Laptop recommendation

Silver Hilton · 03-01-2004, 06:37 AM

I need a laptop. Can anyone recommend a brand for durability? Toshibas used to have the rep for being the tougest road machine, do they still? The purpose is to let me do work (writing and stock analysis) on the boat, and to serve as a DVD player for the kids between fish.

Pete · 03-01-2004, 06:49 AM

A lot of it depends on what feels good to you, keyboard lay out and combination of pointing devices. I'd suggest a factory refurbished machine, to save on price. Often those come with an extended warrantee, which I think is important with portable 'puters.

Bendman · 03-01-2004, 07:09 AM

I have a Toshiba and I love it.

I't has turned out to be the best computer we have. I don't know if I can say this

but I got mine at Costco for 1,800.00 It has a 17" monitor good sound and is GREAT for watching dvd's.

Cool Texan · 03-01-2004, 08:00 AM

I recently got a Compaq x1000 for my wife. It's an awesome machine, and the reviews are all positive despite the Compaq name. Takes some getting used to the 15.4" screen though, but with Centrino, you cant go wrong. Likewise, at work, I just got a new Dell Latitude, and love it. It's also the Centrino, but a regular 15" screen. Great battery life for both, as well as wireless networking.

Cool Texan · 03-01-2004, 08:02 AM

Whatever you do though, and this is a mantra of mine....get a deal on whatever you buy. Don't buy at regular prices. It's usually pretty easy to save a bundle of $$ on electronics, including computers, including if you buy direct from the manufacturer. Just gotta know where to look.

reeldick · 03-01-2004, 08:04 AM

I picked up a used Toshiba Tecra 8100 in September of 2002. The factory warranty runs out in April 2004. It has been a great machine and shows a DVD well. The best part was the price at $1,000 when I bought it. I couldn't be happier.

lost_sailor · 03-01-2004, 08:42 AM

5 Dells @ work, no troubles.

chynook · 03-02-2004, 06:27 PM

I went to a nearby Jantzen Beach electronics shop and specifically asked for an "open box" laptop. The salesman asked me what I wanted to spend, so I threw him a lowball number of $700 and he brought out an HP that was good enough for me. After ringing it up, he printed out a rebate for $100 from HP, and also threw in a laptop case for free which also had a $15 rebate. So for $585, I got a laptop that somebody bought for Christmas and then returned. And it was loaded with all the bells and whistles that I wanted, and it is great on the boat! They had lots of Circuits in that City!

Cool Texan · 03-02-2004, 07:07 PM

What model is it?

davez530 · 03-02-2004, 07:27 PM

No HP or COMPAQ!!!

Stick with Dell , IBM, Toshiba!

Corkie Monster · 03-02-2004, 10:57 PM

Happy with my Dell. I've had it for around 6 months now. Did have a minor problem with it overheating and shutting down, but I beleive it was cuased by not getting enough air movement from where it was set up at. Works fine now that it's moved. I use my laptop as a desk top, and I have just about everything you can imagine plugged into this baby (Printer, Scanner, camera,etc)

CM

Mr. BrownTrout · 03-03-2004, 04:42 AM

Get a Dell

rv10pilot · 03-03-2004, 05:00 AM

I have to second the NO HP or Compaq (HP now owns Compaq). I have a HP desktop and it is the biggest piece of junk in the world!!!! I have an IBM laptop and like it. Mine has interchangable drives so you can put a DVD player in it or remove it and insert a floppy, or etc....

My recommendations to people are always Dells. They have always been happy with them.

Rv10pilot

ampersat · 03-03-2004, 06:05 AM

We're primarily on IBM laptops at work and I'd have to put them at the top of the list (if you like the "eraser head" mouse). Second is Dell, which we have a few of. Watch out if you try to go the refurb route on Dell (Dell Factory Outlet); they do not do a full warranty on them. The open box option sounds like a great way to go as long as they honor the full warranty.

dlgobeavs · 03-03-2004, 01:02 PM

Figure out what you want exactly, then go to www.pricewatch.com (hopefully I can put this website in here... if not I apologize). Pricewatch will do a search for the lowest price on exactly what you are looking for.. including shipping.

