I was also thinking about getting a new computer in the near future, so this thread is exactly what I needed.
Thanks for the advice everyone. Timber and Anon pretty much sold me on the dell :-D
i must second anon and timber - i got nothing but luuuurve for dell - i had two notebooks, both were great, as was the service (and i messed up the system royally on the second one, tried to run two operating systems in one computer... nothing worked for awhile. fixed it over the phone, being aided by a very pleasant young (and single and handsome) sounding man).
Toshiba Satellite is the other one I told you about - BestBuy has an incredible deal right now on them - best screen, centrino processor, memory of an elephant... for close to $1k. doesn't get better than that.
Definitely agree about the Toshiba Satellite series; as I said earlier, other than heavy, its great all around. And actually, I guess we're getting spoiled - I compared my new Satellite's weight to an old (vintage '99) Compaq Armada I haven't used in years, and the Compaq's heavier - not by much, but heavier - and is nowhere near as capable a machine.- Besides that, back when it was new, that old Compaq cost more than this Toshiba does today.
Whao, two posts (not mine) just disappeared. Guess someone didn't like them.
timberlandko wrote:I agree w/Anon - I've had very good commercial/institutional experience with Dells, and with their products in a consumer setting. I own a couple myself, a Dimension series and an XPS series - good, solid, dependable, capable machines. Watch for sales and promos on their website - sometimes its hard to handbuild a machine equivalent to an off-the-shelf Dell for the same price.
This is why I offered to help. You are right about the promotions, they are much juicier in the Small Business section.
LITTLEK
I can help you spec out a machine at the Dell Site. If you tell me what you want, I can spec it out and have you look at it before you pull the trigger.
Anon
cjhsa wrote:k, I recently purchased an HP Pavilion ze2000 laptop through Costco.com. It ran me $699 and came with an AMD Mobile Sempron 2GHz (variable), 512MB of RAM, a 40GB hard drive, 15" SVGA screen, touchpad with scroll, and built in 802.11B/G wireless, running XP home, for $699. I really like it and for the price it can't be beat.
CJ,
I am in love with the H/P laptops. I bought JayBea and I twin H/P Pentium III, 850 Mhz laptops in 2001. I had a screen cable work loose in one, but other than that, I've had no problems with either of them all this time!! They're great! I'm not sure how good the laptops are for gaming though, which seems to be one of littleks desires. Is the video/screen speed sufficient for gaming?? I've never had anyone buy them for that.
Anon
timberlandko wrote:Definitely agree about the Toshiba Satellite series; as I said earlier, other than heavy, its great all around. And actually, I guess we're getting spoiled - I compared my new Satellite's weight to an old (vintage '99) Compaq Armada I haven't used in years, and the Compaq's heavier - not by much, but heavier - and is nowhere near as capable a machine.- Besides that, back when it was new, that old Compaq cost more than this Toshiba does today.
Timber,
Remember the first Compaq "luggable" (circa 1983) that was IBM PC compatible?? We've come a long way since that!!
Anon
My son complained that Hunting Unlimited III didn't work right on the laptop. Said the colors were all screwed up, so I can't recommend this one for heavy gaming. But I'm sure HP has laptops that will work.
Anon-Voter wrote:Timber,
Remember the first Compaq "luggable" (circa 1983) that was IBM PC compatible?? We've come a long way since that!!
Anon
I had not one but two of those, one at work and one at home. Luggable in the sense that it was smaller than a refrigerator and came with a handle.
cjhsa wrote:Anon-Voter wrote:Timber,
Remember the first Compaq "luggable" (circa 1983) that was IBM PC compatible?? We've come a long way since that!!
Anon
I had not one but two of those, one at work and one at home. Luggable in the sense that it was smaller than a refrigerator and came with a handle.
You got the right one, as I remember it, 35-45 pounds or so
Anon
Anon-Voter wrote:timberlandko wrote:I agree w/Anon - I've had very good commercial/institutional experience with Dells, and with their products in a consumer setting. I own a couple myself, a Dimension series and an XPS series - good, solid, dependable, capable machines. Watch for sales and promos on their website - sometimes its hard to handbuild a machine equivalent to an off-the-shelf Dell for the same price.
