OT laptop recommendations?

[connorsmom911]

Hey all,

Shopping for a laptop because I just don't have the room for the desktop anymore, and who are we kidding, I want more comfort when I DIS!!:rotfl:

Wondering if people have any recommendations they'd like to share. What I'm looking for is mainly internet surfing in the house, but going out and about would be a nice treat, say to the local Starbucks, or WDW or something. Also for pictures, maybe getting into digital scrapbooking, and music for my mp3 player. Definitely need a cd/dvd burner as well. But that's about it, unless there is something I realllllllyyyyy should have. It's been a long time since I've shopped for a computer, and I feel like I've suddenly fallen off the technology bandwagon!

I currently own a Dell desktop, and it's my second Dell. I have had really good luck with them and have never had any issues, so I am kinda partial to them, but even there I'm not exactly sure what I should be looking for. Oh, and I do like all the purty colours they have now...and we all know colour is important to us girls!!:lmao:

So, share your reviews, recommendations and opinions!

[luvdiz2]

Cause if you have problems with your laptop in Canada, they have to ship in stateside in order to repair it as there are no locations in Canada that do it - terrible customer service and repairs. It took them twice to fix a simple fix and it was gone for more than two weeks each time.

I have heard good things about Dell and HP

[pxlbarrel]

Here's some questions to ask yourself first:

1. What's your maximum price?

2. You'd like to be able to travel with it so do you want a 12 inch, 14 or 17 inch screen? Keep in mind the smaller it is, the more expensive it gets and the more compacted the keyboard is.

Once you have figured that out, you should consider how big a hard drive you want and how good a battery is in the laptop. Remember you can always buy portable external hard drives for your laptop and they'll be around $100 if not less these days for a pretty good sized one. To replace your battery will cost you a lot more.

I bought a Toshiba laptop from Futureshop last month. It's a dual core processor, has 500 Gig HD, 13.3 inch screen, 9 cell lithium battery (supposed to give me 6 hours of battery but a lot depends on what you're doing with your laptop), wireless N, dvd burner, and 2 gig of RAM.

If you wanna do photos and stuff, try not to get anything with less than 2 gig of RAM. More RAM is good. Less RAM is real bad.

Unless you're set on DELL, Best Buy and Future Shop sometimes have some pretty amazing sales on laptops. Just know what you want before you go into the store so you don't get snowed by them.

[dancin Disney style]

I've been wanting to buy a laptop too. I'm interested in the satellite ones but don't that much about them....anyone know how good the internet access is?

What about the different processers.....Athlon vs. the 2 Intel ones? We've always been told to only buy Intel. I have no idea what the differences are.

Originally I only wanted to have a laptop for travel...to get online and watch DVD's...but now it might be mine primary computer. My desktop is 5 years old (Sony Vaio) and it's getting a little slow.

There are some really great prices right now at both Best Buy and Future Shop.

[Ham Ham]

You can get more bang for your buck in a desktop computer.

All though they are hard to carry around.

We have a clone PC tower we bought in 2005 & picked up a Mac Book on boxing day $550 off.

We needed a second computer and also wanted to have one to travel with.

We love our Mac Book.

[trivial]

I'm also partial to Dell, and some great deals can be found from time to time. I recommend checking out redflagdeals.com to see if there are any current laptop deals; if you're not in a rush, I'd wait until one comes up. If money isn't a concern, and you're not a gamer, I would also consider a Mac.

As for exactly which model to buy, any laptop on the market will meet your requirements (although some may not have DVD burning capability), so it's really just a matter of how much money you want to spend. Personally, I'm into gaming so I would want one with a good video chip (a high end nVidia or ATI chip), but if you're not into gaming it's not an issue.

I've been wanting to buy a laptop too. I'm interested in the satellite ones but don't that much about them....anyone know how good the internet access is?

What about the different processers.....Athlon vs. the 2 Intel ones? We've always been told to only buy Intel. I have no idea what the differences are.

