Lap top

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RRDTm3
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Lap top

Post by RRDTm3 »

looking for a good one, not going down range with it, got about 2k to spend. any ideas?
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panthersix
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Re: Lap top

Post by panthersix »

Depends on what you're going to use it for and how much battery life you need. I'm not geek, but when I ask that same question, they begin to ask me questions, pompous little fat fuckers!
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Jenny Lynn
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Re: Lap top

Post by Jenny Lynn »

Ranger RRDTm3,
Back in February asked a good friend who works in IT and knows computers well about laptops.

He stated that "Dell's are still a good bet but for good broad features (at least 1GB of memory, 1 GHz or better cpu, 60 GB hard drive, bluetooth, built-in wireless card) you should give HP a look. He got laptop's for his boys for Christmas/2007 and he said all 3 of them love them, all HP's ;)"

Hope this helps.

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Bravo57
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Re: Lap top

Post by Bravo57 »

I bought my wife a Sony Vaio (Model AW) laptop. Works very well. The only downfall is that it runs on vista. Kinda hard to get used to
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Re: Lap top

Post by Disinfertention »

What do you plan to do on this thing? A good one can surf the internet and do word processing. A good one can also play games... what do you want? 2k is a shit-ton of money to blow on a laptop. If you are looking to use it for internet and movies you could spend just over 1k and get a nice one.

You need to look at computers like a car... Does it drive from point A to point B? Then don't blow money on something that is going to be in a scrap yard in just a few years.
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elle
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Re: Lap top

Post by elle »

Ranger RRDTm3,

Can't say enough good things about MacBook. Recently switched from PC to Mac and won't go back. Easy to use, easy to set up, no spyware needed, and light to carry. It should be well under your 2K budget, too.
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Re: Lap top

Post by dbmtrman »

spend 600 on a dell lap top with 320 GB of space, 4 GB of Memory, Intel Core processor, built in web cam. Then buy an air card for $30 a month through sprint or at&t, you can get connected anywhere.
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Re: Lap top

Post by Ribot0 »

Based on my current experiences, I would highly recommend HP, and to stay away from Dell. HP laptops are solid performers for their cost, and Dell has some serious customer service issues. My current Dell laptop has been sent back to the factory three times, each time coming back with more things broken than fixed. Any tech support phone calls require 30+ minutes on hold, and its almost impossible to understand them through their thick accents.

The two HP laptops I've ran are still running strong, with no problems whatsoever.
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Re: Lap top

Post by BadMuther »

RRDTm3 wrote:looking for a good one, not going down range with it, got about 2k to spend. any ideas?

The smaller confuser with buttons? Waddya gonna do with that, Bubba? :wink:
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Re: Lap top

Post by Oto-Man »

Ribot0 wrote:Based on my current experiences, I would highly recommend HP, and to stay away from Dell. HP laptops are solid performers for their cost, and Dell has some serious customer service issues. My current Dell laptop has been sent back to the factory three times, each time coming back with more things broken than fixed. Any tech support phone calls require 30+ minutes on hold, and its almost impossible to understand them through their thick accents.

The two HP laptops I've ran are still running strong, with no problems whatsoever.
Hmmm....

I've got 25 Dell laptops in the field for 3 years, 16 of which are bounced around daily in laptop bags from home to floor board of the truck to work, back to tossed in the truck and back home. Only problem we have had with any of them, 4 of them to be exact, is that the hard drives took a shit...come to find out, the boys were leaving them turned on when they stuck em in the laptop cases...and for some reason laptop hard drives don't like excessive heat for years on end...imagine that.

As far as the repeated trips to the factory for repair, ever think of just keepin' the baby batter off the keyboard?

