I'm considering a laptop. Which brand is the most reliable, per your personal experience?

 

Hey I'm gonna buy one sometime next week... so this is a useful thread for me too.

Here's what I'm looking at: Sony s260, hp dv1040, or cyberpower inc's s4-2000

 

Reliable? I'd say not Dell, but they have excellent customer service if it breaks under warranty. I like my IBM T40, tough as nails. I had an Acer Tablet as well, pretty sturday but little clips on it broke but it took a beating, so decent.

 

Toshibas are pretty good...
Gateways aren't bad either from experience...

 

My dad has a Sony that turns off at its own whim. He tried to install SP2 and it won't finish the process -- he's tried 5 times already. I also noticed it runs extremelly hot, with its fans at 100% the entire time.

My mom has a Dell, but it is extremelly slow, even when plugged into the wall (P4 2GHz, 528 MB RAM).

I don't know the exact models, but both are less than 1 yr old.

 

i have two dells but i know sonys, ibms, and apples are better

but you get more value with dell

 

has anyone gone with the generics recently? Cyberpowerinc.com, ibuypowerinc.com?

The price is really low... P-M 1.8/512/60@7200rpm, ATI 9600 with 128MB vram, CDRW.. all for about 1500.

I really like the s260... thats too bad people are having trouble with their Sonys.

I own a Sager... another near generic company. 4.5 years old and still alive... but NOISY!
wow... i bought it back when clinton was prez!

 

IBM is expensive for what I want...

ThinkPad R50p
Intel Pentium M processor at 1.7GHz with 1MB L2 Cache
15.0 inch UXGA IPS(1600x1200) TFT Display
ATI Mobility FIREGL T2
1024 MB SDRAM
60GB 7200rpm Hard Drive
Intel PRO/Wireless LAN 2100 3B Mini PCI Adapter
1GB PC2700 CL2.5 DDR SDRAM SODIMM (R Series Bulk)
ThinkPad T40/R50 Series Li-Ion Battery
Microsoft Windows XP Professional
ThinkPad Multi-Burner Ultrabay Enhanced Drive (DVD Recorder)
Total Price $3,797.00

Accessories and Options
Free ThinkPad Premiere Leather Carrying Case $0.00

 

Dell. I never had a problem with them.

 

Cyberpower is cheap as hell...

Cyberpower, inc S4-300
Intel Pentium M processor at 1.7GHz with 1MB L2 Cache
15.0 inch SXGA+ (1400x1050) TFT Display
ATI Mobility 9600, 128MG vRAM
1024 MB SDRAM (Kingston)
60GB 7200rpm Hard Drive
Intel PRO/Wireless LAN 2100 3B Mini PCI Adapter
14.8V x 4400mAH Li-Ion Battery
Microsoft Windows XP Professional sp2
DVD Recorder/CDRW
Total Price $1,776.00

Accessories and Options
Free Carrying Case $0.00

 

Compared to:

Dell Inspiron XPS
Pentium® 4 Processor 3.40GHz w/ HT Tech, 15.4-in WUXGA
Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Unit Price

Operating System Microsoft® Windows® XP Home WHXP
Memory 1GB Dual Channel DDR SDRAM at 400MHz
Video Card 128MB DDR ATI's MOBILITY™ RADEON™ 9700 AGP 8X Graphics
Hard Drive Ultra ATA Hard Drive 100GB
Optical Devices 8x CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW) with double-layer write capability 8XDVDRW
Wireless Networking Cards Dell® Wireless 1350 Internal Wireless (802.11b/g, 54Mbps)
Primary Battery 96 WHr 12-cell Primary Battery with Subwoofer 12BAT
Carrying Case Exclusive XPS BackPack XPSBP (free)
Limited Warranty, Services and Support 1Yr Ltd Warranty, 1Yr Mail-In Service, and 1Yr Technical Support ST111RR
XPS Specialized Support Inspiron XPS, Specialized Support XPSSUPP

ACCESSORIES
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Creative Audigy 2NX External USB Qty 1
Unit Price $100.00
TOTAL: $2,672.10

 

That is cheap. How long have they been in the market? You know anyone that has a laptop from them?

 

Get a Powerbook G4, hands down best laptop on sale for the money. I've been a mac user from the start and then bought an IBM Thinkpad, then built a custom PC. Out of all the products I've used I favor the Powerbook G4.

Next in line would be a Thinkpad if you're a PC user and just can't switch to Mac.

 

Strange battery...

 

The laptop would be for video and photo editing on the go. You think the G4 would handle it in a laptop format? I know the desktops from Apple are very good in this regard.

 

Can't really go wrong with Dell.

 

I think they're good, but pricey. Only thing with the PowerBooks, is they're so nice looking, you're almost afraid to bring it anywhere.

I do like the Toshiba's and HP's for PCs.

 

gateway. i've had mine for over 2 years and it still hasn't frozen on me yet. tho now my screen wont stay partially open, from excessive use.

my friend has a dell, which was ok, but he said his was comparably slower than mine, but we bought ours at the same time and we have the same performance parameters in terms of the processor, RAM etc

 

hmm dell must be good, considering your pw skills

 

IBM all the way.

 

if you have disposable income



ibm was great, my parents aptive desktop has gone to the dumps tho

 

Yeah... I missed another pw session this morning...

 

when!?!?!

 

The only perk on that laptop is the GFX Card, the rest isn't worth it for the price. I'm not really impressed with Intels M technology, even on the thinkpad. And SD Ram? who still uses SD ram?

