laptop computers

[HavasuHank]

anybody have any recommendations/info for laptop computers primarily used for entertainment and possible future business needs?

 

[Tom Brown]

How important is battery life?

How large do you need the screen to be?

How light and portable do you want it to be?

This is a case where you can't have it all. If you want the maximum battery life, such as to be able to watch a couple of movies on an airplane, you will not end up with a desk top replacement type machine. If you care about having it small and light, you will give up some power.

I assume everyone here is going to recommend a maxed out, 19" screen desk top replacement machine that sets your groin on fire each time you use it. I've found, over the years I've come to appreciate small and light. I need about an hour of battery life to do the things I do. Most contemporary machines will run over an hour with the WiFi turned off (large power consumer) with a typical battery.

Keep in mind, the 4 hour battery rating means the battery will last about 3 hours and that's with a battery in perfect spec. After six months, you'll get nothing like 3 hours battery life. My main laptop has a 4 hour battery that will last a couple of hours working on Word/Excel with the backlight on medium and WiFi turned off.

Speaking of batteries, if you have a Lenovo laptop, like I do, you will find the batteries are not particularly affordable. Batteries are a consumable, if you care about run time. They probably last two or three years with typical use, but that's considering using them until they are useless. For my requirement of an hour run time, I get around a year out of a battery. I believe Lenovo has the most expensive batteries going. There are clone batteries available for about half the price of Lenovo that are only about 50% more expensive than a Dell battery. My laptop is Lenovo but my place of employment owns it so I don't particularly care about maintenance costs.

Laptops also tend to consume LCD panels and hard drives. The 2.5" hard disks tend to run hot inside a hot laptop and don't seem to last very long. If you ever drop it, you will need a new LCD and some clamshell components. Once again, Lenovo will be the most expensive LCDs going. Hard disks are generic.

I'll also mention that Lenovo laptops seem to have poor WiFi roaming. At least, the high end laptops suck. The lower end units seem to work a little better but no where near as good as a Dell or HP. You probably don't care about WiFi roaming but you can forget about running a VoIP soft phone on a Lenovo laptop and having sufficient roaming performance to be portable. In fact, you'll be lucky if it will reconnect automatically to the local AP when you switch cells. Lenovo WiFi is badly broken on most of their chipsets/drivers. One of my jobs is architecting wLANs so I care about that stuff.

Lenovo laptops have redeeming qualities. That's why I have two of them. I prefer using them to most of the Dells I've used, although I like some of the higher end Dells. In fact, my Dell is pretty nice (I don't recall the model). I've seen some pretty nice Acer laptops too. I've never owned an Acer but a couple of my friends have them and like them really well. My company has about a thousand laptops of various brands and description.

If I were to have a personal laptop, I would get something fairly cheap and look at it as disposable.

 

[SJP]

Just got the Macbook Air - very nice but unless you really travel a lot and have other computers at your disposal I would stay away from it. I would recommend the Macbook Pro 15 inch. Run OSX and if you need to run quickbooks or IE just hit up paralells virtual machine (running MS Windows). Basically this computer can run it all. I just replaced an Apple Powerbook 17 inch I ran all day everyday for 4.5 years. Worth the extra $ in my opinion.

Note: Tom Brown I am not a Mac Fanboi (they just work really well for me) - but my business partner is

 

[Instigator]

Go Dell and custom build your own to suit your needs. Make sure you buy the extended warranty with screen coverage. They will send a tech to you within 24 hours to repair your machine. ( I dropped mine and broke the outer case. )
Also, I ran over mine with my truck after backing it up kinda accidentally on purpose just before the warranty ran out. Dell sent me a brand new machine and allowed me to purchase a brand new warranty for it.

 

[Tom Brown]

Note: Tom Brown I am not a Mac Fanboi (they just work really well for me) - but my business partner is

There's nothing wrong with Mac. I just got one a couple of weeks ago to play with. It's a nice piece of kit.

