I am buying a new laptop

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2 Tim 4:2

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I am buying a new laptop. It will be used for web site work and school. any suggestions?
 
I think Pilgrim just went through this. It really depends on your needs. If they are super minimal then you could get an Asus EEE.
 
Rich,

You keep teasing me with the Asus EEE comments you make. I know NOTHING about Linux. How compatible (if at all) is it with Windows software? Do the Asus people intend to provide a larger memory at some point?
 
See here. I haven't been able to find the sub 400 or 300 machines Fred mentioned unless it would be an Acer (not sure of that brand but it always seems to be the cheapest), babysitting e-bay auctions or buying a reconditioned Lenovo or something similar from a non-manufacturer site. But I haven't looked that much either. I'll probably get the Toshiba Best Buy has on sale for about $450 if it's still in stock. It has Vista Home Premium but only 1GB of memory, but the latter can be fixed without too much additional expense. If they sell out (Circuit City has the same laptop for about $30 more) I'll have to wait and see what the sale is next week.
 
Rich,

You keep teasing me with the Asus EEE comments you make. I know NOTHING about Linux. How compatible (if at all) is it with Windows software? Do the Asus people intend to provide a larger memory at some point?

I've heard good things about Linux as well but I also know nothing about how to use it. The EEE is not an option for me b/c I need Windows for work and would like more storage space than the EEE has. I understand you can install Windows on it as well, but I really don't want to get into that. It's worth it to me to pay $150 or so more to get what I need upfront without getting something that I'm going to have to install another OS on and come up with some kind of external hard drive as well.
 
Rich,

You keep teasing me with the Asus EEE comments you make. I know NOTHING about Linux. How compatible (if at all) is it with Windows software? Do the Asus people intend to provide a larger memory at some point?

It's not meant to be a tease Dennis. The drawback with the machine to some is how tiny the keyboard is. Nevertheless, if what you need is Office Apps and internet connectivity it rocks. All the programs you need are built in. You don't need to know Linux command line stuff. If you're using Google Docs then you can keep all your docs online anyhow and you don't need very much local storage. Given how the Internet is structured to allow you to do so much online it is actually a pretty handy device.
 
Rich,

You keep teasing me with the Asus EEE comments you make. I know NOTHING about Linux. How compatible (if at all) is it with Windows software? Do the Asus people intend to provide a larger memory at some point?

It's not meant to be a tease Dennis. The drawback with the machine to some is how tiny the keyboard is. Nevertheless, if what you need is Office Apps and internet connectivity it rocks. All the programs you need are built in. You don't need to know Linux command line stuff. If you're using Google Docs then you can keep all your docs online anyhow and you don't need very much local storage. Given how the Internet is structured to allow you to do so much online it is actually a pretty handy device.

Thanks, Rich. I meant "tease" in a friendly way. Your descriptions of the Asus have made my mouth water. Vista DRIVES ME NUTS!
 
Ruben got me an Asus eee when my last computer unexpectedly passed away. I really love it. I don't know anything about Linux. If I wanted to download more programs I'd have to learn; but it's perfect as is for what I do (read, write, listen to music, email). My fingers are small, so the small keyboard isn't a problem. I do have an sd card because it has very little memory. The articles on wikipedia are really helpful, and Linux offers a free online course if you want to learn to modify things. I read some of it and emerged with a great ability to use obscure computer words but without that faculty of knowing what they mean.
 
Ruben got me an Asus eee when my last computer unexpectedly passed away. I really love it. I don't know anything about Linux. If I wanted to download more programs I'd have to learn; but it's perfect as is for what I do (read, write, listen to music, email). My fingers are small, so the small keyboard isn't a problem. I do have an sd card because it has very little memory. The articles on wikipedia are really helpful, and Linux offers a free online course if you want to learn to modify things. I read some of it and emerged with a great ability to use obscure computer words but without that faculty of knowing what they mean.

Dennis,

I think the solution is to buy one and then have Heidi type on it for you.
 