Any laptop on the market should have acceptable wireless performance. Regarding AMD (makers of Athlon processors) versus Intel, whoever told you to only buy Intel doesn't know what they're talking about, unfortunately (or they own Intel stock). There is no practical difference between them; they'll do everything you need them to do. That said, I'm a fan of AMD, as their processors perform just as well as Intel's, but at a lower cost.

[TiggerCat]

I have bought two HP Pavillion laptops over the past six months (one for me and one for my daughter) and have not had a problem with either. Great quality and no issues. I especially like the wireless so I can surf anywhere in the house. It also comes in handy on the road.

As for the Advanced Mirco Devices (AMD), it is by far the superior chip; especially for gamers. It also happens to come cheaper than Intel. The only reason that Intel is so popular is because it used unfair trade practices to keep AMD out of many of the mainstream machines.

TC.

[CDNmouse]

I use a HP Pavillion lap top computer myself. I could never go back to a desk top now. I bright mine everwhere I go.

When at Disney World I transferred all of my digital photos every evening from my memory card to the lap top. I also bought a 160 GB western digital back up drive and copied the photos there too just to be safe with a back up copy in case of a computer crash of theft of my lap top. The back up drive was small enough to store in the safe.

Gary

[mermaid&cinderella]

I love my new Dell XPS
http://www.dell.com/content/products/category.aspx/xpsnb?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs

[TiggerCat]

I use a HP Pavillion lap top computer myself. I could never go back to a desk top now. I bright mine everwhere I go.

When at Disney World I transferred all of my digital photos every evening from my memory card to the lap top. I also bought a 160 GB western digital back up drive and copied the photos there too just to be safe with a back up copy in case of a computer crash of theft of my lap top. The back up drive was small enough to store in the safe.

Gary

Yeah, I bought the 160GB HD as well and it's great. I see that they have a 250GB drive at Costco and I might just have to treat myself to another one.;)

TC.

[minnie56]

We have 4 Toshiba's ..one on it's way out!

MyDD21 is driving me crazy for an Apple Laptop..thin-lightweight etc etc...DH is concerned about the software costs. Anyone have an experience with them? :confused3

[trivial]

What sort of software costs specifically? I wouldn't expect software to be priced any different for Macs, but Apple's hardware is usually (always?) more expensive. But they're beautiful machines, and there's no question that Mac OS X is a far superior operating system to Windows Vista.

[minnie56]

Well--from what I understand, anything is better than Vista?? I noted todays Future Shop flyer offering free 'downgrades' to Windows XP!

DH has all kinds if progams to load on our PC's--Laptops etc...they would not work on Mac would they? Think this is what he is thinking..that they are so proprietory?

[trivial]

That's pretty funny about the free downgrades, ha! You're right; saying Mac OS X is superior to Windows Vista isn't saying much. Apple's modern systems are actually capable of dual-booting both Mac OS and Windows, so it's still possible to use your current Windows applications on a Mac.

[minnie56]

And does this also apply to word-powerpoint etc? I am grasping here as I know NOTHING about Computers!:confused3

[trivial]

Yes, all of the Windows Microsoft Office apps will run as well. In addition, there is a free, downloadable software suite that is very similar to Office (and is cross-compatible with Office), called OpenOffice (openoffice.org), which may or may not be of interest.

[F4disneyfan]

Hey all,

Shopping for a laptop because I just don't have the room for the desktop anymore, and who are we kidding, I want more comfort when I DIS!!:rotfl:

Wondering if people have any recommendations they'd like to share. What I'm looking for is mainly internet surfing in the house, but going out and about would be a nice treat, say to the local Starbucks, or WDW or something. Also for pictures, maybe getting into digital scrapbooking, and music for my mp3 player. Definitely need a cd/dvd burner as well. But that's about it, unless there is something I realllllllyyyyy should have. It's been a long time since I've shopped for a computer, and I feel like I've suddenly fallen off the technology bandwagon!

