Posted: 10/30/2008 5:34 PM
Post subject: My laptop died. Any ideas for a replacement?
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Dwedit
He/Him
Joined: 3/24/2006
Posts: 692
Location: Chicago
What's a good laptop to buy now? Or for that matter, which companies should I avoid like the plague?
Posted: 10/30/2008 5:41 PM
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Sir_VG
He/Him
Player (40)
Joined: 10/9/2004
Posts: 1913
Location: Floating Tower
Avoid: Dell Compaq IBM Get: Custom Built (Yes, there are Laptop Barebones out there) HP (There are some SWEET HP laptops out there) Gateway I wish I knew what an ex-coworker of mine got. It was a really nice (and beautiful looking) laptop. I need to ask her.
Taking over the world, one game at a time. Currently TASing: Nothing
Posted: 10/30/2008 5:42 PM
Post subject: Re: My laptop died. Any ideas for a replacement?
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Bisqwit
Editor, Active player (297)
Joined: 3/8/2004
Posts: 7469
Location: Arzareth
Dwedit wrote:
What's a good laptop to buy now? Or for that matter, which companies should I avoid like the plague?
HP, Lenovo are good; Acer, Dell are bad. (I guess Dell laptops are ok but IIRC the company is known for some negative publicity concerning customer support and treatment of their employees.)
Posted: 10/30/2008 5:57 PM
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Highness
Player (71)
Joined: 8/24/2004
Posts: 2562
Location: Sweden
I actually have to throw in a good word for Acer. I have heard many rumors about the brand being bad. I bought a laptop over two years ago now. It still runs like a charm. It's an Acer Aspire 5684WLMi. It was cheap at the time, and reasonable hardware specs. Battery time is good too, even during heavy load. I really have nothing to complain about. What have you actually heard/encountered that is so bad about Acer?
Posted: 10/30/2008 5:59 PM
Post subject: Re: My laptop died. Any ideas for a replacement?
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Sir_VG
He/Him
Player (40)
Joined: 10/9/2004
Posts: 1913
Location: Floating Tower
Bisqwit wrote:
Dwedit wrote:
What's a good laptop to buy now? Or for that matter, which companies should I avoid like the plague?
HP, Lenovo are good; Acer, Dell are bad. (I guess Dell laptops are ok but IIRC the company is known for some negative publicity concerning customer support and treatment of their employees.)
The biggest problem with Dell Laptops is their batteries. They're HORRIBLE for lasting long periods of time.
Taking over the world, one game at a time. Currently TASing: Nothing
Posted: 10/30/2008 6:00 PM
Post subject: Re: My laptop died. Any ideas for a replacement?
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mr_roberts_z
Former player
Joined: 7/21/2006
Posts: 747
Location: Northern Hemisphere
Bisqwit wrote:
I guess Dell laptops are ok
Except for the occasional exploding-of-battery-on-crotch incident (and bad tech support, as you mentioned). I personally like HP/Compaqs, although they tend to be pricey.
Super Mario 64 TASes and stuff.
Posted: 10/30/2008 6:05 PM
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Apo123
Joined: 5/17/2008
Posts: 212
Location: Virginia
As people have said, avoid Dell (I have my own personal story of defective product + customer support hell, if you want it). I have a Gateway, it works fine. My sister also has an HP, it works fine for her. I don't have enough experience with other brands to advise on them.
adelikat wrote:
It started off fairly tame, but as more balls entered the picture it sure got a lot more entertaining.
Posted: 10/30/2008 6:12 PM
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mmbossman
Experienced player (828)
Joined: 11/18/2006
Posts: 2426
Location: Back where I belong
GBx TAS of 2008
I have a rather unique experience with Dell laptops. I personally have had absolutely no problems with mine over the past two years, other than horrible battery life (and lifespan), as someone mentioned. However, my laptop is one of 54 others that were purchased by my grad school program for the students, and many, many of my classmates have had issues (involving hard drive failures, wireless antenna problems, and a LCD issue or two). The only customer service I've had with them has been fine, but it was only to request a new battery since my first one died before the 1 year warranty was over. I personally would buy a Macbook pro if I could, because I'm a firm believer in the quality of Apple products, and they have excellent customer service. But you may not have the desire to go that route.
Living Well Is The Best Revenge My Personal Page
Posted: 10/30/2008 6:29 PM
Post subject: Re: My laptop died. Any ideas for a replacement?
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duksandfish
Joined: 3/14/2008
Posts: 152
Location: United Kingdom
Bisqwit wrote:
Acer, (Dell) are bad.
It's not the laptops themselves that are bad, mine has beeen very reliable since I put XP and mandriva on it, it's just the customer support. Also, most of the acer "gemstone" notebooks are VERY easily upgradeable, only 9 screws to get to the CPU.
Polarium
Posted: 10/30/2008 7:20 PM
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BigBoct
He/Him
Editor, Former player
Joined: 8/9/2007
Posts: 1692
Location: Tiffin/Republic, OH
I didn't have any trouble with my Dell laptop, aside from when the power converter gave out, and then when I spilled soda on it and fried it.
