Help buying a Laptop

[abdul]

I'm planning on buying a laptop for university, but don't want to get ripped again (like with my desktop)!
The price must be fair enough (about $1000 or so because it's only for little home use) and it should also be so fast that I can at least play today's games on it.
Anybody has any idea about one that I can buy (or build)?

[siyan]

For $1000 Canadian that plays today's games, its pretty much impossible.

[dolor]

man, i was po-ed the other day when i went looking for a notebook. i found a fairly good compaq (considering you can't say much about compaqs). neways...1.8Ghz amd, 512Mb RAM, 40 GB HD, 15" screen, 64mb ATI Radeon Video Card, modem and all that other standard stuff -- $899 (USD) after rebates at Best Buy. the thing that made me mad was that it was sold out the day before, and at CompUSA, Staples, even Compaq.com sold em all.

[abdul]

Damn! That sounds pretty good deal, dolor!:)

Ok so, are there any good places where I can buy laptops with very affordable price? I checked Staples and I think it's pretty expensive when compared to the actual prices on maker's website.

[dolor]

well, like i said, BestBuy is pretty good with CompUSA in a close second (make sure you go to the actual store because you get more discounts and rebates than online). also, try places like ubid.com which is pretty realiable because you can find pretty good deals sometimes like the one i told ya about was $1099 (except it had a 2Ghz processor). i just recommend shopping around a lot online.

thats all i've got for tonight...im gettin outta here. good luck.

[steve65]

Just recently I was looking at a Dell 2.54Ghz laptop for $707.00 delivered to my door. To be honest I don't remember all of the specs, but there was a rebate and then a 10% Small Business discount. Anyone can sign up for a Small Business order all you have to do is use your name as the business name. I was able to order a brand new server 2.54 Pentium IV for $291.00 after all discounts and rebates. Take a look at this site http://www.hotdealsclub.com/ for some different ideas.

[Pirate]

How about new Dell Laptops , they offer good features plus low prices . I've checked their website though . One of my friends has Dell (I can't remember model #) but it's for $1xxx and he was able to run WarCraft 3 and other heavy stuff . Luck

[plenderj]

Acer Aspire.
Brilliant value for brilliant spec.

[dolor]

Originally posted by plenderj
Acer Aspire.
Brilliant value for brilliant spec.

*apologizes in advance for some nostalgia...

right now i have a 1.7Ghz, 512MB RAM HP I bought last year, and now i'm reminded that it was an upgrade from an old acer aspire that ran at 133mhz and had 16MB RAM. good times good times...

[abdul]

Darn, BestBuy.com is only shipping to a couple of states in USA!:(

[abdul]

How about Techdepot.com? Is it any good?

[JPicasso]

Depending on how you plan on using your laptop, you may want to look
into getting a cheap desktop and then some sort of high-capacity drive or
one of those usb memory sticks or somthing.

I mean, unless you plan on doing papers at the local coffee shop,
(and laptops are not a first choice for todays games)
just transferring files from your schools computer lab and your home machine sounds like your biggest hurdle.

You may want to contact the computer lab guys and ask for some suggestions,
I'm sure you are not the only one with this question.

[abdul]

I was actually thinking of taking notes on a laptop during the class session...

[ALundrigan]

I just bought a HP Pavilion ze4315 notebook.. $1200 CDN at FutureShop

Intel Celeron 1.8 Ghz
256 MB RAM
20 GB HDD
15" TFT Active Matrix Screen
DVD-ROM + CD-RW

Its a pretty awesome machine so far, and looks cool too ;)
So far its working out fine for taking notes in university, and i've played a few recent games on it too (Unreal Tournament, Warcraft III, MS FlightSim 2002). It ran the games very well.

Hope that helps

[Sastraxi]

Does it perchance have a Radeon Mobility DDR inside?

[DiGiTaIErRoR]

I would suggest:

http://www.powernotebooks.com/

If you check:

http://www.resellerratings.com/seller_info.pl?seller_id=1980

They have a 9.98 rating.

Hewlett Packard: 5.00
Dell: 3.63
Compaq: 3.33

Sad isn't it.

Anyway, powernotebooks.com buys the same PCs as Dell or practically any company would sell you. The difference? Brandname. Powernotebooks does not have a 9.98 for no reason. The are rated number 1 in laptop customer service at resellerratings.com.

There are 14" laptops in your price range. And there is a 15" less than $100 over your price range.

You can't really build your own laptop, but powernotebooks will allow you to customize one to your specs.

Good luck,