Help me choose a laptop (Pretty Please?)

[Cain Highwind]

Well I just did my taxes and found that I'm getting about 800 dollars back. I thought I would use the money to get a new laptop, since my last one broke down about a year ago. Now as for my usage for it. I'm really getting it for "living-room" use and the occasional trip. Nothing fancy like video editing, and I'm not TOO big of a PC Gamer, just a power user who likes to watch videos and browse the web, especially the latter while watching TV. Not to mention I'm going to need a PC to hook up my digitial camera to when on a trip.

I had an IBM Thinkpad as my first laptop a few years back, hated that "eraser head" mouse, but was otherwise solid for the time, but finally the screen just blinked out just after it went off warranty (oddly the laptop still works, but you have to hook it up to an external monitor).

I was then told that Acer's laptops provided a lot of bang for its cheap price. And yes, it was fast, but again, not too long after the warranty expired (about a year and a half after purchase), it completely fried on startup.

So here I am thinking about my third laptop. I want something powerful and sturdy, but it doesn't have to be extravagant with tons of features. Though, I am guy who does appreciate a little flair in design (both hardware and software speaking)

I've narrowed it down to three candidates:

Toshiba Satellite A355 ($750)

Probably the one I'm leaning toward most.

+Generous Hard Drive and RAM
+Large Screen
+Disc Label maker
+4 GB of RAM

-Has Vista (not a huge deal breaker for me, the much better W7 is coming out later anyway)
-Has integrated graphics
-Will probably be too big for my Laptop travel bag (My 15" Acer was a snug fit)

Well then I had a heard a lot of people going Mac because they seem to be more reliable and last longer than PCs (of course this is always up for debate). So I found this little computer for under a thousand:

MacBook MB881LL ($960)


+Small and easily portable
+Sleek design, with a backlit keyboard; "Safety" power plug
+Could install Windows with Boot Camp
+/- It's a Mac (Depending on your viewpoint. I haven't used a Mac since my High School days about 9 years ago, so I'm really not familiar with all the fancy ins and outs of Mac OSX)

-Expensive. Costs a lot and you get so little
-Small screen (Good for just me, but hard to "share" with other people)
-Mac is practically unknown to me
-I could get an extra year warranty on the Toshiba and it would still cost less than this Mac

And I have also optioned the Dell Home laptops, don't have a specific link per say, as their website offers...


Dell (About $1000 based on Configuration)

+Custom Configurations
+Can choose to have wild designs/colors on the front
+They have the same Backlit keyboard as the macs do
+Can choose to go with Windows XP if I desired

-Shaky Customer Service and Quality Reputation (From Family, Friends, and other reports I've seen on the internet)
-No control of bloatware
-Business models apparently offer higher quality, but no styling options and barebone features

Then there's this one I found first actually. I had some misleading reports about HP and their quality, but it's still open for a possible purchase

HP Pavillion DV2890NR Artist Edition

+Awesome artistic design
+Solid hardware features including Remote, Dedicated Graphics Card, HDMI Port, and Generous Hard Drive

[Furore]

I'd go with the Toshiba if you're wanting it somewhat more rugged than your garden variety laptop. They usually seem to last longer than most other brands I've found, especially those huge old ones that weigh half of what some people do.
Also, the larger screen will enhance your experience more than many more superficial features.

I've noticed a few macs recently have issues with overheating and would recommend one to you ONLY if you prefer the Mac's OS over Windows/Linux/Whatever else. Hehehe, seen several melted G4 laptops during the last few years...
The other issue with Macs is because they're a fashion item in this day and age, the retail prices are way higher than the value of what you're getting in most cases. On the plus side, they don't get effected by malware nearly as much as Windows as few people target Macs compared to some other OSes.

HP I'm really not too fond of neither despite my current laptop being HP branded. I find they add a lot of resource hungry 'services' that aren't always as optional as I'd like them to be. Good value for money more often than not, but some features can be annoying.

