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Harry Needs Help Buying a New Computer

Harry Longshanks

Harry Longshanks

ILikeBigPutts&ICannotLie
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My laptop is farked.

I don't have a lot of money to spend. I don't game at all. I want something moderately portable (~5.5 lbs. or less, 14-15" screen).

I was hoping to wait until Windows 7 came out, but that ain't gonna happen. Same with N-standard wireless, but a lot of laptops are shipping with N-Draft, and I can live with that.

I have a Best Buy gift card that will subsidize this purchase, so that's where I will be shopping (unless someone knows of a reputable place with Ginormous monster discounts.)

Other things that would be nice are a video out (S-video or HDMI)

Questions:

  • Any brands you love or hate (Apple not an option, sorry.)
  • Any features I am overlooking?
Thanks everyone.

(Maybe I should put the word "iPhone" in this post to get Ranchy's opinions.)

So much for my expected tax refund going to pay a few bills.
 
Look at the Toshiba laptops at BB, generally 3 megs os Ram, and 250 HD. Their tru-brite technology makes for a very bright and weel lit screen, depending on the features, expect to pay $ 6-800.
 
you may want to consider buying a refurned computer. esp. ones from Dell. I've always had great luck with them, saved a few $100, and always get better specs than a new computer would have. all for less money! Computers and cars depreciate so much the day after you buy them but I suspect that's another topic altogether :)
 
oops....meant refurbed
 
JB said:
At Bestbuy, this is a solid machine. 5 lbs, 15 inch screen. 4 gb ram. And the kicker is that it is only $599.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9167689&type=product&id=1218041150488
Click to expand...

thats a great deal!

you should look at this one too http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9027705&type=product&id=1218010174398

$20 more and you get a better (IMO) processor plus a longer battery life. But either one would be a solid choice.

You might also want to check out some of the online places like new egg, etc.
 
CCR,
He said he wanted to buy it from Best Buy to use a gift card.
 
I think based on his requirements, the Sony prices may be a little steep.
 
I had a Toshiba Satellite - strongly suggest against it, had a lot of problems.

Definitely go for the Core 2 Duo processor - it's really good. Have it in my gaming desktop, and it kicks ass, so it'd be good for non-gaming too.
I'm a fan of Dell...not sure if you can get that at BB though.
 
Laptop screen is completely dead now. Also, it won't let me backup anything to DVD. Started making a funny noise too. Had trouble getting some programs to run. This thing is dying fast. I think I'm on the verge of a complete system failure. I wonder if the cooling system died or something and it is killing off the other systems.

Some questions:

I currently have a 15" screen, but everything is widescreen now. 15.4" is bulkier, but I'm wondering if I will hate a 14" screen.

Floppy, what problems did you have with Toshiba? I'd always heard they were bombproof.

The Dells at Best Buy aren't that appealing. Good price, but very big and bulky.

Some good news: the N-wireless standard has been officially adopted and most laptops come with it now.

The bad news: I'm gonna have to go with Vista.

From my research today, Toshiba, Cell, HP, Sony and Asus are mostly in my price range (my price range is: muthaf$%^&$, I needed to pay for other things with that money!) As much as I hate spending the money, I'd rather spend an extra $150 to get what I need, than skimp just to get the cheapest unit available.

All of them have big enough hard drives for me. Heck, I've still got a ton of room on my 80GB HDD. (I guess I should have been downloading more porn and mp3s.) The range anywhere from 250 - 400GB.

They all have N-wireless. (Has anybody used it yet? Is it really faster and more reliable?)

Centrino Duo vs Pentium Dual Core vs. AMD Turion Dual Core - any thoughts?

Vista - 64 bit vs. 32 bit ???


I know I am forgetting some important features????
 
Going to 14" will not affect you at all. I made the switch a while back and after about a day could not tell the difference.
 
I agree with JB about the screen, the difference is minimal. Personally I would just make sure it's widescreen if you are watching movies on it.

The difference between 32 & 64 bit will only be noticable if you are doing things like graphics or scienitific calculations. If it is simple office stuff and web browsing you won't see much difference between the two.

I was a long time AMD user and now only buy Pentium machines.

My last laptop I bought 2 years ago was an Acer and it has been rock solid. It won out over Toshiba due to the fact it was a little less for a computer with Firewire ports and a DVI out for hooking to a TV.
 
My HP pavilion 6000 suits me just fine. It has a video camera built in, and uses a very nice, x-bright screen. It uses the AMD chip, which has processed everything well except once, when I attempted to do some HD video editing ... that crashed it. Otherwise, a perfectly fine and useable machine.
 
Harry Longshanks said:
Laptop screen is completely dead now. Also, it won't let me backup anything to DVD. Started making a funny noise too. Had trouble getting some programs to run. This thing is dying fast. I think I'm on the verge of a complete system failure. I wonder if the cooling system died or something and it is killing off the other systems.

Some questions:

I currently have a 15" screen, but everything is widescreen now. 15.4" is bulkier, but I'm wondering if I will hate a 14" screen.

Floppy, what problems did you have with Toshiba? I'd always heard they were bombproof.

The Dells at Best Buy aren't that appealing. Good price, but very big and bulky.

