What would yall say the best laptop is.. thats not that expensive ?

Define "inexpensive" to the nearest dollar :D

What would yall say the best laptop is.. thats not that expensive ?

I like the Lenovo T61, or R61, a lot. They are basically the same machines but the T is thinner and lighter but the R is a little less expensive.

Hmm well im fixin' to start college and I want a good laptop that I can use to do everyday stuff i.e check email, and download music. I already got a Dell desktop, but im not going to be bringing that to college with me...well right now at least..

so the price rage is going to be from 400-1300.. I really like the HP's.but idk!

I own 2 Acers - they are cheap but their longevity is iffy. Acers have chronic overheating problems with age. Also, if you install Office 2007 and use Outlook, Acer's security software conflicts with it and causes headaches.

At work I have a Lenovo/IBM R51 and it has been very reliable after 3 years. Performance is still good.

Dells that we've had at work were junk. They all fell apart after a few months.

Gateway Tablets at work were very well received because of the obvious tablet usability, but some of them experienced hard drive failures.

All of the HP's I've seen have performed well even into old age.

I've used 2 Powerbooks that belonged to a friend and they performed very well. Battery life was excellent and they were sleek and well designed. I almost bought one, but I wanted a Core2Duo machine for a cheaper price.

I have a macbook pro c2d that I love & it runs xp faster than my 2006 desktop.

For $1300 I would get a regular macbook. They are a breeze picking up free wifi....starbucks....campus....etc., + it comes with a alot of included popular & easy to use programs. (& they are light)

I'll second the IBM/Lenovo ThinkPad T61 recommendation. I bought one of the 14.1" widescreens when it launched and I love it. I wanted a more portable replacement for my ~3 year old AOpen 1557GL, and the T61 fits the bill pretty well. It can stand up to abuse and it has a lot of nice features and options (which admittedly can get expensive depending on your hardware & support needs).

The pre-installed software, ThinkVantage, is actually sleek and useful, and this is the only prefab machine I've ever purchased where I didn't immediately reformat and install a fresh copy of Windows.


Whatever you end up buying -- whether it costs $500, $1000 or $2000 -- make sure it's something you like. If you can play around with one in person before you buy, even better. You say it's for school... if you're going to be carrying it around from class to class then you probably don't want something too massive, and you'll also want to consider a quality backpack or bag meant for carrying laptops, otherwise you'll demolish your laptop. :D

:gl:


EDIT: A couple people mentioned Macbooks. Not my cup of tea, but I see a lot of students using them and Leopard is pretty nice from what I've seen. Something to consider if you aren't tied to the Windows platform.

well my dell runs real good, but i know in a few months it willprolly stop workin. cuz dells are like that

what do yall think about Compaqs?

Gateways have actually done quite well for several people I know. My dad has a Dell, and what he likes about it is the service (it breaks down a lot, but it's never broken for more than 48 hours ;) ). Do NOT buy and HP or a Compaq unless you don't mind that half the features dont work and the service sucks tremendously. HPs used to be great machines, but the new ones suck immensely. Toshiba's also seem to be a tad problematic.

I've never had a Mac, but I've heard just as many horror stories about them as I have PCs. I'd recommend a Gateway, or for cheap and decent, Emachines aren't all that bad.

I bought an Macbook pro seeing as you have the option to install Windows on them now. However, after using OS X for a short while I forgot all about installing Windows. I was firmly in the MS camp for a long time (been using window since 3.1) but since I was switched I have never looked back.

I would recommend Apple to anyone.

The problem with Thinkpads is that you'll love them so much, you'll keep on buying them in the future no matter the price. One other problem is that they are so reliable, so if you wait for an old Thinkpad to fall apart to get a new one, you're likely wait a long time. Plus you get to play with nipples.

I have a T60.

so the price rage is going to be from 400-1300.. I really like the HP's.but idk!

If that's your price range then get the Alienware Area-51m 5550 (http://www.alienware.com/product_detail_pages/Area-51_m5550/area-51m_overview.aspx?SysCode=PC-LT-AREA51M5550-R3&SubCode=SKU-DEFAULT). Bare-bones. No extended warranty. Probably want to upgrade to the DVD writer and get an extra power adapter.

I'd recommend something from dell. You get more bang for the buck. :confused:

Asus eee: $399 with Linux. Sounds like a perfect compliment to a desktop that you already have. The eee is hard to get right now. They just came out last week. Basically, it has no hard drive but used flash memory instead.

Personally, I am all about battery life. I dont see any point in having a laptop that will die in an hour. I bought a macbook and the battery life has been a solid 3 hours, and I love it!

You're gonna get what you pay for no matter what brand you go with.

The best advice I can give you is to buy no software from the manufacturer. You will have to install it yourself, but you can save several hundred dollars if you buy your MS office and any other software you may need from the college bookstore. The same stuff is 20 bucks on campus vs. 400+ retail.

Asus eee: $399 with Linux. Sounds like a perfect compliment to a desktop that you already have. The eee is hard to get right now. They just came out last week. Basically, it has no hard drive but used flash memory instead.

I like the looks of that machine a lot. The 16GB flash drive would provide plenty of space to run Linux and Open Office. What a great option for college students!

well I think ima get a emachine computer for now thats all I can afford. Unless I can found one cheaper then 400$.. laptop or desktop.. Hmm maybe I should try the pawnshops buut I can kinda iffy abot that :(

omg macbook macbook macbook.

i'm a convert. 6 months macbook owner and i'm a hardcore apple supporter from here on in. with only two documented lockups, and i use this thing every day, probably 5-6 hours a day honestly... i have no life. every post pretty much is from this thing. all my photos., everything. tis' amazing.

and honestly.. it doesnt get any better than this:

http://photos-a.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sf2p/v135/221/32/500558750/n500558750_178776_1806.jpg

Those macbooks are pretty swell huh? I love mine...:bow:

Hmm well im fixin' to start college

Are you from Oklahoma or Texas. I haven't heard that expression "im fixin" since I spent some time in Oklahoma a few years ago. I heard it alot there, brings back some good memories.

Are you from Oklahoma or Texas. I haven't heard that expression "im fixin" since I spent some time in Oklahoma a few years ago. I heard it alot there, brings back some good memories.
Yea im from texas, I don't really have an accent. I have more of a "city" accent. I do say fixin and yall a lot though