I had a toshiba and after 1.5 years it just went down. Apparently there was a recall and I never recieved notification. I was out a laptop with no recourse. I will never buy another Toshiba. Hence the need for another one.
 
Dennis,

I think the solution is to buy one and then have Heidi type on it for you.

:eek:

If Dennis will understand the tutorial for me I'll type for him. He can be the brain and I'll be the pinky. We can probably take over the world. Or at least subdue a couple of the inhabitants.

Seriously though. For those with fat fingers I recommend accessorizing with bionic hands. Or learning to type with pencils.
 
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.

This is from the other thread on laptop deals.
 
If you don't need anything terribly fancy, I've been very pleased indeed with the inexpensive Acer my husband kindly bought me for our anniversary last August. He's put more RAM in it, which didn't cost anything much, and it works a treat.

What I love is the ONLY pre-loaded software it came with is Norton Antivirus, which I deleted, instead preferring Avast! and PC Tools Spyware Doctor, both of which are free.

Mind, the poor 'puter nearly came unhinged at my insistence on deleting Norton Antivirus, pleading with me to come to my senses and not put my computer at risk, but to no avail. >;^>

My mother bought a Toshiba and was so frustrated at all the pre-loaded software that she wound up on the phone with 'em, threatening to return it if they couldn't help her get RID of it.

Want to add CD's to the box, fine. Pre-loading stuff is tacky, in my opinion.

Anyway, I can vouch for the Acer 3680-2682. Punched up to 2G RAM.
 
If you don't need anything terribly fancy, I've been very pleased indeed with the inexpensive Acer my husband kindly bought me for our anniversary last August. He's put more RAM in it, which didn't cost anything much, and it works a treat.

What I love is the ONLY pre-loaded software it came with is Norton Antivirus, which I deleted, instead preferring Avast! and PC Tools Spyware Doctor, both of which are free.

Mind, the poor 'puter nearly came unhinged at my insistence on deleting Norton Antivirus, pleading with me to come to my senses and not put my computer at risk, but to no avail. >;^>

My mother bought a Toshiba and was so frustrated at all the pre-loaded software that she wound up on the phone with 'em, threatening to return it if they couldn't help her get RID of it.


Want to add CD's to the box, fine. Pre-loading stuff is tacky, in my opinion.

Anyway, I can vouch for the Acer 3680-2682. Punched up to 2G RAM.

I saw an Acer the other day with Vista Home Premium and 2G of RAM already installed. I want to say the hard drive was 160GB. And If I recall correctly it was under $500. I can't remember what kind of processor it had though.

I guess I should check Consumer Reports, epinions, etc. to see what kind of customer service the various brands have. Some swear by Dell, for example and others will never buy another one. Same goes for Toshiba, HP, etc. It's not hard to find someone to say something bad about any of them.

I probably had more trouble deleting Norton from my old machine than any other software, preloaded or not. But I know what you mean. My wife's Gateway laptop came with AOL preloaded and some other stuff as well.
 
Anyway, I can vouch for the Acer 3680-2682. Punched up to 2G RAM.

That's the same computer I'm using right now. :cool:

Satisfied with it?

Hehe, you replied before I could change my emoicon.

Yeah, I'm satisfied. I got it just to have something to take on campus, and now I use it as my main computer (although I do have higher-end desktop at home). One thing to be careful of when buying an Acer is that you better get a good warranty from the store, because Acer tech support doesn't like dealing with people on the phone period. It's either "a problem with the OS, thus call Microsoft", or "take it to the store and have them fix it".
 
That's the same computer I'm using right now. :cool:

Satisfied with it?

Hehe, you replied before I could change my emoicon.

Yeah, I'm satisfied. I got it just to have something to take on campus, and now I use it as my main computer (although I do have higher-end desktop at home). One thing to be careful of when buying an Acer is that you better get a good warranty from the store, because Acer tech support doesn't like dealing with people on the phone period. It's either "a problem with the OS, thus call Microsoft", or "take it to the store and have them fix it".