[LocoColt04]

HP for desktops, I'd never suggest.

HP for laptops, FREAKING AWESOME.

Seriously, I did my hardcore competitive gaming on this system for two years until I finally couldn't install new games any more. We're talking CAL League stuff here. If you get a new HP laptop, it's going to last you for at least a year for top-end stuff. They build them really well.

I stray away from Dell for laptops because I've never owned one that DIDN'T have an air-flow issue. Of course, I've never owned an XPS and those are gorgeous laptops, but aside from those, I'd say no.


@Silver: I shut off all HP services. I don't know what you're having issues with. Maybe we need to talk? The only one I keep on is the Wireless Assistant... wifi signal boost is nice.

[Furore]

@Silver: I shut off all HP services. I don't know what you're having issues with. Maybe we need to talk? The only one I keep on is the Wireless Assistant... wifi signal boost is nice.

I had some preinstalled with no option for removal and in some cases, no options in the HP control panel for turning things off. There's also some things like a fingerprint reader utility reader that I could turn off, but I've noticed it somehow randomly turns itself back on at some point in future leading to much annoyance.

In all honesty, I could probably just buy a new copy of Windows XP or Vista and download the drivers straight off the net MINUS the other shite they include, but I don't feel I should fork out that kind of money for something that'll just keep me from being annoyed half the time. No joke, the first thing that made me raise an eyebrow with this machine was looking at the processes before I added or customised anything. There were upwards of 60.

The one thing I do like about this laptop is that I got it really cheap via a business and it has a good quality screen and graphics card. Handles all my fave PC games, which isn't saying much as I tend to stick with consoles these days for most of my gaming needs. We're talking FFVIII, Fallout 1+2, Grandia 2 and at times the gorgeous Beyond Good and Evil. After that, not much.

[Cain Highwind]

HP for desktops, I'd never suggest.

HP for laptops, FREAKING AWESOME.

Seriously? I was JUST talking to a coworker and she said the EXACT OPPOSITE. That's what's tricky about making these kind of decisions, there's always that whole "They used to be good but now they're not." fluctuation in models or vice versa.

[OceanEyes28]

I was moderately pleased with my HP laptop that I've had for about two and a half years. But I was envious of Dad's macbook pro, which he got around the same time, that still runs like new while my HP randomly turns itself off or freezes/lags for however long it chooses. And the CD/DVD drive has been useless for a year.

Since the new macbook pros just came out, though, the prices for the old models have dropped. I got on Amazon and got a 15" MacBook pro, 2GB of RAM, 250GB Hard Drive with the Apple Protection Plan and a carrying case for under $2000 (which happened to be the amount of my refund check from school, ha).

There really isn't one operating system I prefer over another, though. I'm pretty flexible since I've used both. But then, I don't do a whole lot of online gaming, so I don't know a whole lot about what would be better for that. And I just got this thing, so there might be unforeseen problems later on, but for now, I'm enjoying the new computer and I don't feel bad at all about how much got paid for it.

[LocoColt04]

Well, I suppose this was manufactured in December of 2005. Certainly things change in three years' time.

If you want a suggestion outside of HP, I'd look at the Sony Vaio or, as previously mentioned, a MacBook. You just have to worry about potential heating issues with the latter, or invest in a fan stand for it.

[Chu Chulain]

Don't know anything about computers, but usually the mildest advertised is the most reliable.

Alienware is pretty ultimate standard though...but if I were you yeah the Toshiba is subtle, personal, and none of that popular item biased/gloating feeling. Just efficiency and performance and individuality.

[Victoria]

Alienware is lame.
It's just a 500$ computer in a 1000$ case. A computer you build yourself will always be more powerful than an alienware computer. >_>;

But I'll second what Cesar says and go with a Sony Vaio or a Macbook.