 

[screaming pete]

i'm on my second Toshiba Satellite that i use and i bought 2 for the kids for xmas, i went to Toshiba online store and got the best price and service from direct. they also saved me from buying to much hardware for my 10 yr old. by recommending a laptop that is used for some school work and surfing the internet but was still expandable if needed, and lots of free stuff that i send in rebates for.....fair price, free shipping, no tax and free stuff, printer, backpacks $10 after rebate and mouse, couldn't beat it
http://www.toshibadirect.com/td/b2c/home.to

 

[essexjet]

Just got the Macbook Air - very nice but unless you really travel a lot and have other computers at your disposal I would stay away from it. I would recommend the Macbook Pro 15 inch. Run OSX and if you need to run quickbooks or IE just hit up paralells virtual machine (running MS Windows). Basically this computer can run it all. I just replaced an Apple Powerbook 17 inch I ran all day everyday for 4.5 years. Worth the extra $ in my opinion.

Note: Tom Brown I am not a Mac Fanboi (they just work really well for me) - but my business partner is

Second that go with a Macbook Air with the solid-state drive instead of the hard drive will give you alot more battery time. (at a slightly higher price )

 

[djunkie]

i'm on my second Toshiba Satellite that i use and i bought 2 for the kids for xmas, i went to Toshiba online store and got the best price and service from direct. they also saved me from buying to much hardware for my 10 yr old. by recommending a laptop that is used for some school work and surfing the internet but was still expandable if needed, and lots of free stuff that i send in rebates for.....fair price, free shipping, no tax and free stuff, printer, backpacks $10 after rebate and mouse, couldn't beat it
http://www.toshibadirect.com/td/b2c/home.to

I've had my Toshiba for a year. It was on sale at Office Depot (or one of those stores) for $599. So far it has been great. The battery sucks though, but I always have it plugged in since I mainly use it while sitting in my chair in front of the tv.
________
Herbal vaporizer

 

[Aztec]

I have had great luck with my HP, but is just what Tom Brown described. 17" screen, weights a ton but is great for the video break down I do for my football team. If I did a lot of traveling I would have a much smaller laptop. Dell makes a great laptop, but at this point I would be leaning more towards an Apple. Not the Air but the Macbooks. I want to get into more podcasting and video editing and the Apple's have that corner of the market at the time being. Just remember when buying a laptop is what is the computer being used for and how much traveling. My wife has a dell for her work that is tiny but she has to have it with her everywhere.

 

[RiverDave]

I have the 17inch HP pavillion.. For "entertainment" I think it's going to be hard to beat. I had a Dell, and a few others, this is by far my favorite.

Touch buttons for volume, play / pause / >> / << Instant DVD menu etc..

Plus a wireless remote control for watching movies.. Nice clear screen. It weighs a ton, but who cares if it weighs 5lbs or 8 lbs?

RD

 

[WTRR]

I've got 2 HP's that I use at work and I've bought two HP's for my two daughters that are in college. I've abused the one HP for 3 years and the thing won't break. The other one I've only had for a couple of months but so far so good. I bought the ones for my daughters online from Costco. Was the best deal I could find on the HP's.

 

[HavasuHank]

thanks for everyone's input. it will basically be used around the house when i am too lazy to go upstairs screen size doesn't matter to tell the truth. i can plug it in at night to recharge so battery life is kind of important, because i don't want it to crap out every 30 min.

 

[Windy]

I love my Sony Vaio.

 

[SoCal Detail]

I have had the same Mac Powerbook for 5 years, no probs, Im gonna get a new 15 Macbook Pro in a few months. The thing is Apple builds a great computer thats why you pay the big bucks for them but in the long run you dont have to upgrade every year.

 

[HavasuHank]

the one i am on right now is a dell xps m140. it is a pretty good one for the price and i think that amy has had it for maybe two years so far. the only time somebody had to come out was to fix one of the keys and tighten the screen.

 

[Faceaz]

I love my Sony Vaio.

I back the Vaio also. I got one for work, but it has great media support. 15" screen, tv tuner, tv recorder, dvd player / writer. I haven't used any of those functions, but still cool to know they're there.

