Anileve Posted January 3, 2007 Report Share Posted January 3, 2007 Dearest computer experts I am desperately seeking your help. I need a good laptop, more affordable but not cheap. I was looking at this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16834115265 What would you advise, does it sound solid? I need it soon so I would really appreciate your input. I am clueless when it comes to purchasing laptops. I know that I want a Pentium and a DVD burner, aside from that I don't know much else. I think that Dell customer service isn't exactly efficient and I know that Acer is a good company. Please feel free to your comments. Thanks thanks thanks and thanks again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DominO123 Posted January 3, 2007 Report Share Posted January 3, 2007 (edited) Dearest computer experts I am desperately seeking your help. I need a good laptop, more affordable but not cheap. I was looking at this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16834115265 What would you advise, does it sound solid? I need it soon so I would really appreciate your input. I am clueless when it comes to purchasing laptops. I know that I want a Pentium and a DVD burner, aside from that I don't know much else. I think that Dell customer service isn't exactly efficient and I know that Acer is a good company. Please feel free to your comments. Thanks thanks thanks and thanks again. I have a similar acer with similar configuration, but with an AMD and not Intel, I am overall satisfied with it. I find Acer to do good products for the price. Edited January 3, 2007 by QueBeceR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anileve Posted January 3, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 3, 2007 Thanx Fadyush. Do you know much about HP, Gateway, Toshiba or ThinkPad? They seem to have great deals. In terms of refurburshed or out of the box, is it worth it? http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/Se...&CatId=1893 http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/Se...997&CatId=0 http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/Se...11&NoMapp=0 http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/Se...390&CatId=0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anileve Posted January 3, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 3, 2007 These sound interesting. http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/Se...815&CatId=0 http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/Se...866&CatId=0 http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/Se...&CatId=1891 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anileve Posted January 3, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 3, 2007 this one? http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/se...=7&NoMapp=0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vava Posted January 3, 2007 Report Share Posted January 3, 2007 No time to reply in any real useful detail (and I confess I didn't look at all your links), but here are my immediate thoughts: - I would hesitate to buy refurb, unless there's a solid (and lengthy) warranty that comes included. - At my work we've purchased Dell, Apple, Toshiba and recently Sony laptops. We've only had some slight issues with the Dells - but all were fixed under warranty, and handled well by Dell customer service. This may run against the common perception of Dell recently, but my experience has been generally positive. Overall, I'm most satisfied with the Toshibas. - I once owned an Acer laptop (but that was about 7-8 years ago) so any quality issues would not be a factor now I would think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DominO123 Posted January 3, 2007 Report Share Posted January 3, 2007 I know Toshiba makes great laptops, it was a Toshiba I wanted at the beginning, bought the Acer because of the great deals. I have two friends who did not have good luck with a Gateway. The rest, I did not have personally any of those brands, possibly Sip and Azat had tried many laptops. One thing I don't like, HATES, but it is not only an Acer problem, but laptops in general. The Hard Disks in those systems are dead SLOW!!!!!! I know you will be paying possibly a lot more, but maybe looking at high rpm hard disks with SATA. Default hard disks are probably slower than 4200 rpm, and it is like it is not only the rpm but the power management minimising power consumption. This combination is slowing the system significantly, since SATA consume less, the power management should cause less speed related problems I think, maybe Sip could confirm, this with a high rpm should help. It all depend where are your priorities. But definitly more RAM helps, I have 1 Gb, when I took of one 512 mb, to test the speed differences, I realised that it was significant, probably because of the slowness of the Hard disk. (more RAM, and less need to use the Hard Disk as RAM for the system) They are bumping the processing power of those laptops but are deliverig them with dead slow Hard Disks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sip Posted January 3, 2007 Report Share Posted January 3, 2007 What are you going to use it for? