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Topic: Buying a new laptop, sugestions welcomed...
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April 10, 2009 at
02:30:56 AM
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Okay, I'm open to about anything, but there are a couple "musts" that it has to have.
Budget - $800 to $1100
16" to 17" screen
At least a 2.4ghz Dual Core Processor
At least 4 gigs of RAM
7200 rpm SATA HD
So, as you can tell by the budget and screen size that unfortunately a Mac is out of the question...
Member of this message board since 1997
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April 10, 2009 at
03:16:27 AM
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This message was edited on
April 10, 2009 at
03:29:14 AM by singlefile
Reply to:
Posted By: Hawker on April 10 2009 at 02:30:56 AM
Okay, I'm open to about anything, but there are a couple "musts" that it has to have.
Budget - $800 to $1100
16" to 17" screen
At least a 2.4ghz Dual Core Processor
At least 4 gigs of RAM
7200 rpm SATA HD
So, as you can tell by the budget and screen size that unfortunately a Mac is out of the question...
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I just purchased a 17-inch HP laptop at Best Buy for $699 two weeks ago, but my needs are very basic, just web surfiing and Excel/Word for my job. The display and speed are great. Very nice laptop, but the only thing I dislike about it is the weight. I actually wish I would have went with a 16-inch model because the one I did purchase is kind of a pain to lug around.
One place to go for great info is Best Buy's website (www.bestbuy.com). When you click on the laptop designation, you can separate the choice by manufacturer/price range/amount of RAM etc. Each specific model then has a database in which purchasers rate the system and comment about what they like and don't like about that specific model. You can do a ton of research about various models just by looking at that site.
FWIW, the HP's and Toshiba's seem to be more more highly rated across all price ranges; Dells and Gateway seem to be more poorly rated, but your mileage may vary. I like HP; I think the quality is very good, no matter what price range you are looking at. Conversely, I would probably not buy a Dell again. I had nothing but problems with my Dell laptop before it eventually died after less than two years.
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April 10, 2009 at
04:00:00 AM
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Hawker, Just bought a Toshiba P-305D-S89953 17 inch tru-brite screen. AMD Turion x64, 4 gig ram with a sata 250 Hard drive. 4- usb ports and Harman Kardon Speakers. Super heavy duty laptop, and the price makes them awesome. I bought two of them and have one of them held for my son, but if your intrested in one, let me know... Never opened, Brand New, not refurbished and ready for any thing you can throw at it.
Let me know
Serving the Motorsports Industry since 1975!
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April 10, 2009 at
04:43:34 AM
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Once you go mac you won't go back!
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April 10, 2009 at
05:03:22 AM
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ImageWorks - How much?
dbamber - Yeah, I REALLY would like to get a Mac, but DAMN, for one with a 16" or 17" screen, I could buy two Intel or AMD machines and buy dinner to boot!!!
I know that some of the consumer level (Inspiron) Dells have had problems in the past, but the new "Studio XPS 16" is getting really good reviews, they are loaded and have an all metal chassis. And here is the kicker............. My older brother works for Dell and he claims he can get me a good deal on one.
I have a Gateway now that has been dropped, kids tripped on the power cord while walking by, drink spilled on it and has had so much use that the plastic behind the keyboard is now wearing..... I haven't had ONE problem with it other than resoldering the power jack after my daughter tripped on the cord. It has been great. BUT, they got bought out by Acer...
The HP's seem to be okay, but I don't like shared memory at ALL for the video....
What about the Sony Vaio???
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April 10, 2009 at
05:49:20 AM
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Reply to:
Posted By: Hawker on April 10 2009 at 02:30:56 AM
Okay, I'm open to about anything, but there are a couple "musts" that it has to have.
Budget - $800 to $1100
16" to 17" screen
At least a 2.4ghz Dual Core Processor
At least 4 gigs of RAM
7200 rpm SATA HD
So, as you can tell by the budget and screen size that unfortunately a Mac is out of the question...
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Might take a look at this place. i have bought 2 pc's from them and they are great 2 work with.
http://www.hcditrading.com/Shop/Control/fp/scat/46767/SFV/29664
LETS RACE BOYS
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April 10, 2009 at
06:44:31 AM
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Lots of bargains out there..I've had a lot of luck with Toshiba's the past four years; if you've got the time, do a little web search at buy.com, amazon.com, and even ebay....but be sure to investigate your local Best Buy or Fry's so you can actually touch what you like.....
Chuck.....