I currently own a Dell desktop, and it's my second Dell. I have had really good luck with them and have never had any issues, so I am kinda partial to them, but even there I'm not exactly sure what I should be looking for. Oh, and I do like all the purty colours they have now...and we all know colour is important to us girls!!:lmao:

So, share your reviews, recommendations and opinions!

My personal reccomendation is to stay away from DELL notebooks get a MAC or if you aren't into the mac thing look at Toshiba HP and Acer for the best bet. Acer you get the best bang for your buck on notebooks we have had several and all have been treeific.

[esdras]

Well--from what I understand, anything is better than Vista?? I noted todays Future Shop flyer offering free 'downgrades' to Windows XP!

DH has all kinds if progams to load on our PC's--Laptops etc...they would not work on Mac would they? Think this is what he is thinking..that they are so proprietory?

I've actually LOVED VISTA. We got a new Desktop in October with Vista Home Premium 64-bit OS, and other than a few tweaks required to get some drivers compatible with our printer - it's been fine. We also had to upgrade one bit of software - Adobe PhotoShop Elements - 4.0 wouldn't work, but we were able to upgrade to 6.0 for $70.

I also got an HP Pavillion laptop at BestBuy a couple of weeks ago since my old one decided to die. It's a 17" in the dv9700 series. It's also running Vista Home Premium (32-bit), and has been fine.

I have found Vista on both machines to be FAR more stable than XP was on either our old Desktop (XP Home) or laptop (XP Pro).

Now, here's the real secret. Yes, a lot of places are offering a downgrade to XP - IF, however, you are getting a new computer and junking an old one (not using it AT ALL), don't do the downgrade. Keep the Vista it comes with, and if you REALLY don't like it, take the Windows XP OS you had on your old computer and install it on your new one. Hey, you already bought it - as long as it is running on only one computer, it is yours to use on whatever computer you want.

I have legal, installable versions of MS operating systems from Windows 3.1 to Vista
1 copy of Windows 3.1
1 copy of Windows 95
1 copy of Windows 98
1 copy of Windows 98 SE
1 copy of Windows XP Home
1 copy of Windows XP Pro
1 copy of Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit
1 copy of Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit

These have been acquired over 15 years of owning computers. But, theoretically, I could use ANY one of them on a computer that will accept the OS.

Now, I know I didn't list MS-DOS, but that is essentially freely available in the form of free-DOS systems that you can download.

So, always ask about the FREE downgrade details - a lot of the time, you get XP but are then forced to give up your copy of Vista. If you EVER want to use that OS later on the system you just bought, you will THEN have to go out and buy (at least) a VISTA upgrade package. It's a potential waste of at least $100 or so if you had an old copy of XP not being used on any other computer.

[esdras]

Hey all,

Shopping for a laptop because I just don't have the room for the desktop anymore, and who are we kidding, I want more comfort when I DIS!!:rotfl:

Wondering if people have any recommendations they'd like to share. What I'm looking for is mainly internet surfing in the house, but going out and about would be a nice treat, say to the local Starbucks, or WDW or something. Also for pictures, maybe getting into digital scrapbooking, and music for my mp3 player. Definitely need a cd/dvd burner as well. But that's about it, unless there is something I realllllllyyyyy should have. It's been a long time since I've shopped for a computer, and I feel like I've suddenly fallen off the technology bandwagon!

I currently own a Dell desktop, and it's my second Dell. I have had really good luck with them and have never had any issues, so I am kinda partial to them, but even there I'm not exactly sure what I should be looking for. Oh, and I do like all the purty colours they have now...and we all know colour is important to us girls!!:lmao:

So, share your reviews, recommendations and opinions!

Even though you say you don't have room for a desktop, if your laptop is going to be your primary computer, you likely want to consider one that is in the "Desktop Replacement" category.

