Laptops

[Ryan Lintker]

Hi folks,

Looking for some advice.  My lady is wanting to end her desktop computer days and enter into the laptop community.  Problem is I don't know squat about laptops.  She's on a pretty tight budget too.  Anyways, for those of you who know, what brands/features are noteworthy and why?  Where's a good place to get one?

Thanks,
Ryan

[Jarod Neuner]

Depends what a tight budget is.

If you shop for a new machine, I tend to see Toshiba Laptops being the most durable/non-dying. I would avoid Dell's machines like a plague...I did major work on at least a dozen of them this week just to get them on the network and have seen plenty of their mobos die.

Regardless which one ya get, try and spend more money on the warranty than the machine.

If you are more up to an older machine, I will point at a Compaq Armada m700 as an excellent choice. They come with real (not mobile) Pentium III processors ranging 500-1000Mhz and can bolster a good 2+ hours of functional battery life. They are also quite durable.

I name the m700 because many of them recently hit the end of their lease period and have been returned to wholesalers for refurb. They sell for about $400, and I have one sitting on a shelf somewhere if ya wanna try it out. Here's a random ebay link:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=31549&item=6703469605&rd=1

[Ryan Lintker]

Tight budget runs under $1500.  Looking around at various retail stores, I noticed that the Sony laptops had a very sharp and bright screen.  Anybody know of their reliability?

Is a three year extended warranty worth a couple hundred bucks more?  I've always viewed extended warranties as a rip off on other items, pretty much just a way for the salesperson to make an extra commission.

[Jarod Neuner]

I point at the warranty because of the nature of a laptop. Charactoristicly, they have lots of mechanical parts that can break, but relatively few replaceable parts. Also, laptop parts are considerably more expensive. A warranty on a laptop is a must when I am shopping for a new machine.

[Geoff Schreiber]

I stay away from store warranties like the plague - they always try to find a reason around them anyways, but most computer manufacturers offer a 3 year warranty on hardware anyways - or i don't buy it.

[EvilAndrew]

I have had exactly the opposite experience.  The Dell laptops (with their 4 year onsite warranty) that I have purchased for various employers have worked well.  The few problems I have had have been taken care of the next day by a service person. On the other hand I spent three straight days on the phone with Sony and never even got them to admit that the problem my out laptop was having was hardware related.  This is particularly funny when you consider that the problem was that every time you put your hands on the keyboard the mouse clicked. ;-)   The biggest drawback for the Dells, of course, is the price.  You pay for quality and even with Dell trying to undercut everyone their Laptops are still more expensive then others.  My little brother got a laptop from Toshiba for about $1000 and has not had any trouble that I know of.