lap top advice

[back alley]

as much as i would like to take my work bonus and buy an rd1, i need a new computer.
this old dell is starting to slow down as far as net surfing is concerned.

so i'm thinking of a lap top and a wireless setup so i can move about the domicile with ease.

my dell has been years of trouble free service and i am leaning towards another but i'd like some experienced advice on brands etc.

i plan to keep the dell for photoshop work and use the laptop for mostly web surfing and some writing for work.

any suggestions?

joe

 

[Graham Line]

My mathematician son has a heavily-used Dell laptop, and I have a two-year-old Dell desktop. Both machines were upgraded from standard and still came in at a great price -- he's had a couple glitches that were promptly dealt with. I think it's hard to find a better PC deal.

 

[kaiyen]

I'm gonna type fast before the mac vs pc war starts!

First - you like your Dell. Does that mean you also like Windows in general? If so, do you like XP specifically? Have you tried Vista?

How portable do you want the laptop to be? Road warrior ultra-light? Desktop-replacement (big, heavy)? Or just in the middle?

IMO, as long as you get a good 3 year warranty (and about 3 years is as long as you'll want on a laptop anyway), most any laptop is fine. I have worked with enough of them to know that every brand has problems, every hard drive is prone to failure, etc. I don't like Sony laptops, but otherwise just about all are okay.

 

[bmattock]

IMO, as long as you get a good 3 year warranty (and about 3 years is as long as you'll want on a laptop anyway), most any laptop is fine. I have worked with enough of them to know that every brand has problems, every hard drive is prone to failure, etc. I don't like Sony laptops, but otherwise just about all are okay.

I agree. Hard to go too far wrong these days.

 

[back alley]

I'm gonna type fast before the mac vs pc war starts!

First - you like your Dell. Does that mean you also like Windows in general? If so, do you like XP specifically? Have you tried Vista?

How portable do you want the laptop to be? Road warrior ultra-light? Desktop-replacement (big, heavy)? Or just in the middle?

IMO, as long as you get a good 3 year warranty (and about 3 years is as long as you'll want on a laptop anyway), most any laptop is fine. I have worked with enough of them to know that every brand has problems, every hard drive is prone to failure, etc. I don't like Sony laptops, but otherwise just about all are okay.

i have had no problems with windows, i like xp and don't care for what i have seen of vista. size isn't a great concern as it will mostly be in the house moving from living room to t.v. room.
are there any i should stay away from?
the local costco has lots of acer machines for pretty cheap. we have some acer desktops at work that seem to work ok.

joe

 

[kaiyen]

costco might have some HP's as well. My wife has one (um...my photo business has one that my wife often uses - I do use it when showing work to clients). But it comes with Vista.

The dells are one of the few that still let you get it preinstalled with XP, though of course you can always install it yourself. The Inpsiron and XPS lines are both quite nice, as is the SOHO one...Votros? The Latitude line is probably a bit of overkill.

IMO, I like Dell for its wide range of options, Fujitsu makes some nice laptops, and the Lenovo Thinkpads are actually quite nice as well.

 

[kmack]

Memory, memory, memory.
Get the laptop that will handle the most memory and load it with the highest quality chips you can afford.

My personal choice would be a refurb Macbook Pro, but my day job is as a web applications programmer so you may not need something as flexible as a mac.