I'm not sayin' I'm just sayin'.... :wink:

Bubba, you can build a SMOKIN' Dell for under 2k...
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Re: Lap top

Post by Boudicca »

My young Ranger just bought the laptop of his dreams, a Gateway FX for about $1700. It's the only thing he's ever wanted to splurge on, and since he doesn't have a wife to blow it all on shoes and purses, he's content. I tried to tell him it will be obsolete in 3 months, but .... :roll:
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Re: Lap top

Post by Rangerguru »

I have to agree with Elle. I had an HP with the new windows vista and it was total shit, so I got a Mac and I personally will never have another PC. I really hate hippies, but the Apple is in my opinion a far superior computer.
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K.Ingraham
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Re: Lap top

Post by K.Ingraham »

Ribot0 wrote:Based on my current experiences, I would highly recommend HP, and to stay away from Dell. HP laptops are solid performers for their cost, and Dell has some serious customer service issues. My current Dell laptop has been sent back to the factory three times, each time coming back with more things broken than fixed. Any tech support phone calls require 30+ minutes on hold, and its almost impossible to understand them through their thick accents.

The two HP laptops I've ran are still running strong, with no problems whatsoever.
I'll second that. I'm typing this on a HP I bought four months ago & it has all the good enough bells & whistles another respondent mentioned are on his Dell. Mine runs about $850 total, although I got it from Circuit City's disposal sale for $600. I bought a good metal carrying case for it so that it'll survive lapses and clumsiness & travel well, which I must do with it.
The HP, and most laptops now come with the wireless card. Don't go buy stuff until you know what it has & does from the box. Extra memory never hurts.

Advice I recieved when I asked the same of my young classmates that I heeded & proved its worth:
-No need to spend anything near the first grand. If you really, really need to spend 2K, send me the first thou.
-BUY A WIRELESS MOUSE. That little spot on the laptop where you wiggle your finger around to move the cursor sucks. I've seen your mitts, you're better off with the wireless mouse. Trust me.
-Buy a new battery with long life, 6-8 hours, if you plan to travel with it a lot, or lay out on the lakeshore. Most out-of-box laptop batteries last up to an hour, slightly more if you're lucky.
-Get a good protective carrying case. OtoMan's experience to the contrary, they don't make these things to last.
-Get one with a large screen. It's easier to read, not enough extra weight to matter and you can see the details better in the photos. :twisted: It's worth it. Big screen.

If you're into playing games, seek advice from others who do.
Ribot's comments about Dell vs HP are true. I work for a major hi-tech war profiteer multinational, in a facilty with 1600 employees, 1598 of whom are computer gods & geeks. Last year the corporation dropped Dell in favor of HP. Large scale purchase price was obviously a factor, but everything Ribot said I heard around work also. My coworkers travel a lot & from their feedback I'll repeat these admonitions: LArge screen, rugged carrying case with pockets for accessories and long-endurance battery.

About Vista coming in the package, yeah, Vista is an uneccesary PITA, but MS has extended XP as a result of reaction to the vista abortion and a new system is coming out this autumn, if Vista is that big a deal to you. I'm pretty marginal with these things and I got over Vista OK, so you should be able to also.


Finally, if you're keeping a PC or Mac at home as well, get a thumb or zip drive (these go by many names now), makes transfer of files and stuff real quick and simple. If you're going to college, they are absolutely indespensible. If you travel they make a convenient place to store your backup data if someone should swipe the laptop, like the customs guy.

Good luck. Like most things hi-tech, I'm a luddite and a latecomer - and with most tech that I resisted, I wonder how I got along without it.
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Re: Lap top

Post by DrD »

panthersix wrote:Depends on what you're going to use it for and how much battery life you need. I'm not geek, but when I ask that same question, they begin to ask me questions, pompous little fat fuckers!
:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: I know I shouldn't laugh... but I know *exactly* the type of geek you have dealt with. So much so, I cannot begin to say. It is infuriating and frustrating to deal with them. They are useless and full of themselves.

A hacker friend of the type and caliber those fucks only *wish* they could be posted this request for advice not too long ago: "Needs a PC. Shooting for the <$300 range, un wimpy.... Like a glad pc." The real professionals don't fuck around being pompous. They have nothing to prove. And, they also ask for advice... :D
RRDTm3 wrote:looking for a good one, not going down range with it, got about 2k to spend. any ideas?
Ranger RRDTm3 -
You don't need to spend $2k, not even. :D

Cheers;
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Re: Lap top

Post by EvilCouch »

Might want to hold off on getting a new laptop for a month or two. There's a good possibility that MS is going to start letting OEM companies distribute computers running Windows 7 soon.
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