laptops

[LarryD]

Originally posted by magnus ver magnusson
why the laptop?
my first real computer was a lap. turns out I ended up using it a good deal in the same spots, and could have easily settled for a desktop. When I got into a desktop I've been just as happy without the laptop inconveniences.

my mom wants it so she can do her realtor work on site -- write contracts and stuff. she also wants to have a computer of her own that wont take up much space in the house. shed like to work on it in bed, too, i think.

 

[SandMan]

Originally posted by BigMark
Well, Dell in general is a littlw quirky. They're not as bad as Gateway or as bad as compaq used to be. They like to make it difficult to upgrade without using more dell things.
Compaq has a little of that left in them, but I imagine now that HP has taken over production that'll work its way out.

As far as the DVD thing goes, I agree with Brain on all but one thing. They're definatly great, but don't expect to pay any extra for them... dvd-rom drives are all but standard on laptops now.

Dude, I know you are in the retail biz... and I don't want to hurt your business, but Dell wins at just about every aspect compared to Compaq... for desktops. I've been, buildin, sellin, buying, repairing PCs since 1991.

I had no problems updating, changing out shit on my Dell purchased 2 1/2 years ago...

 

[Y2Buddy]

Dude, you're getting your Mom a Dell?

The advertising campaign spin-off of Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure is hardly convicing enough for anyone to buy a Dell.

If you MUST buy a PC, atleast consider the Sony Vaio

I think it's the hottest pc laptop out there. It's the thinnest, the lightest, and I think you can get a free 256mb ram, free printer, and free shipping.

 

[mathmajors]

Originally posted by Y2Buddy
Dude, you're getting your Mom a Dell?

The advertising campaign spin-off of Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure is hardly convicing enough for anyone to buy a Dell.

If you MUST buy a PC, atleast consider the Sony Vaio

I think it's the hottest pc laptop out there. It's the thinnest, the lightest, and I think you can get a free 256mb ram, free printer, and free shipping.

How's the support, Y2? That's where Dell excels.

 

[SandMan]

Originally posted by Y2Buddy

If you MUST buy a PC, atleast consider the Sony Vaio

Never had any experience with the Sony PCs, but I do know that Dell beats all of these brands: Gateway, Compaq, IBM, Hewlett Packard, (Only the HP is good for is printers), E Machine. Oh and I had a Dell way before the "Dude" started pitching for them...

But now, I'm not messing with any of them as the other thread mentions... Your best bet is to hand select the best parts and throw it together yourself or buy a barebones kit in which you selected what you want in it. (I'm not talking size of your Hard Drive, I'm talking the brand of the parts you use)

 

[jasper]

I'll second, third, or whatever the Dell accolades. I am in charge of about 40 PCs, notebooks, and servers, and Dells seem to have the best quality. I've used three different Dell notebooks in the last three and a half years and been completely satisfied.

But where I think Dell really excels is service. For each computer we buy, we get a 3 year service contract. I've had to send in probably half a dozen computers to Dell service to get repaired over the last 3 years and it has never taken longer than 3 days to get it back. Sometimes it only takes a little more than one day. You call them or go online, tell them what the problem is, and within a few hours they have Airborne Express or someone else at your door waiting with a box to put your computer in.

As for Sony, I bought a Vaio laptop from Circuit City because one of our people needed a notebook right before last Christmas for an emergency business trip. A few months later about two thirds of the LCD screen just stopped working - just went black (I know it's a hardware issue because the full desktop shows up on a monitor). So I call Sony and wait on hold for over an hour. And I go online and submit a request and wait weeks and never hear form them. Overall I've tried to get support from them probably 4 or 5 times and so far I haven't even been able to talk to a live person. Now I'm thinking I'll just say screw it and hook up a monitor and make it someone's desktop machine.

If I were buying a notebook for my personal use and I had to pay for it, I'd get a Dell and I'd pay for a service contract.

 

[BigMark]

Sony's computer products (Viao, CLie, etc) are GREAT.... for what they are. They're not really intended to be used as a standard PC. Sony is a consumer elcetronics corperation, and their computers are a branch of that. They're designed for the new wave of AV convergance. This is also the direction HP is going in now that they've got the Compaq name to hold down the traditional PC market.

They've already got Clies that act as not only a PDA but a MP3 player, digital voice recorder and a remote for your Home Theatre. Viao's were the first computers with OEM TV tuner cards, DVD Writers, and huge hard drives to be used as a DVR.

We'll see Sony as one of the front runners in whole house convergance, where you can surf the net, download songs, from any tv or digital audio server in the house from one pc and watch a DVD from a central player on any tv in the house.

 

[Y2Buddy]

Originally posted by mathmajors


How's the support, Y2? That's where Dell excels.

Oh, I keep forgetting, tech support is big with you pc users.


I wouldn't know about Sony's support on Vaio, but I have a few Sony products that I've had questions on, and Sony has had good support.



Dell, Gateway, HP, NEC, Packard Bell, IBM, Alpha, their all the same to me. Each one has their own high-end stuff, which is good, and their more "price competive stuff, which is what I call, grab bag. Parts is parts, and some systems were meant to upgarde and some were not. With today's computers, what you can upgrade shouldn't be such a concern as it was in years past anyway. JMO

 

[mathmajors]

Originally posted by Y2Buddy

Oh, I keep forgetting, tech support is big with you pc users.

Not because we have to have idiot-proof OS's in order to use a computer, but in case of hardware failure, etc.

 

[SandMan]