I saw one at Wal-Mart and I want to say Circuit City too. My brother in law bought one recently but it only had Vista Basic.
 
Satisfied with it?

Hehe, you replied before I could change my emoicon.

Yeah, I'm satisfied. I got it just to have something to take on campus, and now I use it as my main computer (although I do have higher-end desktop at home). One thing to be careful of when buying an Acer is that you better get a good warranty from the store, because Acer tech support doesn't like dealing with people on the phone period. It's either "a problem with the OS, thus call Microsoft", or "take it to the store and have them fix it".

I saw one at Wal-Mart and I want to say Circuit City too. My brother in law bought one recently but it only had Vista Basic.

Yeah, mine came with Vista Basic, but I upgraded.

...to XP.
 
Hehe, you replied before I could change my emoicon.

Yeah, I'm satisfied. I got it just to have something to take on campus, and now I use it as my main computer (although I do have higher-end desktop at home). One thing to be careful of when buying an Acer is that you better get a good warranty from the store, because Acer tech support doesn't like dealing with people on the phone period. It's either "a problem with the OS, thus call Microsoft", or "take it to the store and have them fix it".

I saw one at Wal-Mart and I want to say Circuit City too. My brother in law bought one recently but it only had Vista Basic.

Yeah, mine came with Vista Basic, but I upgraded.

...to XP.

:lol:
 
Mine has Vista Basic. It's worked fine for me.

If one doesn't need anything much beyond ordinary computer usage....you know, PuritanBoard, news sites, blogs, internet shopping, along with banking, word processing, photos, and such like...I can't think why a nice little Acer with Vista Basic won't work. Works a treat for me, at any rate. ;)

Am I missing something by not having the Vista Premium or whatever it's called? Can't imagine what it'd be. :think:
 
Vista's that bad huh? No experience with it here...

In my opinion, Vista is so irritating that I have been considering switching to Apple! I yearn for the leaks and garlics of XP.

I liked what the TechnoLawyer had to say:

Welcome to the wonderful world of Vista (for a similar reference see: "Dante's Inferno" — impossible to distinguish between the two)...

There's nothing whatsoever I like in any way about Vista. Oh yeah, forgot to mention the last straw from last night. I had already upgraded the T61 to 2 GB of RAM when I ordered it. I wanted to see if doubling to 4 GB might have any positive effect on performance. So I installed the 2 x 2 GB SODIMMs and lo and behold, Vista reported only 3046 GB of RAM. After three hours of diagnosis including installing the RAM in other machines, I thought to check the T61's BIOS and sure enough, there was 4,096 GB of RAM showing. So no issue with the T61, no issue with the RAM itself, yet another Vista BS issue. Google the issue of underreported RAM on Vista systems and a flood of hits point out that everyone has faced the same frustration because the 32-bit version of MOPH is limited to only 3 GB of RAM while the 64 GB version can go up to 8. Again, nice.

Vista is the biggest software screw-up of all time. I've lived with its irritations for nearly a year. While I will keep it running on my Toshiba laptop, it's going away as fast as I can make it happen on my primary production T61.

Vista is the #1 reason Apple has been so successful in the overnight turnaround of its Mac product line. The best feature of the MacBook and iMac series is they DON'T have Vista, not the fact they now have Leopard.

Vista is Windows ME but many degrees worse. Vista is Microsoft BOB but much less reliable. Vista is MOPH and deserves to die. Painfully. Slowly. With as much agony as can possibly be inflicted on an inanimate intangible object.

So unless you subscribe to self-flagellation as form of personal amusement, "downgrade" now. Virtually every laptop maker offers a legal Microsoft-endorsed Vista-to-XP "downgrade" plan upon request. From one friend to another, "Friends don't let friends compute with Vista."

Anne, I hope you never reach this point, and I wish you the very best experiences in Vista. For the rest of us who have seen the true face of Vista, we come to the computer like Beowulf to the dragon: helmet on, shield ready, and sword drawn - ready for a long night.
 
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