recommend laptop

I'm biased here. Very biased. I have a Compaq and the only advantage it has over others is it's somewhat cheap. Otherwise... I can list the problems. The screen started dying eight months in, and wasn't covered by the warranty, and well, their tech support is NOT helpful. If you -do- have something covered by the warranty, you get to send it in, and well, wait a month, and hope that they find the problem. Otherwise, you're SOL and have just lost a month waiting for a fixed laptop. The specs aren't that good, and I've found out that an 80GB hard drive just isn't big enough. Granted, this is my daily machine I throw in a backpack every day and go to school with.

Maybe I've had bad luck with it, but my experience with this laptop was bad enough to make me turn away from HP/Compaq forever.

Another thing I don't like is that the accessories are expensive. If you need a replacement power supply, that's 80 bucks or more. And I can't find the power tips for my specific model for any of the 'universal' ones. Batteries are also expensive with these, but it's pretty much universal that laptop batteries are expensive.

Now, my brother has an Everex and loves it. It's decently priced, great specs, he hasn't had any problems with it, and accessories are cheap. He actually recently bought another power supply for his after it died, and it was half the price of one you'd buy for an HP. This I believe is his model: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...2E16834280004R but he bought it new.

If you're looking for something cheaper and don't mind a smaller screen/hard drive, here's another one for $500. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834280001

I've heard good things about Toshiba and Acer laptops also. Newegg.com is a great place to look, and they have a nice selection. I've also had great experiences with tigerdirect.com.

As for words of wisdom with laptops... Definitely get a case for it. Even if you aren't taking it all over the place, it will help keep it much safer and avoid being hurt.

You may want to look at getting a chill mat also (my brother stupidly fell asleep one night with his laptop on his lap and woke up the next morning with some very angry looking blisters on his thigh) because they do tend to get warm.

I'm on my second Dell computer (this is a laptop, previously I had a desktop). Other than the hard drive crashing in my desktop (replaced for $60), I've had good luck with both. I've had this laptop for 2.5 years with no problems. Prior to buying my latop I was shopping around, and when I was comparing prices on similar models, Dell was significantly cheaper (by several hundred dollars).

On the other hand, I know people who personally have had problems with Dell. And trying to order replacement parts from them is a huge hassle - they kept trying to sell me a TV (though I should point out that the problem was not their fault - my cat chewed the power cord).

So shop around and compare prices, read reviews, and plan on the possibility that you might want your laptop to be your main computer (I bought my laptop with the intent of having it as a secondary and it quickly became my primary and I sold my desktop - which is still running 6-7 years later).

I was first looking at this:

http://www.toshibadirect.com/td/b2c/...aker=SPKR-0004

It is a basic one with some customizations, but a little more than I wanted. But it has a built in web cam (which I don't need) and a fingerprint scanner (which I do want). Honestly I shouldn't be spending any money on a lap top at all, but if I get one, I will use it for a very long time.

But I am more seriously considering http://www.toshibadirect.com/td/b2c/cmod.to?coid=-33935

It has a bigger hard drive and comparable other components to other toshibas on sale at big box stores, even to Dell's cheapest. There is free ground shipping right now.

Thanks for all of the replies! Let me know what you think.

Part of why I don't want to give up the desktops is because I build my own and can troubleshoot and exchange/upgrade hardware more easily and more cheaply. Physical security is also an issue. I am not so worried about a house party guest or a person at the library swiping my giant case and it's giant spaghetti monster of attached wires with all of my private data. A desk top can also have a large screen which I might not want on a laptop, and it's not going to heat up my lap or suddenly explode from a bad battery.

I can also leave the desktop at home to run some long download or scan while I am out.

Finally, I have ADHD but I won't be leaving the desktop at the coffee shop anytime soon.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thalia

I was first looking at this:

http://www.toshibadirect.com/td/b2c/...aker=SPKR-0004

It is a basic one with some customizations, but a little more than I wanted. But it has a built in web cam (which I don't need) and a fingerprint scanner (which I do want). Honestly I shouldn't be spending any money on a lap top at all, but if I get one, I will use it for a very long time.

But I am more seriously considering http://www.toshibadirect.com/td/b2c/cmod.to?coid=-33935

It has a bigger hard drive and comparable other components to other toshibas on sale at big box stores, even to Dell's cheapest. There is free ground shipping right now.

Thanks for all of the replies! Let me know what you think.

Part of why I don't want to give up the desktops is because I build my own and can troubleshoot and exchange/upgrade hardware more easily and more cheaply. Physical security is also an issue. I am not so worried about a house party guest or a person at the library swiping my giant case and it's giant spaghetti monster of attached wires with all of my private data. A desk top can also have a large screen which I might not want on a laptop, and it's not going to heat up my lap or suddenly explode from a bad battery.

I can also leave the desktop at home to run some long download or scan while I am out.

Finally, I have ADHD but I won't be leaving the desktop at the coffee shop anytime soon.

Click to expand...

Which computer on the 2nd link, Thalia? (There's 3).

I can understand your concerns for your laptop's safety. You could always just make sure it's put up someplace if you're having people over you're not certain you can trust.

You can always hook an additional monitor up to your laptop if you want a larger display and have dual-display. I enjoy having my dual-display setup, it's nice for dragging something over to the 2nd screen (I do that a lot with my itunes and have my browser in the other one).

You can definitely leave your laptop on and running a scan/download if you need to leave. The only concern is keeping one's feline companions off of the keys. I lock my computer anytime I walk off from it but there's still been a couple times I've walked back in to find a napping cat on the keyboard.