Looking for a new laptop...any suggestions?

[KidK9]

Yeah, the hinges on my current Dell are crap and one of the reasons why I'm looking at getting another laptop. They are getting shredded.

What is a good place to look for Thinkpads?

 

[DandyDon]

Thanks for the suggesitons. Anyone own an HP?

I have 2 HP Pavillion notebooks personally and would not buy another.

I'm not much of a geek, but almost everyone I know comes to me for help.

 

[Blitz]

I have owned and worked on IBMs, Dells and Toshibas. Toshibas are a pain. IBMs are great laptops but when they start to break, they are pretty much done for. It seems like a cascading effect. So far I have to say that I have had excellent luck with Dells. I have owned a Latitude 600 and now I have a 610 that I love. My choice would be between the IBM and the Dell. Hope that helpes

 

[DandyDon]

I'm thinking Dell here. Where is their Tech Support...??

 

[rickyd]

I'm thinking Dell here. Where is their Tech Support...??

Where Tech Support is today doesn't mean much. All companies are continuing to globalize; many have implemented a "follow the sun" support strategy, so the folks at the end of the phone move around the globe daily.

As companies continue the globalization process ( as opposed to just off-shore labor since it less costly ), I think we'll see many many more traditional vendors changing support methodologies; as to whether this proves good or bad in the long run remains to be seen.

Many of us are already familiar with the language problems associated with foreign support ( foreign from anyone's perspective; I'm not limiting to just native English ). As globalization continues, I believe the language barriers and canned responses will improve; now, will it improve in our lifetimes is the magic question?

Oh, and as to recommendations, I'm an IBM/Lenovo fan.

 

[offroaddiver]

i've had my current sony vaio laptop for almost 6 years. Just replaced the fan in it and bought a new battery. It's good for atleast another 5. I've used hp's, compaq, dells, and toshibas. I'm giving this laptop to my mother who is a school teacher and I'm buying a brand new....... Sony laptop. look at www.sonystyle.com that should be correct. you can build your own ($$$$) or go to www.circuitcity.com.

 

[pickens_46929]

Fry Electronics here in Indy has a Sony on sale this weekend... really good price too.

Model FE660G $1249.95 after instant rebate.

15.4" screen...
1GB memory / 100 GB hard drive / Dual-layer DVD reader-writer

 

[RonDawg]

I've owned a Dell Inspiron 4100 for the last 5 years and have had no problems with it, other than a lovely green line down the screen when I first got it Dell was nice enough to send a courier to pick up the defective laptop the same day, and got it back to me 3 days later fully repaired. As a consolation for sending me a "pre-broken" laptop, they upped the warranty from 2 to 5 years at no extra charge.

My favorite feature is the hot-swappable drive bay that can take many different accessories including a floppy disk drive, CD or DVD drive, and even a second battery for added runtime. I have the disk drive, a DVD-ROM unit, and the second battery. I'm considering purchasing through eBay a DVD burner unit and a second hard drive that both fit in the same drive bay.

I originally bought it for work to write my reports with, but now that we've upgraded with mobile workstations in the patrol cars I no longer use it for that purpose. So I decided to use it as a second computer in my bedroom, and it also has been my "traveling" computer for use when I'm on vacation. I recently upgraded the hard drive (very easy to do) and bought a docking station for it off eBay so that I can use it as both a desktop and a laptop without the hassle of plugging and unplugging cables.

 

[Floridawannabe]

I have a Compaq Laptop and passed it on to my oldest and still running great. I now have a HP laptop and it runs and performs great for now 16 months. My sister has a HP laptop and the power port went out. Ok, long story short she bought her son this computer and it seems nice. It is small and very light weight and with abright veiw screen. Also if you get into video you can use it to transfer your DV to DVD. CHeck out this link you might like it:

http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Comp...47671/catOid/-12963/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do

 

[Scuba65]

Besides just buying a Dell...I also own a HP i've had it for about 3 yrs. or so and it's worked great..hubby has it now.