Previous Name: boct1584
Posted: 10/30/2008 9:25 PM
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superjupi
Joined: 10/15/2007
Posts: 685
There's nothing inherently wrong with Acer, you just get what you paid for. I paid for a Celeron M, and that's exactly what I got out of it. $400 isn't bad for a notebook you only use for school. Though when it becomes your main computer... Yeah, rather wish I'd sprung for something decent. Get Dell, avoid Dell, get HP, avoid HP... really, the only brand I won't touch is Compaq. Everything else these days, you can pretty much go for whatever has the features you want in your price point at your own discretion. I went with Acer because it came with the OS installation disc in the box, no fighting with some customer service biscuit over it.
Kirby said so, so it must be true. ( >'.')>
Posted: 10/30/2008 9:30 PM
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Bob_A
Joined: 2/12/2006
Posts: 432
don't buy an Apple laptop if you intend to use a libre OS. I did that with a Mac mini and the results didn't satisfy me. aside from the startup sound which one can't disable, it would wait ~50 s to boot, and couldn't boot from USB. I also found it very difficult to upgrade, though I don't know whether that also applies to laptops.
Posted: 10/30/2008 10:45 PM
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Derakon
Joined: 7/2/2007
Posts: 3960
Apple in general is willing to make their cases more difficult to open if it means that the case as a whole looks nicer. They're big on presentation. The Mini happens to be notorious for this; TMK other Apple products aren't nearly as bad. That said, so long as it's possible to open the case and access components (even if it's tedious), I don't see upgradability as being a huge issue. How often do you need to upgrade your RAM or HD, anyway? Ultimately, you get a Mac if you're interested in OSX, because it's your only reasonable option.
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
Posted: 10/30/2008 11:42 PM
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Raiscan
Joined: 11/11/2006
Posts: 1235
Location: United Kingdom
Depends what you'll be using it for. My EeePC 1000 lasts for 7 and a half hours on battery but probably won't have much luck doing encodes or anything.
<adelikat> I am annoyed at my irc statements ending up in forums & sigs
Posted: 10/31/2008 3:39 AM
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Titus_Kwok
Joined: 4/30/2006
Posts: 480
Location: the secret cow level
I haven't had any problems with my Dell I got back in January, and the battery is good for at least 4-5 hours with the WiFi on, longer if it's not. I got a Vostro 1400, which is part of their "small business" line, and it came without ANY stupid trialware or other garbage you always have to delete off a new machine. The downside to this is that Dell now thinks I'm a small business and keeps sending me catalogs of print servers and docking stations.
Posted: 10/31/2008 8:16 AM
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Tombad
Joined: 8/3/2004
Posts: 380
Location: Finland
I just (a few months back) bought myself a MacBook. Ultimately I'm pretty satisfied. If you want, you can customize a lot of it (while running OS X) and VMWare Fusion is really nifty on Intel based macs for running Windows. I use it mainly for work. Coding works ok and I can say from experience that VS 2008 runs fine with Fusion and with Unity it integrates to OS X nicely. Battery capacity, performance and weight are all in nice balance. Also the "customizable" charger is a nice touch. OOo or Office for Mac work fine if you need to edit documents. Problems arise when you wish to something unconventional. Usually the things you have to do are annoyingly complex and not easily approachable. Also you need to prepare for some "macism"s, some things are done certain way because they always have been. Minor gripe is the absurd price of spare parts, at least the Apple-branded ones.
"Kids! Bringing about Armageddon can be dangerous. Do not attempt it in your home." ( Pratchett & Gaiman: Good Omens )
Posted: 10/31/2008 1:04 PM
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Sticky
Joined: 2/26/2007
Posts: 1365
Location: Minnesota
To be honest, my first computer was a laptop and I hated it. Gateway Tablet PC. ~2 years later, upgraded to a Mac Desktop and would never go back (to laptops, that is; I can stand either OS). The biggest thing is just getting enough HD and RAM... otherwise, you will get fucked in the ass by slow-ness and not-enough-memory-ness. There is my ridiculously obvious two-cents, which didn't really answer the question... oh well, I suppose.
adelikat wrote:
I very much agree with this post.
Bobmario511 wrote:
Forget party hats, Christmas tree hats all the way man.
Posted: 10/31/2008 1:10 PM
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superjupi
Joined: 10/15/2007
Posts: 685
And stay away from budget CPUs. It's better to get a slower mid-range chip if you're on a budget than be screwed with the likes of a Celeron.
Kirby said so, so it must be true. ( >'.')>
Posted: 10/31/2008 2:01 PM
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ZeXr0
Joined: 8/27/2006
Posts: 883
I have to say that I love Dell for Laptop, but it's very bad for a desktop computer. My screen was broken, sent it to Dell, got it 2 days later fixed and they even changed the plastic of the case because it was scratch. I got no battery life but my laptop is 5 years old and I've been abusing it when I was at school
Posted: 10/31/2008 4:37 PM
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Titus_Kwok
Joined: 4/30/2006
Posts: 480
Location: the secret cow level
I'm kind of neurotic about the battery on my laptop. If I can possibly plug in, I do so before even turning the machine on, and never unplug it until it's completely shut off. I'm trying to avoid cycling the battery unless I need to.
Posted: 11/1/2008 3:57 AM
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superjupi
Joined: 10/15/2007
Posts: 685
Leaving it plugged in and never cycling will do nothing to improve the life of the battery, you'll just slowly burn through the power cells, diminishing the maximum charge capacity. If you're really neurotic about preserving the battery, drain it as much as possible, unplug it, and store it away.
Kirby said so, so it must be true. ( >'.')>