Best Brand Laptop?

[Big Lar]

My Neice, is looking to buy a decent Lappy, and i am trying to find out which brand is reliable, The fastest in the world isn't needed, but something in the 12 to $1,400 range is where its going to be.
Any input will be Highly appreciated. Thanks.

Larry

 

[AWhackWhiteBoy]

most all laptops are made from the same 3 or 4 laptop motherboard makers. so a lot of the time your buying the same thing with different pricing and shells. either way Dell and IBM are always a good choice.

 

[Amoreena]

IBMs have great reputations.

 

[Kaido]

the emachines laptops have been looking pretty good lately...the athlon 64 cpu-based ones. emachines just came out with a new line using the 3400+ cpu so prices on the old ones like the m6809 and m6805 should drop. the highest end one is only like $1550 anyway, and you get a 2ghz cpu, widescreen, 512 megs of ram, 80gb hdd, cd/dvd burner, wifi, etc.

I just checked Best Buy's website (search for m6809):

Price before:
$150 mail-in rebate
$100 mail-in rebate
Our Price: $1,649.99

So it looks like $1650 - $150 - $100 = $1400. Good luck!

 

[AWhackWhiteBoy]

emachines = gateway now

!

 

[corkyg]

IBM, Dell, Toshiba, HP, and Sony are all solid values.

 

[Xtremist]

Go with who you think has good support. Dell is okay, that's what we use at work now. IBM is always a safe bet, owned a few of those as well.

Personally I'd steer CLEAR of Toshiba. They're decent notebook's, but I've had nothing but support issues with them on several at work. Many times they don't even have the serial numbers as valid numbers, or associated with a completely different product line. Only when I Xerox the bottom of the laptop and send them a copy of the PO will they support it. I've also had to send the entire unit back for repair, which is stupid for most issues (ie. HDD, CD-ROM, etc...). Just my 2 ¢

 

[AWhackWhiteBoy]

i heard a lot of bad things about modern Toshiba. old Toshiba laptops are amazing, i've lost faith in their recent activity.

 

[Juice Box]

I have to tell you all. www.internetishop.com has the best products for the best prices. The site looks a little wierd, but i got a centrin 1.7 laptop there for only 1400. It is amazingly fast and runs every game at ultra high details. I hate Dell and Gateway, they ofter rip you off, go to i shop, its amazing!

 

[Big Lar]

Thank you to date for the info, I was actually leaning towards HP for her, but as I have never owned a Lappy, I look to you folks in the know

Larry

 

[Juice Box]

INTERNET I SHOP

 

[yadda]

I think anybody could have a horror story from any one manufacturer. Horrors lately from HP and Dell personal experience. I work at a *large* company and we use IBM laptops and they are rock solid. You pay out the nose. You do get what you pay for.

Y

 

[nortexoid]

ASUS has an awesome line of notebooks. i like their ultra-portables for the money.

 

[crisscross]

Originally posted by: digitalsnare
INTERNET I SHOP

Lifetime rating of 4.44, i will pass

 

[Oyeve]

IBM baby. They make solid laptops and have great tech support. If you want bells and whistles go with some over the top looking compaq/hp/dell. But for my money I always go IBM. I have several models that have been running without a hitch since 1997.

 

[lavagirl669]

My Dell 5100 was awesome, but I gave it to my Son after getting my Vaio

Very reliable, fast and very good tech support and the price was around where you
are in range.

 

[PeteRoy]

HP or IBM

 

[almega]

Originally posted by: PeteRoy
HP or IBM

yeah :thumbsup:

 

[Schadenfroh]

Toshiba or IBM

 

[Delorian]

Originally posted by: almega

Originally posted by: PeteRoy
HP or IBM

yeah :thumbsup:

Thirds

:beer:

 

[GeMan]

Depending on what she is going to use it for... Apple Powerbooks are very sweet laptops... they have the BEST customer support, and the books look very awesome..

If she cant deal with OSX for Apple, then Dells are probably not a bad route.. Have both.. Love em.

 

[txxxx]

Originally posted by: AWhackWhiteBoy
i heard a lot of bad things about modern Toshiba. old Toshiba laptops are amazing, i've lost faith in their recent activity.

How did you come to that conclusion?

 

[txxxx]

Originally posted by: Kaido
the emachines laptops have been looking pretty good lately...the athlon 64 cpu-based ones. emachines just came out with a new line using the 3400+ cpu so prices on the old ones like the m6809 and m6805 should drop. the highest end one is only like $1550 anyway, and you get a 2ghz cpu, widescreen, 512 megs of ram, 80gb hdd, cd/dvd burner, wifi, etc.

I just checked Best Buy's website (search for m6809):

Price before:
$150 mail-in rebate
$100 mail-in rebate
Our Price: $1,649.99

So it looks like $1650 - $150 - $100 = $1400. Good luck!

What's the response time like on the LCD? Good enough for occasional gaming?

 

[sailor420]

IBM. I have used their laptops for going on eight years, and have found them to be consistently excellent. Built like tanks (unlike Dells and some Toshibas... and I have dropped my fair share of IBMs, too, and they are still ticking), excellent keyboard layout (unlike the Toshibas)... I love them.

I have a T40 right now, and its the best laptop I have ever owned.

I havent used the eMachines. I have briefly used Sonys and HPs/Compaqs, and they didnt make much of an impression.

 

[sailor420]

Originally posted by: txxxx

Originally posted by: AWhackWhiteBoy
i heard a lot of bad things about modern Toshiba. old Toshiba laptops are amazing, i've lost faith in their recent activity.

How did you come to that conclusion?

All of the Toshibas I have used suffered from one major pitfall--keyboard layout. Absolutely horrible... Unintuitive, terrible feeling and action... I hated them. They would do things like put the "Home" key where "Backspace" should be... Naturally, you go to hit backspace and hit home instead, and all of a sudden, you just typed half of your sentence at the front of the line. Most annoying.