»Which computer companies are the good, the bad and the ugly?«
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 I'm planning on getting a laptop, anyone know which computer companies are good and which i should steer clear of? Or website that knows? Or a 1-10 scale? Thanks and Godbless posted by The ONEder Man |
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| in-my-opinion.orgTechnology, Computers, Science, InternetComputers and InternetWhich computer companies are the good, the bad and the ugly? |
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 i just recently bought one and went with gateway. i got it at best buy for $700, it came with windows xp (home), intel celeron M 360 1.4Ghz, 15.4" WXGA ultrabright display, 512 mb ddr ram, 60gb hard drive, dvd/cd-rw, 4 in 1 media reader, 802.11g wireless card, ethernet and 56k modem, 1 firewire port, 4 usb ports, 1 vga port, and that's about it. (which i think a lot of that is about "standard" now) i was looking at dell since i have a pretty nice desktop that they built for me and i have been satisfied with it, however...when i put together the laptop that i wanted from them (pretty much the same specs as above) it was going to cost about $300 more, and then take a month to get to me...plus a pretty hefty shipping price. i kept watching the best buy ads that came in the paper every sunday, as well as going back to the dell website along with gateway and some others. i also had my eye on some toshiba products...but it all boiled down to price for me. best buy had on sale (which they do weekly, haha) but at the time my computer was on for $700 and also toshiba that i had my eye on was on sale for $1100 ... when i got to the store i realized that the salesman was a good friend of mine that i hadn't talked to in a couple months. i asked for the low-down since i had not kept up with anything at all dealing with computers and told him what i was wanting...he told me that the only difference in the toshiba and the gateway was...$400 dollars and the name on the computer...pretty much. however, some of the higher priced laptops are now 32 bit (which will be required if you want to run the new windows program...i was not very concerned with that at all and am still not)... i just wanted a computer that was a little bit better than the "standard" (which at the time 512 was not the standard ram) that would last a good while before becoming outdated and at the cheapest price. like i said, price was my main concern. so i decided i would take that one, then he suggested i apply for credit with them...i said no because i would not get any since i have no credit to begin with then bam...they approved me for a card with them! weird... so i would suggest, figure out what is your main concern in the purchase, price, performance, and so on...and check dells website along with gateway and whomever else you can think of...and check them often! as they seem to change prices from day to day...also, depending on how you navigate through their website, you can get different/better prices on the same exact computer. they have some "pre-made" laptops, or you have the option to upgrade specific parts to your liking, you can do that and see what price range you are looking at...but also note the delivery date...because if it is something that you need pretty quick, i don't know if i would suggest buying online at a place like that...unless you purchase just a standard already made laptop. also keep an eye on the best buy ads, heck go into the store and tell them what you are looking for and what you are wanting to spend...although you have to consider that they are probably going to sell you on the highest priced thing they have, and if you tell them that you arent ready to buy yet they may not care to deal with you...so just keep that in mind. maybe purchase a magazine that has some reviews of laptops in it. anyway, i have been very happy with my laptop and everyone really likes it, the screen is great...and that was a concern with me, because i have always hated laptops because of their screens...man, they have changed since i made that decision. meh...anyway, i would just take my time and shop around, don't rush into buying anything but wait until you find the perfect machine at the perfect price. posted by allone |
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 Out of curiousity, does it have to be a laptop? A lot of times you get a lot more bang for your $ on a desktop. posted by Tiefling |
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yeah, hes right...and desktops are cheaper/easier to upgrade and all that jazz... honestly, i wouldnt recommend a laptop unless you know for a fact that you are going to take advantage of its size and portablility. that's the only reason i purchased one, i had to have it for my job...and i get to write it off on my taxes at the end of the year 
posted by allone |
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Nice post allone, thanks 
Is school a worthy cause for a laptop? honestly i don't know how much hauling around i would be doing with it, especially if i go kookie and get one of those 17" juggernaut laptops/desktop replacement, i guess it might be more for, well i could take this if i really needed to kinda thing. Desktop? no chance unless you strap it on your back hmmm... I've been looking at Dell too, and on a sad note just missed a $750 coupon off deal last month  Not sure how often they do that, but I might be waiting until the next one of those.
