Laptop Question

[Scott Campbell]

If I can't play games, it's no big deal. I just need something reliable and efficient.

I think I read something about being able to order Dell pc's without all the bloatware. That's bound to have a positive effect on reliability.

[BallHawk]

I play counterstrike and the occasional WWII shooter, but I'm not going to be playing any major MMORPGs or anything like that.

The only Macbooks I've seen in the $800 range are Powerbook G4s and from my understanding those are pretty outdated.

[BallHawk]

The computers that are in my price range are your typical 15.4 inch screen, 5-6 pound computer.

After research, the 3 brands that I've been looking at our Gateway, HP, and Toshiba. The Dells were stripped down to the extreme and everything else was out of my price range, except for Acer, but I think I'm going to stay away from that.

[Scott Campbell]

The computers that are in my price range are your typical 15.4 inch screen, 5-6 pound computer.

After research, the 3 brands that I've been looking at our Gateway, HP, and Toshiba. The Dells were stripped down to the extreme and everything else was out of my price range, except for Acer, but I think I'm going to stay away from that.

I think Acer purchased Gateway yesterday.

[Partial]

I play counterstrike and the occasional WWII shooter, but I'm not going to be playing any major MMORPGs or anything like that.

The only Macbooks I've seen in the $800 range are Powerbook G4s and from my understanding those are pretty outdated.

Steer clear of any G4. I am typing this right now from a 12" G4 1.5 ghz the last generation and the upgraded model with the 80gb and the superdrive. Too slow and not enough ram stock.

Check Craigslist. I sold my MacBook for 900 w/ an extra gig of ram and some additional software. If you buy one now, you can get it for 1000 with your education discount. You can sell the iPod for 200 that comes with it and you'd be at 800 + tax.

MMORPG's don't require a lot of power. Like COD2 or 3 would play fine on the GMA X3000. It was a HUGE step for integrated graphics. Much, much better than the GMA 950 that was part of the original centrino duo platform.


Look at some of the Dells once the Peryn core comes out. Look at the latitude line and try to find a coupon. You can probably get a well-equip machine down to about 800. If you go the ubuntu route you could do probably like 50 bucks less since lets face it everyone pirates windows anyway.

[Partial]

The computers that are in my price range are your typical 15.4 inch screen, 5-6 pound computer.

After research, the 3 brands that I've been looking at our Gateway, HP, and Toshiba. The Dells were stripped down to the extreme and everything else was out of my price range, except for Acer, but I think I'm going to stay away from that.

I think Acer purchased Gateway yesterday.

Yep.

[BallHawk]

The computers that are in my price range are your typical 15.4 inch screen, 5-6 pound computer.

After research, the 3 brands that I've been looking at our Gateway, HP, and Toshiba. The Dells were stripped down to the extreme and everything else was out of my price range, except for Acer, but I think I'm going to stay away from that.

I think Acer purchased Gateway yesterday.

You're right. Acer purchased Gateway on Monday for $710 million.

[Freak Out]

The computers that are in my price range are your typical 15.4 inch screen, 5-6 pound computer.

After research, the 3 brands that I've been looking at our Gateway, HP, and Toshiba. The Dells were stripped down to the extreme and everything else was out of my price range, except for Acer, but I think I'm going to stay away from that.

I think Acer purchased Gateway yesterday.

You're right. Acer purchased Gateway on Monday for $710 million.

A bargain if they can get the groove back.

[Freak Out]

The 45nm version of the Core 2 Duo (Peryn) is due out sometime this fall. This will offer increased efficiency, and up to 40% improvement in some media encoding, decoding, etc due to having a new and improved instruction set (SSE4).

I think the most important thing there is that the smaller core is likely to run cooler. And that's especially important on a laptop.

If you can wait until Black Friday, there are usually some killer deals to be had.

...and should use much less power as well.

Hawk...do you have a Costco in your area?

[superfan]

Anbody have any thoughts on refurbished Laptops, are they worth it?

No. You can get a very well equipped new laptop with a great warranty for very few $$$ these days. Stay away from "refurbished" because something has gone so wrong they had to take it back.

Not necessarily. Refurbs can be lemons, but they can also be overstocks and returns that were unused.

My company used to buy all Dells, and we bought a mix of new and refurbished. We didn't see any correlation with failure rates of new vs. refurbished. The refurbished systems are often several hundred dollars cheaper and come with the same warranty, so they can be good values. The refurbished systems are packaged similarly, if not identically, to the new systems, so it feels like you are getting a new system.

On the Dell website, click the Home link on the main page, and on the following page you will see a link for the Dell Outlet - that is where they sell their refurbished systems. Inventory changes every second, so check often, and if you see the system you want at the price you want, you should be prepared to buy it before someone else does.

While the MacBooks and MacBook Pros are solid systems, running Windows on them can be a bit daunting for the less computer savvy.

[superfan]

The computers that are in my price range are your typical 15.4 inch screen, 5-6 pound computer.

After research, the 3 brands that I've been looking at our Gateway, HP, and Toshiba. The Dells were stripped down to the extreme and everything else was out of my price range, except for Acer, but I think I'm going to stay away from that.

Given those options, and with everything else being equal, I'd go with the HP.

[Tyrone Bigguns]

The 45nm version of the Core 2 Duo (Peryn) is due out sometime this fall. This will offer increased efficiency, and up to 40% improvement in some media encoding, decoding, etc due to having a new and improved instruction set (SSE4).

I think the most important thing there is that the smaller core is likely to run cooler. And that's especially important on a laptop.

If you can wait until Black Friday, there are usually some killer deals to be had.

I actually worked for Dell for awhile. The best deals start right after school starts. Everyone has bought a computer and the manufacturers need something to lure you in.

The deals get progressive better as the weeks push into October. By the second week in October dell was giving: free shipping, upgraded monitor, more memory, free printer,etc..forget exactly what, but it was like 5 things.

Black friday really isn't the best day as everyone knows you'll be out shopping. Deals yes, but best, not in my experience.

You may have a different experience.

[Partial]

The 45nm version of the Core 2 Duo (Peryn) is due out sometime this fall. This will offer increased efficiency, and up to 40% improvement in some media encoding, decoding, etc due to having a new and improved instruction set (SSE4).

I think the most important thing there is that the smaller core is likely to run cooler. And that's especially important on a laptop.

If you can wait until Black Friday, there are usually some killer deals to be had.

I actually worked for Dell for awhile. The best deals start right after school starts. Everyone has bought a computer and the manufacturers need something to lure you in.

The deals get progressive better as the weeks push into October. By the second week in October dell was giving: free shipping, upgraded monitor, more memory, free printer,etc..forget exactly what, but it was like 5 things.

Black friday really isn't the best day as everyone knows you'll be out shopping. Deals yes, but best, not in my experience.

You may have a different experience.

You'll get the best prices on an adequate machine on Black Friday. Rarely do you get a nice 1000 dollar laptop for like 500, but you get a 500 dollar one for 200.

Personally, I don't buy crap so I don't think getting a laptop that day is the best idea. I would go with an Apple refurb on a MacBook or go with a Dell Latitude. Build quality is something that should not be understated and those two products above have better than most of the competitors imo.