# Laptop deals



## Pilgrim

Where can the best deals be had on a new laptop?


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## Richard King

check Newegg.com - Computer Parts, PC Components, Laptop Computers, Digital Cameras and more!


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## fredtgreco

Slickdeals.net
Fatwallet


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## Pilgrim

Any particular brands to strongly consider or stay away from?


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## Semper Fidelis

fredtgreco said:


> Slickdeals.net
> Fatwallet


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## Semper Fidelis

Pilgrim said:


> Any particular brands to strongly consider or stay away from?



Not necessarily but there are models within brands that are not great choices. Lenovo and Acer come out on top in terms of many customer satisfaction surveys but there are award winners from Dell and HP as well.

You can check out notebookreviews.com: The Leading Notebook Computers Site on the Net for reviews, features, popularity, and user feedback on practically every model conceivable.


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## Richard King

Whatever the brand...If you get one and it is going to have VISTA you need to try to get one with 2G of ram


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## Arch2k

SemperFideles said:


> fredtgreco said:
> 
> 
> 
> Slickdeals.net
> Fatwallet
Click to expand...


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## Pilgrim

Guys, thanks for the responses. Anyone have anything else they want to add?


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## fredtgreco

Chris,

I've had or worked on a bunch of laptops. This is subjective, but here goes:

Stay away from:
Dell, Compaq, EMachines

Good are:
Toshiba, HP, Sony

There are other brands that I don't have first hand knowledge of. A good website for reviews of all sorts of products is Reviews from Epinions


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## Covenant Joel

crocodeals.com
allonlinecoupons.com


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## danmpem

Pilgrim said:


> Guys, thanks for the responses. Anyone have anything else they want to add?



I was in Best Buy and Circuit City the other day, and something occurred to me. This is the first time sine Windows Vista was release that the very cheapest computer offers the buyers with what they need to efficiently run the OS. This laptop was $499, and it had a 2 GHz processor (AMD Turion-64) and 1 GB RAM.

Truly the best investment you can make in your computer is the warranty. Since you are looking to buy a laptop, then you ought to buy the full protection/accidental warranty (if you drop it off a cliff, if spill water on it, etc). Of all the computer stores, Circuit City does the best job offering this for the best price. They also offer the protection independent of what the manufacturer's replacement warranty is.


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## aleksanderpolo

Rich, I think it should be notebookreview.com, without s.


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## Pilgrim

aleksanderpolo said:


> Rich, I think it should be notebookreview.com, without s.



Thanks, Both appear to be legit sites.


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## jbergsing

Pilgrim said:


> Where can the best deals be had on a new laptop?



The Apple Store (U.S.)


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## Pilgrim

jbergsing said:


> Pilgrim said:
> 
> 
> 
> Where can the best deals be had on a new laptop?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The Apple Store (U.S.)
Click to expand...


I forgot to spell out that I am looking for something as cheap as possible that will get the job done for a few months or a year or so. XP pro would be fine.


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## fredtgreco

Pilgrim said:


> jbergsing said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Pilgrim said:
> 
> 
> 
> Where can the best deals be had on a new laptop?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The Apple Store (U.S.)
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I forgot to spell out that I am looking for something as cheap as possible that will get the job done for a few months or a year or so. XP pro would be fine.
Click to expand...


You should be able to get something sub $400, maybe even sub $300.


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## Pilgrim

fredtgreco said:


> Pilgrim said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jbergsing said:
> 
> 
> 
> The Apple Store (U.S.)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I forgot to spell out that I am looking for something as cheap as possible that will get the job done for a few months or a year or so. XP pro would be fine.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> You should be able to get something sub $400, maybe even sub $300.
Click to expand...


New or refurbished? I've looked around on a few of the sites and the only laptops I've seen for that cheap are refurbs, but I've only just started looking.


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## Semper Fidelis

Pilgrim said:


> aleksanderpolo said:
> 
> 
> 
> Rich, I think it should be notebookreview.com, without s.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks, Both appear to be legit sites.
Click to expand...


No, he's right, go to: Notebook and Laptop Reviews


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## Semper Fidelis

Check this out: Dell Vostro 1500 T7500 Nvidia 8600 GT for $653 @ Dell.com


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## PilgrimPastor

SemperFideles said:


> Check this out: Dell Vostro 1500 T7500 Nvidia 8600 GT for $653 @ Dell.com



That's a nice system. Everyone I know - including me - who has gotten Vista prefers XP. If you can find a machine with XP on it, I would suggest sticking with that for a while...


