I'm looking to buy a laptop for College, and am anticipating to spend about $900. Any ideas from the tech gurus here where I can spend that money most wisely?
Thanks in advance!
Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
You can send it to me and I'll, um . . . I'll send you a laptop! Yeah!
Posted by Flaming Toad on a Stick (Member # 9302) on :
You can get a fairly decent HP (Hewlett-Packard, not Harry Potter) for that price. What do you want out of your laptop?
Posted by aspectre (Member # 2222) on :
But spend that little extra, the HarryPotter has a MUCH better spellchecker.
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
*groan*
Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
I understand that thing is like magic.
Posted by TL (Member # 8124) on :
I picked up a laptop I quite like for around 600$ a while back at www.newegg.com . I don't play games on it, but I do everything else. Music, movies, wireless, runs all my applications... You should be able to do *very* well for $900 if you're looking for a good work machine.
If you want games or video editing... I dunno. But since I didn't, I'm quite pleased with mine.
Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :
I got mine used. But I went through three used ones (the guy gave a 90-day satisfaction guarantee) before I found one that was any good. I landed up spending considerably less than $900.
Posted by Boris (Member # 6935) on :
This actually looks like a pretty good setup. You're kinda stuck with Vista, it looks like, but it's up to you whether you want XP or Vista. HP has a different model, that doesn't seem quite as solid to me. There are some others there that have some good deals. Most of them run an AMD processor, which will work great, but for the money you'd be better off with the Dell, I think. Lenovo Thinkpads are pretty solidly built, and frequently top the comparison charts for Battery Life and performance.
It's harder to give a good recommendation for a Laptop, since you'll be pretty much stuck with what you get for the whole time you use it. The only upgrade you can perform on most sub-$2000 laptops is a RAM increase. 900 dollars is a good price point to get something that isn't poor quality, and you'll want something that has a sturdy shell around it. It all really does depend on what you need to do with your computer.
Before the mac-heads drop in to give their obligatory "Buy a mac" comment, you're about $200 below the Mac Laptop entry point according to Apple's website.
Aside from all of that, all I can recommend is avoid Compaq and Sony. Compaq builds garbage, and Sony builds over-priced, pretty, garbage (And if anything ever breaks on a Sony, kiss your wallet goodbye). I'm not a huge fan of Gateway, either. My own rule of thumb lately is to avoid the consumer level Laptops at all cost. The majority of them are built on the cheap. Buying a computer marked for small business use is a really good idea, since they're usually much more durable and capable. Anyway, good luck with it and let us know what you get Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
Actually, Sony's laptops are considerably better than their desktops. Their desktops, IIRC, were actually built by e-machines or some other company, and their laptops are built by them. My wife has a Vaio laptop which is the oldest computer in our house and which is still going strong. She absolutely swears by it. My newer Gateway has more problems than her old Vaio; her Vaio is actually the most problem-free laptop we have ever had--and we've had five laptops that we have personally owned and another five that we have used through our jobs. Of the ten, the Vaio has been far and away the most problem free.
Posted by MightyCow (Member # 9253) on :
I have a 2+ year old Vaio laptop, and I've never had any problems with it. I don't know how they compare to other laptops in terms of expense, but it's been a solid workhorse and I haven't even had to reinstall windows yet.
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
quote:Originally posted by MightyCow: I have a 2+ year old Vaio laptop, and I've never had any problems with it. I don't know how they compare to other laptops in terms of expense, but it's been a solid workhorse and I haven't even had to reinstall windows yet.
Ditto. Although I don't think mine is quite 2 years old yet . . .
*thinks* You know, it probably is. Huh.
Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
Cor's Vaio is four years old. It did need to have its hard drive replaced once, a little over a year ago.
Posted by Swampjedi (Member # 7374) on :
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)