD.
After I cleaned it of all malicious malware and trojians, it runs just fine for what I do....ie.......surf the web and email...from my recliner!
She replaced this with a new HP which promptly froze up within an hour. She took it back to Best Buy, went to an Apple store and bought a small Mac.
If I were to go buy a laptop and spend up to a grand, just to surf the net and for email, I would go with a Mac. No doubt about it. My stepdaugher loves her new Mac!
If I were to buy a Windows based laptop...it would be a Toshiba. My wife bought a Toshiba and loves it.
I have a larger, more powerful desktop to run my simulator programs on.
__________________
97 F-150 Lariat
2008 Ford Explorer(wife's)
2006 Yamaha 650 V Star Classic
2007 Honda Rubicon
2004 Yamaha Bruin 4x4(wife's)
• The hdds are Western Digital. (Used to have a good reputation. No longer. Seagate, Maxtor, Toshiba, Hitatchi drives are MUCH better!)
I must respectfully disagree,
I replace on average of 2 laptop drives per week.
Seagate and Maxtor Drives are the same now, and nearly every Seagate 2.5" drive I installed I have had to replace inside of a 1.5 year period
and eat the cost. Seagate desktop drives are still very reliable.
I use Western Digital desktop and laptop drives exclusively and have had to replace very few of them.
(I'm replacing one now, but it's because the guy got mad and punched his laptop)
Hitachi Deskstar drives have the highest failure rate that I have seen of any of the above, so many so we nicknamed them Hitachi Deathstars...
Macs, well they're good machines, but you'll need $1500 to compare apples to apples, oh and there's that thing that bugs me about
not being able to change the battery...
__________________ Don #4 SlackerMaster Chapter Leader of the Massachusetts Chapter
Join the MA Chapter Here Currently own: 2006 F350 Lariat CC Super Duty, 6.0 L Diesel FTE Fraternity OF Blue Max
It seems the best "bang for my buck", anyone with any horror stories about Lenovo's?
A few thinks I noticed is the the CPU and Bus Speed are slow, It is Windows Vista Home premium, Hard Drive Speed is slower. Also a 1 year warranty..
Although the price is low you will end up with a slower machine..
The Dell I spec'd out has a 3 year warranty, faster CPU and Bus Speed and Windows 7 Professional..
Just my 2 cents
__________________ Don #4 SlackerMaster Chapter Leader of the Massachusetts Chapter
Join the MA Chapter Here Currently own: 2006 F350 Lariat CC Super Duty, 6.0 L Diesel FTE Fraternity OF Blue Max
If you travel a lot and bonce around in a vehicle I owuld be looking at a Panasonic toughbook.
__________________
2000 F250 4 x 4 88,000 miles as of 05/11/2009, conventional cab, longbed,Reese rail system gooseneck hitch
synthetic motor oil
six speed manual transmission.
AIS intake, 4" turbo back Magnaflow S/S exhaust
inlet & outlet pyrometers & boost gauge
If you travel a lot and bonce around in a vehicle I owuld be looking at a Panasonic toughbook.
Toughbooks, even old or refurbished ones cost a small fortune. If he's trying to stay under a grand, there's not much he'll find here.
Based on owning just about every brand and every combination of laptop, I'll provide my opinions.
Toshiba makes a good product. My primary laptop is still a giant Satellite that was made in 2003.
HP makes some of the best looking laptops around, and if you can catch them on sale, they're a great deal. If you want pure function over form, look elsewhere, because HP will have you paying for looks. Also avoid HP laptops running Turion processors, as they can heat excessively (painful to the touch at the wrist rest). The wife and I both have Atom-based HP netbooks, which are just plain awesome, although I wouldn't suggest one as a primary system.
Lenovo (bought IBM's portable division years ago) makes the best line of business-oriented laptops around, but you can often find something from another company that's comparable for less.
I bought the wife a Dell notebook last Christmas, and it's been nothing but flawless.
