So....I shopping for a new one...Maybe a Laptop. I'm on backup Cpu for the time being. My question is....If you were shopping for a new laptop. Where you get one from and why?

Dell,

Top notch customer support as far as the big computer companies go and great prices.

Personally I have a Sony Vaio, but they are not cheap.

get a mac like me !!

whatever you want. just go to the store... and buy the last floor model...

I would agree with Robert. Go Dell. You cannot beat the support for the price. If you want one now, go to the store and just buy one that fits what you can spend.

I have 2 dells. A laptop and a desktop. I love them both. The service and support have been awsome. And for the price you can't go wrong. I use my desk top for my photography business and it works great.

I say biuld your own !!! Tiger Direct or New Egg for parts , you will get alot more computer for the money and just use google for support ..............Ive been doing that for years !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As for DELL , I hope you speak Hindu cause I cant understand the peeps @ their call center.......!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
wingsaseagles

well being as i work with computers all day at my IT job i may be of assistance here... though i am generally good for nothing... lol...


We work with Dell,IBM,and HP all day

Most people like Dells that dont have to deal with them everyday... HOWEVER, any IT will tell you... their help is useless when somthing breaks... and the computers are "cheapo" designed at best... meaning you will spend alot of time on the phone with either someone from india or uzbekistaniousis if something breaks


HP, is a good computing brand it pretty sturdy and generally has pretty good performance... however it is not a "fixer" friendly model line... meaning... its hard to take out the hardrive and cd-rw dvd burner from the case because its all molded into the beautiful exoskeleton of the computer


IBM, BY FAR THE BEST COMPUTER out there... stay away from the R series and spend a lil more to get any of the T series and or X series... these computers are almost indestructable... and thats in the hands of ASU MBA students who swear by them. They are however... VERY VERY ugly... but i guess thats a price im willing to pay for a computer thats built well and works well



Mac.... if you haven't used one before... dont buy one... itll just confuse you... then you will get mad... and kill it....

nah.im jk.. they are pretty good... but there is a slight learning curve to use one... and lets not argue they are SEXY.... well as sexy as a dude with a laptop can be...



as far as any other brand here are some general guidelines

Min RAM: 1GB
Hard Drive : 7200 RPM if you can and at least 40GB
Processor: Intel Core Duo
Batt life : MIN 3 hours
Graphics: at least 64mb preferably not shared



If your not really stressed to buy a computer ASAP i would wait a few months until Windows Vista is released that way you don't have to upgrade later...


hope this helps

if you want a desktop pm me and I can help you build one as well... on the CHEAP...

Which laptop is the best? I would say Dell. Which one is the best for the $$? I would go for HP. HP doesnt have a good docking station. Since this will be personal used, I think HP is the best for the money. Dell has an awesome docking station. If you use it at work and home, you kinda need the docking station. But then again, the docking station is soooo expensive, plus another screen, keyboad, mouse, etc it will run you at least $3000. If you compare the laptops side by side, HP is cheaper for the performance.

If you are buying a desk top, Ill go for Dell.

If your looking for a new laptop i would say go with an Alienware... www.alienware.com

The company is owned by Dell and alienware makes super customizable stuff. Not to mention the laptops are pretty damn sexy too (i own one )

Plus they have great customer support and the option for a button that sends a complete diagnostic to a tech guru in case u have a small crash or a total system failure. All u do is press the button and within a few hours they will send u your bug fixes, patches, or how-to instructions.

I love em!

I would recommend a Mac, but like BJ said, it does take some getting used to if you haven't used one. I have a powerbook that has been around for at least 4 years, with no problems at all. I used to use PCs but after having a MAC, i would never go back.

Once you go mac you dont go back eh?

I bought my Sweetie a Toshiba for Christmas. Dell is cool too, was my second choice.

i'll have to toss my 2 cents in here. For a laptop find one that has the guts you want.
I'll warn you about Dell.. they build thier machines by whome ever can build it the cheapest for them. So each model of thier series can be by a different builder..
Tech support.. well everyone has thier horror stories.

IBM aka Lenovo.. .IBM was bought out about a year ago and now is owned by Lenovo a chinese manufacture. Only thing IBM sells now is servers and softward support for servers.

HP.. Poor tech support.. they do have some nice features for some of thier machines.
again find what guts you want and what kind of buget you want to stay with.

Sony. Hmm.. Me personally not a big Sony fan. BUT, my dad did use them for for a long time but it was part of his job they used Sony.

Alienware.. aka DELL Dell bought out them this last year cause they were lacking in
a high end gamimg computer. So they scored big time in buying out this company..

Gateway.. well.. Just pray you never have to use thier techsupport.. *gag*
also gateway bought out E-Machine since they could use thier production to get a machine out faster and cheaper..

Toshiba... a good solid machine... they do not advertise alot dunno.. what they say word of mouth is better than putting out a fancy commercial I still dont understand it
after all these years.
Again.. find a budget you want to be at.. find the guts you want it to have..
NEVER settle for what you can afford.. if it means spending a little more to have something you want do it! With any computer the technology advances as we go on..
its not leaps and bounds like it was 5 years ago.. but baby steps..
Alot of things are going to change with the Launch of Vista... Not sure good or bad..
you never know with a new O/S coming out the door.

