Laptop brand, any suggestions?

[BearZDefect]

Originally Posted By: JustinH
Buy a dell latitude, they are great quality. I buy a dozen of them a week at work.

Special order it with a ssd hard drive. Add the extra warranty. Done deal.


The Latitude E6___ laptops I've seen and worked with in the past couple of years have been first class, except for the dull LCD panels (similarly dull to what you find in most consumer laptops). But if you buy them new the price is high, instead buy from their outlet where you get the full original 3 year warranty, and frequent coupons make the prices very competitive:
http://www.dell.com/us/dfb/p/

Unlike other posters above, in recent years I have had and seen too many bad experiences with Lenovo Thinkpads. Not only failures of motherboards, LCD panels, keyboards, power plugs (I realize it can happen to any brand) but Lenovo's EasyServ repair center refuses to fix them under warranty claiming damage by user.

 

[97tbird]

ThinkPads or Toshiba.

 

[SLCraig]

Thinkpad T series is the best out there, if you want the longest lasting, nicest simple design, that is it.

There are good alternatives as well.

HP Probook or Dell Latitude.. These are their business series, and are worth the extra you spend to get them, all day long.

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: SLCraig
Thinkpad T series is the best out there, if you want the longest lasting, nicest simple design, that is it.

There are good alternatives as well.

HP Probook or Dell Latitude.. These are their business series, and are worth the extra you spend to get them, all day long.


Agreed on the T-series, my work laptop is a T420S with 16GB of RAM. Will be adding an SSD to it shortly. They are extremely durable units.

 

[97tbird]

I have a T520, i7 2.8 Ghz, Win Pro, FHD glare free screen, FP reader, etc...

but 8 GB Ram - i didn't think it can take 16GB... ??? I just read an article where some dude said Lenovo specs are wrong and it can take 16GB..

SSD .... I am getting VERY VERY VERY tempted...

But do I NEED 16GB and an SSD ? Can I justify it..?

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: 97tbird
But do I NEED 16GB and an SSD ? Can I justify it..?

I'd go for SSD, for sure.

As far as upgrade from 8 GB to 16 GB RAM, you're unlikely to see much difference unless you constantly have 30 different programs open simultaneously.

BTW, my work laptop is a T420 with 8GB RAM, and despite a ton of apps and browser windows open at once, RAM has never been a limiting factor.

Maybe OVERKILL is running virtual machines or other memory intensive tasks where 16GB comes in handy.

 

[wallyuwl]

Originally Posted By: 97tbird
But do I NEED 16GB and an SSD ? Can I justify it..?


You don't need 16 GB currently. In two or three years, if you plan to keep the laptop that long or longer, then you'll want one that is upgradeable to 16. That is why we didn't get the Lenovo we were looking at - it came with 8 and you couldn't go any higher.

Definitely go with a SSD. You don't need to get a laptop with one in it already (hard to find and expensive), you can get any laptop you want and buy a 250 SSD for $150 or less and put it in right away. I just did this with a laptop. Since CDs don't come with new PCs anymore, you'll need a transfer cable. I'd recommend just getting a "kit", like this one:

 

[97tbird]

No, but the T520 CAN take 16GB.
At the time Lenovo documented spec's of my T520 they didn't mention 16GB for some reason, although it IS capable of 16GB. (i forget the reason, but will try to find it again on some Lenovo forums, it was a Lenovo tech on the forum who mentioned it).

So if I really need/want to, according to Lenovo community posts, it WILL take 16GB and recognize it, but like serveral of you said, I may not see a difference...

SSD is definitely tempting. My current T520 is like 2 yrs old I think? perhaps when bigger SSDs become a bit cheaper...?

 

[datech]

Originally Posted By: ClutchDisc
Windows 8 is awful! If you are going with windows get windows 7, windows 8 was Microsoft's biggest mistake ever!

That being said, I wouldn't get an HP, or Asus. In my experience Gateway/Acer is pretty good, but I personally would say go with a Dell.


Most all laptops are made by independent companies in the far east, so just investigate the proc/ram/screen/memory you want and buy accordingly. Toshiba is an exception, and they were an early leader in laptops but I have used other brands no problem.

I just loaded Windows 8.1 on my 4 year old Acer netbook (3GB ram) and it runs better than 7, but I agree the user interface sucks, unless maybe you are using it on a phone or something.