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anileve Posted January 3, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 3, 2007 No time to reply in any real useful detail (and I confess I didn't look at all your links), but here are my immediate thoughts: - I would hesitate to buy refurb, unless there's a solid (and lengthy) warranty that comes included. - At my work we've purchased Dell, Apple, Toshiba and recently Sony laptops. We've only had some slight issues with the Dells - but all were fixed under warranty, and handled well by Dell customer service. This may run against the common perception of Dell recently, but my experience has been generally positive. Overall, I'm most satisfied with the Toshibas. - I once owned an Acer laptop (but that was about 7-8 years ago) so any quality issues would not be a factor now I would think. Thanks! I thought about it and refurb is a no go. Dell customer service is shady with personal computing, the corporate deparatment is impressive (supposedly). Toshiba may be an option. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anileve Posted January 3, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 3, 2007 I know Toshiba makes great laptops, it was a Toshiba I wanted at the beginning, bought the Acer because of the great deals. I have two friends who did not have good luck with a Gateway. The rest, I did not have personally any of those brands, possibly Sip and Azat had tried many laptops. One thing I don't like, HATES, but it is not only an Acer problem, but laptops in general. The Hard Disks in those systems are dead SLOW!!!!!! I know you will be paying possibly a lot more, but maybe looking at high rpm hard disks with SATA. Default hard disks are probably slower than 4200 rpm, and it is like it is not only the rpm but the power management minimising power consumption. This combination is slowing the system significantly, since SATA consume less, the power management should cause less speed related problems I think, maybe Sip could confirm, this with a high rpm should help. It all depend where are your priorities. But definitly more RAM helps, I have 1 Gb, when I took of one 512 mb, to test the speed differences, I realised that it was significant, probably because of the slowness of the Hard disk. (more RAM, and less need to use the Hard Disk as RAM for the system) They are bumping the processing power of those laptops but are deliverig them with dead slow Hard Disks. Really? I guess it's better to go with 1Gb. I really don't have much experience using laptops so I will take your word for it. I feel so helpless and uninformed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anileve Posted January 3, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 3, 2007 What are you going to use it for? Sip jan, pretty much everything. I want a personal computer which is portable, don't really have the time to play with PCs anymore and the old one I have is very sufficient. I do want a dual dvd burner, pentium, bigger ram, and a good wireless card, oh and of course good customer service. I am still afraid to mess with notebooks. Any suggestions? And I can't go above $1050. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sip Posted January 3, 2007 Report Share Posted January 3, 2007 (edited) For "dual" DVD burner (2 burners?), you will have to go with an internal dvd burner and buy an external dvd burner. At that price, you can't get anything too fancy but you'll get something decent. Battery life will likely be very low so don't even worry about it. Keep in mind dvd (video) is a fairly obsolete technology so I wouldn't waste any serious money on it. Having a dvd burner is great for making file backups etc so definitely get one but think why you would need dual burners? Also, I would say don't waste any money on dual-layer dvd stuff. The disks are usually expensive and not worth the extra space since regular dvd disk are so cheap. As far as processor, I would really recommend intel coreduo but it may not be easy to get it in that price range (haven't checked). Screen size on the laptop is not as crucial in my opinion because I would definitely say get a separate LCD monitor to use on your dekstop (dual monitor with the laptop). For cheap stuff, Toshiba is ok ... I got one for my dad for $500 and he has been happy with it. Dell is another great choice but I seem to recall you hate their guts ... I have several dells and they have all been great. Dell seems to have some power supply issues (I had 2 that went out within the first week) but they ship a replacement overnight no questions asked. Edited January 3, 2007 by Sip Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DominO123 Posted January 3, 2007 Report Share Posted January 3, 2007 Core Duo can be had for that price range. (for her fixed 1050$) Eve, do you absolutly choose from that site? For "dual" DVD burner (2 burners?), you will have to go with an internal dvd burner and buy an external dvd burner. At that price, you can't get anything too fancy but you'll get something decent. Battery life will likely be very low so don't even worry about it. Keep in mind dvd (video) is a fairly obsolete technology so I wouldn't waste any serious money on it. Having a dvd burner is great for making file backups etc so definitely get one but