Are there any Laptop Geeks in the House?

[wmccall]

Thanks Josh and everyone. What about the 1280 x 800 resolution? Is this an issue with a 15" screen?

My 48 year old eyes can't handle any more, espcially when I look at a laptop screen all day. Now sometimes I hook it to the 50" DLP then its ok.

[wmccall]

but for hardware, it is worth it for me to have a warranty that assures in home repair within 24 hours !

 

I've made more money off Dell telling people that.   I've had more than a few people throw out the tech that Dell sends and they pay me to fix their problem.

Of course that is only the ones that survive the 14 hours on the phone and actually convince "Bob" that they need to send someone.

[Brewman]

That's probably 10 hours negotaiting the "confuse them so they go away" phone menu system, then another 14 hours on hold when you finally figure out that if you hit the 0 on the phone pad enought times you get put into the "talk to a human" waiting queue.  
 Then more hours actually talking to someone from Calcutta who finally agrees to dispatch the guy on the other side of town to you house.  

[Bonibelle]

Oh Brewman don't get me started....I had an issue with Circuit City last week and I was steaming...they gave me customer service(and the man, was obviously in India). When I got done telling that poor man what I thought and how sick I was of talking to people in India... ..

When I call Dell (I have only had one hardware problem that required a tech visit in 6 years), I specify that I will not talk to someone in India..No disrespect because they are so very polite, but it makes no sense to me to try to resolve a technology issue when there is a language barrier..so far they have resolved everything on the phone and the hardware issue was  a CD drive that died (or maybe I killed accidentally )

[Vanguard]

Get a Mac.  That is the way to go.  Mac, Mac, Mac.  Get a Mac.

[wmccall]

Get a Mac.  That is the way to go.  Mac, Mac, Mac.  Get a Mac.

Luke, resist the dark side, Jimbo uses a Mac.  A little photoshop help here term, please.

[Vinny]

I have to agree with ndabunka although I am not in the computer field. As soon as you buy the computer, it'll be replaced by something else. Spend the least for the most bang for your buck. Resolution is a personal preference. I keep mine larger than some others because icons and words are too small for me to see at some resolutions.

To me laptops are a strange beast. I really hate using them as I always touch that stupid touchpad and wipe something out so I have to retype it. But they are great for bringing along on a vacation or hanging out on the deck and surfing the net.

I have an older Dell that used to be my work computer and now my new Dell for work and both are pretty nice. I bought a hard drive (had to give the company back the one in the old computer) for my old laptop on egghead for $50 and since it didn't have Centrino inside a wireless network card and it does work nicely. I cetanly would stick with the best deal for the money. HP, Toshiba, Dell, Sony are good choices. I am not into Macs ONLY because they tend to be very expensive vs windows machines - they tend to be high quality but I can't justify spending 2 or 3x more than what I can buy.

[Brookenstein]

For what you're using it for, I'd go with one of the $399 deals that they routinely run every weekend now.  They're plenty powerful.

Best Buy had this last week, instore only:

Compaq Presario C714NR
    *  Intel Pentium Dual Core T2310 1.46 GHz Processor
    * 1GB DDR2-533 Memory
    * 120 GB Serial ATA Hard Drive
    * Double Layer DVD+/-RW Drive
    * 15.4" WXGA BrightView Display (1280x800)
    * Intel GMA X3100 Video
    * Wireless 802.11b/g
    * 10/100 Mbit Ethernet
    * 56k Modem
    * 6-Cell battery
    * Windows Vista Home Premium

$399 for the above config.  They had a similar one the week before for $399 (the 713).  

I bought this one on Sunday.  If you are not gaming, IMO it is plenty.  I mostly surf the net and use office and thats about it.  I spent about an hour removing all the extra software I didn't need then loaded up office XP and its been good to go.  It hasn't locked up on me once or given me the stupid errors that ask me to send info to Microsoft.  (I was getting those multiple times a day on my 3 yr old laptop, which was top o line back then).  While my kids are probably to blame on why my last laptop ended up being so crappy, I now believe in spending the least amount of money, not buying any extra warranty and then just plan to upgrade a few years down the road.

[Gomboman]

I bought this one on Sunday.  If you are not gaming, IMO it is plenty.  I mostly surf the net and use office and thats about it.  I spent about an hour removing all the extra software I didn't need then loaded up office XP and its been good to go.  It hasn't locked up on me once or given me the stupid errors that ask me to send info to Microsoft.  (I was getting those multiple times a day on my 3 yr old laptop, which was top o line back then).  While my kids are probably to blame on why my last laptop ended up being so crappy, I now believe in spending the least amount of money, not buying any extra warranty and then just plan to upgrade a few years down the road.

Brooke, did you buy this at your local Best Buy? What did you actually pay? Was this a coupon price? They had a similar Gateway model on Black Friday for around the same price.

I typically tend to go overboard when I buy PC's. I figure the extra money will buy more time before it's obsolete. Maybe for once I will go low end.

[Brookenstein]

I bought it at Best Buy at 9:30 am last Sunday.  I realized at 9:01 that they opened at 9 rather than 10, so I hustled over and got it for the $399.  This was the price I paid, no rebates or anything.  I think with tax and $6 recycle fee it was $436 (I think).  

Tomorrow this should be available.

Starting 12/16 Best Buy has Gateway ML6720 Laptop for $400. Very similar configuration to this week C714NR deal, but different brand.


* Dual Core T2310 Processor
* 1GB PC2-5300
* Labelflash DL DVD burner
* 15.4" Ultrabright screen
* 120GB Sata 5400 RPM
* Intel X3100 graphics
* Vista Home Premium
* 5-in-1 Memory Card reader

[Brewman]

I typically tend to go overboard when I buy PC's. I figure the extra money will buy more time before it's obsolete. Maybe for once I will go low end.

For the use you describe in your original post, there is no laptop on the market right now that won't work for you.  Surfing the net, sending email, and occasional "work" (word or excel?)  don't require huge amounts of processing power.  And for most people, the use you describe fits probalby 90% of the home pc users.