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April 10, 2009 at
07:54:55 AM
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You get what you pay for. You might be able to buy 2 Intel processors, but they might puke on you 4 times as often as the Mac.
The Mermaid
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April 10, 2009 at
08:50:48 AM
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Reply to:
Posted By: mermaid on April 10 2009 at 07:54:55 AM
You get what you pay for. You might be able to buy 2 Intel processors, but they might puke on you 4 times as often as the Mac.
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Hawker,
Be careful of the extended warranty from Best Buy. I got one for my laptop and they said that all repairs would be made in house, yet when I had a problem, they told me it would be 4 to 6 weeks and I would have to pay for shipping. Needless to say, I'm not a fan.
Sweeton
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April 10, 2009 at
08:56:53 AM
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This message was edited on
April 10, 2009 at
11:45:35 AM by artie langes habit
Reply to:
Posted By: lizard on April 10 2009 at 08:50:48 AM
Hawker,
Be careful of the extended warranty from Best Buy. I got one for my laptop and they said that all repairs would be made in house, yet when I had a problem, they told me it would be 4 to 6 weeks and I would have to pay for shipping. Needless to say, I'm not a fan.
Sweeton
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 www.tigerdirect.com I get a lot of stuff from these guys but I build PC's as a hobby you can find good closeout deals and such. Good luck HOOK EM HORNS
More weight, more regulation, more similarity in the
cars.... that will ensure plenty of thrills for years
to come. Only the most average talent behind the
wheel will be needed with such awesome equipment on
the track!
minthess 8.28.14
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April 10, 2009 at
11:22:46 AM
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Hawker,
This would be a good fit for you. An HP "mini". Staples has them for $299 with an $50 rebate . $250 + tax out the door. Some people thinks the small keyboard would be aggrevating. It is not. I demo'd one of these several months ago. It does not have a real big hard drive but just go to Wally World and buy you a couple 2gig USB sticks for storage for $5/ piece and you are set. They run cool and battery life is a real 3 hours usage time. When you are carrying your laptop case you will not know if it is in fact in the case, it is that light.
The only other option is an Acer One. this is what I have personally. They are pretty much identical ,only manufactuer name on the lid . I had several of the 'conventional' laptops,and after having a mini,,,would'nt have anything else.
All the touring 'bikers' have one of these to carry in their bikes/saddlebags because of the compactness,me included. Here is a link to Staples HP Mini specs:
http://www.staples.com/office/supplies/p4_HP-Mini-1010NR-Netbook-PC_256369_Business_Supplies_1_10051_FEATURED:SC3:CG71:DP4510
You cant really even mess around on Ebay for the price these are.
Take Care,
BC
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April 10, 2009 at
12:34:14 PM
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I just helped a friend buy her first laptop since 1999. We ended up at Best Buy looking at those HP's with the sharp aluminum/chrome finish cases. Our very unscientific conclusion was that those "looked" the most durable in her price range. The ones we looked at were propriatary to Best Buy but tigerdirect and a few other online sources had the same exact specs with a different name.
It came down to the 17" or 16". She decided to go with the smaller one due to lighter weight and got a bonus of a much longer battery life plus the battery pack is so big that it raises the bottom of the computer almost an inch off the table. Theoreticly that should provide better cooling. She did give up 1" of screen size and the numerical pad, but decided neither of those issues would override the benefits of longer battery and lighter weight.
Why is shared memory for all video an issue? What will be done on this laptop that would stress the system graphics wise?
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April 10, 2009 at
12:56:28 PM
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Reply to:
Posted By: Speedbump on April 10 2009 at 12:34:14 PM
I just helped a friend buy her first laptop since 1999. We ended up at Best Buy looking at those HP's with the sharp aluminum/chrome finish cases. Our very unscientific conclusion was that those "looked" the most durable in her price range. The ones we looked at were propriatary to Best Buy but tigerdirect and a few other online sources had the same exact specs with a different name.
It came down to the 17" or 16". She decided to go with the smaller one due to lighter weight and got a bonus of a much longer battery life plus the battery pack is so big that it raises the bottom of the computer almost an inch off the table. Theoreticly that should provide better cooling. She did give up 1" of screen size and the numerical pad, but decided neither of those issues would override the benefits of longer battery and lighter weight.
Why is shared memory for all video an issue? What will be done on this laptop that would stress the system graphics wise?
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On the video memory... I will be doing a lot of video and Photoshop....Photoshop is a freaking memory hog and when coupled with Vista....It can drag down system performance pretty good.
