Which brand laptop to avoid or buy?

acresm22 · « **on:** 13 Dec 2006, 04:29 am »

Hello all,

I am buying my wife a laptop for Christmas. She had a crappy old EMachines desktop that went kaput this fall, so reliability is pretty key with this new machine (as it is with everyone buying a new computer, I suppose). I REALLY like Costco's six-month return policy, so am inclined to buy it there. Current local choices include a Compaq with an AMD Turin processor and a couple HPs with Intel processors. Prices ranging from $1K to $1.2K.

I am hesitant to buy either a Compaq or an HP due to concerns about reliability. Are these concerns unfounded? You can also order Dells, IBMs and Sonys from Costco.com.

Any thoughts or personal experience here is much appreciated. I'm inclined toward the Compaq because of the looks and good price (AMD Turin processor, 2GB memory, 120 HD, good graphics card), but I'm worried about reliability. I really want this notebook to be a workhorse.

Thx.

A.

crossroadazn · « **Reply #1 on:** 13 Dec 2006, 04:46 am »

I have an IBM and it's very good taking all the abused I throw at it, wish I can say the same about my previous Dell's.

Daygloworange · « **Reply #2 on:** 13 Dec 2006, 05:14 am »

I've had a Toshiba Satellite A 30 for 3 or 4 years, with no troubles whatsoever. The guy who set up my computer recommends them to clients because he trusts them as reliable. He hates doing repair work. So I went with his recommendations, and have not been let down.

I would definitely buy a Toshiba again.

Cheers

dB Cooper · « **Reply #3 on:** 13 Dec 2006, 05:56 am »

I dealt with Compaq at Radio Shack. They suck imo. HP, bought one there, hated it so much I switched to the Mac. Toshibas have a good rep.

G Georgopoulos · « **Reply #4 on:** 13 Dec 2006, 06:01 am »

I have used apple laptops, they're great!!

check my site at georgopoulos.awardspace.com

DSK · « **Reply #5 on:** 13 Dec 2006, 06:12 am »

I've always had great realibility with Toshibas.

Here in Oz, I find that you pay a lot for the HP name. For the same price as Toshibas and similar, the specs on the HP are always lower. Or, for the same specs, the HP's are always more expensive.

jon_010101 · « **Reply #6 on:** 13 Dec 2006, 07:44 am »

I would, personally, consider an Apple MacBook above all other options

Ferdi · « **Reply #7 on:** 13 Dec 2006, 09:21 am »

Another vote for a Mac laptop. The current Macbooks are very nice and can be had inside your budget. Of course, much depends on the applications used. If your wife insists on Microsoft office, this is possible on the Mac as well. Websurfing and email are pretty standard and come with the system.

Where a Macbook really shines is in the iLife applications that help with photo, video and music.

Inscrutable · « **Reply #8 on:** 13 Dec 2006, 09:40 am »

Never used a Mac, but hear good things. I've had two Toshiba tablets and had nothing go wrong. Our Dells and IBM's at work have been somewhat troublesome but not too bad, and they are a definite notch above Compaq, HP, etc.

Doublej · « **Reply #9 on:** 13 Dec 2006, 12:38 pm »

I have owned ThinkPads for 15 years and have had good luck with them. Quality has been good, service has been OK, the keyboard has the best in the industry. And I love the Thinklight on my current one.

Some Universities have special pricing deals for the their alums so check with your alma mater.

If you want an Apple machine check out their refurbished ones on the bottom left side of the store page. It appears you can save 25% off the original price of an older model.

http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore/

PhilNYC · « **Reply #10 on:** 13 Dec 2006, 01:24 pm »

I've owned a lot of laptops over the last 10 years:

Dell - Pretty reliable, but screen went bad after 3 year
Compaq - Screen went bad after 18 months; fortunately, I had purchased the extended warranty from Best Buy. Took a month to fix, but has worked well ever since
Sony - Had trouble using with non-Sony accessories (eg. Palm Pilot instead of Clie). Seemed to become unstable after installing other 3rd party software. Sony always seems to try to do things to make it difficult to use non-Sony stuff.
Toshiba - Had severe overheating problem, where it would get so hot that the computer would shut down. Got so bad after 9 months that it would shut down before it completed heating up. Apparently, it is a result of the way the fans and vents are designed; if you have a lot of dust in the air, the Toshiba was better than most at sucking in dust. Brought it to service center; they cleaned it and it works fine now.
IBM - reliable, tough...have not owned one since it became Lenovo.

