Laptop Help

[d_rawk]

I also loved Tax-Man on the IIc

Ha! That's so awesome. I loved my IIe to death.

[phishtaper]

Given this,

Ha ha, the Mac fags are out already.

Please choose:

a) Ollie is jealous

Ollie is deeply closeted

c) Both

hehe

[Davey Boy 2.0]

d) that Mac was in his mouth before it was in his hand

[Irie Guy]

The only thing I am going to say about buying a Mac laptop over a Windows based laptop is that you do not need to worry about running Spyware / Anti Virus software on it. I have been running Macs at home since 2001 and have never had to worry about virus / spyware. In fact we just gave my inlaw our old G4 iMac as it was still a perfectly functioning Internet light duty machine 7 years later. Yes you pay more up front but I think it pays off in the long run.

[afro poppa]

I am thinking of buying the ACER TravelMate 5720-6881 online for under a grand.

I like that it has Windows XP

[Basher]

You're overbuying Ari. You don't need a $1000 laptop, based on what you said you will be using it for.

Remember, laptops are more or less "disposable", as you can't upgrade components like you can in a PC.

This one will suit you just fine. And everyone will be using Vista within a year or so.

[mattm]

I have a Dell and have had no problems with it whatsoever which is saying alot considering the use I put it to (including being on several weeks at a time since it's now the house computer and we rarely ever actually reboot). I like Dell because they allowed me to finance which, though it costs way, way more, also allowed me to get a $3500 laptop while still being a student (I could never have afforded that without the financing). Granted I would be willing to bet other companies will do the same, like futureshop or bestbuy where you can get their card and buy it on that and pay monthly.

Here are a couple tips for finding the laptop you want:

A: Make sure it will last if you plan on keeping it a while. What I mean is that if you want to keep it for a couple years, make sure that it will stand the test of time. Things like blu-ray drives might be slightly costly now but once they drive dvd's out, you're still good to go (same when they introduced dvd's and dvd players/burners were costly).

Edit: A.1: I just noticed basher's idea of laptops being disposable but I don't really agree. Though it's harder to upgrade, if you get the right stuff from the start then you're good to go for a while. On the other hand, if you want to spend $1000 every year to get a new laptop (to keep up with the times), it will probably amount to the same money in the end ($3000 laptop lasts 3 years or $1000 each year for a new one, same $3000). All depends on what you want to use it for since a 3 year old laptop now will still be able to play music, surf the internet and right up documents in word just fine.

B: Make sure that it has at least 1 gig of RAM but I wouldn't go under 2 gigs (I have 2 right now and would love to upgrade to 4gigs, especially running vista).

C: Make sure that it will do the things you want it to. If it's going to be your main computer and you want to hook it up to the tv/stereo system then make sure that you get one with a decent video/sound card. That type of thing.

D: Size does matter. 17" and larger screens are nice but also big, bulky and heavy compared to their smaller brothers and sisters and if you're going to be lugging it around all over the place, I'd say don't get a big 17" widescreen.

There are a couple things I would recommend get done after getting the laptop (or during purchase):

A: Make sure they send you a clean windows disk (without all their garbage)*. I know dell does, along with the garbage cd.

B: Immediately wipe out windows when you get it and install the clean copy. The software that comes with almost all major brand computers now includes tonnes of extra stuff you don't need. You can download the drivers from the internet and install a clean version of windows which will run much better.

* There are other ways to get a clean copy if they don't send you one (hrumph cough download cough)

Edited September 24, 2008 by Guest

[Basher]

I agree on the screen size. Get 15.4".

[The D Funk]

very simple wait till after 0ct 14 and purchase the new macbook. I heard the price will drop on these as well as some cool updates.

[AD]

there is a sale at dell today

[Irie Guy]

there is a sale at dell today

There's a sale at Dell everyday. They are pretty sneaky there, you can often build the same computer for slightly cheaper than their so called advertised sale price. Take your time on the Dell site and check out all the different side bars, also look in their Small Business side of the site as there are often different deals there as well. Just don't jump in to purchase right away you can probly save some pennies somewhere.