If you have questions feel free to ask.. I don't mind..


All this is IMO so :P

What ever it is, I would go with a Dual Core Processor. At least you will be able to use it for a couple of years.

I've been with HP for years, Excellent service, they go out of their way to help you.

What ever it is, I would go with a Dual Core Processor. At least you will be able to use it for a couple of years.

thats what you think.... q3 2007 quad core most likely

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i239/captainlaziness/vinylandme032.jpg

I recently bought a 17in MacBook Pro for school and I will never go back to a PC. It runs so smoothly; the Mac vs. PC commercials on TV perfectly represent each computer.

I agree, however, that there is a learning curve required for Macs. Once you get the hang of the computer, you will never want to see a PC again.

I have a real tough time working with Macs. After years of PCs Macs seem counter-intuitive.

Having 3 laptops beside me, here goes:

Acer (wife's): 1.5ghz 512mb ram, 60gb HD. Pretty basic. Right mouse button stopped working, and the left mouse thinks it's a right click. Service and support was a nightmare. Still doesn't work right. At a $399 black friday deal last year, I should have spent more.

Gateway (mine) 1.6ghz core2duo, 1gb ram, 120gb hd, xp media center. Absolutely love it. Great layout, battery life, sturdy construction. Was $799 at Best Buy.

Dell (work) 2.1ghz, 1gb ram, xp pro. It's HEAVY! Touchpad scrollers suck. It's decent, but for being over $1k, it's not worth it. It's an AutoCAD whore, and it struggles to run it smoothly.

I was going to build my own, but that's not really an option for a laptop. Best Buy (normally I'd advise against) had the best price on the laptop I bought, and with identical specs, my Gateway was $280 cheaper than a Dell.

AAHHH...Just came back from Best buy, Costco, and Comp usa. Now my head hurts. I really don't like shopping for something I have no clue in. I do appreciate all the feedback from yall.

If you can count past 2 you can use a mac, much better than a PC, much more user friendly.......No blue screen of death like those Windows.....

^^Amen.
I don't miss those days!

seriously im telling u i was a pc user my entire life up till 8 months ago... i will NEVER EVER go back to pc... u should go into an apple store and look at a mac. I guarentee its worth it.. plus no viruses =)

I have been with PC's most of my life. The thing about mac..They are simply better. The so call learning curve is PC's fault..well mainly Microsoft. They get everyone used to making things difficult. When you buy a Mac you have to think simple. It does it all for you. No driver downloads. Re-booting or all that crap! I have replaced all my PC's and will never buy PC again. TRUST me. Ask anybody who has both. They will tell you buy a Mac. Don't worry about buying another one for at-least 3 years. Plus the ad-ware and viruses are less of a problem. Not waiting for 3 days for my 2.GHZ 1-Gig Ram P4 PC to load is worth the price of a mac,,,,

just reformat your comp? why buy a new one if all you got was a virus?

i just recently bought a Gateway.. 1.83ghz, 1gig memory, 160gig hd, core 2 duo processor, and 15.4inch ultrabrite widescreen for only 980 with taxes. i thought it was really cheap for what i was getting. i highly recommend it.

also, if you can, stay away from dell and toshiba.. dell as a company and computer overall sucks, and toshiba ALWAYS has problems with there power supplies and pins.

i recommend, HP, Gateway, Sony, or IBM(Lenovo)

just reformat your comp? why buy a new one if all you got was a virus?

x2

Ben just showed me this and I started laughing because you are buying a whole new computer because of a virus.

Best Case:
-You run Ad-Aware (free) or buy a new virus scan tool and remove the virus.
Cost: $0-$50

Worst Case:
Your HD is FUBAR and you don't want to mess with digging through your massive HD filled with porn so you go out and buy a new hard drive. You should have operating system disks with the info packet from when you bought your computer. Buy a new hard drive, follow the directions, and install windows (or Linux if you are broke).
Cost: $20-$200 depending on the size of the hard drive

Both options are a helluva lot cheaper than dishing out $1,000+ on a new computer. Take the money you save and upgrade the processor, motherboard, RAM, etc.

just reformat your comp? why buy a new one if all you got was a virus?

All this thing does now is...starts up like nothings wrong, then all these error screens come up after the windows start screen and then it reboots itself. I let it do this to see how long it would continue to do this process. Well after 9 hours of this, I figured there was no hope for it.

Whats funny is I'm now using the computer (six years old) that we replaced with the now messed up one (1 year old). Besides running super slow...i t seems to be running just fine and the problems we had before with this one is not happening now. Weird! It's like Hey I'm getting a second chance I better not mess this up! :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

The more little icons you have on your task bar (lower rigt) the slower your computer starting up.

well boot it from the windows disk and reformat it. I reformat my computer every 2-3 months just in case there is anything on it. get a external hard drive and back everything up. then reformat it. With a PC you'll notice a huge difference if you do it semi often.