MaxCast · « **Reply #11 on:** 13 Dec 2006, 01:38 pm »

When I was researching laptops I found similar recommendations.
Toshiba, Dell, Mac, IBM.
Get the extended service plan. Dell's covers everything (spills), Box stores don't.
Get a 7200rpm HD
Get as much ram as you can.
Keep in mind your wireless needs (future).

For good deals on Dells watch:
http://gotapex.com/deals.php

Laptop forum:
http://notebookforums.com/

Mike Dzurko · « **Reply #12 on:** 13 Dec 2006, 02:07 pm »

I've had and used a bunch. FWIW:

Dell, 9 years old, slow, still runs okay, left click pad went somewhat bad when it was 2 years old, has continued to work, just needs a HARD press

Dell, 4 years old, all kinds of problems, have reformated numerous times, replaced HD a few months ago, still won't work consistently

Toshiba, least expensive, two years old, wife uses it every day. Cost her $599 she hasn't had any problems

HP, most expensive, had it about a year. Only problems are it doesn't always want to shut down, and can't even get 2 hours on the battery.

Toshiba, 6 months old, daughter has it at college, no problems

Dell, Latitude, had since Sept, use it every day, no problems

Toshiba, just purchased to replace the 4 year old Dell . . . we'll see!

Toshiba,

BobM · « **Reply #13 on:** 13 Dec 2006, 05:45 pm »

I've been through a bunch over the last couple of years also (I'm a consultant who moves around and generally gets the use of laptops from the client, as well as my own). Here's my thoughts:

Toshiba - I like the new one's a lot. Very reliable, good screens and just feels better under the fingers. They can be a bit heavier than others, if carrying is an issue.

Dell - everyone has one of these. They're OK but I've heard of too many problems these days. Nothing special

IBM's - the new ones are more reliable than the old ones. Not great styling but they hold up well and are pretty reliable.

MAC's - I've never used one, but everyone who has one says they will never go back to the other brands. You can run both operating systems. Good styling too. I might just go this way if I was buying one for myself right now.

Enjoy,
Bob

shokunin · « **Reply #14 on:** 13 Dec 2006, 07:23 pm »

Lots of good replies, I too like Apple, IBM (Lenovo), and Toshiba. Although my dells have had some problems, their customer service and warranty has always been prompt and were fixed without cost.

Before you settle on brand, make sure you buy what you really need.

Screen type glossy or matte? Some people hate the new glossy screens as reflections and light are can cause glare, some screens are worse at the reflections than others. One of my toshiba's has huge glare issues while my macbook isn't as bad.. go figure.

Size and resolution. How are you eyes doing? For my aging parents I always get the largest size, lowest resolution screen I can. There's no point in going to a 17" widescreen with 1920 x 1200 pixel if you constantly increasing your font resolution to read.

Video card, gonna do games? just surfing, browsing? Lots of cheaper notebooks use integrated graphics (even the Macbook) which is fine for 2D text, graphics and web surfing. Plan on doing any 3d games then you'll want a dedicated graphics card. Note that the dedicated graphics will reduce battery life. Although people trash the Intel G950 integrated graphics, it works fine for probably 80% of the general users out there.

Battery time? How important is that to you? the cheaper laptops come with cheap batteries that last about an hour or maybe a bit more or even LESS, better laptops with Li-Poly batteries will cost more but will last longer. If this is mainly for home use then don't spring for the 8-cell li-poly upgrades.

Size and weight, obviously you'll pay more for ultra portables than you would for larger beefier heavier laptops that are desktop replacements.

Noise... try putting Prime95 on a usb stick and if the permissions in windows allow you to, install it and run the CPU at 100%, my wife's HP is sooo loud and has poor cooling even with speedstep enabled. You'll not only hear how loud it'll get but also where it gets hot. That's one of my big issues some (many) can't be used on your lap as it gets so hot underneath or in certain areas (like the palm rest area causing sweaty palms) etc.

My old old Tecra got soo hot on the palm rest that I couldn't comfortably type.

As everyone else mentions get as much RAM as you can, if you go Macbook route, for me it's unusable in the stock 512MB configs, 1GB is min, 2GB optimum. Mac OSX is a memory pig far worse than windows.

