Help with a laptop

[GodInYourEyes]

I want to buy a laptop, but I know little about them.
I need somthing with everything to full fill all my computer needs.
Can someone give me some halp? please!

[Dr. Mobius]

[Wil]

I has that notebook. Sweet notebook. I can totally beat Hangman every time.

Anyways; Any laptop you buy now will work. Unless you're looking to encode video or render 3d images you could buy the cheapest one and still have it run multiple programs with ease. Last time I checked Lenovo was still a good brand and they still let you order laptops with XP installed on them so that's always a plus.

Stay away from Vista if at all possible.

[fawkes]

I have vista. I can't play any games. It sucks.

[Dr. Mobius]

I have a Mac. I can't play any games. It sucks.

[Jayelle]

I have vista. I can't play any games. It sucks.

Vista has this great way of telling you that there's something wrong with Adobe so they have trouble opening .pdf's. No, Vista, there's nothing wrong with Adobe, there's something WRONG WITH YOU!!

[Luet]

I have vista because it came on the wicked cheap laptop deal that I got from the store ($450 or something) and I haven't had any problems with it. It took awhile to get used to the look of the menus and stuff but other than that, it's fine. I would have preferred to stick with XP but I didn't really have a choice if I wanted to spend as little as possible on a new laptop.

[ender1]

Stay away from HP

[Syphon the Sun]

Stay away from HP

See, I've had a lot of success with HP.

[eriador]

I have a Mac. I can't play any games. It sucks.

http://simonhaertel.de/

Otherwise, I agree.


Anyway... I'd suggest laptop-wise to go with linux. It's a lot easier on batteries and has fewer requirements.

[locke]

you can still get xp on dell computers if you buy through the small business menu. prices are comparable too.

[zeroguy]

Anyway... I'd suggest laptop-wise to go with linux. It's a lot easier on batteries and has fewer requirements.

Silly zealots, proselytizing is for... other threads? I thought the question was of hardware/what to buy, not what to run on it.

Anyway, it'd be helpful if you clarified what "all your computing needs" are. If it's just web surfing, reading/writing documents, email, etc., then yeah, anything on the market now would suffice. After that, you just need to determine based on price, hardware reliability, and style.

I will say Thinkpads are pretty darn good for hardware reliability. I've had this one for over a year and a half (T60), and absolutely no hardware problems that I've noticed (I don't use a few things, like bluetooth, IR, and the fingerprint scanner). It's very sturdy. Unfortunately, I've heard bad things about pretty much every laptop manufacturer regarding actually fixing/replacing broken stuff. So, if something breaks, it's probably not fun. And I'm assuming you don't care... but they are pretty Linux compatible.

Not generally regarded as "stylish" though, except possibly for some new models I heard about and think look like crap. Generally, look elsewhere for that. They're also not cheap.

Oh, and if you just want to know what others are using... I generally see Thinkpads and MacBook Pros around the generally-knowledgable computery people I'm around.

Edit: I have a laptop running Linux. I can't play any games, except for the only one that matters: Nethack. It rocks.

[Luet]

Anyway, it'd be helpful if you clarified what "all your computing needs" are. If it's just web surfing, reading/writing documents, email, etc., then yeah, anything on the market now would suffice.

Exactly. If those are your computing needs, you can pretty much get one of the cheap laptop deals at any of the big chains for under $500 and be fine, like I have done. Try to get a dual core, at least 1gb ram (for Vista, which it will probably come with) and say NO to anything the sales rep try to sell you. I had a compaq that lasted a few years until I decided to upgrade and now I have an acer. I have pretty basic computing needs though. Internet, documents, digital pictures, etc.

[eriador]

I have a laptop running Linux. I can't play any games, except for the only one that matters: Nethack. It rocks.

Too true. I def. compiled it from source on OS X

[Jayelle]

Stay away from HP

Anyone else's brain immediately go to "Harry Potter"?

[GodInYourEyes]

I really dont care how the laptop looks as long as it works.
my computer needs are for video games, pictures, videos,
and other school stuff (going to collage next year). I did plan
to stay away from vista. Dont want to sound like a rich snob
but money isnt a problem I'm willing to spend like 5000 or
more not sure yet.