 

Apples Desktops are monsters at rendering any photo / video effect. I am a part time graphics designer and in comparison of using Photoshop CS, to the Intel 2.8ghz 512RDRAM desktop monster I built a year ago, this laptop can definately keep up with it. I've been very impressed so far with the load handling of this laptop and so have my friends, their primary concern for not switching over to mac however is the lack of software, and the difficulty in finding pirated software. Plus on top of that if you upgrade your RAM you'll pretty much be able to run Photoshop and Final Cut Pro at the same time.

 

When it comes to gaming, Alienware laptops are some of the best in the industry. However, they're kinda big and battery life is rather short.

 

Only problem with the Apple is the cost. A comparable model to the ones above would run up at $3,050. None of the software I have right now would be compatible either.

PowerBook 15" 1.5GHz $3,049.00
1.5GHz PowerPC G4 with 128MB Graphics Memory
80GB Ultra ATA drive @ 5400 rpm
SuperDrive (DVD-R/CD-RW)
1GB DDR333 SDRAM - 2x512 SO-DIMMs
AirPort Extreme Card

Office 2004 for Mac - Standard Edition $399.95

Cart Subtotal: $3,448.95

Plus the video and editing software...

 

Dell, Compaq are disasters (from my experience).

Stick with Sony or IBM.

 

My bad, its PC2700 DDR

 

IBMs are built like tanks without weighing like one if you can get up to the R or T series. IBM support is also very good.

I've used Compaqs before and they're OK, but they still cost a bit, don't feel as good as an IBM, and were prone to annoyances such as keyboard and hinge failures.

I'm currently on a Dell Latitude D600, which is the higher end of their notebook line (as opposed to the Inspiron series). It's OK, still not as nice as an IBM, but dollar for dollar and feature for feature, it's impressive. I did have a problem with the optical drive but they resolved it within a day, no haggling required at all. If you do buy Dell though, try to do it through a corporate account if you can (not sure if they'll let you do that buying just one), as I hear the customer service for corporate customers is based in the US instead of India.

 

I have a Toshiba Satellite. I've had it for a year and I am very pleased with the value. I don't think it's the best but you do get a lot for your money.

 

Good point.

 

Cyberpower, ibuypower, etc are resellers for Quanta, an Twianeese ODM. There are only a few ODMs out there (Quanta, Clevo, ...) and together they make notebooks for every major retailer (HP, IBM, etc). The retailer will then rebadge and support the notebooks.

Cyberpower, Sager, and ibuypower are low-end retailers. Becasue of this, their customer support is so-so (then again, so is Sony's) and the SW package may not be as good as others offer.

I own a Sager.... the experience has been so-so. The notebook itself hasn't given me any problems other than noise and the screen fading away (a little smack on the top right corner fixes that). The battery life is 5 min, but it used to be 2 hours when I first got the laptop (and this is during the pre mobile-CPU era).

The customer service has been cooperative. When you call them you will get a recording to leave a message, and someone will call you back in about an hour. I guess thats better than being put on hold. I also had the battery replaced after a year (under warranty) because its life became too short.

Honestly, you get what you pay for. Cyberpower, etc is a good bargain... and the notebooks do work. But you miss out on style, (maybe) better cust. service, and overall build quality.

 

http://pctorque.com
http://www.discountlaptops.com/

For information, http://notebookforums.com

Dells a good if you're looking for an "average" user laptop, at least from my experience. If you start going specialized, you're better off looking elsewhere.

The generics have one good thing going for them - they have a lot more features. For instance, a Sager 3790 has ATI MR 9700, Bluetooth, Centrino (Dothan) and a DL DVD burner. And it'll be less than $2,500 (depending on proc) - and this is with both a 6 cell a 12 cell battery (2.5 hr, 5 hr).

You can find similar deals on the Cleos and Asus's.

 

Whats up with M? It has a shorter pipeline than P4, hence the greater clock cycle.

 

in terms of reliability, i would think apples

 

The only (slight) issue with this is that you'll have to forever remember to tell Dell support that you're with the original company. If you say you're from another company they may refuse to speak to you or at least make you jump through several hoops before you get any service. At least that's been my experience. They didn't care if the name was the same. A corporate purchase laptop is associated with the company as far as ownership is concerned. The name is merely for contact purposes.

FWIW - The problem with this poll is that several of the choices have product lines that vary from complete garbage in their cheap/consumer notebooks to very good/excellent in their "corporate" lines. Judging just on brand name is sort of tough.

 

I'm on notebookforum.com, but I find it hard to get my questions answered... to many threads going on at the same time.

What do you use, Revenent?
Where is a good place to get customizable Asus notebooks? I have only seen pre-built models.

EDIT: Nevermind, discount laptops has customizable Asus notebooks, anywhere else?

 

EDIT: discountlaptops has customizable Asus notebooks.

 

I have a behemoth Inspiron 8100 Dell right now which I needed to get as a desktop replacement when I left for college, but if buying a laptop as a seconday machine I would seriously consider an Apple powerbook if your budget can fit it. Amazing display, extremely sexy and excellent for all your standard business work. If you want to do video/graphic design it rocks that too.

So far as my Dell goes though, I did burn out the graphics card once from leaving it on for 6 months (like I said - desktop replacement) and Dell fucked up with sending me the right part - but to make up for it did give me a free hard-drive. That's the good thing about Dell - if they fuck up you can milk them for freebies, just make sure to speak to the manager. Other than and the immense heft (~8lbs) it is a very solid performer.