Laptop

[Krogoth]

Looking to buy a decent laptop. I sorta want one of the ultra-portables (12" screen) so I can carry it around, BUT I'd rather one with XP. I've looked at Dell and a bit at IBM, are there any other places you guys can suggest for a Laptop customization?

[Jim Tressel]

what are your expectations/constraints?  how much do you want to spend?  you already mentioned portability.  what about gaming? 

[Turkley]

As far as brands, I like Toshiba, Dell (as long as you get the one good type but can't remember which one that is), alienware, and Lenovo (formerly IBM).  Toshibas are the best imo.  When I worked at Compusa back in the day, those were the laptops I had the least in the shop for repairs and we sold a fair amount of them.  You may not be able to customize them as much, but still quality.

[Snackcakes]

Dells and Lenovo/IBM are the best in my opinion. I haven't worked on or used Toshibas, but I know my personal Dell laptop I sold to Bleed worked great and Lenovo/IBM are just rock solid. Volnar, Kithari, and myself all have lenovo's of different models we use for work and they are sweet. Check out notebookreviews.com for some good info on laptops.


AND FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, NEVER, EVER, BUY A GATEWAY.

[Jim Tressel]

Hey, what's wrong with Gateway laptops?  Oh, that's right.  Everything.  ...fucking shortsighted nincum-fucking-poop librarians...

[Reddawn]

go with gateway and then pester JT about making an image for it for 6 months.

[Krogoth]

I'm looking at a range of $1000-$1200. Gaming isn't my biggest priority, if anything I'd use it for smaller, C&C, TA kinda stuff. Its mostly so I can have a decent notetaking and coding computer (my next 2 years are going to be heavily in coding and networking).

[Jim Tressel]

go with gateway and then pester JT about making an image for it for 6 months.

that's fine.  I'm just going to outsource the work to Snacks anyways. 

PS - Thanks again Snacks!  You rule!

[Snackcakes]

I'm looking at a range of $1000-$1200. Gaming isn't my biggest priority, if anything I'd use it for smaller, C&C, TA kinda stuff. Its mostly so I can have a decent notetaking and coding computer (my next 2 years are going to be heavily in coding and networking).

Dell has some great deals on their smaller models, i think base price is 700

go with gateway and then pester JT about making an image for it for 6 months.

that's fine.  I'm just going to outsource the work to Snacks anyways. 

PS - Thanks again Snacks!  You rule!

hey you owe me an imaging drive that works!

[Jim Tressel]

wtf mate?  l2imagingdisk!!!

[Arkanine]

Look in the dell outlet store under "refurbished" there are some sweet XPS systems for $1,700 512 vid cards, 17 inch screens...most likely that will be my next laptop...

[Krogoth]

I'm honestly trying my best to stay away from Dell. Their support sucks, and a laptop is nothing I'm going to really be able to service myself.

I hear, though, that their small buisness class support isnt too bad. Is it easy enough to get into that class range?

[Gingerfarkas]

I <3 my Toshiba... seems to love wow too. Only thing is I couldn't get it with XP, only Vista but I haven't had any issues with Vista (By the way if you don't like the new layout of stuff it lets you to convert to classic view)

[Snackcakes]

I'm honestly trying my best to stay away from Dell. Their support sucks, and a laptop is nothing I'm going to really be able to service myself.

I hear, though, that their small buisness class support isnt too bad. Is it easy enough to get into that class range?

I've never had any problems with Dell support. I had my laptop for about 3 years and had to contact them a few times. It's best to just use the live chat session vs. calling them. It's a lot easier. I wouldn't totally discount dell as an option, their inspiron series is relatively cheap and compact.

[gr0n]

I'll +1 a few of the comments above endorsing Lenovo and Dell.  The Latitude D630 is a very nice machine, and on the Lenovo side the T61p is pretty sweet.  If you want to go with more of a gaming/desktop replacement laptop you'll need something beyond those models.  In that case I'd say Dell XPS (see Refurb site).  Toshiba probably wouldn't be a terrible choice either, but I don't have a ton of experience with them either.

Customer support is hit or miss no matter where you go, but Dell has been the best out of my own personal experiences over the years.

My advice usually boils down to this:  Don't buy a computer/laptop from a retail store (BestBuy, etc), buy a Dell if you want a desktop/gaming rig, buy a Lenovo if you want a rugged, reliable, powerful laptop (unless you want an uber gaming laptop, or are on a budget, then see Dell).  If you're into building your own computer, more power to you, but that's so 1996 for me.  (Hi Hawkes! Love ya buddy!  )

-gr0n