[Sean]

Alienware is lame.
It's just a 500$ computer in a 1000$ case. A computer you build yourself will always be more powerful than an alienware computer. >_>;

But I'll second what Cesar says and go with a Sony Vaio or a Macbook.

Alienware builds amazing laptops, and their PCs are reasonably priced vs what one would expect to pay for components off of newegg or tigerdirect. If you want a serious performance laptop; go with Alienware.


HP makes TERRIBLE TERRIBLE TERRIBLE laptops. DO NOT BUY ONE.

Two friends from college have had nothing but problems with theirs; one had memory issues, which was easily resolved, another has cooling problems, his internal components do not function properly and overheat, causing damage to the components, and his fan does not operate properly either, it generally runs at max for VERY long periods of time and is VERY loud.

My sister's HP laptop has been to geeksquad for warranty repair twice, for reasons I don't rememeber.

My own HP laptop has been mailed back to HP, for the CPU taking a static shock and failing. That, personally, tells me that HP does not build their laptops to properly protect the internal components from taking static damage from sources coming outside the computer. When I got the computer back, there was a large number of software issues. HP also does not offer a copy of the operating system, but instead their own software to format the hard drive and put it to factory standards, and that includes all of the factory bloat software that takes hours to remove. The quicklaunch bar above the keyboard also has a large variet of problems, and the "gloss finish" is nothing but a fingerprint and dirt magnet, it quickly loses it's nice look to every day use.

HPs "dedicated graphics cards" in laptops aren't always dedicated cards, they're generally GPU chips embedded on the motherboard and don't contain the power that a dedicated card can. They also are not upgradable.

For specification's purposes: My laptop is an HP dv9640US / dv9500, it has two model names. It's ~ a year old


I don't like Apple, so I won't comment, even if they can boot camp into Windows now.

If Toshiba still builds laptops like they did in 1999, they'd be my choice. I have an old Toshiba Satellite from 1999 sitting in a bag in my basement running Windows 98. For it's time, it beat my 1997 Toshiba Infinia Desktop specs by three fold, and it was only two years younger and a laptop. Not only that, it's always been reliable, none of the components have failed yet, save for the battery. I can boot it up right now if I wanted. I hated it for gaming though, because back then laptop LCDs had a huge ghost effect.

I also have a monitorless Dell sitting next to me right now that's taken 3 dives, the 3rd of which was fatal to the monitor. The first did nothing, the 2nd took out the HDD (easily replaced by myself) and the internal WIFI card. It's pretty rugged, it was light for it's 15.4" monitor size, and I had no real problems with it at all.


Edit: I'm thinking of upgrading this current laptop from a 1.5 core 2 duo w/ 2GB of RAM up to 4GB of RAM and a 2.4 core 2 duo for ~ $300.


Edit again: At the Vaio comment: I can't trust Sony to make computers, and I've read nothing but bad things about them.


Edit again again: Okay, enough rambling. I'm assuming you want a good performing, reliable, possible light gaming laptop? In the end it all boils down to what YOU want.

Of those you listed / have been mentioned:
High end gaming laptop: Alienware, hands down.
Mediumish, peformance, reliability, light gaming: The Dell you linked, or you could try your chances with the HP and pray.
Good performing, reliable laptop: Toshiba - In my opinion the best for what you said you want the laptop for.

[Kaiser Dragoon]

Well, since you're getting a laptop, or a prebuilt at all, I am willing to guess you have a LOT of extra time to track down and delete Ship(or t)ware that comes with the system? If so, I would go with a Dell XPS, my friend has one of these and they are awesome, you shouldn't have a problem using anything (they are ment to be high end media heavy computers anyways) or a Sony Viao (these computers are made with fairly decent parts for the price).

Anyways, ONLY do HP if you don't ever plan on using customer service. They do a terrible job, all in all. The good news on that, if you need replacement anything, they are the Microsoft of the computer industry, they will most likely replace it for you (much like the thousands of red ringed 360's).

