Time for a new laptop - Freeper Help Needed

[Maceman]

When I last bought a laptop in 2006, I asked my fellow Freepers for advice and got such great responses. Based on those responses, I finally bought a Dell D820 and was completely happy with the result.

So now it's time for a new one. I am going to stay with the PC for business reasons, and also because Apple is too expensive.

I use the computer primarily for work which means I'll be running MS Office Pro -- and most of my work uses MS Office apps.

I'm not a gamer, but I do want fast video. Any thoughts about the chipset would be helpful.

I'd also love opinions about any manufacturers to avoid. My Dell has been a great machine, even though I needed the screen and motherboard replaced at last three times since I bought it. But that was OK because Dell's next-day onsite service warranty has been very reliable.

(By contrast, I bought an HP desktop from Circuit City a few years ago, but it had constant problems. And when Circuit City closed, I could no longer get support and repair. So it's just a dust collector now.)

Anyway, I'm strongly considering a Dell Vostro 3550, but would certainly welcome advice from my fellow Freepers regarding what to buy and what to stay away from.

Thanks, as always.

[papasmurf]

iPad and others like it, are generally not “Tablet PC”. They are Tablets. Tablet PC are basically a full on laptop with a rotating or flip down screen on which you can write. More specifically they use a hardware layer, and Tablets don’t.

[TomGuy]

You probably want an Intel I-5. The I-3 might be a bit slow and the I-7 might be more processing than you need for daily general use.

I recently bought a Samsung laptop with the I-5/Windows 7. It handles video playing very well. I don’t know how it would do with video processing (converting, etc), since I haven’t had it long enough to check out.

[for-q-clinton]

Samsung has a great ultra-thin laptop that many execs are dumping the thin iMac for. But Personally I’d wait for windows 8 or at least for some designs that will take advantage of it. Also battery life is rapidly improving.

[TomGuy]

but does anyone know anything about firefox

not working for amazon?

Don't know about Amazon, but FF 5 and 6 are crap with PDF files. FF doesn't seem to know who to handle them. Of course, many websites (bank and commerce related) use variations of PDF -- DO, STMT, VE(?). I use PDF-Xchange instead of Adobe Reader. That may be part of the problem, but Adobe Reader is glutware and slow-loading.

[Noob1999]

....................and most of my work uses MS Office apps...................

Strongly consider a machine with a keyboard that includes a numeric pad if you do much number crunching.

[Made In The USA]

FWIW on brands... For business I’ve had extremely good luck with HP and Dell laptops. Each heavily used, survived lots of travel, etc. Hell, my HP got wet from a household flood about 3 years ago (I’m using it right now). A Thinkpad I was temporarily stuck with was heavy, slow, and died an unnatural blue screen death. For personal laptop - I’ve had an Asus the last 2 years and it was way affordable and way reliable.

On the tech side... It’s easy to demand at least 500G hard drive, 3Gig memory, and a fast/reliable chip. At this point, I’ve got no preference between Intel or AMD.

[TexasRepublic]

I would consider a Dell Inspiron. They have proven to be very dependable for people where I work. Never buy a HP/Compaq. Their tech support in India is pathetic and dishonest. Some of their polices screw the customers. I told a supervisor that I will NEVER buy their products again, and nor would anyone that I can influence. I also hear reports that HP may get out of the PC business.

BTW, I have yet to find a Dell desktop that would not run Linux. I expect that applies to their laptops as well, with the possible exception of some wireless cards.

[DTA]

Maceman, here is a little quiz. Do you make money while working on a laptop ?

If answer is yes, you need laptop with IPS panel,non-reflexive screen, preferably in 4:3 format. Such laptop is not very suitable for watching movies in 16:9 format. But, the extra productivity squeezed from it could easily pay for an Ipad2 or similar toy. In that case, my vote goes to Lenovo Thinkpad. If security is of concern, wipe it clean and install your version of Windows 7 without any Lenovo tools.

If answer is no, you need work and play combo laptop. My wife is using her ASUS netbook for text processing and rarely uses her laptop or desktop any longer. Productivity is improved because netbook can be carried at all times due to small weight and long battery life.

Also, many people who use laptop actually only need portable pc that works in the office and at home. Mac Mini equipped with two sets of monitors and keyboards fro both locations work wonders for them.

[Kaneman]

Posters here are too clever by half. My previous laptop was a 2006 top-of-the-line HP with a 15” screen. It was fantastic and I travel extensively. Finally, the fan motor began to act up and, rather than continue cleaning it, I recently purchased a new Toshiba at BestBuy, based upon consumer reports and my local guru’s advice. It is light and inexpensive (though you must purchase software). I was warned that it was a great machine...just don’t drop it!
The other that I was impressed with was an Asus.

[Laserman]

MacBook Pro

[HardyCanuck]

If video AND battery life are important considerations, take a look at AMD’s new A6 or A8 chips. These ‘accelerated processing units’, or APUs, have both the cpu and gpu on the same die, are priced in the mid-range, and offer much improved battery life based on @35-45W total dissipated power. The embedded graphics chip comes with dedicated or shared memory, depending on the machine you choose.

[Fu-fu2]

ditto

[Nevadan]

I recently bought a laptop. I found this site very helpful in explaining all the different features available: http://shop.retrevo.com/m/Laptop-Buying-Guide/c11020
Besides explaining it all, the site also makes recommendations.

[raybbr]

I have three Toshibas and will probably never buy another brand...

[ken21]

thank you.

[fellowgeek]

My 2 cents, get a laptop.

If you plan to have it for 3 or more years, get a Core i7 processor or AMD equivalent, 4 Gigs RAM, 1 Gig RAM Video, 17 inch screen, 300 GB Hard Drive

if it’s loaded with Windows 7, they are pretty reasonably priced these days.

[ßuddaßudd]

I see some Asus laptops around here and they appear to be still working. . .

[Maceman]

That was a very helpful link. Thank you.

[free_life]

Someone here said they bought a cheap Acer therefore all Acer’s are crap. Acer makes highend quality laptops and I have both owned and sold them. No longer sell computers.

Asus higher end is the other laptop I would recommend

[twin2]

ping for later