favorite laptop

[lnvanry]

So I currently use a Dell Precision M70. It was top of the line in 2005. It was a bit more than 3K.

Here is the deal:
I am buying a new laptop for grad school and have pretty much no price limit. What do you think I should get? What would be your dream laptop and why?

I have been looking at the Dell M90 but its a bit too bulky like my M70. I'm looking for a little more compact computer with as much power as possible ignoring cost. Maybe like a Dell XPS all souped up.

Looked a bit at the macbook but I'm not convinced yet...any other top laptops out there?

I veto any compaq btw...I'm thinking Dell XPS M1710 or M1210.

XPS Notebooks

 

[Jodi]

Thinkpad!

 

[BoneCrusher]

I've been looking at the 2010 because of the specs and the screen size. It's as powerful as a good pc, but it goes where I go. The detachable keyboard and 1080p rock. Too bad it's a DELL. They suck right now, and have for a while so what ever I get from them is prone to issues that DELL will try to burn me on. The horror stories of them out and out deceptively denying valid service claims are abundant. We'll see what happens with Michael Dell taking over again. As much as I want that laptop ... ... I wouldn't buy a DELL.

 

[lnvanry]

the 2010 looks pretty sick, but its a bit too bulky for my liking.

I have to carry this thing ALL day EVERY day with me.

Jodi, what makes the thinkpads so great for you?

 

[Jodi]

Why I love my Thinkpad..........It's thin, lighter, big keyboard, thumbprint reader, excellent battery life, wide screen. It's a quality built laptop.

I have the T Series. Lenovo - Notebook computers - ThinkPad T Series

 

[Plateau_Max]

I'm not really sure how everything stacks up these days BUT, when I was a computer tech 5% of the time I was building and selling computers and 95% of the time I was fixing brand name PCs and Laptops.

During that time, of the laptop breeds I would say I worked on probably a couple hundred compaq and dell laptops. A few Toshiba laptops came across the counter to be fixed, but not enough to make you flinch. There was one laptop name that never, NOT ONCE came in with problems... the Sony Vaio. I had my brother buy one (he spent like $4k on the damn thing!) and it was probably the best laptop I had ever seen/used.

That's just my old experience with laptops. Dell and Compaq/HP lead the problems department, and Toshiba the distant runners up. Vaios never came in for repairs so either the area of 80,000+ people didn't buy a single one or they were reliable. I'm willing to bet the latter on that one.

 

[danzik17]

I've seen a lot of bluescreens on the new T60/T61s Jodi, but that might be from the shit-tastic image that IBM keeps using on its employee's comps. I personally have a T41 from my previous job running Fedora and it's great. It's even lighter than the new T series ones

 

[Jodi]

I have a T43 for work and T60 for home use and I love them both. It's probably the image!

 

[BoneCrusher]

I'm not really sure how everything stacks up these days BUT, when I was a computer tech 5% of the time I was building and selling computers and 95% of the time I was fixing brand name PCs and Laptops.

During that time, of the laptop breeds I would say I worked on probably a couple hundred compaq and dell laptops. A few Toshiba laptops came across the counter to be fixed, but not enough to make you flinch. There was one laptop name that never, NOT ONCE came in with problems... the Sony Vaio. I had my brother buy one (he spent like $4k on the damn thing!) and it was probably the best laptop I had ever seen/used.

That's just my old experience with laptops. Dell and Compaq/HP lead the problems department, and Toshiba the distant runners up. Vaios never came in for repairs so either the area of 80,000+ people didn't buy a single one or they were reliable. I'm willing to bet the latter on that one.

Looking into what I want to do, I have seen on consumer reports that Sony has the least amount of issues. You just kinda helped me out with that one too ... thanks.

 

[KelJu]

I veto any compaq btw...I'm thinking Dell XPS M1710 or M1210.

XPS Notebooks

I have a M1210, and I am in love with it. My professor had one first, and told us about a rebate offer through our school. I got almost 30% off of mine. It works great so far, and I have run XP Pro, Vista, and Ubuntu on it. They also look pimp.

 

[ALBOB]

I'm not really sure how everything stacks up these days BUT, when I was a computer tech 5% of the time I was building and selling computers and 95% of the time I was fixing brand name PCs and Laptops.

During that time, of the laptop breeds I would say I worked on probably a couple hundred compaq and dell laptops. A few Toshiba laptops came across the counter to be fixed, but not enough to make you flinch. There was one laptop name that never, NOT ONCE came in with problems... the Sony Vaio. I had my brother buy one (he spent like $4k on the damn thing!) and it was probably the best laptop I had ever seen/used.

