[tlp10788]

I am looking to buy a laptop. I have a used Dell's and Lenovo's before, they seemed decent. I would like to ask around and find what everyone else likes. What OS would be better? Thanks.

[techie4fun]

Any laptop will suit you , but from anything that you buy as of now, it will have Windows Vista already preloaded.

What are you wanting to do with your laptop? What use are you looking to get out of it?

[Elzix]

OS:

- Win Vista - Comes preloaded, best office OS - Do not prefer

- Win XP - Used to come preloaded, best gaming OS - Prefer

- Linux - Mostly Free (Many versions), no virus => best for random flash disks copying data in/out of your computer - Personally Prefer

I have dual boot for Ubuntu (Linux) and WinXP.. linux for school (flash disks, assignments, ...) and WinXP for gaming..



The laptop:

Buying a laptop is like buying a TV.. so many brands making the same thing..

I don't bother with brands.. I bother with price against performance..

Figure out what u want in your PC, then find what u can get at approx the same price from the leading Companies..

I only know of Dell, HP, Acer, Sony and Lenovo..

[matchbox2022]

Easy, go with XP :)

It's been around forever so it's had the most time to adapt, and has proven itself.

Either that or get a mac, or a free linux. Just remember if you're lookin to play games, linux has shatty drivers for graphic cards, nor direct x support (and emulating xp is slow as &*^$) Just don't get vista, until we have better processors out mainstream (like the i7s from intel) in notebooks, vista will always be more of a huge resource hog for cpu and ram and slow everything down instead of being a very good yet barely noticable on the system's resources and an actual os in my opinion. (maybe with windows 7 it'll improve and technology will catch up to it and it'll become the mainstream then again.,,hopefully)

[rgreen4]

First is to decide how much your budget is. Then decide what you want the laptop to do. If you are currently using a desktop, then do you want the laptop as an extension of the desktop, or do you want it to do the exact same jobs as the desktop does.

If you are a game, no reasonably priced laptop ($500-$1,500) laptop will run games as effectively as a desktop. No laptop will be as fast as a desktop with the same processor, memory and OS, for the simple reason that the processors in a laptop are detuned to a certain degree. Remember that the faster the processor runs, the more heat it build up. It is very difficult to put a large heat exchanger and 120mm fan in a laptop, so to keep heat under control, they have to throttle back the processor.

Go to the brick and mortar stores and look at the various brands and models on display. Put fingers on keyboards and find the brand, model and size you like. Then go home and go online and see what exact features are available that you want and can fit into your budget.

Unless you want to purchase a business class laptop, it will come with Vista. This has been true for almost two years now, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with a clean install of Vista. Unfortunately, the pre-installed versions on new manufactured computers come with a lot of free, sample and trial software that we call "bloatware". It will most likely also come with an internet security suite either from Norton's or from McAfee. What ever you do, do not pay to have it installed or the "subscription" extended. These security suites are responsible for most of the slowdowns on new manufactured PC's, this is true of Vista and was true of XP before that.

To remove them you need to go to their website and download the un-installer as the remove/change function in Windows will not completely remove the software. Then download and run PC Decrapifier to remove most of the rest of the unwanted programs. Then you can use the remove/change program function in Windows to remove the rest of the unwanted programs. When you get the machine you want, you may want to post back to get more details, and you can review discussions in the Privacy & Security discussion area about free stand-alone anti-virus, anti-spyware and firewall programs that will do a better job than the suites.

Purchasing directly from the manufacturer won't save you any money, but it will let you purchase the exact machine you want. For example when I ordered my HP 17" laptop a year ago, it cost me $60 for the second hard drive (many 17" laptops have two HD bays, but pay for it in weight), yet to purchase the tray, adapter and screws in a package to add the second drive would have cost $140 plus the HD. If you order online, most manufactures can have the machine at your door in 10 to 14 days (mine actually arrived via FedEx in 8 days).

You will be bombarded with many comments about getting it with XP, but there is no reason to avoid Vista. I have it on three machines (one a dual boot with XP) and use it 99% of the time, usually booting into XP now only to answer an XP question in the community, which is getting less and less frequently now. Vista runs well on new machines with 2GB of memory, and it is all but impossible today to find a new machine with less. Most who have dual boots have discovered that with the identical machines, once you get to 2GB or more Vista will boot and run as fast as XP. Also for gamers, many of the newer games now really want Directx10 and that is only available with Vista.

[Tunz]

I would suggest another Lenovo with Vista Business so you have the option of rolling back to XP Pro. Since you have already owned a Lenovo, you will probably be disappointed with anything else.

[Kermit014]

I would say Vista myself what with SP2 just around the corner. Also, I've used XP Pro and Home. Currently, I'm running Vista Home Premium 32-bit on an LG E500. I prefer my LG over a lot of other notebook brands out there and Vista hasn't been a problem for me like other people claim it to be. If you ask me Vista is the way to go it may have had a rough start but if I remember correctly XP had it's problems as well. But before I start ranting about how Vista is better than XP I would say buy an LG with Vista Home Premium on it. LG has some really good programs out for updating your system and whatnot. Also, LG isn't very expensive and it has some pretty respectable specs.