In other words, although things like the MACBook Air are WAY Cool, they also have WAY SMALL screens. If you have had a desktop and are accustomed to anything larger than a 17" screen, going to anything less than a 15" laptop screen MIGHT annoy you.

When I purchased an HP Pavillion 17" (I do have to carry it around), I also saw an incredible HP Desktop replacement laptop at BestBuy. This would take up a lot less room than a desktop, but it really isn't suited for true portability - it weighs about 12 - 15 lbs. (I've seen both weights listed.

Here are the specs:

Processor, Operating System and MemoryOperating system installed
Genuine (http://welcome.hp-ww.com/country/ca/en/mda/genuine_landing.html) Windows® Vista Ultimate 64-bit
Processor
Intel® Centrino® processor technology
• Intel® Core ™ 2 Duo processor T7500
• 2.20 GHz , 4 MB L2 Cache, 800 MHz FSB
• Intel® PRO/Wireless 4965AGN Network Connection & Bluetooth ™
Standard memory
2048 MB
Memory type
DDR2 System Memory
Maximum memory
Supports up to 4 GB DDR2 memory
memory layout
2048 MB (2 x 1024 MB)
Internal drivesInternal hard disk drive
240 GB
Hard disk controller
SATA Hard Disk Drive
Hard disk drive speed
4200 rpm
Optical drive type
HD DVD ROM with SuperMulti DVD±R/RW Double Layer
System featuresMemory card device
5-in-1 integrated Digital Media Reader for Secure Digital cards, MultiMedia cards, Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro, or xD Picture cards
Modem
High speed 56k modem
Network interface
Integrated 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet LAN
Wireless Technologies
Intel® PRO/Wireless 4965AGN Network Connection & Bluetooth ™
Wireless capability
Yes
External I/O ports
4 Universal Serial Bus (USB) 2.0, 2 Headphone out, 1 microphone-in, 1 HDMI, 1 VGA (15-pin), 1 eSata, 1 RJ-11 (modem), 1 RJ -45 (LAN), 1 Expansion Port 3, 1 IEEE 1394 Firewire (4-pin), 1 Consumer IR (Remote Receiver) Native External Speaker Configurations Ports: Side, Rear, Center/Sub, Front, Integrated HDTV Hybrid TV Tuner (with F-Jack adaptor) input, S-Video Input, Blaster (IRemitter), Stereo Audio Input
Video capture interface
IEEE 1394 FireWire® Interface
Expansion slots
One ExpressCard/54 slot (also supports ExpressCard/34)
Display size
20.1” WSXGA+ High-Definition HP Ultra Brightview Widescreen Display
Display resolution
1680 x 1050
Video adapter
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 2600 XT
Video RAM
With 256MB GDDR3 (dedicated) & up to 1023MB Total Available Graphics Memory
Control Panel
HP QuickPlay media player software and its dedicated menu controls, music and DVD buttons
Handheld remote control
Dockable Remote Control
Internal audio
3D Sound Blaster Pro compatible sound 16 bit integrated
Speakers and microphone
Altec Lansing® speakers with integrated sub-woofer; Native External Speaker Configurations Ports: Rear, Center/Sub, Front
Keyboard
Full size desktop keyboard (with separate numeric keypad layout)
Mouse/Pointing Device
Touch Pad with On/Off button and dedicated vertical Scroll Up/Down pad
power supply type
180 W AC Power adapter
SoftwareSoftware - productivity & finance
Microsoft® Works, Microsoft® Office 2007 Student and Teacher Edition: 60 Day Trial Version
Software included
Symantec® Norton Internet Security 2007 (including 60 days complimentary live update),HP Total Care Help & Support Center, PC Recovery (Softthinks Restore Solution),Wireless Home Network, Roxio Backup MyPC,HP PhotoSmart Premier, HP Quick Play,Muvee AutoProducer, Roxio Creator Premier, Adobe® Acrobat Reader
Dimensions / weight / warrantyWeight
7.05 kg (15.5 lbs)
Dimensions (w x d x h)
47.5 cm (L) x 33.95 cm (W) x 5.85 cm (min H/max H)


You can read the details and see some pics at HP's website here:

http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/ca/en/ho/WF06a/12139188-78299199-78299212-78299212-78299212-80247383.html

[dancin Disney style]

Trivial...you sound totally knowledgable in this discussion.

