Laptop

kberg
kberg Posts: 974
edited January 2006 in Electronics
Hey Guys,

I need to get a new laptop. Any good online vendors with good customer service I should consider? How about ideas for makes/models? I'd really like to keep the cost to under $1,000, because I really don't need anything fancy. Thanks in advance.
Mains: polkaudio RTi70's (bi-wired)
Center: polkaudio CSi40 (bi-wired)
Surrounds: polkaudio FXi30's
Rear Center: polkaudio CSi30
Sub: SVS 20-39 PC+
Receiver: ONKYO TX-SR600
Display: JVC HD-56G786
DVD Player: SONY DVP-CX985V
DVD Player: OPPO DV-981HD 1080p High Definition Up-Converting Universal DVD Player with HDMI
Remote: Logitech Harmony H688
Post edited by kberg on
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Comments

  • lanion
    lanion Posts: 843
    edited January 2006
    I love newegg.com. You can't go wrong with them. Of course, you could also check out any specials from direct sales places like dell.com and the like.
    My Iron Man training/charity blog.

    HT:
    32" Sharp LCD. H/K dpr 1001 to Outlaw Audio 7900 to Polk LSi + Paradigm Studio center. Hsu DualDrive ULS-15. PS3/Wii. Outlaw 7900.
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  • kberg
    kberg Posts: 974
    edited January 2006
    lanion wrote:
    I love newegg.com. You can't go wrong with them. Of course, you could also check out any specials from direct sales places like dell.com and the like.

    You must be psychic - I was going to ask about newegg.com in my original note because a work associate of mine buys from them all the time. Thanks for the feedback.
    Mains: polkaudio RTi70's (bi-wired)
    Center: polkaudio CSi40 (bi-wired)
    Surrounds: polkaudio FXi30's
    Rear Center: polkaudio CSi30
    Sub: SVS 20-39 PC+
    Receiver: ONKYO TX-SR600
    Display: JVC HD-56G786
    DVD Player: SONY DVP-CX985V
    DVD Player: OPPO DV-981HD 1080p High Definition Up-Converting Universal DVD Player with HDMI
    Remote: Logitech Harmony H688
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  • ublguy
    ublguy Posts: 51
    edited January 2006
    Hmm - if you are looking for good customer service - now dont laugh - I say Dell - in my last job I was an IT specialist which included fixing servers - and dell support was above average.

    Now, if you go to www.fatwallet.com and wait for a good laptop deal that you can bundle a nice 3 years ON SITE warranty it would be gold.

    On a personal note - I love Sony Vaio's - they cost more - but they have been great.

    What I would recommended - get the best laptop you can afford - since most people don't upgrade a laptop - it will be in good use for many years to come.
    Receiver: Denon-3802
    Pre-Amp: (2) Outlaw 200-m
    Fronts: Lsi9's
    Center: CS1
    Rear: R15
    Sub: 12" Velodyne
    TV: Sony 42" LCD - KDF-E42A10
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  • steveinaz
    steveinaz Posts: 19,538
    edited January 2006
    FWIW, here's a reliability rating of our inventory of 200+ laptops, best to worst:

    1. IBM Thinkpad (most reliable)
    2. Dell Inspiron, Sony Viao, Panasonic Toughbook
    3. Toshiba
    4. HP NX9010; NC6000
    5. Compaq Presario, others (least reliable)

