Laptop

[CasualCrisis]

I'm looking to buy a laptop. Anyone have any suggestions? I've used windows my whole life, but I'd try Mac if someone convinced me it was worth it. Any cheap deals out there? I'd go for a semi-desktop-laptop, too.

[furybreed]

I looked on NewEgg.com, and this one caught my eye..it's a good price for a laptop I would think, although I'm not very familiar with prices for laptops. All I know is that I see a lot around 800-1,300.

Anyways..this one is the one I saw:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834147519

Seems cheap, it probably works good. I wouldn't expect to be gaming off of this one though.

Just browse Newegg.com and see if you find one you like.

[binsenkind]

if u need something that is tough and don´t get broken too fast think about a thinkpad :-)

for example:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834146359
or
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834146314

they are barely made for 3d-gaming, what we don´t care of course, we play wyvern :-)

those are build to survive and lenovo have a quick, fast and not too expensive service, they are smart and wont´t waste the good brand "thinkpad".

[CasualCrisis]

So I looked at furybreed's laptop there, and it looks like it's a piece of poo, seriously. Some guy had nothing but complaints about it!

Binsenkind, thank you for the ThinkPad suggestions, I'm going to explore the brand a little further.

I didn't know anything about newegg.com so yeah, thanks to both of you so far...

[rilian]

I always go to www.liteweb.com when im looking to buy something...that sounds like a comercial.

I just bought a dell xps m1530 laptop and I love it. I searched for about 2 months before I bought one. If you want to have a really good gamer for cheep go with what i bought, my 3dmark06 is really good and even with one gb or ram(i upgraded myself later) i still was able to run vista and any game i want. And it was like half the price of a mac. Anywho, my advice is wait patiently and watch for sales online.

Pm me if you need advice about hardware, I know a bit about it.

[furybreed]

Yeah, it was a bad laptop. But it was cheap, lol. You might even want to look at some of Dell's Open Source laptops..they run on Ubuntu Linux, and I believe they're cheaper also.

[Jacksparow]

Dell computers usually are cheap, but they arn't all that bad for how much they cost. Macs are good but just really expensive so no one really recomends them. Macs are like Vista they just look cooler then everything else, but settling for something less wouldnt hurt you at all.

[Logwad]

I actually have a refurbished thinkpad laptop (a31). It's my only computer and the only problem I have ever had with it is the harddrive, but that's a different story altogether. Thinkpad has one advantage over dell in that it uses fairly standardized parts, so if something breaks (like the power cord) you don't spend twice what a part costs just to obtain it (how dell gets it's money, and why it can sell laptops so cheaply). The customer service I experienced was pleasant, as far as customer service goes. Oh, and the keyboard layout themselves are quite good as far as laptops go.

Mind you, thinkpads aren't the best lookers in the laptop world, but that's why I like mine so much, I'm a very plain guy.

If you want something on the cheap, look into getting a refurbished laptop. Basically it's a laptop that had some problem and was sent back and fixed up. They will typically have some small physical imperfection, like mine has a couple unnoticeable and tiny scratches on the screen. When it is turned on, I don't even see them, and it saved me a bunch of money. One think to remember with refurbished things, is it may be necessary to send it back because something goes wrong, they'll have something like a 90 day warranty (if they don't, don't even think about it), so all you lose is time.

One thing to remember about laptop hardrives is that they are very small and sensitive. ALWAYS have an external drive to backup any files you could ever care about. Course I would recommend this even for desktops. When Flash based hard drives become cheap, they will be awesome.

I'd be happy to help with any questions. Though I have no real experience with macs, other than I find them expensive and even more restrictive than microsoft has ever been. But then again, I enjoy breaking my operating system with tinkering from time to time, so I make no claim to be fully unbiased here. Whether an OS is good for you, depends on the kind of person you are.

Also beware the comments about products, they are a fickle mistress at best. I'd google for actual reviews and comparisons, comments are like troll traps, unless you know what to look for. And then there's the fact that every good company has a few bad apples (computer joke?)


Final note, if you are looking for something that will last you many years, spend a lot of time first, and ask around in forums that seem like they are full of smart people. If you just need a cheap laptop for college and plan on upgrading later, I would have to say dells are a good option.

[CasualCrisis]

Lots of pressure on ThinkPad here, heh. I don't care if it's flashy or not, as long as I can check my email and, of course, play Wyvern.

[Frostbash]

This Macbook I got that I play wyvern is probably the best thing and best deal I had gotten for ANYTHING I HAVE BOUGHT! I got this laptop TAX FREE for exactly 999. I also got a 200 dollar rebate on any ipod I wanted so I just paid another 50 dollars and got the 30 gig ipod video. ALSO i got another 100 dollar rebate for any printer I wanted and I got one that is a scanner and printer and picture reader and its just such a good deal. ALL OF THIS a 1800 dollar package I got for just 999. best deal ever and the laptop is awesome!!! go mac

[Logwad]

Someone clearly has a high merchant skill. u:

[CasualCrisis]

yeah one of my best friends has a macbook, and she says she loves it. apparently it even takes picture, which is pretty awesome, i think.

[randorxeous]

I have a black macbook. I love it. It does take pictures, but it can also do anything that a Windows or Linux based PC can do. They are way better for anything art related, editing music, editing photos, editing video...that kind of stuff. They're a little more pricey that most PC based laptops, but definately worth it. The only thing that they are missing is MSPaint...lol

[Logwad]

One cool program out there is called VMWare: http://www.vmware.com/

Basically if you can decrypt all the business mumbo-jumbo on the website, you'll learn that it is basically a program that lets you run an operating system within another OS. So if you get the right version, you can run windows or linux on a mac, or mac or linux on windows etc. The most surprising thing I noticed when I tested it is, there isn't much performance loss. It's also quite easy to use.

If you ever have to constantly use an OS specific program, I would definitely suggest buying (after you test it to make sure it works to your satisfaction) this.

You will however need an OS disk (or iso) of your own to use in the virtual machine.



This program is light years ahead of any open source alternatives (I've already tested out many), and this is the only program I can truly say that about.


One of the biggest minuses about macs for many people is that do are not compatable with the vast majority of programs out there. While I personally dislike them, you should know that you don't have to be limited, whatever OS you choose. Still wouldn't get your hopes up about 3-d games though.

[Tracy]

If you like to play games other then Wyvern, stay away from the MAC....