The biggest things you'll want to watch for are a minimum of 2Gb of RAM and DEDICATED VIDEO! For the love of god do not fal into the "this price is awesome!" trap and get something that has Intel Media Accelerator video. Something with a dedicated GeForce2Go or Mobility Radeon chipset will really wake up the system performance, and make it viable years down the road.
Stick with Intel processors simply for compatability. Remember, Intel is the king, AMD is the copycat. Too many patented goodies in Intel chips to be reliably re-engineered by someone else. I've had AMD based systems that were god awful and some that were just fine, but save the potential headache and stick with the original.
__________________
Quote:
Originally Posted by Silver Streak
You're having problems because some butthole put the wrong one on your truck.
1990 Ford F-150 XLT Lariat Supercab - 5.0/E4OD - Dead and gone.
1993 Ford F-150 XLT Supercab - 5.0/AOD - 3.55
Have had good luck with Dell and HP, but bad luck too. Toshiba has been the most consistently solid. Although I would have to conveniently forget the Satellite 6000 fiasco.
__________________
Folks call me Bill.
Please pass the GREEN nozzle.
2006 F250 XLT SCLB FX4 4x4 6.0L Auto,Magnaflow Turbo Back,RhinoLiner,Retrax Cover,Cab Lights Retro-fit,Overhead Console Retro-fit,Bilsteins,Harpooned,C-Betrs,Fumoto.Fleetwood Pioneer,23'x5,200#
Also, if you haven't already, get a USB adapter for your old hard drive. Although it won't boot, you might be able to connect it to the new system and retrieve some of your data. You can get one for less than $20.
__________________
Folks call me Bill.
Please pass the GREEN nozzle.
2006 F250 XLT SCLB FX4 4x4 6.0L Auto,Magnaflow Turbo Back,RhinoLiner,Retrax Cover,Cab Lights Retro-fit,Overhead Console Retro-fit,Bilsteins,Harpooned,C-Betrs,Fumoto.Fleetwood Pioneer,23'x5,200#
Laptop suggestion from me is a mac. The boot every time and run faster then windows. Never an issue in my home. Two laptops and one desktop (mac's). Two windows, one desktop and one laptop always with issues.
A few thinks I noticed is the the CPU and Bus Speed are slow, It is Windows Vista Home premium, Hard Drive Speed is slower. Also a 1 year warranty..
Although the price is low you will end up with a slower machine..
The Dell I spec'd out has a 3 year warranty, faster CPU and Bus Speed and Windows 7 Professional..
Just my 2 cents
Thanks Don for advice (and to everyone else!)
I found out (via an ad on FTE, lol) that Lenovo is having a sale on their site, and I think they may have my business.
Following specs:
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo Processor P8700 (2.53GHz 1066MHz 3MBL2)
Operating system: Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit
Operating system language Genuine Windows Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit with Service Pack1 US English, excludes Recover Media
System Graphics nVidia Geforce G 210M graphic card with 512MB memory
Color Black painting cover and Grey Palmrest
Display type 15.6 HD WLED Glossy, 1366*768 with 1.3M integrated Camera
Base PM45 15.6WLED CP-GM45M
Total memory 3 GB PC3-8500 DDR3 SDRAM 1066MHz SODIMM Memory (2 Dimms)
Hard drive 160GB Hard Disk Drive, 5400rpm
Battery 6 Cell Lithium-Ion 2.6Ah
All for $728 delivered
(I am not too concerned about the small/slow hard drive, I can update that at a later date if I need to)
This forum is owned and operated by Internet Brands, Inc., a Delaware corporation. It is not authorized or endorsed by the Ford Motor Company and is not affiliated with the Ford Motor Company or its related companies in any way. Ford® is a registered trademark of the Ford Motor Company.
My System Details
My Accessories
My Services & Warranties
ALSO INCLUDED WITH YOUR SYSTEM
FTE Fraternity OF Blue Max