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## Semper Fidelis

I prefer Vista but for reasons related to the interface.


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## Pilgrim

PilgrimPastor said:


> SemperFideles said:
> 
> 
> 
> Check this out: Dell Vostro 1500 T7500 Nvidia 8600 GT for $653 @ Dell.com
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That's a nice system. Everyone I know - including me - who has gotten Vista prefers XP. If you can find a machine with XP on it, I would suggest sticking with that for a while...
Click to expand...


I would rather have XP too simply because I'm more familiar with it but I'm not going to pay more for it (the new machines I've seen with it tend to be more expensive). My wife's laptop has Vista so I am not totally opposed to it. But it does slow down the machine if you don't have enough RAM.


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## Pilgrim

fredtgreco said:


> Pilgrim said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jbergsing said:
> 
> 
> 
> The Apple Store (U.S.)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I forgot to spell out that I am looking for something as cheap as possible that will get the job done for a few months or a year or so. XP pro would be fine.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> You should be able to get something sub $400, maybe even sub $300.
Click to expand...


Most (if not all) of the ones I've seen at that price have Vista Home Basic. What are the main differences between that and Vista Home Premium? When Vista was released I heard that Premium was the one to get.


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## Pilgrim

This looks pretty good: 

Sony - VAIO T2310 Laptop - Granite - VGN-NR220E/S


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## Pilgrim

I know 2GB of memory are usually recommended for Vista, but what are the minimum specs I should look for in a machine with XP pro?


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## danmpem

Pilgrim said:


> This looks pretty good:
> 
> Sony - VAIO T2310 Laptop - Granite - VGN-NR220E/S



Looks good. Don't forget to get the extended warranty for accidents and such.


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## Pilgrim

There's this old standby from the catalog days: 

Find reviews, top products, technology deals and more at ComputerShopper.com


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## Pilgrim

Anyone have any opinions on the Asus Eee? 

It uses a variant of Linux. It looks interesting and the price is right, but I don't know that it's what I'm looking. You can put a different OS on it, but the main drawback to me would be the limited hard drive space.


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## py3ak

My wife has one and loves it. But her hard drive space requirements are not high: she uses it for internet radio, e-mail and word processing. We got her an 8gb SD card with the computer, so that she wouldn't have to worry about space too much. What she wanted was portability and ease of use, and it has definitely delivered on that score.


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## fredtgreco

Does it work with a USB drive? You could get a huge external HD for documents, etc. I have seen 750GB or even a Terabyte for $100.

You should be able to find a 250GB for less than $50.


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## Pilgrim

fredtgreco said:


> Does it work with a USB drive? You could get a huge external HD for documents, etc. I have seen 750GB or even a Terabyte for $100.
> 
> You should be able to find a 250GB for less than $50.



I thought about that. I need this machine for business and will be taking it into clients homes, etc. But I probably won't be using a lot of storage for business and could use one of those drives for personal. 

Fred when you said I should be able to get something for sub 400 or maybe even 300, was something like this what you had in mind? I did find one Toshiba for under 400 at Office Depot, but other than asus machines, mostly what I turned up in that range was reconditioned machines, which I might consider.


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## py3ak

Yes, it will work with a USB drive. You might want to get an external power supply, though, instead of drawing your power through the USB port. It's frequently a problem on laptops that they won't put enough power through a USB port to power a portable hard drive effectively.


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## Semper Fidelis

Pilgrim said:


> fredtgreco said:
> 
> 
> 
> Does it work with a USB drive? You could get a huge external HD for documents, etc. I have seen 750GB or even a Terabyte for $100.
> 
> You should be able to find a 250GB for less than $50.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I thought about that. I need this machine for business and will be taking it into clients homes, etc. But I probably won't be using a lot of storage for business and could use one of those drives for personal.
> 
> Fred when you said I should be able to get something for sub 400 or maybe even 300, was something like this what you had in mind? I did find one Toshiba for under 400 at Office Depot, but other than asus machines, mostly what I turned up in that range was reconditioned machines, which I might consider.
Click to expand...


The concept with the EEE is actually pretty slick. If you integrated this with Google Documents you don't really need to have a lot locally stored. They've actually built it to work well with Google Docs. You can keep most of your documents stored online and only bring them down to your drive when you are working on those specific docs.