This is why I offered to help. You are right about the promotions, they are much juicier in the Small Business section.
LITTLEK
I can help you spec out a machine at the Dell Site. If you tell me what you want, I can spec it out and have you look at it before you pull the trigger.
Anon
I've got the gaming specs at the start of the thread. Other than that I want a basic msn suite of programs, Xp, etc. I dunno what else. I still have software for most of my other programs.
I had a Toshiba Satellite (512 meg / 80 gig etc.) before I got the Acer. I intended on getting another Toshiba Satellite in fact.
But when I went to look for a new lappy a few months ago it turned out that pound for pound dollar for dollar the new Acers absolutely stomped the new Toshibas and the new HPs and Dells too.
Plus the Acer customer support is not foisted off to India but done right here.
The only place that I could see the Toshiba Satellites had the edge over the Acers was in a bit sturdier case, but then the Toshiba Satellites were somewhat heavier. I was also not overly impressed with the HPs or Dells cases given the increased price over the Acers.
In truth, any brand new, name brand lappy, costing about $1000 will kick ass.
I agree just about any major-name $1000-class laptop being a decent machine. Having been satidfied with an earlier one, I included the new Acers in my comparisons when I went shopping for my latest ... for my money, though, the Satellite won on components, features, and capabilities - but it was a tough choice. I'm happy - both with my older Acer, and with my new Satellite. And, as I think I mentioned, its wireless performance is really impressive - blows away anything else I have. I do give Acer a pat on the back for their US-based Customer Support, and I'll say - based on one experience a few years ago, their repair center does have good turnaround time on warranty repairs. When it was a few months old, my Acer developed a hardware-related display problem (only physicakl problem the machine's ever had), and it was 6 days from shipped off to back on my desk - pretty impressive.
One point littlek oughtta think about, considering her gaming requirements - an independent, as opposed to embedded, video solution with at least 128MB of dedicated memory, and at least 512 MB of DDR system RAM, along w/at least a 2GB Pentium or Athlon processor (or a 1.7 or faster Centrino) should be the make/break considerations. System RAM can be upgraded easily, and SODIMMS are relatively cheap, but you're pretty much stuck with whatever processor and video solution a laptop comes with. Upgrade options are much broader with desktops. Another thought - your more likely to find a superlative, gaming-optimized video solution in a desktop than in a laptop, though many laptops, particularly as the price approaches and crosses the $1000 line, will do fine - just make sure the laptop's video solution is adequate to the task you set for it.
Hey! Guess what?
I just bought me a $2,000 Dell, customized all special just for me :-D
I only wanted to spend $1,000, but I kinda got carried away, lol.
I'll have my baby delivered to my front door in 7 to 10 days :-D
Montana wrote:Hey! Guess what?
I just bought me a $2,000 Dell, customized all special just for me :-D
I only wanted to spend $1,000, but I kinda got carried away, lol.
I'll have my baby delivered to my front dore in 7 to 10 days :-D
Wow Montana!
You definitely went whole hog!! I'm happy for you!!
Anon
littlek : before you buy a computer, go to the library and pick up a few back-issues of PC-Magazine . i'm sure , spending a few hours reading about the latest offerings will pay off. hbg
Thanks Anon :-)
You have to remember that I'm in Canada and computers are more expensive here than they are in the states.
The one I got is a dimension 5150 and of course I got a bunch of extras including duel driver cd burner, 19' ultra sharp digital flat screen monitor, all in one photo printer, etc and I get 3 months free high speed internet service.
I think it's awesome that they deliver it right to your home and if something goes wrong with the computer, they come right here to fix it.
I'm kind of in the boonies here and this is a huge plus for me.
I'm so excited and I can't wait to get my new toy :-D
I'm in Canada too but there is way more local competition for your computer dollar than where you are.
In the late 1980's I purchased a custom built 486/33 from a local retailer in Silicon Valley. 40MB hard drive and 1MB of RAM. For this I paid $2500.
