Kessil

Laptop Advice Please

patchin

Supporting Member
It's time to get T a new laptop. She's had a Dell for 2 years and it's been a PITA. Some keys only work sporaticly now. So Dell is out. I've had a Sony for years, but it's had screen problems. I'm looking at an Acer AS5740-6378 at Costco. I5 processor at a good price. Reviews seem to be good.
She would be using it mainly for email, but we would like to keep it for a few years if possible. Would be our main computer.
What would you guys suggest?
 
Steve it also depends a bit on the model line of a particular brand. While the dell you have may not have treated you well, their business line is pretty good. Same goes with Lenovo. Typically the business line of laptops use better parts, they are sturdier and better built. For dell its the lattitude line and for lenovo its the thinkpad line. I am not sure about Acer at all.
 
If you are going to go with a PC, my suggestion would to get it from the manufacturer and build it how you want vs. buying a canned machine from Costco or Best Buy etc. They add a bunch of stuff you probably don't need.
 
Any laptop manufacturer will have some models that are cheesey hunks of plastic, and other models that take a beating and keep going. Make sure to SEE and FEEL any laptop you're considering purchasing and shake it a little, make sure it seems solid. A good Dell or a good Sony should last awhile.
 
pixelpixi said:
+1 on the mac. The unibody macbook pros are solid and beautiful.
$$?????
Questions:
How expensive are they?
For non-techies that have used PCs for years, how easy are they to figure out?
 
Not cheap Steve.
http://www.google.com/products?hl=en&source=hp&oq=&q=unibody+macbook+pros&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=GSKAS5wTgpiyA93jgZ8E&sa=X&oi=product_result_group&ct=title&resnum=3&ved=0CCQQrQQwAg
 
Yeah Macs have that stigmata, as they said they want to be the Nike of the electronics world. Which means they are going to be way more expensive than something that works just as good, but they do look nice :D

That said, I've had my Acer for 5+ years, it's slow as crap now but its what you get with a 5 year old laptop that wasn't even top of the line when I got it. Only problems I had was a hard drive problem which was fixed simply by replacing it. So I'd say they're a decent computer for a good price.
 
I just bought Asus UL30a and UL30vt for my parents from amazon. Small light long battery life. 30A has 3 year warranty but integrated graphics. 30vt has 1 year but switchable dedicated and integrated graphics. Warranty includes accidental breakage too. Don't know how their service is yet but my mom dropped hers already an I'm gonna try warranty. Still works just dented the corner. This is newer chip way faster than Atom netbooks with same battery life.
 
They are more expensive that's for sure. But worth every penny.
The Macbook pro is supper easy. 6 months ago I convinced my system to just conciser it. A week later she bought one.

The Macbook pro's are great for techies and non-techies. Go to the Apple store and just try it. Good luck on your purchase.

patchin said:
pixelpixi said:
+1 on the mac. The unibody macbook pros are solid and beautiful.
$$?????
Questions:
How expensive are they?
For non-techies that have used PCs for years, how easy are they to figure out?
 
Ive run macs, and PCs on various operating sytems. The Mac (both my macbook pro and the iMac I use at work) are rock solid. I've had the laptop for
 
sfsuphysics said:
Yeah Macs have that stigmata, as they said they want to be the Nike of the electronics world. Which means they are going to be way more expensive than something that works just as good, but they do look nice :D

That said, I've had my Acer for 5+ years, it's slow as crap now but its what you get with a 5 year old laptop that wasn't even top of the line when I got it. Only problems I had was a hard drive problem which was fixed simply by replacing it. So I'd say they're a decent computer for a good price.

Meh Nike isn't a good choice there :) IOn the shoe world they are like Walmart. Now Brooks on the other hand :)

I like Acer's and Dell Latitudes. I've used a couple Latitudes over the years and have always loved them. We re-install Windows every 6 - 8 months at Reed to keep them blazing fast. Dell just announced a poor earnings, maybe they'll do some market rearrangement to help increase sale :)
 
We re-install Windows every 6 - 8 months at Reed to keep them blazing fast.
Don't have to do that with OSX :p

Of course, if you want a non MAC non windows solution, you can think outside the box and get a solid PC laptop and run Ubuntu!
 
Gomer said:
We re-install Windows every 6 - 8 months at Reed to keep them blazing fast.
Don't have to do that with OSX :p

Of course, if you want a non MAC non windows solution, you can think outside the box and get a solid PC laptop and run Ubuntu!

MAc = $5K+ in software I need, no thanks. I also don't care as my boss does it, not me :p And it's a LAPTOP, not my only machine.

Apples get worms and rot, I see it all the time here where I live :lol:
 
Ya, if you got a large software base on windows, it's hard to move to a MAC.

I actually run an iMac for most of my work stuff and run dual monitors with parallels loading windows for a few pieces of software that are only available on PC. Oddly, the ONLY time I ever have problems with the MAC is when I run this really buggy PC only software on parallels (it basically is a one way memory trap).
 
T says money is no object! :bigsmile:
Actually cost isn't the biggest factor. We just want a reliable computer that is fast enough to be able to use for a few years. T has tons of files using Word and Excell, so Mac may not be a good option??
She's used to a 15 in. screen. She would like it to be fast on the internet. So I5 or I7?
 
Well then.... MAC it is if money is no object. While I can't run one and don't want to, I highly suggest you do :)

Be sure to enter you name correct when installing the machine as if you do it wrong it'll take numerous hours on tech support to change it. My buddy put two d's in his name when installing and it only had one. He called TS and it took in the better part of a day. The way to change it was super buried and he had to get bumped up two levels of TS to get to a guy who even knew how to do it.
 
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