think why you would need dual burners? Also, I would say don't waste any money on dual-layer dvd stuff. The disks are usually expensive and not worth the extra space since regular dvd disk are so cheap. As far as processor, I would really recommend intel coreduo but it may not be easy to get it in that price range (haven't checked). Screen size on the laptop is not as crucial in my opinion because I would definitely say get a separate LCD monitor to use on your dekstop (dual monitor with the laptop). For cheap stuff, Toshiba is ok ... I got one for my dad for $500 and he has been happy with it. Dell is another great choice but I seem to recall you hate their guts ... I have several dells and they have all been great. Dell seems to have some power supply issues (I had 2 that went out within the first week) but they ship a replacement overnight no questions asked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anileve Posted January 3, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 3, 2007 Let me clarify, by dual I meant "Dual Layer DVD Burner." I want to be able to copy movies. I prefer Pentium I think it's the most versatile one, although I could be wrong, I am not up to date when it comes to technology. I recall considering Athlon XP, but I don't think they measure up to the Pentium's performance. The size of the screen matters if I don’t want anything bulky, but 15.4” is probably ok. I do hate Dell's guts, because I do think that their reps are baboons and lack common sense and professionalism. But again, I could be wrong. I did read a lot of negative reviews from users and heard a few others claim that their service is a little short of decent. So I guess the choice is between Acer and Toshiba. These are the two I was considering, I don't know if you looked at them. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16834115265 http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/Se...997&CatId=0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DominO123 Posted January 3, 2007 Report Share Posted January 3, 2007 Eve, let me add another for you. http://cgi.ebay.ca/WHITE-SONY-VAIO-1GB-DDR...1QQcmdZViewItem It is an Intel Core Duo with 2 Mb L2 cache, it has all you wat, a double layer burner. Plus its Hard Disk is a SATA with 5400 rpm. It is also in your price range. It is not a Pentium but a Centrino, but with 2 Mb L2 cache, not much differences left. Let me clarify, by dual I meant "Dual Layer DVD Burner." I want to be able to copy movies. I prefer Pentium I think it's the most versatile one, although I could be wrong, I am not up to date when it comes to technology. I recall considering Athlon XP, but I don't think they measure up to the Pentium's performance. The size of the screen matters if I don’t want anything bulky, but 15.4” is probably ok. I do hate Dell's guts, because I do think that their reps are baboons and lack common sense and professionalism. But again, I could be wrong. I did read a lot of negative reviews from users and heard a few others claim that their service is a little short of decent. So I guess the choice is between Acer and Toshiba. These are the two I was considering, I don't know if you looked at them. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16834115265 http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/Se...997&CatId=0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ED Posted January 3, 2007 Report Share Posted January 3, 2007 Hello Jutik here is one to consider, I bought similar one about 4 monts ago and those machines are top of the line solid laptops for any aplication http://www.alienware.com/Configurator_Page...ode=SKU-DEFAULT Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anileve Posted January 3, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 3, 2007 Eve, let me add another for you. http://cgi.ebay.ca/WHITE-SONY-VAIO-1GB-DDR...1QQcmdZViewItem It is an Intel Core Duo with 2 Mb L2 cache, it has all you wat, a double layer burner. Plus its Hard Disk is a SATA with 5400 rpm. It is also in your price range. It is not a Pentium but a Centrino, but with 2 Mb L2 cache, not much differences left. Fadyushkin, sounds good but the whole Centrino thing...I am just concerned about different applications, will they be compatible with this processor? I really don't know much about Core Duo. If it's compatible then perhaps this is the way to go? The only thing is that I would be rather sceptical buying a laptop from ebay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anileve Posted January 3, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 3, 2007 Hello Jutik here is one to consider, I bought similar one about 4 monts ago and those machines are top of the line solid laptops for any aplication http://www.alienware.com/Configurator_Page...ode=SKU-DEFAULT Edo jan! I've always been a huge fan of alienware, and they always have such stellar reviews. The looks are also super. I don't know anything about their customer service though. The price and the specs sound really good, the only thing again is the processor type, are you sure that they are compatible with most applications? I want to be able to work on the laptop as well as play my Restaurant Empire game. What do you think? Is it reliable? If it is I