Some good news: the N-wireless standard has been officially adopted and most laptops come with it now.

The bad news: I'm gonna have to go with Vista.

From my research today, Toshiba, Cell, HP, Sony and Asus are mostly in my price range (my price range is: muthaf$%^&$, I needed to pay for other things with that money!) As much as I hate spending the money, I'd rather spend an extra $150 to get what I need, than skimp just to get the cheapest unit available.

All of them have big enough hard drives for me. Heck, I've still got a ton of room on my 80GB HDD. (I guess I should have been downloading more porn and mp3s.) The range anywhere from 250 - 400GB.

They all have N-wireless. (Has anybody used it yet? Is it really faster and more reliable?)

Centrino Duo vs Pentium Dual Core vs. AMD Turion Dual Core - any thoughts?

Vista - 64 bit vs. 32 bit ???


I know I am forgetting some important features????
Click to expand...

32 bit is meant for 3GB of RAM and less. 64 bit is needed for 4+ GB of RAM.
As for the processor, the Core 2 Duo is nice.

Vista isn't bad with a good processor and a good chunk of RAM. I have no problems at all with 4 gigs of ram and a Core 2 Duo processor running Vista Home Premium. However, my Toshiba with a weaker processor and 1GB of RAM had some issues.
 
worst_shot_ever said:
My HP pavilion 6000 suits me just fine. It has a video camera built in, and uses a very nice, x-bright screen. It uses the AMD chip, which has processed everything well except once, when I attempted to do some HD video editing ... that crashed it. Otherwise, a perfectly fine and useable machine.
Click to expand...

Or the time your kid knocked it onto the floor?

Would not surprise me at all if Mr. Longshank's current absence can be attributed to a Best Buy run.
 
ClairefromClare said:
Or the time your kid knocked it onto the floor?

Would not surprise me at all if Mr. Longshank's current absence can be attributed to a Best Buy run.
Click to expand...

Harry is still researching.

Harry is p!ssed about this whole charlie foxtrot.
 
Headed over to the Buy More Best Buy this evening.

How come no laptop comes with all the features? If it has firewire, it doesn't have HDMI or S-Video out? Isn't firewire still required/best for camcorder downloading? Why are all of Sony's laptops either pink or white or some other funky color? (Silver or black please.)

More questions:

  • What is High Definition Audio?

  • Is there a cheap ExpressCard with either firewire input or HMDI and/or S-Video out?

  • Is a backlit keyboard useful?

  • Some screens are deignated as HD, while others with the same resolution are not. Huh?
 
The only answer I could possibly give is that I can only see a backlit keyboard being useful if you type in the dark.
 
IMHO, a base configuration of a 15-16" screen, Intel Duo core T6400 processor, 4GB RAM, 320gb hard drive, Win Vista Home Premium 64 bit is plenty strong unless you're a heavy gamer. I found the 14" to be a little small even with a wide-screen set up.
 
HD audio gives you the ability to play music & and movies at a higher sampling rate and in multi-channel apps. Basically irrelevant unless you are going to be using your pc with a seperate a/v system.

Doesnt matter whether its designated as HD or not. I think just about all laptops will have HD resolution. I know its a bit different between tvs and computer monitors. with tv's resolution of 1280x720 is hd. with pc's I believe its 1024x768 but im not sure.
 
Touchpad/mouse buttons on laptop are now kaput. This is plain weird.

ExpressCard slot - how critical? If I want mobile broadband, is a USB 2.0 adapter going to be enough throughput?
 
Well, this seems to have turned into a Harry-rant thread, but I'll keep trying.

Today I went to the BuyMore fulling intending to leave with a laptop.

I was planning on getting this Toshiba:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9164101&type=product&id=1218040477834

But when I looked at it, it was bulkier than I remembered, and worse, the whole computer was super glossy - including the keyboard. It made it look cheap. Plus, I don't know if I could stand the reflection always coming off the keyboard.

My backup choice was this Toshiba:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9022979&type=product&id=1218009474848

which is part of the Blue Label line. It's more than I wanted to spend, but it's light, relatively thin, and has good aesthetics. Plus, the rated battery life is 5 1/2 hours. However, it doesn't have either firewire port or an ExpressCard slot (WTF?). (The speakers are also complete carp, but that's a minor point.)

The there is the Sony Vaio:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage...Vaio&lp=10&type=product&cp=1&id=1218038122509

I really like the keyboard, which is like the MacBook Pro keyboard, and the design is nice with rounded edges and balanced, so it feels thinner and lighter than it is. It also just feels more solid than the Toshibas. But battery life is sub-par, the hard drive is smaller than similarly priced models, and it only comes in glossy white, glossy black, and glossy pink. Uggh. And, again, it's more than I wanted to spend, but if it came in a decent color and had 2x better battery life, I would have been willing to go with it.

Honestly, I'm beginning to understand the appeal of Apple hardware. The MacBook Pro 15.4" has it all, and the size/weight is smaller than most 14" PCs. But it's also 3-4 times as expensive, which just ain't gonna happen.

I'm just completely frustrated.
 
Awww, I'm sorry.
 
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