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April 10, 2009 at
01:06:27 PM
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Reply to:
Posted By: Hawker on April 10 2009 at 12:56:28 PM
On the video memory... I will be doing a lot of video and Photoshop....Photoshop is a freaking memory hog and when coupled with Vista....It can drag down system performance pretty good.
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Photoshop7 is very close to CS and doesn't hog the machine quite as hard.
I have wonders on WHY? a person would use Vista? more curious than anything.
The main difference in Photoshop versions I see is a sample of the fonts shown when selecting, I have a ton of computer but CS needs a Stimulus package.
Save your butt, get a colon screening TODAY
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Duane Davis
Laser Engraving
641-751-7777
101 N Center
Marshalltown, Iowa
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April 10, 2009 at
01:21:00 PM
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OK, I can see the photoshop issue. It would drive me freakin nuts to try and do any photo editing at all on a laptop! I seem to remember one of the propriatary HP's at Best Buy did have a secondary video card that seemed rather stout for a laptop, but I can not remember which one.
If photo editing is the main function of this machine, maybe one of the new touchscreens might be right for you....I played with them a little bit in the store and the software is greatly advanced from a year ago.
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April 10, 2009 at
01:23:05 PM
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Duane, try to buy a computer WITHOUT Vista these days....won't happen at Best Buy or any of the box stores. I wanted her to purchase an XP machine off of bestbuy.com or newegg.com or someplace similar but the only options weren't that powerfull.
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April 10, 2009 at
01:28:59 PM
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Reply to:
Posted By: Speedbump on April 10 2009 at 12:34:14 PM
I just helped a friend buy her first laptop since 1999. We ended up at Best Buy looking at those HP's with the sharp aluminum/chrome finish cases. Our very unscientific conclusion was that those "looked" the most durable in her price range. The ones we looked at were propriatary to Best Buy but tigerdirect and a few other online sources had the same exact specs with a different name.
It came down to the 17" or 16". She decided to go with the smaller one due to lighter weight and got a bonus of a much longer battery life plus the battery pack is so big that it raises the bottom of the computer almost an inch off the table. Theoreticly that should provide better cooling. She did give up 1" of screen size and the numerical pad, but decided neither of those issues would override the benefits of longer battery and lighter weight.
Why is shared memory for all video an issue? What will be done on this laptop that would stress the system graphics wise?
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Sounds like your decision between HP's was the same one I had. Like I wrote earlier, I went with the 17-inch model and do have some buyer's remorse. The battery is kinda lame on the 17-inch model. I get about 2.5 hours on a full charge while web surfing, but that wasn't a big deal to me. I usually have it plugged into the wall anyway while using it. The 16-inch model supposedly gets close to six hours on a charge. The weight is a big deal, however. I mostly just use it around the house, and I still don't like how heavy it is.
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April 10, 2009 at
02:07:16 PM
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Toshiba 305 is what I have and it has taking a beating at the race track doing our live@thetrack feature. Just blow out the dust and clean the screen and its good to go good processor speed and memory as well.
If you compare with others I would go with the Toshiba!!
Kyle
Hi im Kyle Hendershot
check out my website talk2drivers.com
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April 10, 2009 at
02:44:32 PM
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Reply to:
Posted By: Speedbump on April 10 2009 at 01:23:05 PM
Duane, try to buy a computer WITHOUT Vista these days....won't happen at Best Buy or any of the box stores. I wanted her to purchase an XP machine off of bestbuy.com or newegg.com or someplace similar but the only options weren't that powerfull.
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I guess that building custom machine is what works best for me with 2 really good double headed video cards in it. Like you, I don't know know how anyone can operate a photo program, especially photoshop or illustrator with only one monitor.
I use 3 monitors ALL of the time, and am thinking about getting another 4th monitor to replace the one that went bad.
Save your butt, get a colon screening TODAY
For complete line of Sponsor Awards check out
MarshallTownLaser.com
Duane Davis
Laser Engraving
641-751-7777
101 N Center
Marshalltown, Iowa
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April 10, 2009 at
03:09:19 PM
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Hawker I have a Asus Eee PC Notoe I got at BestBuy for less than 400 bucks; it has 3 high speed usb data ports; 10in screen; 2 in 1 memory slot; battery pack and charger; ac power cable; 1gb dor2 sdram; built in internet card; windows xp ! I really like it !!
Long Live 20 Time World Of Outlaws Champion Steve
Kinser #11
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