My line of questioning is more along the lines of allone: he told me that the only difference in the toshiba and the gateway was...$400 dollars and the name on the computer...pretty much. i want something reliable and that is known to be reliable, cuz my sis got a compac presario a few years back and it would overheat and turn off and such. Any horror stories anyone has about a company? comp blew up, waited on hold until you went sterile from old age, anything like that? Gateway and Dell seem to be plausable choices just due to the fact you don't have to go through a middle man you can just order from them online. Don't know much about HP or any Sony etc when it comes to computers... posted by The ONEder Man |
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if you are going to be using it for school, i think i can help you with your decision... the advantages for having a laptop for school (from what i have experienced so far): 1. my school has a wireless network setup in some of their buildings, so if i have my computer on campus and need to get online, i do not have to make my way to a computer lab and wait for a computer to come open, i can also download to my own computer whatever i would need and not have to bring disks or a jump drive to transfer data. 2. i thought it would be nice to type my notes as my profs were lecturing...personally, i have found that i don't like that ( i have also found that some profs don't like it either and will not allow it, so if you are thinking about that, i would make sure first), i find that it is easier and better for me to just go ahead and write my notes down, then transfer them later that night onto my computer (this helps with studying also as you get to "refresh" your memory and such)...but if you are at a large campus and are going to be on campus for a long period of time when you have classes, it might be a good idea to write your notes down then right after class type them up, that way everything would still be fresh in your mind and you can make your notes clearer and more legible (i have pretty crappy handwriting) 3. im sure there are more, but im tired! some bad things i have noticed: 1. it gets annoying having to haul it around, especially since i don't have some feather light machine...its light and all, but i don't know...it can get to be a pain to have to carry around everywhere. you would need to get some type of bag that provides some type of protection and has enough space inside to carry your books also, unless you plan on carrying more than one bag with you. you also have the chance of dropping and damaging it. 2. battery life...i think most new laptops will run a couple hours or so (i was told 3) on a fully charged battery, but it isnt hard (at my school) to find an outlet to just plug it in. you will still have to keep that in mind though...if you don't have a power outlet and have to go on just your battery. 3. the internet is very distracting! sometimes i find that when i should be doing school work, and i am on the wireless network...at a really nice speed...i catch myself surfing the web instead of doing what i should be doing. but anyway, i have had my gateway for about 3 months now maybe, and i have been very pleased with it. this is my first laptop and honestly, i thought i was not going to like it at all...i was wrong. it is very convinient for me. a guy that i work with is on his 9th dell laptop and just last month got a brand new HP laptop...he doesnt like it and is about to buy a new dell. most of the people in my office go with dell it seems...and i would have, except i found a really great deal and i didn't have to wait for shipment. sonys are nice, but they were out of my price range, and toshibas are nice too from what i have heard, but again, i wasnt going to spend more money on something that was the same machine pretty much. if you are thinking about dell, i would note the type of screens that are on the computers that you are looking at and take a trip to a comptuer store to see what they look like in person, it may help with your decision. but again, unless you know that you will be taking it with you places, i would go with a desktop. i have a couple friends who thought that they would bring it with them places and it ended up sitting on a desk in their apartment, which sucks because they could have spent that money and got a much nicer desktop. posted by allone |
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oh, i just thought of this website, i don't use it that often, but it may help with your decision  its a place where anyone can go and post their opinions about different products and such...its worth a look if you have time. the link will take you right to the laptop section. posted by allone |