would love to own the dream machine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anileve Posted January 3, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 3, 2007 Should I go wth 512 or 1Gb? When you go with 80Gb space, 1gb memory and a dual layer dvd it goes up to $1109, perhaps it's worth it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DominO123 Posted January 3, 2007 Report Share Posted January 3, 2007 Fadyushkin, sounds good but the whole Centrino thing...I am just concerned about different applications, will they be compatible with this processor? I really don't know much about Core Duo. If it's compatible then perhaps this is the way to go? The only thing is that I would be rather sceptical buying a laptop from ebay. The compatibility is not really an issue anymore, the only compatibility issue you may have is if the application doesn't support multiple processors or a dual core CPU. If that is the cases, you will not take advantages of the two core CPU, it will still work. I had Intel and AMD CPU's, and never had issues with applications. As for eBay, I posted that to show you that computer, my friend was interested to buy it. It was 799$ US on BestBuy.com with a printer in bonus. http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?sk...mprd65800050001 It is sold out, but it will still be on that price range anywhere. Things I would do had I to buy a laptop. I would request at least 5400 rpm SATA hard drive, since it is the thing on my current laptop which angers me most. Second, the RAM, at least 1024 Gb. The third, at least a 15'' screen, not to0 big though, we should not forget that laptops are portables. DDR2vsDDR is not really an issue for me, they increased the latency which minimised the gains. Had it been a desktop, I would obviously choose a motherboard with supports DDR2, for future upgrades. Those are the factors I consider most personally. The processor, sure a Dual core is a plus, and futue applications will definitly take advantages of, there are already many applications which take advantage of. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ED Posted January 3, 2007 Report Share Posted January 3, 2007 Should I go wth 512 or 1Gb? When you go with 80Gb space, 1gb memory and a dual layer dvd it goes up to $1109, perhaps it's worth it? I wouldent worry much about the hard drive, if I were you I would go one step up on prosessor to 1.83 with 1gb hard drive, notice the 633mhz memory? there customer support is local (usa) based in Miami plus you always get to talk with a live person another machine is very good which i bought for my son, acer ferarri 5000 turion amd 2.0gz, you cant go wrong with acer, look around maybe its cheaper now days good luck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DominO123 Posted January 3, 2007 Report Share Posted January 3, 2007 (edited) I wouldent worry much about the hard drive, if I were you I would go one step up on prosessor to 1.83 with 1gb hard drive, notice the 633mhz memory? there customer support is local (usa) based in Miami plus you always get to talk with a live person another machine is very good which i bought for my son, acer ferarri 5000 turion amd 2.0gz, you cant go wrong with acer, look around maybe its cheaper now days good luck I will have to disagree, the one single thing which is slowing my entire system is neither the speed of the RAM, neither the processor, but the damn dead slow Hard Drive, someone I know just bought a Toshiba 7200 rpm laptop Hard Disk on his system which is similair to mine(even slower than mine), and it speeded the computer in a way that nothing could have speeded it. His computer boot a lot more faster, applications are oppened a lot more faster, Photoshop speed has nearly doubled, file transfer speeded a lot. What is the point on going after processor speed, when for most applications there is no much differences beween a 1.73 Mhz and a 2 Ghz, while your entire system is maintained in the Hard Disk. About the 633mhz memory, this is marketing practice, they increase the frequency, but increase the latency with it, which minimise the gains considerably. Edited January 3, 2007 by QueBeceR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DominO123 Posted January 3, 2007 Report Share Posted January 3, 2007 A nice read. http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=2603 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ED Posted January 3, 2007 Report Share Posted January 3, 2007 Fadul I was refering to the size of the HD, not the speed, and I disagree regarding the ram same aplyes to the ram, faster it is better it is, 1gb ram with 633mhz is all she needs for what she is going to use it 60gb+7200rpm with 1.66-1.83mhz core duo and 125 nividea vedio card, 1gig ram7200rpm, 1100$ top Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hytga Posted January 4, 2007 Report Share Posted January 4, 2007 (edited) check these out. i'll post more http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Specificati...ication.do#tabs http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Specificati...ication.do#tabs Edited January 4, 2007 by hytga Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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