In the end, it's your call, you have my opinion on the matter, and that's all I can offer.

~Kaiser Dragoon

[Victoria]

Alienware comment: Dell owns Alienware. Has for a while now. Saying to get an Alienware is like saying to get an XPS. They may make good laptops, but their PCs aren't that special. At least they weren't a year or so ago. I don't know about now.

HP: I have a Compaq laptop that's over a year old that I bought and aside from a few keys missing, it has no problems whatsoever. =\ I guess it depends on the model, like all things.

Alienware vs Custom Build - Just a few days ago I picked out components for a comp that I wanna build, and the price came up to about $1280. I searched Dell, and the closest spec'd XPS came up to over 1500$. Over 1600 if not for the "instant" savings.

And I just customized an Alienware PC with the components I chose, and... the grand total is... $1728. Just selecting the processor alone jumped the price from $999 to $1349.

Yeah. Alienware is really decently priced. >_>;

Components picked out individually (by Brick & Mortar, anyway.), will always be cheaper than a pre-built computer. There's also that thing with interest and APR, too...

And if I include speakers and monitor, it jumps through $2000. $2154 to be exact. o.O;

But anyway... haha. That's enough going off on a tangent for now.

This is for laptops, not desktops. I'm sure Alienware makes good laptops. I know XPSs are a good machine. I have one as a desktop and it was awesome when I first got it. But over 2 years later, it's kinda obsolete now. >_>;

[Sean]

On HPs Customer Service end:

I'm an e-mail person when dealing with companies, because I hate sitting on the phone for hours talking to someone from overseas.

I sent them an e-mail describing my issue with my laptop, they responded by the next day, the box to mail it back shipped the following day. My problem, however, came from FedEx losing the box. I emailed HP, they replied, I replied, they replied and mailed me a new box in a span of 2 days. FedEx lost that one too, miraculously three days after I called FedEx the first box showed up on my doorstep, with a postmark date of a week and a half prior to that day. The laptop was mailed back to me, but never showed up, I e-mailed HP, they sent me a tracking number THAT DAY, I called FedEx, and they had the computer at their facility, stating they "tried to deliver it but no one was home and they left a door tag"

HP's repair and reship took a day, say they got it on a Tuesday, it was back in the mail to me by Wednesday and I picked it up from FedEx on Saturday.

HP's customer service - exceptional
FedEx's customer service, and service in general - terribad.


Jay: Link me the Alienware you built, and I'll price it from NewEgg. ALL computer companies, even NewEgg, charge out the ass for the current pinnacle of processing power. The top 3 in any socket are always the most expensive, but companies like Dell and HP rarely offer a processor that is in the top 3 for it's socket.

[funkpilz]

It seems everyone is going for the low-budget option, but I don't think you will regret the extra money spent when you go for a MacBook. Consider the user experience and in-box capabilities, especially in terms of software (huge amounts of free software out there).

[Furore]

It seems everyone is going for the low-budget option, but I don't think you will regret the extra money spent when you go for a MacBook. Consider the user experience and in-box capabilities, especially in terms of software (huge amounts of free software out there).

Yes, it's almost like selling inferior hardware with Linux installed only instead of it being a cheaper option, it costs an arm and a leg. Actually I think Linux tends to get better user content in general most of the time...

As for the inbox capabilities...


Closest thing I could find on short notice via google images. You get the idea, I'm sure.

[funkpilz]

True, both Linux and OS X have better content, mainly because their users are enthusiastic about the platform they're using. The problem with Linux lately is that because the nerd community is building up a huge hype over open source, and saying that Linux will take over the netbook market, manufacturers actually get away with putting a hefty price tag on hardware that should be affordable for everyone (which is one of the tenets of open source).

[Furore]

True, both Linux and OS X have better content, mainly because their users are enthusiastic about the platform they're using. The problem with Linux lately is that because the nerd community is building up a huge hype over open source, and saying that Linux will take over the netbook market, manufacturers actually get away with putting a hefty price tag on hardware that should be affordable for everyone (which is one of the tenets of open source).

