Getting a new laptop! So...some advices.

[Jack Frost]

Ok, my parents are getting me one for Christmas, so I can take up most of my $1000 credit card limit without a problem.

 

I am not really picky... But these are the ones I have been thinking...

 

http://www.bestbuy.ca/catalog/proddetail.a...amp;catid=25253

 

And...

 

http://www.bestbuy.ca/catalog/proddetail.a...amp;catid=25253

 

So what do you think? Any other recommendation? Remember...my limit is $600 but I could pay a little more than that.

[Graeme]

Both of those are decent machines, but it's hard to make recommendations without having some idea of what you want to do with the laptop.

 

I asked a similar question in the Members Q&A section, but I know what I want to do with it (travelling, including using it on a plane), and hence wanted lightweight as the primary requirement, and long battery life as the second. For many uses, those requirements aren't relevant. What are YOUR uses going to be?

[Jack Frost]

I am not very picky to be honest.

 

Price is the main issue. I don't care much for hard drive or RAM size. The battery must be good (about two hours) and must not be heavy since I like going to caf

[ashessnow]

But its more about what do you want to do with it. Figure that out and go from there. Do you want to play games and watch movies? That would mean a bigger screen with more memory but its heavier. Do you want it for work or just use it as your primary computer? I actually bought myself a laptop for my birthday and these were all the things I had to think of.

Edited January 1, 2008 by Nerotorb

[rknapp]

I would go for the Toshiba before the Sony only because Vaio isn't the greatest laptop line out there. I've heard it's gotten better, but my friends Vaio desktop is subordinate to all of my systems (except the Compaq I threw out last summer). I would recommend trying to get a 9-cell battery... the one in my Dell Inspiron 9300 (next model below XPS and very powerful) has been a life saver.

 

Also, avoid Best Buy. They don't support what they sell unless you spend an exorbitant amount of money on an extended warranty.

Edited January 1, 2008 by rknapp

[Jack Frost]

I rarely watch movies on my laptop and I only play Civilization IV once every while for a game. It'll be mostly for internet surfing and typing up school papers (as well as my stories )

 

But the ones I put in a link are the only options I have below $600. I'll look at my school but it's a Acer...not sure if it has the same good stuffs as the Tobisha one. *sighs*

[TalonRider]

Both of my laptops have been Toshiba's. I've had no problems with either of them.

[FrenchCanadian]

Between the 2 of those choice I think I'd go with the toshiba, it seems better.

 

I've asked my friends who knows a little more on pc than me and he told me that The design of the Sony one might be better, but he'd chose the Toshiba one too, because it's faster, there's a video output to connect on the tv (tho that might not be important for your usage) and the battery last longer.

[wolfwalker]

I bought this one form Best Buy

 

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?sk...d=1186008217237

 

I got it on sale for 379.00 and added in another gig of ram as it was on sale for 39.99

 

I have taken this thing everywhere and am very happy with it, I have watched movies and surfed teh web, and use it at work and around the farm without problems, though the only thing I am not happy about is windows Vista but I deal with it as out of the 6 computers I deal with, this is the only one with Vista all but two use XP Pro, the one that runs the green house uses 2000.

 

the key is to secure it in a very good case if you are going to use it a lot out and about.

 

 

I would think it would be going on sale again at Best Buy mid January to counter act the retail slump and right befor ehaving to pay taxes on inventory

 

R

[Jack Frost]

Unfortunely there is no such as $379 laptop in Canada.

 

I found more stuffs and I'll shop tomorrow before the Boxing Day sales end. Hope there will be some left for $600.

[JamesSavik]

Check out the HP laptops at HP.com. They have a configuration program which lets you put together the system that you want and see how much is costs.

[Rabble_Rouser]

Well, by waiting you've saved yourself some money... the GST tax was lowered to 5% on Jan.1st.

 

Steve

[Tiger]

Ok, my parents are getting me one for Christmas, so I can take up most of my $1000 credit card limit without a problem.

 

I am not really picky... But these are the ones I have been thinking...

 

http://www.bestbuy.ca/catalog/proddetail.a...amp;catid=25253

 

And...

 

http://www.bestbuy.ca/catalog/proddetail.a...amp;catid=25253

 

So what do you think? Any other recommendation? Remember...my limit is $600 but I could pay a little more than that.

Toshiba is definitely a good brand for laptops. The only problem I see is the processor. I prefer Pentium. The second computer had a pentium. So brand wise, I say Toshiba but on with a Pentium processor. I'm not saying Turion is bad; I'm saying that Pentium is preferable.

[rknapp]

Toshiba is definitely a good brand for laptops. The only problem I see is the processor. I prefer Pentium. The second computer had a pentium. So brand wise, I say Toshiba but on with a Pentium processor. I'm not saying Turion is bad; I'm saying that Pentium is preferable.

Then we can agree to disagree. I don't know of the performance of the Turion models, but all of my Athlon's have been phenomenal. I'm about to go to my third Athlon, a dual-core 4000+. Personally if I was shopping for a laptop and it came down to those two, I would get the Toshiba simply because it uses AMD instead of Intel since Intel has yet to please me. The Centrino in my Dell is sub-par... even with a gig of ram in the thing XP MCE 2005 is still pretty slow at starting up and shutting down, though actual running performance has been ok thus far. I was done with Pentium after using a P3 for a few years several years ago.

[Jack Frost]

Ok, I got one for $735 CAD/USD (they're the same rate these days...) from my school. It's a Toshiba Satellite Pro A100/1.73GHz/1024GB/Intel M with Vista Professional (Business package) in French.

 

Very decent machine. I like it.

 

Thanks for your advices btw.

[Tiger]

Then we can agree to disagree. I don't know of the performance of the Turion models, but all of my Athlon's have been phenomenal. I'm about to go to my third Athlon, a dual-core 4000+. Personally if I was shopping for a laptop and it came down to those two, I would get the Toshiba simply because it uses AMD instead of Intel since Intel has yet to please me. The Centrino in my Dell is sub-par... even with a gig of ram in the thing XP MCE 2005 is still pretty slow at starting up and shutting down, though actual running performance has been ok thus far. I was done with Pentium after using a P3 for a few years several years ago.

I was mainly speaking from what I have read about them. I have never said that I'm always right, far from it in fact. I'll keep other brands of processors in mind when I buy a laptop later this year.

[Former Member]

I just bought a laptop and I must admit I am very picky about my electronics. Mainly it's because I run Linux and like to make sure all my hardware is supported well. I got an HP dv6700z, at like $850 with all the upgrades I put on it, it's a really good deal.

 

My recommendations are to just ignore the warranty if you know someone good with computers, friends are usually more helpful than tech support anyway and hardware usually starts failing AFTER the warranty expires.

Edited January 6, 2008 by hollaburoo

[colinian]

The best decision I ever made about computers was to ask for a super-light laptop for college. I have a Sony VGN-T140P (I don't think this exact model is made any more). it weighs 2.4 pounds including the AC adapter, and I get between 4.5 and 5 hours of heavy use out of the battery which is a 9-cell. Weight is, for me, more important than almost any other laptop feature. When I'm hauling around a backpack with books and notepads and miscellaneous ephemera, having 2.4 pounds instead of 6.5 pounds makes one heck of a difference.

 

If you're in school, and use a backpack to carry your stuff, add more books that weigh the same as the laptop you're planning to buy to the normal stuff you carry in your backpack. Carry it around for one day. If it's not a problem, then it's a go. Otherwise maybe rethink your choice.

 

Colin