Your opinions on budget laptops?

#1 Hock

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Posted 03 September 2007 - 10:00 AM

Hello,

I'm interested in purchasing a laptop to fit into my budget (I'll define that as anything under $1000CDN/$942US). I've been looking at laptops offered by companies such as Acer, HP and Toshiba. Some specific ones have taken my interest. I understand at that price I'll be purchasing something that will go obsolete very quickly. However, I'd really appreciate if anyone could suggest me specific models that are more reliable or have better preformance than other models in the same price range. Good customer support from the company is also a plus.

Thanks in advance

-A laptop newb

#2 jbking

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Posted 03 September 2007 - 12:38 PM

Well, I think I'd need to know what priority would you place on some aspects of the laptop such as weight, screen size, battery life, gaming abliity to name a few before we get into the processor, RAM, graphics card and other tidbits. I think that budget should let you get something above a minimum basic system though where to upgrade depends on the uses you have for it.

Regards,

JB

#3 Fanman

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Posted 07 September 2007 - 03:13 PM

What JB said is very true, you should be able to get a good system for that budget. And yes it depends on what you want to do with it. As for the companies acer, hp and toshiba have all a good name when it comes to customer service.But that can also depend on the customer.The point is that you basically want alot of memory since vista uses that stuff alot, and memory will last you along time. If you travel alot to areas where you won't have acces to a power plug, you also want the one that will last the longest on a fully charged battery. I wouldn't worry to much about harddisk space, since if you have 160 gb. and you fill it up, it would be high time for a good cleanup session anyway.
The other comment about a system being obsolete in 5 months is not true anymore, that had to do with company's constantly coming out with 'must have' software and there for you needed the 'must have' hardware to cope with it all. The only thing nowadays that still does that is 3d games and only the newest ones. Fact is, webbrowsers, wordprocessors, spreadsheets and e-mail clients haven't really changed alot since the windows98 days.They just look fancier.So with a laptop of let's say $1000 canadian, you can probably use that well for another 4 to 5 years as long as you don't try to bounce it off the wall,floor or ceiling.

One thing to keep in mind is that laptops really don't like the word 'upgrade', usually you can add some memory, change out a battery and that's about it.So make sure you get the ability to burn dvd's.since with todays harddrives and operatingsystems a backup on a cd just won't cut it probably.

Well good luck! and shop around a bit.

#4 ConnorS

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Posted 23 September 2007 - 11:06 AM

Building on what JB said, it really comes down to your usage. For example, if you're a hardcore gamer, you wouldn't get much usefullness for under $950. It all depends on what you will use it for. You can almost always find good deals on PC's from major vendor's(Best Buy,Circuit City,etc.) websites, though they'll always be pre-maid, so no customability. You should be able to get a decent notebook for your budget, though.

#5 Smokey

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Posted 27 September 2007 - 03:19 PM

Friend, for $50 dollars more you could get a good laptop. log on to NVousPC.com and get a fully personalized computer that will last you a couple of years before going obsolete. They work with Intel and they do some pretty cool stuff. Check it out and let me know what you think.

#6 mooneyj

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Posted 30 September 2007 - 01:35 PM

I'd agree with all posts on the purpose of the laptop being the key question, and if you're not doing a ton of gaming, you can get a great laptop for even $700 or so. The HP dv6000 AMD version is @ $700 and seems to be getting a lot of support. I'd consider the mem upgrade, pushing it up another $100, but save yourself a couple hundred $$ & target some of these fine mid-level products.

#7 CDM523

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Posted 12 October 2007 - 01:53 PM

Check out Dell Inspiron or Vostro lines of laptops. I am looking into getting one for myself. You can customize it fairly extensively on their web site. I like Vostro because of No-bloatware and good contruction. Both are very similar, with Inspiron line focused on consumers and Vostro on small businesses.

I have a quote for Vostro 1500 for about $800 US with 1.4G C2D processor w/ 2M Cache, 2G RAM, 120G 5400 SATA HD and Nvidia 128M 8400M dedicated graphics card and DVD Burner. You can beef up the spec/performance per your need.

Dell customer support has been a mixed bag. Vostro supposedly has a separate dedicated support staff -- not sure how effective they are!! ;

Hope this helps.

CDM523

#8 TechyGuy

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Posted 12 October 2007 - 04:44 PM

Hi Hock,
As long as you're not a true gamer, you can definatly get a good laptop for under $1,000. You can often find good deals on products online, such as Amazon's site, but I'd not look on ebay, due to all the scams and "$1 PC" junk. Some specific brands, such as Dell and HP, have cheaper laptops when it comes to non-gaming PCs. Here are a few models I customized that you may want to look into:
|HP dv6500t - $973.99 -15.4" 1280x800 screen|Toshiba Satelite A215-S7462 - $999.99 - 15.4" Widescreen Display|Dell Vostro 1500 - $925.00 - 15.4" Display|
|Intel Core 2 Duo T7250 2GHz processor|AMD Turion X2 TL-60 2.0GHz processor|Intel Core2 Duo T7300 proc. at 2.0GHz|
|Intel Media accelerator X3100|256MB ATI Mobility Radeon X1200 vid. card|128MB nVIDEA Geforce 8400M GS|
|Windows Vista Home Premium|Windows Vista Home Premium|
|160GB 5400-rpm HDD|250GB 4200-rpm SATA HDD|Windows XP Home SP/2|
|2GB DDR2 RAM (667MHz)|2048MB DDR2 RAM (667MHz)|100GB 7200-rpm HDD|
|LightScribe SuperMulti 8X DVD/-RW|DVD-SuperMulti (/-R double layer) LableFlash Drive|2GB DDR2 667MHz RAM|
|High Capacity 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery|Li-Ion (4000mAh) Battery|8X CD/DVD Burner w/ double-layer DVD|
|1 yr. limited Warranty|1-yr. Parts and Labor, 1 yr. Battery warranty|85 WHr 9-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery|
1 yr. Warranty
Hope that this helps you out,
-TechyGuy

#9 CDM523

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Posted 18 October 2007 - 09:33 AM

TechyGuy:

I am looking to finalize my order for Dell Vostro 1500. I have mentioned the specs & $$ in previous post in this thread. I was originally told by Dell rep that Vostros do not have option for 7200 RPM HD. Yeterday, when I talked to him he said that now they are offering 160G 7200 RPM HD (no other size for 7200 RPM), but the upgrade would cost me $150+!! Your config shows 100G HD (7200 RPM)!! Can you clarify this issue?

Did you specd this out on Dell web site or with sales rep over the phone? If you did it on-line, can you share with us what path you took? I have tried numerous time and have not been able to get these specs at this price. Would appreciate some help. Thanks in advance!

CDM523

#10 TechyGuy

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Posted 18 October 2007 - 01:22 PM

Hi CDM523,
I chatted w/an online sales rep. and he/she e-mailed me a reccomended config., and it said "100GB 7200-rpm Hard-drive" on the e-mail, but after that I messed around configuring Vostros myself, and no 100GB 7200-rpm HDD was available on the customizable systems. I guess the rep might have got the rpm's mixed up, or something like that.
Also, I got that price on some special Vostro promo-price-day, and you had to get that pre-made config for some discount(can't remember how much it was, though)
-TechyGuy

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