Need Notebook Help

I would never buy a computer from Best Buy. I am pretty sure you could get a Dell Inspiron for that much. I have always had great luck with my Dell laptops and their service is pretty good.

 

I saw an Inspiron with 512MB of RAM and a 30 GB hard drive. I think the price was around $1180. Think of it as investing in a quality product. If you are running out of space on the hard drive, get an external HD or a DVD burner later. 30 GB is a lot of space.

eMachines are a gamble when Dell's are a pretty safe bet. Laptops are a tricky thing and can have problems more easily than a desktop. Having good service is a big deal with a laptop.

 

Check out the campus computer store.

 

I've completely stopped going to Best Buy, even though every piece of technology that I have I bought there. It first started when I tried to order a computer via BestBuy.com b/c it was unavailible at my local BB, I tried paying with a valid cc and got denied so I called them and talked to them and they told me to try it again so I did. I got denied again. When I went to the ATM I checked my balance and it showed over $2000 missing. I talked to the bank they said it was BestBuy. I called BestBuy and ended up talking to problably 50 different reps ended up hanging up on half of them. I ended up finding out (from what I was told) that when BB requests money from the credit card they take it out then do there own checks and I got denied both times for reasons they wouldn't tell me. I ended up buying a computer from BestBuy only b/c it was the best deal for what I could afford.

When I went to buy a LCD monitor I went to BestBuy b/c they have the most selection in my area. I asked about there replacement plan and they told me essentially it replaces a bad monitor for 3 years. I asked about bad pixels and they told me that I can bring it back and get it replaced if I get any. So I bought it and returned it about 4 times in a year. I went in the other day to replace it due to a broken button and they told me that I was told of the plan wrong and the prior times the reps did it wrong giving me the monitor.

I ended up talking to a manager and got reimbursed for the remaining time left on the plan. I was going to go ahead and get all my money back, but I paid only $200 for a $320 monitor ( I got upgraded due to inventory).

From now on if I get an extended warranty on anything I'm going to talk to the most upper management I could, take his name, and have him sign the plan. B/c I was told wrong and my mom bought a camcorder at BEst Buy and was told the same plan I was.

Best Buy sucks.......

 

Just get a wireless card. Then, you can take your laptop just about anywhere on campus, and if you get bored, you can surf the net. I wish I would have kept mine.

 

I was just saying, make sure you have wireless internet capabilities.

 

I too am looking at getting a laptop and have asked a few people for advice, but might as well ask here.

I know I would want wireless (built-in; I don't care for cards even though they do sometimes get better reception). And I also decided I would like something lightweight (in the 3-5 pound range). Powerful would be nice, but that's negotiable depending on what there is to offer.

I've narrowed it down to getting a Vaio; they're both lightweight, small, portable, reliable, and usually perform well. The problem is which Vaio should I get? THere are 3 3.11 pound machines (I tihnk it's the TR series), but they're 1GHz machines, even though it's running the Centrino 'chipset'.

Then there are 10 or 20 different Centrino's (which range from 1.4-1.7 GHz), Mobile (M) which range a bit higher, and then Pentium 4 (which will go up to 3 GHz). I know I should stay away from P4 since it was based for desktops and get hot faster and drain the battery more.

M is probably the best chip for a laptop, but I would still need a card (unless it says built-in wireless but I don't quit follow how that's different from Centrino). Centrino is basically a marketing campaign as far as I can tell, but it is 'certified' with wirless built-in.

Also, I don't know whether to get sometihng now or wait a couple of months. The different models I'm looking at have gone down drastically in price from a few months ago. Here are models I'm looking at:

1
2
3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12


I also have a brother who is going to Japan in a week and I don't know whether it would be worth it to ask him to look for soemthing over there (I doubt prices would e much lower over there anyway). Same thing goes for the Sony T1 I'm looking at purchasing (which I've found for as low as $370 online in the states). I'm told processors are to be put in cameras 'this fall' so should I go ahead and get the T1 or wait?

Oh, and I'm willing to spend anywhere up to I guess $1800, but a.) I doubt I will have to and b.) it's negotiable.

Thanks for any advice or help!.

 

I just got a Dell laptop this past Sunday for a friend going to college her freshman year this fall.

