Laptop Computer

[Flag Guy]

Gateway's are utter garbage anymore.

Last Gateway we had crapped out with in a month or two... can't say I'm a fan of that brand anymore

My Dell Inspiron Laptop has been good to me, though I think it finally kicked the bucket after 5-1/2 years Not sure what went out on it this time, but my computer Blue Screened me out of the blue and now it won't boot.

After 4 years I had to replace the Hard Drive and after 4-1/2 years, the CD-Rom drive, but I put that CD-Rom drive though a pretty good work out, so it's to be expected

Either way, I certainly got a lot of miles out of my laptop, and will probably buy a Dell again when I get around to getting a new computer, though this time I'm thinking of going with a desktop so I can get more power for less

(was gonna keep the laptop for travel purposes, but maybe I'll just upgrade to a smart phone next year instead)

[Flag Guy]

You can spend a lot more on a laptop but i think it's a waste of money. In 4 years both a $500 and a $1,500 laptop will seem old and it's a lot easier to justify one when you only spent $500 on it.

Yeah I did that. On a whole I was quite happy with my laptop (17" screen baby) but it was a bit unweidly to take to class, and frankly for all the money I put in it, it was kind of obsolete a year later

My brother got a cheaper laptop a year later that had upgrades in it that would have almost doubled the price of my expensive laptop a year earlier

So while I still had the bigger screen, he had a faster CPU and more RAM than me, for less than what I paided I think

[nj829]

I've had a Sony Vaio since 2001 that I bought from Ultimate Electronics, and it still runs nearly perfect. Bought another one in 2007 that has never had an issue either, so I have to say I don't think you would go wrong with Sony.

[jdoggivjc]

Yeah I did that. On a whole I was quite happy with my laptop (17" screen baby) but it was a bit unweidly to take to class, and frankly for all the money I put in it, it was kind of obsolete a year later

My brother got a cheaper laptop a year later that had upgrades in it that would have almost doubled the price of my expensive laptop a year earlier

So while I still had the bigger screen, he had a faster CPU and more RAM than me, for less than what I paided I think

That's just the name of the game in the computing business - the same thing is going to happen regardless of whether you have a desktop or a laptop (and most laptops aren't that much more expensive compared to desktops anymore by the time you throw the monitor in and everything). I spent about $1000 on a 17-inch HP laptop last summer - a comparable desktop would have cost about the same if I had to purchase a decent monitor.

[cytech]

Anymore the price gap isn't that large it used to much bigger. Ever since I got a new laptop a little over a year ago I rarely use the desktop. Also don't waste money on a laptop with a 17" screen get a smaller one and a LCD for use at home.

[jdoggivjc]

Anymore the price gap isn't that large it used to much bigger. Ever since I got a new laptop a little over a year ago I rarely use the desktop. Also don't waste money on a laptop with a 17" screen get a smaller one and a LCD for use at home.

It's not a waste of money if you like having the number pad on the side since they only come with 17" notebooks. Granted, you can get a keyboard to go with that too, but what good will that do if you've gotten comfortable with playing with your laptop while relaxing in the recliner?

[Flag Guy]

Anymore the price gap isn't that large it used to much bigger. Ever since I got a new laptop a little over a year ago I rarely use the desktop. Also don't waste money on a laptop with a 17" screen get a smaller one and a LCD for use at home.

When I purchased that laptop, CRT's were still the name of the game

LCD's were out, but still fairly pricey and not as prolific as they are now

[dmclone]

A lot depends on whether you have another PC in the house. My laptop is mostly used for browsing while in front of the TV, used for viewing TV at tailgates (via slingbox) and for vacations. I do 90% of my time on my home PC.

[dmclone]

Is there an hp version of that?

It may also work on an HP. I'd be inclined to try it right when you get the laptop so if something goes wrong you can just restore everything to factory. I haven't used it in 3 years but it pretty much just went though and asked you which junk applications you wanted to remove. It didn't remove anything without asking.

[IcSyU]

It's not a waste of money if you like having the number pad on the side since they only come with 17" notebooks. Granted, you can get a keyboard to go with that too, but what good will that do if you've gotten comfortable with playing with your laptop while relaxing in the recliner?

I've got a 15.4" with it....granted my laptop is HD Widescreen so that might have something to do with it...

[CloneIce]

Before I bought my HP I had an Acer that really was pretty solid, never really had any problems with it for two years..... unfortunately, when you come home from the bar and dump an entire beer on it, it doesn't do so hot after that. Something about massive moisture damage. When the red light went out on it as the beer was running thought the keyboard, it was like watching the Terminator die.

[Cyberclone]

I really wouldn't trust anything coming from Gateway anymore. Their quality controls have gone down the toilet since the early part of this decade. My mother-in-law and brother-in-law both bought Gateways fairly recently and both of them have been in and out of the shop numerous times for a variety of issues - and neither of them necessarily perform the way they should.

Gateway isn't gateway anymore, they were purchased by Acer I believe.

[jumbopackage]

Last Gateway we had crapped out with in a month or two... can't say I'm a fan of that brand anymore

My Dell Inspiron Laptop has been good to me, though I think it finally kicked the bucket after 5-1/2 years Not sure what went out on it this time, but my computer Blue Screened me out of the blue and now it won't boot.

After 4 years I had to replace the Hard Drive and after 4-1/2 years, the CD-Rom drive, but I put that CD-Rom drive though a pretty good work out, so it's to be expected

Either way, I certainly got a lot of miles out of my laptop, and will probably buy a Dell again when I get around to getting a new computer, though this time I'm thinking of going with a desktop so I can get more power for less

(was gonna keep the laptop for travel purposes, but maybe I'll just upgrade to a smart phone next year instead)

You might want to consider getting both a cheap netbook and a desktop. That's the route I'm thinking I might go down this next time.

A netbook, coupled with a smartphone is all I can think that I would need on the road, and the desktop at home would be great for more powerful applications, but I could still use the netbook for, say, surfing the web on the john (though I suppose the smartphone would work for that too).

[LivntheCyLife]

You might want to consider getting both a cheap netbook and a desktop. That's the route I'm thinking I might go down this next time.

Funny you brought this up as I've been looking at netbooks recently and was going to ask in this thread if anyone has one. I'm definitely a desktop person, but when I travel it'd be nice to get online and I also sometimes need to give a powerpoint presentation. Does anybody have one? It seems like most of them have 1GB of RAM and ship with XP. I'm just wondering if it ever feels slow. I'm sure I won't be taxing it much but so much stuff is built now for more RAM. Also, I'm wondering about operating systems. XP will probably work now but I wonder about the future. Another alternative would be Ubuntu or some other Linux OS but that can complicate some things.

[TykeClone]

I think I've had 1st degree burns my finger tips playing Half Life 2 before (The downside to having your keyboard sit on top of your CPU... )


Reasonable people would turn the game off for a while, but of course any game knows thats not an acceptable solution.

My solution? Give my keyboard an alcohol rub down (rubbing alcohol, not drinking alcohol) - it evaporates off quickly, cooling down the keys so it doesn't hurt to touch them any more, and I can keep playing

Or just use a full size USB keyboard so that you don't need to control a game with keys the size of chiclets.