For Computer Experts: Choosing a Good Laptop

[Terry McCracken]

A friend of mine wants a second computer and has decided on a laptop.
He knows virtually nothing about computers.

I told him Toshiba was quality, but he wants a Dell, which made me cringe.

Some Toshibas have had heating problems and that pushed him back to Dell.

Anyway, to the experts here, how do I advice him on purchasing a laptop?

What do you suggest? IE Brand, CPU, Ram, OS, Waranty et al.

Terry

[M ANSARI]

I bought a dual core Toshiba a while back then I got a gift which was a Sony Vaio with the same specs but also had a Blu Ray player. I ended up giving my Toshiba to my wife and regret it... now I keep trying to convince her that the Sony is much nicer and prettier ... but she won't take the bait . I guess a lot depends on what you want to do with it and what your budget is ... but Toshibas have always been my favourite.

[Dr.Wael Deeb]

I bought a dual core Toshiba a while back then I got a gift which was a Sony Vaio with the same specs but also had a Blu Ray player. I ended up giving my Toshiba to my wife and regret it... now I keep trying to convince her that the Sony is much nicer and prettier ... but she won't take the bait . I guess a lot depends on what you want to do with it and what your budget is ... but Toshibas have always been my favourite.

Hala Majd,
Are you sure that you regret giving the Toshiba to your wife and keeping the Sony Vaio
As far as I know,Sony Vaio is the finest original japaneese notebook in the world....
I personaly think that you are on the winning side

[Dr.Wael Deeb]

A friend of mine wants a second computer and has decided on a laptop.
He knows virtually nothing about computers.

I told him Toshiba was quality, but he wants a Dell, which made me cringe.

Some Toshibas have had heating problems and that pushed him back to Dell.

Anyway, to the experts here, how do I advice him on purchasing a laptop?

What do you suggest? IE Brand, CPU, Ram, OS, Waranty et al.

Terry

Hi Terry,
Tell your friend to stay away from Dell,a complete trash....
A good option is HP,they are stable,with aggressive price policy and a good warranty services.....

http://www.hp.com/

[plattyaj]

I told him Toshiba was quality, but he wants a Dell, which made me cringe.

Hit or miss with Dells. I have an older desktop replacement laptop that has had a few issues but my current Dell laptop runs like a champ. My workmate's Toshiba, on the other hand, bit the dust early in the race.

Andy.

[Dr.Wael Deeb]

I told him Toshiba was quality, but he wants a Dell, which made me cringe.

Hit or miss with Dells. I have an older desktop replacement laptop that has had a few issues but my current Dell laptop runs like a champ. My workmate's Toshiba, on the other hand, bit the dust early in the race.

Andy.

I think the percent of misses is a lot bigger

[krazyken]

Go with Apple Hardware. It is reliable, good looking, and will run any choice of OS. The hardware tech support is first rate.

[Father]

Dr. Wael.
For me have been an strong problem to know, about what kind of laptop must I buy. I have had several problem with my Gateway(a newone AMD X2 64, that has beeing showing " operation sistem not found"
I am very `preocupàte´ becouse of there is not Gateway stores at Country
Thx in advance for a good advice from your side
Pablo

[AdminX]

A friend of mine wants a second computer and has decided on a laptop.
He knows virtually nothing about computers.

I told him Toshiba was quality, but he wants a Dell, which made me cringe.

Some Toshibas have had heating problems and that pushed him back to Dell.

Anyway, to the experts here, how do I advice him on purchasing a laptop?

What do you suggest? IE Brand, CPU, Ram, OS, Waranty et al.

Terry

Hi Terry,

When I buy a Laptop, I look at the hardware specs (warranty, processor, memory, etc) 1st. Then 2nd I look at the Brand, 3rd I try them out for feel (heat, weight, keyboard, feel, etc ...), 4th I look at price because I always want the best deal for my dollar, I normally do not do mail order (Dell), I tried that once and got burned (Most of you know that). I do take into consideration Customer service. IBM has one of the best, but so does Toshiba. I have never had to use HP customer service and I find that a good thing. Dell on the other have has very poor Customer Service (Consumer Side) unless you order from their Business side. Dell's business side has very good customer service, 2nd only to IBM.

Once I have made up my mind which to buy, I take it home Back it up and format it on day one, Built it to my likes and now have a juck free system (No crapware). Then I even backup my image so if anything goes wrong I can re-image it instead of building it all over again.

PS: Since most new Laptops come with Windows Vista and are Core2Duo's, try to make sure you get the 64-bit version of Vista and Ultimate if you can. Most Core2Duo Laptops come with 32-bit Vista forcing the user to upgrade at some point to take advantage of what will be coming down the road.

[icander]

A friend of mine wants a second computer and has decided on a laptop.
He knows virtually nothing about computers.

I told him Toshiba was quality, but he wants a Dell, which made me cringe.

Some Toshibas have had heating problems and that pushed him back to Dell.

Anyway, to the experts here, how do I advice him on purchasing a laptop?

What do you suggest? IE Brand, CPU, Ram, OS, Waranty et al.

Terry

H Terry,

I got the same question from my brother in law. My answer was:

HP Compaq Business Notebook 6715b

Dual core, 2 GB, Vista Home Business, 15.4"