Buying a notebook - Reccomendations?

[polobunny]

Originally Posted by WhiteEagle

Don't go with Acer. They're laptops suck. 1 hour battery life, and 15" screens! I had one and got rid of it as soon as I could. Did I forget to mention that they overheat real easily. IMHO, any other brand is better.

Hmm never had a problem with them. For a fact, they have one of the best bumper to bumper 3yr warranty available. You spill coffee on it, break it on your knee or roll over with a bulldozer and they'll replace it free of charge.
Besides, they're insanely cheap. For the price of 1 HP you get 2 Acer's with the same stuff inside.
Sorry you had a bad experience, because of all the laptops I sold no Acer came back, my boss even has one. *shrugs*

[garetjax]

Originally Posted by ST!X

overpriced maybe at around $2700 (Canadian Funds) i had a dell

-core duo 2.0ghz (T2500)
-2GB DDR2-667 ram (2x1GB)
-17" Widescreen WUXGA+ UltraBright TrueLife (1920x1200 the nicest lappy screen almost ANY screen ive ever seen)
-100GB SATA 7200RPM hard drive
-7900GS GO

similarily priced u get one like that with a Core 2 Duo now easy - maybe even cheaper.

That is the exact laptop I spec'd out at Dell's website. The XPS M1710 with those spec's runs about $2,500 USD at Dell. When I spec'd the exact same notebook at Gateway, the NX860XL, the cost was $1,700. Both laptops are contain the same components, even right down to the motherboard and chipsets used. The Dell guy that I talked to couldn't give me an answer why the Gateway was $700 cheaper. The only thing he could come up with was that the Dell notebook battery was better, Dell offers a free accidental protection program/service that Gateway does not, and that the XPS notebook had a lot more bling on it, ie LED's and the XPS lit logo.

Now, to me, $700 is not worth the extra bling, or a more robust battery. Upgrading Gateway's battery to a 12 cell version costs an extra $44 bucks. I honestly dont care about the protection program or the bling that the XPS system offers. So really, I figure I am paying an extra $650 to have bling and a safety net for my laptop, both of which I can live without. The choice, as it goes, is becoming clearer and clearer.

Just a couple of things to note.

As mentioned earlier, that ASUS laptop is awesome. I also took the time to go to HP's website and spec out a similar laptop like the Gateway and Dell. The only difference is that the HP dv9000t does not offer the 7900 GO videocard. They offer only the 7600 version. In either case, the HP laptop spec'd the same as the Dell and Gateway besides the videocard was $1,700. Not too bad.

Now a question for those that own laptops. What are your feelings or thoughts on the keyboard style of your laptop? Do you like the full size keyboards like the HP and Gateway models offer (addition of the number pad), or do you like the Dell and ASUS that do not offer the number pad? I am trying to get a feel how you guys feel about that. Personally, I like the idea of a full keyboard with a number pad, but having never owned a notebook, I honestly don't know. Any feedback would be appreciated.

[Dr. V]

i really love the full keyboard with the number pads - makes for a truer "mobile computer" experience if you know what i'm saying.

not that u cannot get buy using the Function keys and some letters on the keyboard, but that extra keypad really does help and it should be in every 17" laptop since there is so much extra wasted room!

[Quakindude]

I have a HP ZD8000. It's a full sized, desktop replacement model. I simply love having the full sized keyboard and the number pad. When I go over to my wife's laptop, which has a 14" screen and the normal, small KB, I'm damn near lost trying to type on it.

[Mithosphere]

Originally Posted by garetjax

Now a question for those that own laptops. What are your feelings or thoughts on the keyboard style of your laptop? Do you like the full size keyboards like the HP and Gateway models offer (addition of the number pad), or do you like the Dell and ASUS that do not offer the number pad? I am trying to get a feel how you guys feel about that. Personally, I like the idea of a full keyboard with a number pad, but having never owned a notebook, I honestly don't know. Any feedback would be appreciated.

Well its kind of a personal preference; do you use the numpad a lot? Do you have programs that require the usage of a numpad or rather would function easier/better with the numpad?

[garetjax]

Originally Posted by Mithosphere

Well its kind of a personal preference; do you use the numpad a lot? Do you have programs that require the usage of a numpad or rather would function easier/better with the numpad?

Well, the truth of the matter is that I have fairly large hands and I don't want to feel cramped at the keyboard on a notebook. I am not sure if this matters or not as far as a number pad goes, but I would like to have the same or very similar typing experience that I do on a regular sized keyboard for a desktop computer. It just seems to me that the keyboards on the ASUS and Dell are tiny as hell...

[pc_guy]

AT least it won't be something like this:

Toshiba Libretto

[Quakindude]

Originally Posted by pc_guy

AT least it won't be something like this:

Toshiba Libretto

That's about how my hands look on my wife's computer.

[garetjax]

Originally Posted by pc_guy

AT least it won't be something like this:

Toshiba Libretto

Holy hell! That guys hands are bigger than mine! You know what they say about men with large hands though...

[Mithosphere]

Originally Posted by garetjax

Holy hell! That guys hands are bigger than mine! You know what they say about men with large hands though...

No, I don't. What do they say?