Need a New Laptop - Suggestions?

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Wait till new laptops start hitting the market with the new Sandy Bridge second generation core i7 cpu's. Built on a 32nm die they run super cool and use way less power which means better battery life. They are also the worlds most powerful cpu on the market today.


Just for an example this is my new desktop rig I put together a week ago.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v426/prostreetcamaro/2600K5Ghz.jpg
 
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Originally Posted By: ProStreetCamaro
Wait till new laptops start hitting the market with the new Sandy Bridge second generation core i7 cpu's. Built on a 32nm die they run super cool and use way less power which means better battery life. They are also the worlds most powerful cpu on the market today.


Just for an example this is my new desktop rig I put together a week ago.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v426/prostreetcamaro/2600K5Ghz.jpg


:drool:

grin.gif
 
Thinkpad T series.
As far as I'm concerned its the only choice and I would never buy anything else unless it was just a cheap $200 netbook.
Have bought them for people for years, they never have a single issue ever, even despite abuse.
 
In the last number of decades I have found HP laptops to be the best business class machines hands down, with toshiba a close second.

I love sony but the gizmos dont hold up well.

at the risk of alinetating a few, never buy a dell or gateway. cuz even if it can be fixed, not by COTS products.

and seriously consider getting away from windoze. microsoft still has a corporate standard to invalidate the drivers for devices each fixpack, putting the whole machine at risk, in order to drive a new hardware (and hence software license) purchase.
 
My HP/Dell/Compaq's all develop problems over time. Its a good disposable 2-yr laptop.

I can't stand anything from bling-ville. Avoid the Sony and the Mac. Overpriced and not any more reliable than HP/Dell.

My Toshiba's have been rock solid.

Don't you want a cheap disposable laptop that you'll replace every couple years? or do you want a grossly expensive laptop that you'll never want to replace because you got taken in by the gee whiz gimmicks?

Keep an eye on sales and hunt yourself a good laptop for under $700. This way, if it breaks in two years, you'll be able to upgrade to the latest OS and tech for
Last week, Radioshack had an HP G72-B63NR on sale for $400. Convinced several friends to grab one. Keep an eye on fatwallet and slickdeals.

I've spent about $1500 on 3 laptops over the past 5 years. Went from XP, to Vista, to Win7. Was able to piece apart and even recoup some money on the older 2(the power of ebay). Neighbor spent over $1300 on his laptop about 5 years ago. He is still stuck with a 4+ year old obsolete everything that already had a couple $100 repairs. I think that I'm doing much better. Its something you need to consider.

My latest acquisition this past summer was a Compaq CQ62-225NR for ~$300.

helpful sales link
 
Originally Posted By: HyundaiGuy
Originally Posted By: PandaBear
Do you need windows, if so Mac book may not be a good choice if you need a windows keyboard (i.e. those print screen and delete keys that programmer uses a lot).


Macs do this too, plus if absolutely necessary (like my software for work) Macs can also run Windows as well. There are numerous programs as well to do this, both paid and free. Bootcamp (which I use) is actually built into OS X.



As someone who use a MacBookPro daily for windows development, bootcamp into windows SUCKS BIG ONE.

Right click is not reliable, print screen and insert key weren't that great, putting windows partition in the rear of a hard drive and slow its access down, no choice of non wide screen LCD, low grip surface compare to other laptops (like Latitude and ThinkPad), etc.

It works, but it's not worth it.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: ProStreetCamaro
Wait till new laptops start hitting the market with the new Sandy Bridge second generation core i7 cpu's. Built on a 32nm die they run super cool and use way less power which means better battery life. They are also the worlds most powerful cpu on the market today.


Just for an example this is my new desktop rig I put together a week ago.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v426/prostreetcamaro/2600K5Ghz.jpg


What are you using to cool that? I've been able to clock my i7-930 to 4.3ghz using a cheap-o Corsair H50 rig. Great for video encoding.

Best,
 
Originally Posted By: QuadDriver
In the last number of decades I have found HP laptops to be the best business class machines hands down, with toshiba a close second.

I love sony but the gizmos dont hold up well.

at the risk of alinetating a few, never buy a dell or gateway. cuz even if it can be fixed, not by COTS products.

and seriously consider getting away from windoze. microsoft still has a corporate standard to invalidate the drivers for devices each fixpack, putting the whole machine at risk, in order to drive a new hardware (and hence software license) purchase.


My company is owned by GE so we get some crazy discount on DELL laptops based on some back-room deal cut by corporate. If you get the "top of the line" Dell, it's usually OK for 18-24 months and then things start to fail.

I've only had slightly better results from HP (we also get sweetheart pricing from them), but dealing with some shmoe in Bangalore for a few hours when you've got an issue over-rides any other potential benefit.

Sony makes some sexy looking gear, but they've also been unreliable for me in the past and getting them fixed takes an eternity.

