Notebook Recommendation Please

[Mattlock2]

I need some suggestions please.

A friend of mine needs to buy a laptop for his daughter to take to college. What recommendations considering the following:

1) Probably wants to spend around 2,000
2) Needs to buy it this weekend (ie needs to get it from a retailer) yes he waited to the last minute.


thanks in advance.

Mattlock

 

[LordAccord]

I still would recommend dell.... I beleive you can get a decent like 1.13 or 1.2g laptop for around 1500.... and have them ship it overnight / next day....

If you must go with a retail buy, I would suggest a Sony Vaio, or maybe compaq... but Sony would appear to me the most well built....

Dunno, been a while since I was digging in the laptop market, so just my .02$

LoRdAccord

 

[RossMAN]

If your friend didn't wait until the last minute and can wait another week they could get an awesome deal on the new Dell Inspiron 2650 starting at $1,199 after rebate.

Here's what I would get with a budget of $2,000:
$1,976 base price as configured below
-$75 off coupon
-2% eBates.com
-$200 Mail In Rebate
==================================
$1,662.98 final price

Processor: Mobile Pentium®4 processor,1.6 GHz-M 14.1 XGA
Memory: 256MB 266MHz 2 Dimms
Video Card: 16MB DDR 4X AGP NVIDIA GeForce2 Go?Vid
Hard Drive: 20GB Ultra ATA Hard Drive
Floppy Drive: Floppy Drive
OPERATING SYSTEM: Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition¹²
Network Adapter: Integrated Network Card
Modem: Internal 56k Modem
Fixed CD/DVD Drives: 8X Max DVD Drive
Bundled Software: Microsoft®Works Suite 2002 with Money 2002 Standard
Digital Music: Dell Jukebox powered by MusicMatch
Primary Battery: Lithium-Ion Battery
Limited Warranty, Services and Support Options: 3Yr Ltd. Warranty- 3Yrs On-Site Service + Lifetime Phone Support
Internet Access Service at no additional charge: 6 Months AOL,Featuring the Netbusiness Service for Small Business

To order from Dell Small Business all you need is to think of a business name, that's it.

But since your friend needs the laptop this weekend then tell them to visit their local Best Buy where they're offering $200 rebates on laptops.

 

[Mattlock2]

Thanks for the suggestions.

Mattlock

 

[RossMAN]

You're welcome, if I were your friend I'd buy the Dell Inspiron 2650 if they can wait another 7-10 days (for delivery) otherwise buy at Best Buy this weekend.

 

[slowbutsure]

My suggestion is to get her a I-Book or a PowerBook, both will run anything she is likely to encounter at college, both windows programs and mac programs.

 

[MWink]

I don't know if I would recommend Dell. I will let you know in a week after I try getting this (my SECOND Inspiron) fixed. The first one ended up a horrible mess after they "fixed" it. :|

 

[hausdave]

I do like the Dell laptops but there is still nothing that can beat a Toshiba

 

[murphy55d]

No doubt, Toshiba is the way to go.

 

[RossMAN]

What's a good under $1,500 Toshiba (not entry level) laptop you guys can recommend for me?

 

[dpm]

If he really has to go to a retail store, try circuit city - apparantly they have some rebate offers going on for laptops at the moment.
The last time I was there, they had a few nice Toshiba's and Vaios

 

[SteelCityFan]

I prefer Dell over Toshiba. We have a couple P3 1 gig Toshiba's at work, and I never heard a CD-ROM rattle a PC as loud as these do. Did Toshiba ever start selling high res screens? I can't bear to look at an XGA laptop screen anymore... so grainy.

I think Dell had my 8100 built and shipped in about 2.5 days back in November. I ordered 2nd day shipping with it.

 

[SweetBaboo]

no one is interested in the IBM Thinkpads? The T30's are sweet...though a little ridiculous in terms of price...but it's quality...

 

[heffe734]

anyone know a good, reliable retailer that sells the Toshiba Satellite 5105-S607

Edit: Are there any places where i can customize it? Cuz i don't need all those softwares and some other stuff...

 

[MWink]

I don't think you can customize Toshiba's anywhere. Also, I don't like the Satellite 5000 series. I got a chance to work with one a few weeks ago and I was not impressed. The packed components that eat power with a tiny 42W/hr battery. Needless to say it only ran 1 hour on battery. It's also really big (bigger than the Inspiron 8200) and has a very bad keyboard.