Inspiron 600m
*Intel® Pentium® M Processor1.5GHz,14.1 inch SXGA+ ATI 32MB Video, Microsoft® Windows® XP Home
*Memory 256MB DDR SDRAM 1 Dimm
*Hard Drive FREE 40GB Ultra ATA Hard Drive Upgrade! (from 30GB)
*Integrated Modem and NIC Internal 56K Modem and Integrated Network Card
*Optical FREE 24XCD-RW/DVD Combo Upgrade (from DVD)
*Wireless Networking Cards Intel® PRO/Wireless 2200 Internal Wireless (802.11 b/g, 54Mbps)
*Limited Warranty, Services and Support 3 Year Limited Warranty plus 3 Year Mail-In Service
*CompleteCare Accidental Damage Service Add CompleteCare Accidental Damage Service to 3Yr Lim Warranty

Sub-total: $1426
Total (Free Shipping + Tax): $1543

Mind you, we upgraded to a 3 yr Warranty, plus Complete Care. So if you wanna get the default warranty, subtract approx $250 from the above price.

 

Pay attention to these sites for good deals -- they will clue you in on deals with rebates and coupons that bring down prices dramatically:

http://www.slickdeals.net
http://www.techbargains.com
http://www.bensbargains.net

 

I was sure this was a topic about notepad.exe. Maybe I should learn to read.

As for what brand to buy, get an IBM. They cost more, but they're worth it.

 

Everything i have read says the same thing about Thinkpads.

 

Regarding some of the statements made in this thread :

Dell laptops are good, but wait for a great deal. You missed a 20% off deal by a few days. Don't worry, they come around every 1-2 weeks it seems. The game they play is the more you upgrade or downgrade from the standard system, the less "great" of a deal you get. If you upgrade, they don't credit you much for what you're upgrading from. And if you downgrade, they won't give you the full price of what you're downgradiing from. Still, decent notebooks at good prices.

IBM's are great for people on the go and put their notebooks through hell. They are some of the best built notebooks available. But for the price, look elsewhere. You can do equally well or better for much less in price.

Sony Vaio's, especially some of the ones with the XBrite screens have the best screens available (along with Toshibas). But just like just about any other lower-end Sony product, they're overpriced for what you get.

eMachines used to have a reputation for being crap. Their reputation has actually gotten much much better - especially since Gateway bought them out. I was actually looking at their AMD 64 machine that Best Buy sells. They're only offering a $100 or $150 rebate on it now, but a couple of weeks ago it was $250. In terms of performance, it would just about destroy any machine in this thread. Bang for the buck it would destroy any machine mentioned in this thread, as well. The downside is that it's about 7-8 lbs.

If you're looking for a lightweight PC notebook, I'd look at Dell Centrino-based notebooks when some better coupons come out. They range from around 3 pounds to around 7 lbs.

Another route you can do which will require some research on your part is to find the ODM manufacturer of these laptops. People rag on laptop manufacturers, but the interesting thing about it is that very few manufacturers actually build much of the laptop. The eMachines AMD64 i mentioned above is actually made by an ODM named Arima I believe. What this means is that you can get pretty much the same laptop made by another company for less. This always cracks me up when peopel fork over $3000+ for something like an Alienware laptop with a "cool paintjob", when they can pretty much find the same laptop re-badged by someone like hyperion-pc for about $1000 less. My personal opinion is that if you're spending more than around $1800-$2000 on a laptop you're nuts unless it's fully loaded and you really need that horsepower.

You may also want to check out places like pctorque.com. They sell Sager notebooks.

 

Oh, one thing I'd look into is getting an extended warranty on laptops. They can be expensive to repair especially those LCD screens. Unfortunately Best Buy's 3 year plan runs something like $249 for the laptop you're looking at.

 

Does UT system have any contract with a major pc manufacturer so that the university/faculty/students/alumni can buy their computers with a discount?

I would be a little surprised Dell didn't hook up with Texas public college system.

I just bought an IBM T41 using this kind of discount between IBM and my university.

 

If you are not tied into an operating system buy a g4 ibook or powerbook and don't look back. Great pc's and highly portable. I've never met a person who has been unhappy with Mac OSX.

(unless games are important to you in which case disregard my post)

 

Mr. Mooch, I sincerely hope you're not considering buying a laptop from TigerDirect. I've heard nothing but horror stories about their service. Check out some user reviews.

Also, another fantastic site for grabbing Dell coupons and checking out computer deals is Fatwallet, probably the best website for bargains, period.

Personally, I would wait to buy a laptop. Once new computer technology comes out later this year (PCI Express, DDR-II RAM, etc.), older laptop prices should fall. You should be able to get some killer deals then. Plus, don't forget that EVERY computer company has a "Back to School" sale in the fall...

 

UT does have deals, I'm still looking into them myself.

Check out campuscomputer.com for the deals from each separate manufacturer.

Also, if you're in the business school, they have deals on the Latitude laptops from Dell with the Complete Care service plan, etc.

I'm kind of torn on what I want, but like someone mentioned, it's best as late as possible, with the back to school sales, and the price of technology almost always decreasing.