The MOST reliable and best bang for the buck for me has been ASUS laptops. I've got several of those that I use for business trips to Asia. I've never had one fail. The only thing that's been replaced on these 3 year old machines (original 2ghz coreduo with Radeon 1600 video) is the batteries and I only replaced 'em because they were down to only about 1hr capacity....the new ones are about 2.5hrs. Asus W3J laptops...my fave.

Oh, and the first thing I do when IT drops these off at my desk is to pave over Windows and install Ubuntu. Then I install Virtualbox and a virtual XP system for those infrequent times when I've got to run something that doesn't work on Linux.

Best,
 
Originally Posted By: Familyguy
Originally Posted By: QuadDriver
In the last number of decades I have found HP laptops to be the best business class machines hands down, with toshiba a close second.

I love sony but the gizmos dont hold up well.

at the risk of alinetating a few, never buy a dell or gateway. cuz even if it can be fixed, not by COTS products.

and seriously consider getting away from windoze. microsoft still has a corporate standard to invalidate the drivers for devices each fixpack, putting the whole machine at risk, in order to drive a new hardware (and hence software license) purchase.


My company is owned by GE so we get some crazy discount on DELL laptops based on some back-room deal cut by corporate. If you get the "top of the line" Dell, it's usually OK for 18-24 months and then things start to fail.

I've only had slightly better results from HP (we also get sweetheart pricing from them), but dealing with some shmoe in Bangalore for a few hours when you've got an issue over-rides any other potential benefit.

Sony makes some sexy looking gear, but they've also been unreliable for me in the past and getting them fixed takes an eternity.

The MOST reliable and best bang for the buck for me has been ASUS laptops. I've got several of those that I use for business trips to Asia. I've never had one fail. The only thing that's been replaced on these 3 year old machines (original 2ghz coreduo with Radeon 1600 video) is the batteries and I only replaced 'em because they were down to only about 1hr capacity....the new ones are about 2.5hrs. Asus W3J laptops...my fave.

Oh, and the first thing I do when IT drops these off at my desk is to pave over Windows and install Ubuntu. Then I install Virtualbox and a virtual XP system for those infrequent times when I've got to run something that doesn't work on Linux.

Best,


I would say you and I are on the exact same page here!

I would also add that the T-series Thinkpads have proven to be reliable workhorses as well in my experience.
 
I'm on a 5 year old HP Pavilion laptop that was given to me and I can't complain about it.

If and when I buy one? I'm going Toshiba. My wife bought one almost two years ago and she uses it in her job and at home. She's an RN in management and travels a lot as well as uses it at home at night on Facebook etc...

I fuss at her for how she handles it as she treats it fairly rough. It's also a heck of lot lighter than mine in weight as well as having a longer battery life.

On another note, her daughter bought one after buying a bad HP DV 6000 that died in less than 6 months and she lets her kids play on it...ages 7 and 2! Another endorsement for me when I buy a new laptop!
 
Just recently got a refurbished Macbook Pro, and this thing feels solid. I had a Toshiba that cost $1k at the time and it can't touch this in terms of build quality. And not to mention it started to break after 18 months and was completely useless after ~2.5 years.

My sister has a HP and it is a piece of dog poo. The motherboard died only a year after she had it (HP fixed it but it was definitely due to defective design) and it runs hot constantly. My cousin got a similar Compaq and it constantly had problems and it died after a year and a half. No HP for me for a while. My cheap Acer lasted longer.

This time when I was shopping, it was between a MBP 13" and an Asus U35. Decided to go with the Mac for the battery life. There's a bit of a learning curve and it's a bit pricey for the features it comes with. Wished it had a Blu Ray drive, higher res screen, and HDMI out. Other than that, this thing is pretty neat. And I'm amazed at how long the battery can last. It's like having the portability of a netbook without the bogginess of an Intel Atom. Now I'm hoping it lasts as long as people say it will.
 
Unless you really abuse your laptops and move them around a lot, I think most of the laptops are about the same for the average user.

I just bought a refurb Dell Inspiron 15R for my sister for $455 shipped w/tax. Intel Core i5-460M, 4GB of RAM, 500gb Hard Drive and webcam. 2 yr warranty, because I used AMEX to purchase it. You can't find a better deal for that price.
 
Lenovo constantly has major sales on their notebooks.

I just ordered a Lenovo G460 last night. It has an Intel Core i5 2.66ghz, 4GB RAM, 500GB HD, 14" LED, DVD Burner for $599 with free shipping. I have been looking for a laptop for a while. I was going to go for Asus but I couldn't beat this price.

Google Lenovo G460 $599 and you should find the coupon code. It is also listed at http://www.logicbuy.com/
 
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like someone else mentioned. I would not spend over a 1000 bucks for a laptop. prices drop constantly on laptops with sales and deals online and don't forget the tech improvements all the time.
 
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