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The ONEder Man: Is school a worthy cause for a laptop? Yeah, it is. Laptop wins over desktop if the cause is school. allone: i thought it would be nice to type my notes as my profs were lecturing...personally, i have found that i don't like that ( i have also found that some profs don't like it either and will not allow it, so if you are thinking about that, i would make sure first) Why did your professors prohibit you from typing your notes? I know a lot of students who would bring tape recorders to class; it seems that typing notes is a lot less "aggressive" than secretly tape recording the prof. I can type a lot faster than I can print; it would only make sense for me to bring a laptop to class, were I in college now. posted by Tiefling |
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only one prof that i know doesnt allow it, he is a crummy old man who is stuck in his ways and thinks that everything revolves around him...and honestly for this semester...it does (only in the class though) (its the same prof who wrote on the sylabus that we are to write a one page essay with atleast 21 lines of typed print in it...i took that to mean no more than one page, no less than 21 lines of typed print, right? no! it means 21 lines, no more, no less. he did not read past the 21st line in my paper or anyone elses. what gets me is..its a political science class and his is big in things like that...so, you would think that he would know how to write out his sylabus so that there would be no other interpretation...kinda like a law, you know? but anyway, this is off topic) anyway, he says that he has found that laptops can be somewhat of a distraction in class, and at times people are tempted to do things on their computers other than take notes, so he wont allow them. i think that if someone wants to pay for a class, then show up and not take notes, let them...they are only hurting themselves, but i do not teach the class. wow, i just found a picture of him online... [CLICK HERE TO VIEW THIS PICTURE] posted by allone |
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 For desktops, I would stay away from HP, Compaq, eMachine, etc. Dell and Gateway are decent. Really if you build it yourself, you can get it alot cheaper and alot more machine for your buck. Oh, and stay away from the Celeron processors! They are cheaper yes, but the cut in cache will hurt. Indeed they are cheaper and if all you are doing to email and browsing then it is fine, but if you want to do any real gaming or other interesting things, forget it. For laptops, IBM and Dell are pretty solid. Many of your low end machines are going to be Celeron processors and I would stay away from that. What is your budget for this machine? How important is a warranty and tech support to you? posted by volonteshiva |
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yeah, i heard that about the celerons, my laptop has one, but for what i use it for (school, work, stuff like that) it works great. i wont be doing any gaming on this machine...that's what my desktop is for: way more memory, bettter graphics card, faster/better processor, larger keyboard, better sound, blah blah blah 
posted by allone |
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Tiefling: Why did your professors prohibit you from typing your notes? I know a lot of students who would bring tape recorders to class; it seems that typing notes is a lot less "aggressive" than secretly tape recording the prof. why not the best of both worlds and record them with the laptop?  volonteshiva: What is your budget for this machine? How important is a warranty and tech support to you? budget max is 2 grand, but i would rather spend 1500-1800 hopefully warranty is so-so important, most come with a year at least correct? and as for tech support i have you guys 
this is the dell badboy i've been looking at...  the next smaller size doesn't have half of the add-ons this one can provide i may have to check out ibm like you said V, somehow i forgot about them 
posted by The ONEder Man |
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youre wanting this as a desktop replacement type machine, yeah? or do you have a decent desktop and just want this one for school? my desktop has 1gb ram, 2gb is a lot and probably wont be outdated for a while, especially for a laptop...i think the standard for laptop ram is about 512 now posted by allone |
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allone: youre wanting this as a desktop replacement type machine, yeah? or do you have a decent desktop and just want this one for school? yeah desktop replacement but i can take it if i need it i have a desktop that i'm typing on currently and that i've mentioned it's shittyness once or twice before on IMO and do not wish to embarrass myself by stating it again so it will most likely be throw out my 3rd story window, or i might take it to the parking lot and charge 5 dollars a hit with a baseball bat...any takers? posted by The ONEder Man |
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Volonteshiva: For laptops, IBM and Dell are pretty solid. IBM laptops are now Lenovo ♣, btw. posted by Tiefling |
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The time now is 24 May 2012, 18:36 php B.B. |