    NOTE: Dell, Sony, and Panasonic are a dead tie for 2nd place
    Source: Bluesound Node 2i - Preamp/DAC: Benchmark DAC2 DX - Amp: Parasound Halo A21 - Speakers: MartinLogan Motion 60XTi - Shop Rig: Yamaha A-S501 Integrated - Shop Spkrs: Elac Debut 2.0 B5.2
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  • audiobliss
    audiobliss Posts: 12,518
    edited January 2006
    Not at all surprised that IBM is reliable, but I would have thought the Panasonic Toughbook would be more reliable. They sure are amazing machines! But then, they oughtta be for what they cost!
    George Grand wrote: »
    Jstas wrote: »
    Simple question. If you had a cool million bucks, what would you do with it?
    Wonder WTF happened to the rest of my money.
    In Use
    PS3, Yamaha CDR-HD1300, Plex, Amazon Fire TV Gen 2
    Pioneer Elite VSX-52, Parasound HCA-1000A
    Klipsch RF-82ii, RC-62ii, RS-42ii, RW-10d
    Epson 8700UB
    In Storage
    [Home Audio]
    Rotel RCD-02, Yamaha KX-W900U, Sony ST-S500ES, Denon DP-7F
    Pro-Ject Phono Box MKII, Parasound P/HP-850, ASL Wave 20 monoblocks
    Klipsch RF-35, RB-51ii
    [Car Audio]
    Pioneer Premier DEH-P860MP, Memphis 16-MCA3004, Boston Acoustic RC520
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  • steveinaz
    steveinaz Posts: 19,538
    edited January 2006
    The only reason the IBM gets the nod is that I have 2 6 year old IBM's that are still in use, and have never needed ANY maintenance. That's pretty incredible, government workers are not exactly kind to their equipment.
    Source: Bluesound Node 2i - Preamp/DAC: Benchmark DAC2 DX - Amp: Parasound Halo A21 - Speakers: MartinLogan Motion 60XTi - Shop Rig: Yamaha A-S501 Integrated - Shop Spkrs: Elac Debut 2.0 B5.2
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  • Airplay355
    Airplay355 Posts: 4,298
    edited January 2006
    Sony's are expensive but they don't have crappy parts in them. I still have my Sony Vaio from 5 years ago and other then optical drive motors dieing, everything else is fine. When I bought it, I had a year of free on site technical help. Their technical help was great and American! I have no problem with people who aren't American but I hate when I call for support and I get outsourced to someone who can barely speak english. It's frustrates me further.

    I say find a laptop you like and save up for it. Get something you really want otherwise you will just look at nicer ones and wish you had them.

    No one wants to mention Macs? ;)
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  • audiobliss
    audiobliss Posts: 12,518
    edited January 2006
    Airplay355 wrote:
    No one wants to mention Macs? ;)

    Aye; true, that'd be.
    George Grand wrote: »
    Jstas wrote: »
    Simple question. If you had a cool million bucks, what would you do with it?
    Wonder WTF happened to the rest of my money.
    In Use
    PS3, Yamaha CDR-HD1300, Plex, Amazon Fire TV Gen 2
    Pioneer Elite VSX-52, Parasound HCA-1000A
    Klipsch RF-82ii, RC-62ii, RS-42ii, RW-10d
    Epson 8700UB
    In Storage
    [Home Audio]
    Rotel RCD-02, Yamaha KX-W900U, Sony ST-S500ES, Denon DP-7F
    Pro-Ject Phono Box MKII, Parasound P/HP-850, ASL Wave 20 monoblocks
    Klipsch RF-35, RB-51ii
    [Car Audio]
    Pioneer Premier DEH-P860MP, Memphis 16-MCA3004, Boston Acoustic RC520
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  • bknauss
    bknauss Posts: 1,441
    edited January 2006
    I had a Dell laptop and wasn't all that impressed. Within the first couple of years, the battery died (well, could only live about 10 min before dying), and just recently the monitor went to crap. Overall, it was made very cheaply and I felt like I could easily break the plastics if I tried to. And this was a top of the line Inspiron back in the day. I also had a Dell desktop where the motherboard needed to be replaced within 1 year of owning it, and the hard drive died within the first 2 years. It finally died right about 4 years after I bought it. Luckily it was the same day I put together my custom desktop :)

    I got a Gateway to replace the Dell, and it had the harddrive crash within 2 years since buying. Other than that, it has worked like a champ.

    These are my personal experiences and may not be the norm. Just wanted to give something other than a magazine article quoting reliability from some oddball set of sources.
    Brian Knauss
    ex-Electrical Engineer for Polk
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  • bknauss
    bknauss Posts: 1,441
    edited January 2006
    As for Macs, depending on your field or what you intend to do with the laptop, it can be a non-starter. For engineers, it generally doesn't have any good software to use with it. Then again, if you're in a creative field and need to do video editing or Photoshop or something like that, Macs are a must-have.
    Brian Knauss
    ex-Electrical Engineer for Polk
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