I was enquiring about the Toshiba Satelite laptop....my DD told me that you are able to access the internet through satelite signals in the air with this laptop. Is this correct? What's the deal on these satelite laptops?

[trivial]

The Satellite in "Toshiba Satellite" is just the model name of one of Toshiba's laptop lines, nothing more. Most (or perhaps all) modern laptops have wireless capability called WiFi. With WiFi, you can wirelessly connect to the Internet in your home if you have a wireless router (a decent one can be found for $60 or so). For example, if you have a high-speed Internet connection in your home, it probably connects from a wall outlet to a modem. You would plug this modem into a wireless router, which makes your Internet connection accessible wirelessly (you can choose to make it accessible from anyone within range, but it's best to password-protect it).

You can also connect to other wireless networks that are within range of your laptop, such as a neighbour's, but most such networks are password-protected to keep other people from using their Internet access (or hacking into their computer). Certain places, such as hotels and coffee shops, may offer wireless Internet access for free or for a charge.

[pxlbarrel]

I've got an Acer desktop and a Toshiba notebook both on Vista Home Premium. I've had the desktop since October and have had absolutely no problems whatsoever. Notebook's been around for a month and no problems either. Vista seems fine to me and I like some of the stuff on it that you don't find on XP.

That being said, I know someone who had almost the same desktop as I do (not quite the same) and they've had nothing but trouble. I think he got a lemon.

[dancin Disney style]

The Satellite in "Toshiba Satellite" is just the model name of one of Toshiba's laptop lines, nothing more. Most (or perhaps all) modern laptops have wireless capability called WiFi. With WiFi, you can wirelessly connect to the Internet in your home if you have a wireless router (a decent one can be found for $60 or so). For example, if you have a high-speed Internet connection in your home, it probably connects from a wall outlet to a modem. You would plug this modem into a wireless router, which makes your Internet connection accessible wirelessly (you can choose to make it accessible from anyone within range, but it's best to password-protect it).

You can also connect to other wireless networks that are within range of your laptop, such as a neighbour's, but most such networks are password-protected to keep other people from using their Internet access (or hacking into their computer). Certain places, such as hotels and coffee shops, may offer wireless Internet access for free or for a charge.

Thanks....I thought it was just a name but my DD said 'no'...she is way more up on the latest thing than I am...not this time though.

Do you know if I could have a wireless internet access with high speed 'lite' service? I'm on Sympatico and have just switched to the 'essentials' package.

[OnMedic]

We have a clone PC tower we bought in 2005 & picked up a Mac Book on boxing day $550 off.

We needed a second computer and also wanted to have one to travel with.

We love our Mac Book.
Ditto... One macBook in the house and we love it. if I didn;t get a laptop for work, a second MacBook would be in the future... and I would LOVE the macBook Air! The Apple OS is GREAT!

If I was buying PC laptop, it would be Lenovo. It is a real road warrier... very well built!

[trivial]

Do you know if I could have a wireless internet access with high speed 'lite' service? I'm on Sympatico and have just switched to the 'essentials' package.
Yes; it would even be possible (but slow) with dial-up Internet access. If you plan on getting a wireless router, I did a quick search and found that Futureshop has a nice one (the same one I use) for $49.99 (currently on sale until Thursday). The link is:

http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=&langid=EN&sku_id=0665000FS10025695&catid=19994

[Ham Ham]

Don't forget to secure the router.