[Luet]

Okay, well then disregard my recommendations and listen to the computer nerds/experts.

[daPyr0x]

Up until you said you're looking for something pricy I was going to say EeePC (partially because I think they're the God's gift to laptops :-p).

You've gotta figure out what your priorities are. You can go to Alienware or Voodoo and buy an insane laptop for $5000 (or more) that can play games at speeds that would make HP desktops scared; but then you lose battery life and have a laptop that's rather large and hot. Or you can go to Lenovo and buy a X300 that has tons of battery life (and hey, with that kinda money, you can always buy an extra battery or 5), is super portable, and basically everything you could possibly want out of a laptop; but it's not going to be a gaming monster.

If I had money, I'd buy the X300 in a heartbeat. Maybe a bit thicker than the Macbook Air; but I get replacable batteries, optical drive, and the like. I just lose the cool factor of being a mac geek...

But, given that I don't have money; the EeePC is what's right for me. I recommend it to everyone because it's fast, inexpensive, and really everything a laptop needs to be with none of the 'fluff'

[Borommakot_15]

Stay away from HP

See, I've had a lot of success with HP.

I didn't like HP until I just bought my new lappy.

It is an HP Pavillion dv9700, it came with Vista Home Premium (which doesnt have secpol.msc on it... bah!), and it works fine.

I don't really care for Vista, but.. I didn't care for XP, when it first came out, either. I would STILL rather go back to Windows 2000.

But, so far as laptops go, I can reccomend this one.

So, I don't know what to say about HP.

[ender1]

Stay away from HP

See, I've had a lot of success with HP.

I deal with over 500 HP machines at work, they're nice, when they work. Support is the worst I've seen, so much so I'll never buy from them.

[Noodle]

I've sold HP, Toshiba, Fujitsu, Acer and Lenovo. Of all of those I will recommend Lenovo Hands Down. Their tech support is fantastic, their laptops are functional and durable.

The X300 is the sexy Lenovo these days, but any ThinkPad or IdeaPad would suffice. ThinkPads are usually business class (durable, reliable, and no nonsense) IdeaPads are for Home users and they come with some more consumer level features (Fancy speakers, glossy screens, consumer software).

I own Toshiba, HP, and Mac laptops. If I were to buy one today I'd get a Lenovo hands down.

[Syphon the Sun]

I'm not sure I'd even want to do serious gaming on a laptop. You'd get the most bang for your buck to buy a quality laptop for laptop things and a quality gaming desktop for gaming things.

[zeroguy]

my computer needs are for video games, pictures, videos, and other school stuff (going to collage next year)

Games, like, 3d-accelerated ones? Okay, then the only real non-basic requirement you have is a halfway decent graphics card. NVIDIA or ATI these days, probably; I'll let someone else recommend a particular one if they want, as I don't pay too much attention to them.

And are you actually going to be moving around with it? I got a laptop before going to college because it seemed like everyone did, but I didn't really need to. All it does is sit at my desk. It probably uses a lot less power, though, than a desktop, which is nice. Would battery life actually be a concern?

[GodInYourEyes]

Would battery life actually be a concern?

Well battery life is hard to determine because I could carry the charger
but then theres that what if I forget it or I can't plug it in. :/ well if
it lasts 8 hours or more it good

[daPyr0x]

Would battery life actually be a concern?

Well battery life is hard to determine because I could carry the charger
but then theres that what if I forget it or I can't plug it in. :/ well if
it lasts 8 hours or more it good

8 hours? You're dreaming. Maybe if you carry an extra battery or two (more like two on most laptops)...

[GodInYourEyes]

well I said it before I dont know much about laptops, 2 hours is
good I guess. dose any one know how to make a nuclear power
laptop battery

[Rei]

My mac gets a range of 3-6 hours, depending on how much I'm running. That's definitely more than I've ever hoped for out of a laptop.

[jotabe]

Humm... that looks like a Mac...


Btw, now on topic: from my own experience, if you want to do some gaming on your laptop, always chose amd processor. Why? because amd laptop motherboards are often the ones with best integrated graphic cards.