Laptops.....what do you use (looking to buy)

SmilingBluEyes · Mar 30, 2004

I love my Dell!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Soonstudent · Mar 30, 2004

I am looking into buying a laptop computer. Need some advice from those who have them. What do I need to look for and what kind of machine do you use and why. What have you had problems with. What do you recommend to buy and to stay away from. Have about a 1000.00 for puter.
Thanks

It really depends on what you want if for. I have a sony vio pcg-frv37 and I like it, although I just use it as kind of a portable desktop I wish my battery lasted longer, it's dead after about 1.5 hours, but since I just use it at home it stays pluged up all the time. I don't know a lot about computers, and although I'm happy with my choice I wish I would have shoped around more. Good luck.

sjoe · Mar 30, 2004

I use a HP Pavilion ze1110 laptop as a desktop replacement. It cost around $1K. I took the battery out shortly after buying it and have never put it back in. The wordprocessing program included was NOT MS Word and causes me to jump through several hoops whenever I convert old files to MS Word (despite what the clerk at Fry's told me).

I must say, however, that I wouldn't have been able to use it well except for the USB mouse--as the trackpad is a PITA. I also used a USB keyboard for a couple years (until it broke), as the keyboard is too small for my fingers and took some getting used to (and I had to pry off two of the keys that I was oftening hitting by mistake, since there was no software method of disabling them).

Tech support leaves a lot to be desired, it took 4 days to get it running the way I wanted it to, when the keyboard and the mouse were both plugged in at the same time the battery was plugged in this caused the hard drive to run constantly (for who knows what reason) and it got very hot. As did the battery. Tech support was no help.

Next time, I will give Dell another chance (I couldn't get a straight story out of them re. a price--their newspaper ads said one thing, their tv ads another, online was another, and the guy on the phone still another--and no one could explain to me why), or perhaps Gateway.

The most important thing is to be clear about what you want to use a PC or laptop for, what programs and applications you will need, what bells and whistles, and buy the best combination that suits your needs.

Cherish · Mar 30, 2004

I have a Sony VAIO (my mom got it for me as a present for getting out the army, lol). HP's and Dells are more reasonable in price but I love Sony if your using it for entertainment purposes go with the Sony. Sony's a little more expensive but I love the warranty, tech support is great. Its a great machine with quality dvd player (I've got a cd burner on my regular comp.) in it so I use it in my car on long rides or on fridays (I cruise around in my sporty car lol). Beats buying a dvd player for your car plus it has a bigger screen. The thing about it is that it costs around 2 G's so if your looking for something in the 1 G range you might pick a dell or HP there cheaper.

Cherish · Mar 30, 2004

I have a Sony VAIO (my mom got it for me as a present for getting out the army, lol). HP's and Dells are more reasonable in price but I love Sony if your using it for entertainment purposes go with the Sony. Sony's a little more expensive but I love the warranty, tech support is great. Its a great machine with quality dvd player (I've got a cd burner on my regular comp.) in it so I use it in my car on long rides or on fridays (I cruise around in my sporty car lol). Beats buying a dvd player for your car plus it has a bigger screen. The thing about it is that it costs around 2 G's so if your looking for something in the 1 G range you might pick a dell or HP there cheaper. (BTW if your using it for school (work) or anything like that tax break!!!!)

theblondeone · Mar 30, 2004

I have a Dell Inspiron 1100 and I love love love it!! My battery will last around 3 hours if I'm not on the internet, which I find odd, only 1.5 hours on the net. I have wireless capability and a Celeron processor with a boosted hard drive. It's small and light enough that I carry it everywhere and the screen is large enough that I don't go blind looking at it. It's been wonderful for school! Mine has a lot of extras that my puter geek hubby said were a must, but I don't really use them. All totalled, mine was around $950.

BabyRN2Be · Mar 30, 2004

I had this conversation with my boyfriend about what type laptop I should by. I mostly wanted to use it for writing papers (I'll be in nursing school hopefully this spring), Powerpoint, medical encyclopedias, drug information, etc. between home and school. We looked at laptops and I couldn't believe how expensive they were, and I was concerned about them growing feet when I wasn't looking.

I did some more research and discovered that I could basically do all I wanted to do and more with a good quality PDA which would be much cheaper. The advantages to those would be I could carry drug information, etc. around on the floor and the handheld is small enough to fit in my scrub pocket. That's not something you could do with a laptop. I found that if I bought a keyboard, I'd be able to write papers, keep notes, etc.

Closer to the time I enter school, I'm going to buy one of those to use when I'm at school and use my home computer for other stuff. Right now it's the most economical thing for me to do.

NeedAdvice1234 · Mar 30, 2004

I feel I might be of some assitance in this disscussion. I am a computer Desktop Technican and my company issues diffrent laptops to diffrent departments. Regardless everyone at my company uses a laptop!

I have seen Dells Sonys IBMs HPs APPLEs. I seen them all. here is my offical breakdown on laptops

Dells-- used to be pretty bad. Fell apart in months with the keyboard and mouse. They have improved but still not trustworthy

Sonys-- many swear by them. I have seen nothing but compatablity issues Poor service and Poorly manufactured. Sony should stick with what they know ie. stero equipment.

HPs/Tosibas.-- there both OK but they rarely handle the operating system well. I see them dropp memeory left and right on windows XP however your only using it for typing. I would think the memory can handle just plan word documents

Apples-- are really nice but completly diffrent from PC. Big advantage is that Noone ever hacks or throughs viruses at a Apple. If your used to a PC (by pc I mean windows system) You might not want to venture to apple. Its hard to figure out what to do that comes easy to you on a pc type machine. If your adventurous or just starting to by your first computer Apple would be nice

IBM-- Hate the desktops but their laptops are the best I ever seen. I highly recommend their laptops. But not the so called light weights. The lightweights typically have more problems no matter who the vendor is. But the regular IBM thinkpads are light enough and KICK BUTT!!! Good dupport from IBM only you wait on the phone a little longer. THIS IS WHAT I WOULD BUY!

Another Option you might get more out of ---- Tablet PCs brand new so not much dirt on them yet. But they have a feature where the screen collpases and turns into a type of notebook where you can write freehand on the screens notebook paper. Ideal for jotting down notes then converting it to a text or word document to e-mail out later or file away for notes.

Hope this helps

I would go with thablet pc (any vendor) or IBM thinkpads!

zenman · Mar 30, 2004

HP Pavilion ze5185 notebook

2.4 GHz Intel Pentium 4

512 MB DDR SDRAM

40 MHz, 60 GB hard drive

DVD+CDRW combo drive

15.0" SXGA+TFT

CashewLPN, LPN · Mar 31, 2004

I use almost the same as zenman, except, I run a 2.66GHz processor... (I take it go game con's and hook into the lan system to play), on a larger screen... 17''

Yes, its huge... but, I use it for just about everything... from games(I changed out the video card to an invidia card..its a better brand than the stock one, but, unless you're running ultima tournament constantly... or autocad... you're not going to need it. the stock one is pretty good too), to papers, to running excel for school... the big screen is nice b/c you can run more stuff on the screen(like see more of the excel workbook) at a time

I also use an older model PDA... which needs a new battery... :) with the keyboard, its nice, but the memory becomes an issue... I run off Windows for Handheld, its a decent program... You're gonna want to dock it up to your current desktop PC...

--Barbara

Tweety, BSN, RN · Mar 31, 2004

Spouse has a Dell. Works great!