Dave

The Overfishin Condition · 03-03-2004, 01:19 PM

I just bought, about a month ago, a compaq presario 1030. I love it. It has good battery life, wide screen, quality sound a picture. Have had zero problems, and liked it because of it's relatively thin size and light weight. I liked the looks of Dells too, but didn't like the options they came with. Unfortunately SH you're going to get a lot of answers for this, b/c a lot of people are satisfied with what they have. I'd say look around for a deal/steal, check it's components, and buy it. A lot of these systems use the exact same "innards" and it gets to be six one, half dozen another.

rojo · 03-03-2004, 01:52 PM

I use a WinBook. Its been bouncing around on the boat for about 4 1/2 yrs with no problems..Roger

andy-ap emerger · 03-03-2004, 06:48 PM

You're right on the money. I use laptops exclusively for our business. The Toshiba was & is the workhorse modle. The Satellite version has been a durable & reliable unit.
It's got my vote!

[img]graemlins/eek13.gif[/img]

Norm · 03-03-2004, 07:04 PM

The IBM T series are decent, but some of the lower end IBM units are not that great. I've also heard bad things about Dell. Toshiba also makes some decent units. Just make sure and get enough memory( ie 512 MB IMO).

HOGTIDE · 03-03-2004, 07:15 PM

We bought my daughter an HP as her graduation present this past spring. It is an upper end model with max memory, power, top of the line screen etc. because that is what was required for her work in architecture graphics.This model was just under $2,000.

In just the first few months, the screen had a pixel problem, the cd player and writer went out and now the main drive went out. She finally returned the entire unit to HP to be replaced with a page long letter of all the problems. They fixed most of the big stuff but left the bad screen.

I am really dissappointed with the machine. Only a few months in and this top-end model has fallen apart. I just wonder how their fix-job will last? This was a big-time gift for us that was supposed to get her off on her college career.

anyway...you may not want to buy an HP :depressed:

Barviewrocks · 03-03-2004, 10:02 PM

If you monitor Ben's Bargain site (search for it) they have links to many good buys and rebates for technology stuff.

http://www.bensbargains.net/

Note it changes daily. Good shopping!

foxer · 03-03-2004, 11:09 PM

If you want battery life, stick with a centrino. You should be able to watch a full movie and then some. If you really want durability, panasonic makes a toughbook series. These are water resistant and you can drop them from 5ft without a problem. Military and police departments use them..may be more $$ though. Oh yeah, check the bad pixel warranty. Everybody's is different

[ 03-03-2004, 12:10 PM: Message edited by: foxer ]

Cosmic Lazy Susan · 03-03-2004, 11:18 PM

We have 26 Dell Latitudes at work. All bought three years ago. Here are just the facts. Out of 26 we have had 7 display failures and 2 overheats. They were all handled under warranty.

Just had another display failure 2 weeks out of warranty. Cost for a new display was quoted at $430.

Thanks,
Dale

[ 03-03-2004, 12:22 PM: Message edited by: Cosmic Lazy Susan ]

Tagster · 03-03-2004, 11:20 PM

I am an outside salesrep and shuttle my laptop from my house (where it does duty as our desktop), to my car (I have it plugged into the cigarette lighter through an inverter), and then back to my house. It is on and running about 12 hours a day. I use it as a DVD player on long flights and frequently burn cds. It has a large bright screen and adequate battery life. I paid just over $800 new for it at a store that sells circuits by a city. I have had zero issues with it in over a year and a half.

It is a Compaq.

Tag

Zodiac-Fisherman · 03-04-2004, 12:57 PM

Im a apple user. i love this 15inch powerbook G4 that i own. 80gigs of memory, 512mb of ram, Nvidia GEForce Ti Graphics card. Best of all my laptop is made out of Titanium, not plastic that all Pc brands choose to manufactor their laptops with. Hope this helps. Dylan

kayakfisher · 03-04-2004, 05:25 PM

We recently dug up some Consumer Reports info on computers....they gave the highest quality and reliability ratings to Apple and Toshiba laptops, in that order.

Seems that they had the highest reliability ie...lowest incidence of repairs needed. When i used to have a Macintosh and "upgraded" to a pc (windows 98) due to the cost of a new Apple, I found the new operating system good to be familiar with, but really a badly designed system. It seems to crash regularly. Although the new Windows systems are more reliable, my computer guru friends tell me Windows is still not a great operating system. Everyone I know who use Apple, including computer gurus, speak very highly of that operating systems reliability and ease of use.

Except for the abundance of programs for Windows, and the huge number of people using it in the workplace, I cannot think of a reason to get a windows computer again, and with the reliability of the Apple products...seems like no contest to me.

My pc was a compaq...the reliabilty has not been very good, and the service has been nonexistant almost from the day I set it up. (I didn't ask for help much, or often...but the one time I did they were difficult to access, and really not very helpful.) I am not sure if anyone gives any kind of real service anymore though, eh?

M.