No, not the dance, the COMPUTER!! (Get your minds out of the gutter, please!)

Time for me to take the next computer step and get a laptop or notebook (like there's a difference?). I did a search of the non-Automotive General Forum, and couldn't find any previous posts like this, so here we go:

I want to stay under $1000, and I won't need anything for movies, DVDs, games, videos, music and such. Just basic home and work stuff. Some people are telling me I HAVE to get XP Professional, others are telling me it's a waste of money for what I'll be using it for and XP Home is just fine. (I will be sharing spreadsheets and other Excel stuff with other users, if that's important to know.) I've used a few laptops, and the one thing I can't stand is that "pad" or "red rubber ball" they use in place of a mouse. I've got 40g of hard-drive and 256MB of RAM on the home computer, and that seems to be plenty (I've only used about 20% of the home unit's hard-drive capacity). I'm leery of Dell only because I can't go "touch and feel" one. Best Buy has a what seems to be a real good deal, right on the front page of their website: $549 for a Toshiba L25-S1192 15" notebook that includes free shipping, carrying case and optical mouse. Still trying to figure out if I can upgrade any of its specs, or I have to take it "as is."

Okay, what would you guys buy with the parameters I laid out, and what upgrades would you recommend? Any advice is greatly appreciated!

 

jeff
i have a hp. 1.5 g cellery chip with 512 memory. wireless,dvd,cd combo burner with a 15 inch screen works great. oyah xp home. no problems. yeh the all seem to come with the slide mouse now. you adjust how it moves no really big problem there.
also you can get a good dell built up for your self and have change,

 

You don't need XP pro for what you want to do with it. Your budget is well within reason. You can probably pick something up for quite a bit less than that. As far as I know, all Dells use the trackpad.

Trackpads and nubs (there's another word for them, but I'll refrain ) are by far the most popular way to control the mouse pointer. Are you intending on carrying a mouse with it? I've seen people do that, they can't stand the pads, either. If not, what's your preference? Just curious.

You can always upgrade memory or even hard drive capacity after you buy it. It's really easy to do, all you need is a small screwdriver. I would get at least 512 megs of memory. 1 GB would be ideal. 256 is way too small these days.

 

First off.. Do you really need a laptop?? If you are not going to be using it on the road I would advise against it.. They are more expensive to start with and also for upgrades or repairs.. I find most people want laptops because they are compact and then they never move them. You can get a more powerfull desktop for the same money as a low end laptop.

XP Pro or Home?? Will you be connecting to a business network?? if so the XP Pro would be the smart way to go. if not then XP home is just fine.

Mouse or pad? Laptops come with either or both, but you can always add a regular mouse.

What brand?? I recommend Toshiba first then Dell and finally Gateway.. I would stay away from HP/Compaq they seem to be the ones I repair most often..

One other recommendation if you go with the laptop is get the longest service plan you can.... This is because when something goes wrong it will be taken care of.. Remember you can't go to Compusa to buy parts for them.. Also in 2 or 3 years the laptop will only be worth about $500.00 as a used pc, but to replace the monitor it could cost from $600.00 to $1,000.00 depending on the model and manufacturer.


On a side Note I would like to thank you for the quote on a new Ford you gave me a while back.. I was just about to order it from you then my local dealer offered me $16.5 for my trade in.. you were both the same price on the new one..

Thanks again and I hope this info helps..

 

Yes, this will be in addition to the home laptop. I'm heavily involved in a car convention scheduled for next year (I'm the treasurer), and I'll definitely need the mobility. In fact, the car club may buy it for me. Otherwise, I wouldn't even bother with one.

Not to a network, but I may need to download budgets and spreadsheets from other club members, along with adding QuickBooks (so it's compatible with what the club uses). So, can I still get away with XPHome? If the other users are all on XP Pro, will it affect what I download from them?

That's why I liked the Best Buy deal, because it includes the wired optical mouse, and it has 3 USB ports so I can add a wireless one later. And the Best Buy Toshiba one is wi-fi ready.