I was going to recommend the EEE but I wasn't sure if that would fit your needs. It's not going to be able to run Libronix or stuff like that. The keyboard might also be too small for your fingers.

What are you going to use this laptop for?


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## Pilgrim

SemperFideles said:


> Pilgrim said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> fredtgreco said:
> 
> 
> 
> Does it work with a USB drive? You could get a huge external HD for documents, etc. I have seen 750GB or even a Terabyte for $100.
> 
> You should be able to find a 250GB for less than $50.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I thought about that. I need this machine for business and will be taking it into clients homes, etc. But I probably won't be using a lot of storage for business and could use one of those drives for personal.
> 
> Fred when you said I should be able to get something for sub 400 or maybe even 300, was something like this what you had in mind? I did find one Toshiba for under 400 at Office Depot, but other than asus machines, mostly what I turned up in that range was reconditioned machines, which I might consider.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> The concept with the EEE is actually pretty slick. If you integrated this with Google Documents you don't really need to have a lot locally stored. They've actually built it to work well with Google Docs. You can keep most of your documents stored online and only bring them down to your drive when you are working on those specific docs.
> 
> I was going to recommend the EEE but I wasn't sure if that would fit your needs. It's not going to be able to run Libronix or stuff like that. The keyboard might also be too small for your fingers.
> 
> What are you going to use this laptop for?
Click to expand...


To continue with my invaluable contributions to the PB and the blogosphere, of course. 

Seriously what I _need_ it for is running quoting software and other applications for business (I'm an insurance agent), webinars, possibly using a powerpoint projector and things like that. That's why I'm thinking I probably need to stay with a Windows because I don't know if all of the software would work with Linux or Mac for that matter. In the past, I've also found quite a few company sites that aren't fully functional unless you are using IE. I don't want something that isn't going to be compatible with software I might need for work or might want for personal use. I know that I could put Windows on the EEE and get external drives, but I'm thinking if I get into all that it won't be much cheaper than a Lenovo or some of the more inexpensive Toshiba's, or one of the new machines you can buy off of eBay. 

I went to Best Buy today. Since their sales run Sunday-Saturday it looks like you have to be a Sabbath breaker to take advantage of some of their best deals since some of them are available in store only. The salesman said typically they will have about 5 of each model that is on sale and usually they are gone on Sunday.


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## Semper Fidelis

What's your budget for a notebook?

I don't really like buying stuff on EBay because bid wars always cause these things to go higher than they ought. You could easily get a model that's only a year old and get a powerhorse for a cheap price that somebody else is selling in a non-auction format. Filtering through EBay is such a pain.

Here's one place: AnandTech -- For Sale/Trade

Have you checked out Dell Outlet: Dell Outlet Home & Home Office - Refurbished Laptops - Refurbished Laptop - Refurbished Notebook

IBM Refurb: IBM - Used laptops, used servers, used computers - refurbished and certified using IBM standards

Also, check out Craig's List: craigslist classifieds: jobs, housing, personals, for sale, services, community, events, forums

And check out your local paper.


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## Pilgrim

SemperFideles said:


> What's your budget for a notebook?
> 
> I don't really like buying stuff on EBay because bid wars always cause these things to go higher than they ought. You could easily get a model that's only a year old and get a powerhorse for a cheap price that somebody else is selling in a non-auction format. Filtering through EBay is such a pain.
> 
> Here's one place: AnandTech -- For Sale/Trade
> 
> Have you checked out Dell Outlet: Dell Outlet Home & Home Office - Refurbished Laptops - Refurbished Laptop - Refurbished Notebook
> 
> IBM Refurb: IBM - Used laptops, used servers, used computers - refurbished and certified using IBM standards
> 
> Also, check out Craig's List: craigslist classifieds: jobs, housing, personals, for sale, services, community, events, forums
> 
> And check out your local paper.



I agree that filtering through eBay is a pain because there are so many things on there as well as trying to get information on specs, etc. 

I am hoping to pay no more than about 500 but would like to get it to 300-400 range if possible. I have other expenses I have to budget for but need a machine that will get me by for a year or so. 

When I was looking yesterday I saw refurbished Lenovo's and others that were cheaper than the Dell and IBM links and that had longer warranties. I'll have to look at them more closely, but I've seen new machines for not much more than the refurbs listed on those sites, many of which only have a 3 month warranty. Maybe there are better values to be had there at the higher orice points. 

Thanks everyone for your input.


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