Need Help buying a new laptop!

[Monshea]

Hey guys, I don't know too much about computers or laptops, and this site seizes to amaze me, SO I need some advise on buying a laptop.

My price range is under $1000, but a pretty good laptop. I need it for my sister, shes going to college so nothing too decked out, just the basics but it has to run good and fast. In other words, I want the best laptop for under $1000 ;)

I need to be able to purchase this at a local store like best buy,circuit city, etc..

My zip code is 11554, and would greatly appreciate it if you guys could help me out!

[hongsc]

I think the Dell 1420 would be a nice choice especially with the deals I've seen. Is there a particular reason why you want it to be a B&M or physical location? If it must be local then Toshiba or HP would be a great choice with a C2D processor with at least 1GB of RAM; 2GB preferred.

[wh666-666]

HP's are hidious and renouned nowadays for their poor quality. Shame as they used to be one of the market leaders ...

Toshiba or dells are good but if you want the absolute best then go with a lenevo/ibm thinkpad, possibly the best brand of laptop there is ...

[ChaosEnsues]

I'm gonna get flamed for saying this - but have you considered a MacBook? Price is right (academic discount from the college), and you can run Bootcamp with Windows if you really want to. They're pretty solid pieces of hardware with good parts and quality.

Short of that, you can look at those new Dell Inspirons with the colors - my g/f is pissed because she had just bought another Dell when they came out with the pretty colors. Girls *rolls eyes*

[ImaNihilist]

There are only three notebooks I'd consider buying at that price point:

Apple MacBook
HP Compaq 6510b
Dell Latitude D630

Both the Dell and the HP are the "business" notebooks, but I wouldn't even look at anything else ever. Can you get them in a retail store? I don't know to tell you the truth, as I avoid places like Best [Worst] Buy like the plague. You might be able too though. I have seen some of the HP business notebooks in stores before, I just can't remember where and what models.

All can be had for under $1,000 online, I know that much (the MacBook would require a student discount though, because it's $1,099). IMO, I'd get the HP. This sucker right here:
http://h10003.www1.hp.com/digmedialib/prodimg/lowres/c00847027.jpg
Serious business right there. Built like freaking tanks those things are. Starts at $949, and for $1,099 you can get it with a 3-year warranty. Good warranty support from HP business division as well, not that crap you get from Best Buy.

People might shun Dell and HP, but their business notebooks are COMPLETELY different—apples and oranges really. They are the best, no doubt about it. No crap software installed, proper parts and a real chassis that doesn't fall apart when you move it. A real warranty too—who knew.

[wh666-666]

Nothing against you but Id have to disagree with you right there imanihilist ........

Granted, the hp dv8000 series laptop i had that had over 14 faults within a year is consumer grade but my partner works in a school with business grade equipment. Several years ago they switched the contract for laptops to hp business and have had nothing but trouble. They have approximately 20 of the earlier models of those HP laptops (same plastic chassis, think they're the 6100 or something). Using the HP's and a few old left over toshiba's from years ago, the only laptops that havnt had to be replaced/repaired are the old toshiba's (one minor repair to a toshiba keyboard, but hey). I think 19 out of 20 have had several repairs carried out.

Point is HP, business or consumer grade are complete crap. Years ago they used to be quality laptops but now their just expensive paperweights and serve no real use for a serious laptop user.

I stand by my original conviction, if you want true ruggedness and quality go for a lenevo
http://images10.newegg.com/NeweggImage/ProductImageCompressAll200/34-146-269-02.jpg

Good deal on a 3000c dual core on newegg, $740!
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834146269



As chaos said, macbooks are something else to consider, seriously droolworthy. Although it may be different for yourselves, where i am, macbooks are out of the question because of the hidious markup as they tend to be fashion accessories as well :(

[ChaosEnsues]

MacBooks are actually very reasonably priced. I can get one at UCLA's store for $899 and get a free Nano as well (whoop-tee-do). Considering the hardware that's inside them, it's actually a very good deal. And of course Mac has the whole drool-worthy design thing down pretty well. I'm seriously thinking about a MacBook Pro for my next laptop (with Bootcamp Vista, of course).

[wh666-666]

Whow thats a good deal chaos, one of the best deals i can get from a trustworthy dealer is about £550 - £700 for a macbook but in comparison i can get a laptop with nearly identical specs in the range of £350 - £550

(for example, site below is one for £700 direct from apple)
http://store.apple.com/Apple/WebObjects/ukstore?family=MacBook


God it sucks being in the UK :(

[ChaosEnsues]

Yeah, that's pretty harsh. At an exchange rate of 2 dollars to 1 pound, the bottom MacBook ($1100 retail) should only be £550, but they're charging you £700, which is $1400. Talk about a markup, and I doubt it costs much more to ship from China to the UK than it does from China to the US.

[wh666-666]

Exactly !!

CPU's are more pricey as well and i was thinking the same, shipping shouldnt cost anymore to the UK. Ive considered before finding someone in the US to buy things for me, get the rebates and then ship it out because the exchange rates at its best for years, then i might be able to upgrade more often :D


Anyway monshea, got your new laptop yet? What did/are you going for??

[bugspop1]

I've used about 5 types of laptops and the only 1 I can't say anything good about is HP. We had 2 HP Pentium IV's and had nothing but trouble with them. We now have 2 Toshiba's at work. The 1.6Ghz Intel Centrino had been running great for about 2 years now. The 3.2 Pentium IV had lots of overheating problems. We found as long as you didn't try to hold the PIV on your lap it didn't overheat. We now leave it on a desk or on a wooden cutting board so you can hold it on your lap. We've in the past at work had a couple of IBM's and also 1 Acer. The IBM's are now gone because they had been dropped but besides that they were good computers for their day. The Acer is still running our Air Conditioner Controls (think it's a 386sx), although it is finally on its last leg.

At home I now have a Dell Inspiron Pentium IV 1.6Ghz, Toshiba 1.6Ghz Centrino and a DuraBook AMD Sempron 3000+ !.8Ghz. All three of these run great. We do hold all of them on Wooden Cutting Boards to guard against overheating. I recently purchased an Acer Intel dual core. I will receive it this Thursday so I can't say too much about it yet! I've also used a couple of Compaq's in the past the last being an AMD Athlon 64. Never had any problems with them either.

My point is, any of these could have been a Lemon! You just can't really tell which one it will be. Everyone has their own horror stories. If you must buy at Best Buy or Circuit City, make sure to purchase the 3 year Warranty. As for the statement above about the Best Buy Warranty, we have really found them to come in very useful with the laptop computers! Best Buy had to replace 1 of our HP's (Lemon Policy) and worked on the other twice. I think they replaced the motherboards just about every time they worked on them. If we would have had to pay for the motherboards, I think we'd be broke. It's about 2 hundred for the warranty and that leaves 8 hundred for the laptop. For 8 hundred you can get a decent computer. Myself, I think I'd either look at the Intel Dual Core or the Intel Centrino Dual Core. Both of these should run a bit cooler which is a good thing.