Looking for a new laptop...any suggestions?

[LeFlaneur]

In case you feel like going indie: I bought my notebook from Widow PC last December, and I am very happy with the product and service so far. Most of these are pretty big and powerful as far as laptops go. I need to watch a lot of video for my job but also need to be mobile. This fit the bill.

http://www.widowpc.com

 

[L.A.Dave]

PC-Weenies make me wonder.....

You have an operating system running an operating system, you have constant file corruptions and software and system hangups. You occassionally reload software once it gets corrupted, and now and then you've probably reinstalled the operating system.

You constantly run anti-virus software in the background, you always keep your anti-virus software up to date to deal with the ever changing viruses PC-Weenies write for their own OS, you run disc optimization programs to deal with fragmenation.....some say they bought their PC laptop because it is geared towards looking at pictures and music! Imagine that!......

Here is what we Mac users do:

Enjoy our computers.

 

[DandyDon]

:light: My backup laptop has been developing one problem after another, but I've been working around them - putting off sending it in until toward the end of the Extended Warranty period later this year. It crashed twice this week, tho - so I called HP to ask them to come get it to fix:
>> Back sound card;
>> Bad DVD Burner - I've already reloaded the entire O/S & drivers, still bad;
>> Will not connect to phone service for dial-up, which a traveler needs to do at times;
>> Bad Mute button;
>> And a few other things.

Two agents in a row wanted to trouble shoot! Trouble shoot what? There are parts broken, 7 malfunctions; I paid for extra warranty - come get it. Nope.

I'll keep calling, probably in the morning trying to get the Washington state people. Then if I have to play the do-this&that game before they'll come get it, I guess I will. That, or run over it with a tractor. Its covered for that. :silly:

 

[SmileMon]

How about this mean toy?

http://www.sagernotebook.com/pages/notebooks/product.cfm?ProductType=5950

19" widescreen display, nVidia 7800, AMD 64, 1GB ram, and the list goes on for miles..

Only problem is.. ~$3500

No, its not a joke, people actually invented a 19" laptop... can't imagine which kind of bag you'll need for it...

and on a more realistic note, most of the new toshiba, lenovo (IBM) and Dells are pretty reliable, they mostly die because of bad attitude of the person taking care of them and people not noticing when they get hot, the solution is to try to use them in an A/C environment when possible and short exposures to heat or sun.

We even had one of our finance people drop them from the table.. the laptop still worked after that, but the CPU fan made a terrible noise..

 

[RonDawg]

Two agents in a row wanted to trouble shoot! Trouble shoot what? There are parts broken, 7 malfunctions; I paid for extra warranty - come get it. Nope.

That's pretty typical of tech support. They will run you through all of the usual steps (make sure it's plugged in, how about a reboot?, etc.) before they'll let you send it in for repair. I guess too many people have said "my computer doesn't work" then asked to send it in, only for them to find out it was something on the customer's end, usually something stupid too.

Compounding the problem is many companies outsource their tech support to countries where the population's grasp of English is less than stellar. So while considerable effort has been made to reduce the "accent" of your customer service rep, they still haven't learned many of the unique sayings of American English.

A couple of years ago I had that problem with a Dell service rep; the worst part was that my computer was NOT broken, but rather some weird billing snafu that I was trying to resolve. The guy who spoke with me, while quite nice, clearly was someone in a different country and clearly didn't understand what I was trying to tell him and clearly was reading a script off of his computer screen. I finally got mad and asked to speak to an American; after much discussion with him and his superiors, they finally transferred me back to Texas (where Dell is headquartered). Only when I spoke to a lovely female rep with her cute Texas drawl did I finally get my problem solved

 

[DandyDon]

That's pretty typical of tech support. They will run you through all of the usual steps (make sure it's plugged in, how about a reboot?, etc.) before they'll let you send it in for repair. I guess too many people have said "my computer doesn't work" then asked to send it in, only for them to find out it was something on the customer's end, usually something stupid too.

Compounding the problem is many companies outsource their tech support to countries where the population's grasp of English is less than stellar. So while considerable effort has been made to reduce the "accent" of your customer service rep, they still haven't learned many of the unique sayings of American English.

A couple of years ago I had that problem with a Dell service rep; the worst part was that my computer was NOT broken, but rather some weird billing snafu that I was trying to resolve. The guy who spoke with me, while quite nice, clearly was someone in a different country and clearly didn't understand what I was trying to tell him and clearly was reading a script off of his computer screen. I finally got mad and asked to speak to an American; after much discussion with him and his superiors, they finally transferred me back to Texas (where Dell is headquartered). Only when I spoke to a lovely female rep with her cute Texas drawl did I finally get my problem solved

I have tried holding out for a North American - Canadians are just fine, even with my Country Texas talk, Mexicans maybe. We find common words okay. But holding out never worked with HP. Just had to keep calling back.

I also think the higher up think: "If we make it hard for them to send it in, maybe they'll give up and pay a local Tech to fix it.

 

[RonDawg]

I have tried holding out for a North American - Canadians are just fine, even with my Country Texas talk

Just filter out the "eh's" and remember that "aboot" means "about" and you'll be just fine

I also think the higher up think: "If we make it hard for them to send it in, maybe they'll give up and pay a local Tech to fix it.

I think you may have a point there :11:

 

[DandyDon]

I also think the higher up think: "If we make it hard for them to send it in, maybe they'll give up and pay a local Tech to fix it.

I think you may have a point there :11:

One more phone call and I'm running over it. Its covered for that. :light:

 

[_Bella_]

Hey all - my current laptop computer (a Dell Latitude) about 5 years old, is starting to call it quits. I carry it with me on all my dive trips and such and I'm lookng for a small 14.1" monitor laptop so I can more easily transport it.

I was currently thinking of the Dell 1400 series. But I'm open to all suggestions!

Anyone have this computer or any other one with a small screen that they love???

Visit here: http://www.notebookreview.com/
I've owned and worked on a lot of laptops and my first choice if buying a new one would be a Thinkpad T series and second choice is a Vaio SZ series. The Vaio is small and packed with power and gadgets and the thinkpads are virtually indestructable.

 

[Kim]

The best reviews I've seen recently were for the HP Pavilion range - especially if you want a lot in your graphics (make sure you get a dedicated GPU with it's own memory!)

This one in particular is a really good deal:
http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=2662&review=HP+Pavilion+Dv4250us+Notebook+Pc.