Then maybe you're just the guy to help me out. I've got a Vaio that I bought new in 2000. Everything still works great, except the monitor. I've had it checked out and was told the backlight is dead. Any suggestions on where to get a new backlight and how to swap it out? Thanks, AL

 

[Jodi]

That's such a funny post Plateau because I have seen nothing but problems with Toshiba's and Sony's. Of course this was long ago (90's) when I did tech support.

 

[tucker01]

I loved my toshiba, fucking hate my Dell.

 

[DOMS]

Well, if he goes with a Sony, it's a good thing that price is no object.

 

[BoneCrusher]

Not sure how valid the following is, but it's from the Consumer Reports site.

Readers report on 127,800 computers.
These graphs show the percentage of the following brands of computers bought between 2002 and 2006 that have ever been repaired or had a serious problem. Differences of less than 3 points are not meaningful for laptops, less than 4 points for desktops. Models within a brand may vary, and changes in design or manufacture might affect reliability. Still, choosing a brand with a good repair history can improve your odds.

Laptops

Data are based on more than 50,100 responses to our Annual Product Reliability Survey, conducted by the *Consumer Reports National Research Center. Data have been adjusted to eliminate differences solely linked to the age and the usage of the product.​

 

[BoneCrusher]

I have a T43 for work and T60 for home use and I love them both. It's probably the image!

CR rates the T60 second below a Mac Book Pro for "15.4-inch MODELS that have 1GB of RAM, a 100GB to 120GB hard drive, DVD burner, and integrated stereo speakers". Sony's best consumer rated model ranked 10th in customer satisfaction compared to other units in the same category, bellow a few DELLs, an ACER, and a few Gateways.

Apple Macbook Pro 15-inch
2.16GHz Core 2 Duo 128MB ATI X1600 $2,000

68.​

Lenovo ThinkPad T60
Core 2 Duo T5500 Intel 950 $1,200

Toshiba Satellite A135-S4427 CR Best Buy
Toshiba Satellite A135-S4527
Core Duo T2250 Intel 950 $750

The 10th ranked Sony:
Sony VAIO VGN-N250E/W
Sony VAIO VGN-N350E/W
Core Duo T2250 Intel 950 $980
__________________________________________________________________

For the "17-inch MODELS that have 2GB of RAM, a 160GB hard drive, DVD burner, and integrated stereo speakers".

Apple Macbook Pro 17-inch 2.33GHz Core 2 Duo 256MB ATI X1600 $2,800

Toshiba Satellite P205-S6287

Core 2 Duo T5300 Intel 950 $1,290

Sony VAIO VGN-AR370

Core 2 Duo T7200 392MB Nvidia 7600 $2,115

Gateway NX860XL Core 2 Duo T7200 392MB Nvidia 7600 $1,590

Tested with optional 6-cell battery.

Has 200GB hard drive.

Has 2 80GB hard drives.



SOURCE
65.

 

[maniclion]

I've had 2 thinkpads, a Toshiba and an Acer (my current NB for 3 yrs) and the Acer has been the best so far, I even dropped it once and it didn't phase it one bit...the usual problem I have is either the monitor loses it's connection or something on the motherboard overheats....

 

[lnvanry]

i feel like I'm the only one who loves my dell Not one problem

My roommate had a toshiba with TONS of problems and crumby help even though he had full insurance....they are void like compaq in my book.

The sony, dell, and mac are all options for now...I'm just partial to the Dell XPS right now.

 

[TrojanMan60563]

My HP is great

 

[Plateau_Max]

That's such a funny post Plateau because I have seen nothing but problems with Toshiba's and Sony's. Of course this was long ago (90's) when I did tech support.

Yeah things change after 10 years, and dramatically so with technology which is why I'm not really sure after the 3 years I've been out of the tech support game just how useful my own input is.

I just remember how astonished I was at the figures, I mean we must have worked on between 100 and 200 laptops per month which is a lot considering most of our customers used desktop computers, and in a year to not have seen a single Vaio come in with a problem... yeah. I build my own desktop computers, and they're always such good performers. I wish there was a way to build laptops as easily as you can desktops. Oh well.

 

[lnvanry]

So I 'm thinking about the tiny souped up mac (13in.) instead of the Dell XPSM1330....the mac is so much cheaper with close to the same performance. Then again I don't know a ton about hardware.

Every thing read about on the M1330 (13in) raved about how great it was...Is it worth the 2600USD. Earlier I talked about how money wasn't an issue...well I'm in grad school now with no income so money is a bit of an issue.

The tiny mac is almost 1k cheaper with a bit faster processor same memory graphics card and pretty much same everything else....it downfall is I have no idea on how to operate it, I might have software compatibility probs when making homework assignments on MS office at school and then coming to my mac.

I'm a bit torn