Thanks, that's good to know.

I hear what you're saying, but it just KILLS me what they want for a service plan- $200-$300, for a $700 product?! From my perspective, that's like charging $18000 for a 5-year extended warranty on a new F-150 Crew Cab! Maybe the Ford extended warranty isn't as expensive as it seems...


No, thank you! You know how much the average consumer hates to buy a new vehicle? Well, that's how I feel about buying a computer. All these stores expect the consumer to know everything when you walk through thier doors, and no one wants to ADVISE you on what you need to buy.

 

A word of caution about Dell. First, our company bought 12 Inspiron 1100 notebooks earlier this year and they've all worked flawlessly, so I like their computer's. Now the caution. Dell's prices look good at first, but look closer and many of their systems are so bare bone's that you have to add options. Well, by the time your done adding in these options the price is suddenly a lot more than the original price. So just make sure the computer has what you need as a base model, or the options + base price aren't more than a competitors computer whith those options included.

 

i buy computers for a living... if u want the BEST bang for ur buck get this... i have one and i have sold 9 to ppl i know

hp zv6000 with amd 64 3200+
512 mb ram
64mb video
60 gig hd
onboard wireless

i swear to u that you will love it

Matt

 

I just checked out eBay. I think you'd have to be out of your mind to buy a laptop there. First, none of the sellers will tell you where they are; for "city," they say things like, "YOU GET YOUR MONEY'S WORTH WITH ME!" Second, their ratings suck, and they've been selling for less than a year, with 7 or 8 negative comments in the past 6 months. Third, 99% of the computers for sale are Dells- what's up with that? Does Dell just make too many and sell 'em off to these "auctioneers?" And a lot of them have features like 3.5-inch disk drives, and no USB ports (but serial ports). So maybe these have been sitting around in a warehouse for a few years?

 

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/produ...uct_id=3626438
jeff heres the one i use from walmart on my tool box at work. or hooked up for drivability probelems. it's very simply up gradeable with generic parts. 4 usb ports. nic card, wireless,

 

Ive got a Dell Lattitude laptop that I bought this past spring. I bought it used (the computer was 3 months old when I bought it) for $650.
So far its been good (knock on wood).

 

I love my IBM thinkpad.i have had zero probs so far in the two years that ive had it.

My home pc is a dell and its great,ive had no probs there ether.All i can say is shop around and get the best deal you can.

 

I put my answers in bold inside the quote..

 

dont ever buy a pc from walmart or another store, if they are cheap they use generic hardware and are crap. they have good specs but are not good computers... trust me i work tech support and purchasing for dell

Matt

 

Just to be contrary, have you thought about a Macintosh portable? I had a toshiba satellite laptop for three years and it was a good machine but a bit bulky. It finally died on me and I switched. I bought an iBook G4 last year and love it. I do video work so a Mac really made sense for me. Besides that, I've found I really like the Mac. It may not be for you though. You can get MS Office and Quickbooks for the Mac. You can probably do most of the other things you would like to do on a computer on the Mac. For me I like the fact that my iBook is very light weight and has great battery life (usually over 4 hours) Built in wireless and bluetooth are standard as is a CD burner. Firewire and USB 2.0 are standard as well. DVD burner is optional. I like the Mac OS quite a bit but never really had a problem working on Windows so I don't get into the whole debate that the Mac is so easy to use and Windows is hard to use. Mac OS is very stable but I thought XP was very stable. Programs crash on the Mac and they crash on Windows. What I really like about that Mac is there is no spyware and other crap that seems to currently plague the PC world. The Mac is just not affected by those things. Best Buy and CompUSA retail Macs and if there is an Apple Store near you, you can go play with one there. Price for a base iBook is $999 and an extended warrenty is $249. May not be what you want or what you want to spend, but an iBook or Powerbook is worth checking out.

 

I bought a used sony viao, and it's been a great laptop! New they are expensive, but I got lucky and got mine for a really good deal.