And that's why you buy a cheap PC or notebook that has Windows preinstalled and just install Linux over it. You get better hardware than the Mac AND Linux which is better due to all the awesome nerds supporting it. I'd take the Ubuntu community over the Mac and very possibly Windows communities any day.

And no, they don't have better content as you say it. Look at the game selection as a very real indication of this. You might be able to run Windows games on a Mac via emulation these days, sure, but you can run it the same, and more often than not, cheaper on a Windows machine.

The macs that ARE better than most alternatives are even more expensive than the macs that are more expensive than their superior counterparts. Most people don't want to spend half of what they'd spend on a new small car on their PC.

[funkpilz]

And that's why you buy a cheap PC or notebook that has Windows preinstalled and just install Linux over it. You get better hardware than the Mac AND Linux which is better due to all the awesome nerds supporting it. I'd take the Ubuntu community over the Mac and very possibly Windows communities any day.

And no, they don't have better content as you say it. Look at the game selection as a very real indication of this. You might be able to run Windows games on a Mac via emulation these days, sure, but you can run it the same, and more often than not, cheaper on a Windows machine.

The macs that ARE better than most alternatives are even more expensive than the macs that are more expensive than their superior counterparts. Most people don't want to spend half of what they'd spend on a new small car on their PC.

I wasn't talking about games, nobody in their right mind would challenge Windows as a gaming platform. What I mean is third-party and free software, which is where OS X and Linux excel. There are so many hobby developers writing software for these platforms, simply because they enjoy using these so much; this is why they want to add to their value. Windows, on the other hand, doesn't get a lot of free software because nobody gives a shit about Windows unless they can earn money in the process. Hence the gaming monopoly.
Commercially, the only field were OS X trumps Windows in terms of sheer amount of available software is the creative field. But then again, spreadsheet and management software is what you need Windows for. They all have their uses.

[Furore]

What I mean is third-party and free software, which is where OS X and Linux excel. There are so many hobby developers writing software for these platforms, simply because they enjoy using these so much; this is why they want to add to their value. Windows, on the other hand, doesn't get a lot of free software because nobody gives a shit about Windows unless they can earn money in the process. Hence the gaming monopoly.

I dunno, I mean I've seen more free applications and games made for Windows than I have Macs. It might be that the vast majority of people tend to use Windows, but either way, yeah...

Linux on the other hand not only has a ton of completely free applications, but many of them are written by more advanced users so they're often of a higher quality. Some of the better ones are that well enjoyed they get ported over. Well to Windows anyways. Not so sure about Macs.

Commercially, the only field were OS X trumps Windows in terms of sheer amount of available software is the creative field. But then again, spreadsheet and management software is what you need Windows for. They all have their uses.

Really? Cos I thought pretty much all bigger companies released versions for both OSes due to the profitability. I can understand a well looked after Mac tending to be a more stable media machine in many cases, but there's still a lot of multiplatform applications and Windows gets exclusives just as Macs do.

And Linux? It gets entire distributions aimed solely at creating great multimedia pieces. Like Ubuntu Studio for example. Now that's awesome value wouldn't you agree? Especially with the ease of adding new packages these days. Pretty much anyone can figure it out.

[Cain Highwind]

Well I figure, the problem I have with laptops is generally something just gives out. With the Toshiba at NewEgg I can easily get a 3 year warranty for an extra hundred and it would still be cheaper than things like the Macbook which only has a one year warranty on it. Yeah there's plenty of people who swear by their quality, but I want a little insurance. And this way it doesn't matter if Toshiba's quality is long or not, I'm still going to last a good three years, and then by that time, it'll be time for an upgrade anyway.

[ekimeinna]

i think toshiba is good, because this is one of the brand i know that is universal (can be in any countries..) because that is the one that i am using right now...