Laptop choice

[Paul M]

http://www.jbhifi.com.au/computers/laptop-notebook/

I can get anyone of those laptops up to around $1400 simply as a little christmas present for me plus i need it for University anyway. Plus i know the manager and so on he will do a good deal

Anyway i am lost i have never bought or looked into laptops thoroughly before but from what i hear HP is pathetic, Toshiba is only good when you get the business level laptops ($2k+) otherwise Asus is really good.

Any ideas or thoughts would be great

[Nightwalker83]

I got an "ASUS Notebook N60Dp Series" on the 21st of November to replace my Acer Aspire 3620.

Edit:

Going by the list on that site I would choose:

Asus 16" Notebook
• Intel Core 2 Duo 2.13ghz CPU
• DVD Supermulti
• Wireless + Bluetooth + HDMI
• Webcam

[Jenner]

Personally, I recommend this powerhouse for $1200:

[JuggaloBrotha]

Personally, I recommend this powerhouse for $1200:

Could probably get that from anywhere else for less than $1000.

BestBuy has high prices on everything except music and movies.

[Jenner]

I dunno, I've done Laptop shopping and Best Buy always seems to have these killer game rigs for really, really nice prices. I priced the equivalent Dell at over $1500 and everyone else much higher.

For $1200 you get:
Core2 Duo mobile P8700 (1066mhz system bus, 3Mb L2, 2.53ghz core)
4gig DDR2
1366 x 768 LCD
Two 320GB; 7200 rpm SATA drives. 640GB total storage.
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260M w/ 1GB
DL DVD±RW/CD-RW
1.3MP Webcam
8 in 1 media reader
1x Firewire, 4x USB
802.11b/g/n Wireless, 10/100/1000 Wired Ethernet
9-cell LI battery
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit

If you can find the equivalent for at least $100 less, I'd love to know because I'm in the market as well.

[abhijit]

I have been using a Lenovo Ideapad for two years. I noticed that the battery tends to drain much quicker than it used to. Earlier the battery used to last me a solid 3 hours, whereas right now, it is down to 45 minutes.

I have also had one minor problem with the wireless. I believe that's more of a settings issue. The computer switches off the wireless connection, when inactive.

I also have a DELL Latitude 620. It has performed much better than the Lenovo.

[TheBigB]

I really recommend ASUS as brand and highly discourage Acer and Dell.
ASUS delivers high quality notebooks and if there's something wrong they provide good service. Also most of they're notebooks have 2-year warranty.
Acer and Dell in my experience have a poor customer service for consumers at least...

[Nightwalker83]

Acer and Dell in my experience have a poor customer service for consumers at least...

I've had my Acer for 3 plus years and it still works, I've never needed to contact customer support with problems.

[stanav]

I've had my Acer for 3 plus years and it still works, I've never needed to contact customer support with problems.

Only 3+ years?
My 1st laptop was a Gateway Solo 2550, which I bought in 1999, and it is still working as of today. I'm using it as a media server + security carmera (with an usb webcam and Yawcam software), and it is on 24/7.

[TheBigB]

Well I work at the local pc store and of course we only see the notebooks that have problems.
I know there are a lot of notebooks that have much longer lifetime;
Thing I'm saying is that 'if' you have problems, the customer-care of those companies plainly sucks.
(also they rip you off with your phone bill, but that's a whole other story)

And stanav, these days it's all about mass production, not quality.
The parts just aren't designed for a 10+ year lifespan.

[stanav]

And stanav, these days it's all about mass production, not quality.
The parts just aren't designed for a 10+ year lifespan.

I agree. They don't make computers as reliable as they used to any more.
However, I don't think mass production has anything to do with it. Back then (say, 10 years ago) they also mass produced the machines, did they? The things that really drive quality south are prices and offshore products. To stay competitive (in selling prices), manufacturers buy the cheapest parts they can and send production to other countries that have low labor costs such as China, Thailand... No more "Made In the U.S.A" pride

[Nightwalker83]

Only 3+ years?
My 1st laptop was a Gateway Solo 2550, which I bought in 1999, and it is still working as of today. I'm using it as a media server + security carmera (with an usb webcam and Yawcam software), and it is on 24/7.

3 nearly 4 for years.

[Lord Orwell]

thing is, they last forever as long as you never power them off and on. Leaving them on is much less stressful.