 

[kgt]

Toshiba qosmio is what i have for a "entertainment" laptop, 2 hard drives a high def screen with a res of 1980x1280,seperate vid card etc etc....the only thing is that its heavy....

 

[BajaMike]

Go Dell and custom build your own to suit your needs. Make sure you buy the extended warranty with screen coverage. They will send a tech to you within 24 hours to repair your machine. ( I dropped mine and broke the outer case. )

Yea, I agree. Buy a Dell. Other companies build thousands of computers and then try to sell them (meaning the technology may be 2 to 12 months old, depending on how long it's been sitting in the warehouse). Dell makes yours when you order it.......they have the newest stuff.

Also, as said above, get the "on-site", next day, 3 year warranty, and the accidental coverage from Dell (or anyone else you buy from). This is extremely important on a laptop.....the screen costs $1000 to replace!


:hmm

 

[sleekcraft80]

I have an HP pavillion zd 8000. 19" screen, 80 gig hard drive, 3.06 gig processor. I bought thru Costco over the internet 2 yrs ago. When I was on website I could build it to my specs. As soon as my card was approved, it was delivered in three days. I use it for work and play

 

[PropCop]

How important is battery life?

How large do you need the screen to be?

How light and portable do you want it to be?

This is a case where you can't have it all. If you want the maximum battery life, such as to be able to watch a couple of movies on an airplane, you will not end up with a desk top replacement type machine. If you care about having it small and light, you will give up some power.

I assume everyone here is going to recommend a maxed out, 19" screen desk top replacement machine that sets your groin on fire each time you use it. I've found, over the years I've come to appreciate small and light. I need about an hour of battery life to do the things I do. Most contemporary machines will run over an hour with the WiFi turned off (large power consumer) with a typical battery.

Keep in mind, the 4 hour battery rating means the battery will last about 3 hours and that's with a battery in perfect spec. After six months, you'll get nothing like 3 hours battery life. My main laptop has a 4 hour battery that will last a couple of hours working on Word/Excel with the backlight on medium and WiFi turned off.

Speaking of batteries, if you have a Lenovo laptop, like I do, you will find the batteries are not particularly affordable. Batteries are a consumable, if you care about run time. They probably last two or three years with typical use, but that's considering using them until they are useless. For my requirement of an hour run time, I get around a year out of a battery. I believe Lenovo has the most expensive batteries going. There are clone batteries available for about half the price of Lenovo that are only about 50% more expensive than a Dell battery. My laptop is Lenovo but my place of employment owns it so I don't particularly care about maintenance costs.

Laptops also tend to consume LCD panels and hard drives. The 2.5" hard disks tend to run hot inside a hot laptop and don't seem to last very long. If you ever drop it, you will need a new LCD and some clamshell components. Once again, Lenovo will be the most expensive LCDs going. Hard disks are generic.

I'll also mention that Lenovo laptops seem to have poor WiFi roaming. At least, the high end laptops suck. The lower end units seem to work a little better but no where near as good as a Dell or HP. You probably don't care about WiFi roaming but you can forget about running a VoIP soft phone on a Lenovo laptop and having sufficient roaming performance to be portable. In fact, you'll be lucky if it will reconnect automatically to the local AP when you switch cells. Lenovo WiFi is badly broken on most of their chipsets/drivers. One of my jobs is architecting wLANs so I care about that stuff.

Lenovo laptops have redeeming qualities. That's why I have two of them. I prefer using them to most of the Dells I've used, although I like some of the higher end Dells. In fact, my Dell is pretty nice (I don't recall the model). I've seen some pretty nice Acer laptops too. I've never owned an Acer but a couple of my friends have them and like them really well. My company has about a thousand laptops of various brands and description.

If I were to have a personal laptop, I would get something fairly cheap and look at it as disposable.

Bought me a Lenovo last week. So far so good. I am real happy with it. I bought an Acer a few years ago and have had alot of problems with it, two batteries, cd player problems, power cord problems, etc.