What to get in a LapTop

[markb5900]

Just my .02 about Toshiba. I have owned several now and have liked them all. Had one HD failure within a couple of weeks of buying it, replaced it and been good ever since.
As for the screen size issue. I have a 17" screen on my laptop, full keyboard and 10 key. You couldn't pay me to buy another one this big unless I was strictly going to use it at home. It is a real pain to travel with, since it is so heavy and large.
If you plan to do any traveling with it, consider the smaller screen sizes. Lugging a 17" around ATL or ORD will about kill your shoulder before you get to your gate.
Hope that helps a little.

 

[SCCutler]

Remember when Celia dropped her iPhone, 5-days old (or so)? No warranty for that, so what did the "genius at the Genius Bar do?

Gave her another one, gratis.

They do know something about service at the Apple Store.

---

Edit:

AND, they speaka the English!

 

[flyingcheesehead]

As for the screen size issue. I have a 17" screen on my laptop, full keyboard and 10 key. You couldn't pay me to buy another one this big unless I was strictly going to use it at home. It is a real pain to travel with, since it is so heavy and large.

Mark,

That's not a screen size issue. My cousin brought his new-ish Dell XPS M1730 17" with him when he visited for thanksgiving, and the difference was shocking.

17" Dell M1730 dimensions: 16.0" x 11.9" x 2.0" 10.6-12.6 pounds, not including the massive 2.2 pound power brick.
17" MacBook Pro dimensions: 15.5" x 10.5" x 0.98" and 6.6 pounds, with a small power adapter that weighs maybe 5-6 ounces.

I actually thought his must be one of the 21" "laptop" behemoths that Dell makes (made?) until I put mine in front of his and saw that the screen was the same size. I was amazed at the huge difference!

I do carry my 17" MacBook Pro with me practically everywhere I go, and it doesn't hurt to do so. However, you do still have an excellent point that the physical properties can be as important as the digital ones!

For reference, here's a pic of the model I have with an iPhone for comparison:

And the side view:

 

[flyingcheesehead]

Remember when Celia dropped her iPhone, 5-days old (or so)? No warranty for that, so what did the "genius at the Genius Bar do?

Gave her another one, gratis.

They do know something about service at the Apple Store.

---

Edit:

AND, they speaka the English!

Yep. I almost always walk out of there with a smile, feeling good.

Another example: I had bought the Shure "Music Phone Adapter" (A device that allows you to use any pair of headphones as a phone headset, including the play/pause/answer/end button) a while back - In fact, more than a year previously, it was out of warranty. The guy at the Apple store said "Well, you're supposed to deal directly with Shure on that" as he winked and handed me a brand-new one.

They know how to make their customers happy, that's for sure.

 

[colomtnflyer]

I'm probably going to be laughed at, but here goes...

About 4 days ago, my HP gave up the ghost. So after trouble shooting it, I find the mother board, the CPU and the Display adapter all need to be replaced. Of course it's out of warranty, so it will cost almost $500 to have it overhauled.

So... I went out to several stores to see what was out there. After looking at various features (I really like a 17" display, full number keypad, etc) and prices, I then went online to see what CNET, CR and others had to say about them. I ended finding a Gateway NV7802u at Best Buy for $599! That is almost $1000 less than I paid for my HP 2 yrs ago. It had solid reviews from both Cnet and CR, so I went for it.

This new Gateway has 4GB of Ram, 500GB memory, built in webcam and microphones, loaded with Windows 7 (not a big selling point to me- I like XP) I could have reloaded my OFFICE 2003, but for $99 I got a 2007 Home/ Student version which had Word, Excel, PowerPoint and One Note. Those are what I use most, so updating wasn't traumatic. I was able to transfer my Norton 360 without using one of the licenses, by calling Norton and assuring them it would not be used on the HP again.
It is running the Intel Centrino Duo Core (2.2mghtz), has 4 USB ports, a CD/DVD burner. The one thing I'll miss is a firewire port or an s-video port for direct video feed to the hard drive.

The fun part now is going to be transferring data and stuff from my back up (thank gosh I had backed it up!), a Maxtor 1TB Backup/Recovery Drive I bought last winter.

So for now I'll just sit on my old HP, and maybe one day I'll get it repaired as a back up...

 

[Ghery]

2 laptops in the house, plus one at work.

Old laptop is a Gateway that I picked up about 3 years ago. Still running fine. Windows XP.

New laptop at home is a Lenovo that I got on-line for about $400. Windows 7. Added Office 2007 and my wife is happy.

Laptop at work is an HP. Company issue. Windows XP Pro. Office 2007 and a bunch of other stuff. Work PC is the HP as the Lenovo offering at work has a camera built in and the overall organization I fall under owns the fabs. No cameras allowed. Doesn't matter than in the almost 14 years I've worked here I've never seen the inside of a fab. I got the HP. Oh well...

Are they upgradable? They're laptops. Of course not. Decide the features that are important to you and buy one that has them.

Oh, and Mac vs. PC? I don't care. We sell the processors used in both.

 

[SkyHog]

Mark,

That's not a screen size issue. My cousin brought his new-ish Dell XPS M1730 17" with him when he visited for thanksgiving, and the difference was shocking.

17" Dell M1730 dimensions: 16.0" x 11.9" x 2.0" 10.6-12.6 pounds, not including the massive 2.2 pound power brick.
17" MacBook Pro dimensions: 15.5" x 10.5" x 0.98" and 6.6 pounds, with a small power adapter that weighs maybe 5-6 ounces.

I actually thought his must be one of the 21" "laptop" behemoths that Dell makes (made?) until I put mine in front of his and saw that the screen was the same size. I was amazed at the huge difference!

I do carry my 17" MacBook Pro with me practically everywhere I go, and it doesn't hurt to do so. However, you do still have an excellent point that the physical properties can be as important as the digital ones!

For reference, here's a pic of the model I have with an iPhone for comparison:

And the side view:

My work laptop is a Dell D420, and I love it to death. Its small, its light, and it does the job very nicely. I'm very impressed.

Its a cheap-ass laptop though, and I can't wait for our upgrades next year, but I just hope that the upgrade is to a model of similar size/weight.