Glenn

acresm22 · « **Reply #15 on:** 13 Dec 2006, 08:41 pm »

Thanks all for your great replies! Since no one recommended Compaq, I will stay away from that one.
My wife is not a gamer...basically likes to send/receive emails, web surf, etc. Since Toshiba figured highly in your responses, I took at look at some of their offerings at Costco.com. There's a P105-S6112 that seems nicely equipped, although the hard drive runs at a lower speed....is that something to avoid?
Funny thing....I bought a Toshiba Satellite back in 2000, and the thing lasted just one year (almost to the day) before the hard drive completely failed. I returned it for a full refund at Costco (their policy has since changed to six months, but at the time I thought that was pretty amazing).

Thanks again, and any other input would be appreciated!

A.

EDS_ · « **Reply #16 on:** 13 Dec 2006, 10:15 pm »

My wife's company owns several thousand laptops. Over time they have devoted a lot of effort to ensure smart buying decisions. I do not know the supporting details, however, 80% of their laptops are Dells.

Personally, I own and use an HP Pavilion zd8000 and a Dell Latitude D620. The HP is really hard on batteries-I knew that going in as it sports an Intel P4. As the P4 generates a lot of heat the fan's noise is high. The glossy screen is spectacular.

The the Dell has a matte or semi-matte screen that looks fine. I think I've heard the fan once. I use a hot-swapable Li-Poly battery in the CD/DVD bay and a regular Li-ion battery at the same time. The result is at least six hours of computing between charges.

Unless something changes-it's Dell forever for me.

EDS_ · « **Reply #17 on:** 13 Dec 2006, 10:17 pm »

Quote from: Mike Dzurko on 13 Dec 2006, 02:07 pm

I've had and used a bunch. FWIW:

Dell, 9 years old, slow, still runs okay, left click pad went somewhat bad when it was 2 years old, has continued to work, just needs a HARD press

Dell, 4 years old, all kinds of problems, have reformated numerous times, replaced HD a few months ago, still won't work consistently

Toshiba, least expensive, two years old, wife uses it every day. Cost her $599 she hasn't had any problems

HP, most expensive, had it about a year. Only problems are it doesn't always want to shut down, and can't even get 2 hours on the battery.

Toshiba, 6 months old, daughter has it at college, no problems

Dell, Latitude, had since Sept, use it every day, no problems

Toshiba, just purchased to replace the 4 year old Dell . . . we'll see!

Toshiba,

I bet your HP has a P4 chip. P4s are hell on batteries.

jqp · « **Reply #18 on:** 13 Dec 2006, 11:43 pm »

The problem with buying a laptop (and other electronics) is that

1.The parts (screens, harddrives, ram, etc) are usually not all made by the "manufacturing" company. And within different models in one company, different parts will often be made by different companies.

2. Tech support quality may vary radically from one year to the next. Ratings for a company's tech support may not be valid by the time they are advertised.

3. The nature of manufacturing is that there are bad manufacturing lots or manufacturing runs. Someone may get a great Toshiba XX, while someone else gets a lemon Toshiba XX.

4. Other

To me you have to start with a budget, look at what features you can get for that budget (it may vary), and based on what you can learn about the quality of those features (e.g.Processor model X), and the company in general, then decide and get a service plan that makes sense with the amount of money you are spending.

I just bought the low-end Gateway for my Mom. I has a lower-end Intel Core Duo, with DDR2 memory (667) which is very nice. an 80GB 5400rpm SATA drive, 4in1 card reader. Will it be a good buy? I hope so, but it does have at least a 1year parts and labor warantee.

acresm22 · « **Reply #19 on:** 14 Dec 2006, 01:43 am »

Those are good points, jqp. Which is puzzling re Compaq/HP, assuming they are sourcing the hard drives, screen components, disc drives, etc. from the some companies that Dell and Toshiba use.

I just read a PCMag survey from this summer that placed Mac, IBM (Lenovo) and Fujitsu at the top, Dell and Toshiba as average, and Compaq/HP as below average due to "reliability" issues. Does it have to do with motherboard and architecture maybe? When my wife's Emachines desktop failed this fall, I had a tech look at the hard drive to try to recover some documents. He commented that EMachines uses inferior power supplies that tend to take out the motherboard (and, as a result, all other components) when they fail. When the ps went kaput, it took the hard drive with it.

A.