I am graduating Grad School and am getting a new Laptop (PC since the lab I’m moving to works w/ PCs). Dunno much about computers, but I’m looking for 3.0 Gig processor, 15 inch screen, 60 Gig Hard drive, wireless internet, 512MB (all of the above are minimum, or better), and a rewritable CD ROM drive to backup my data. I’ve got between $1000 and $1500 to make it happen.
So far, I’m looking at a Toshiba A75-S209 for $1350. I’d appreciate any insight on whether people have had good experience w/ this company, or whether there are better deals out there. Thanks for taking your time!
I KNEW that was going to be the first comment! I’m getting it as a gift, and I don’t want to abuse it… plus, I’m not sure if a Mac will handle my statistics program (SAS). But that’s a smaller issue, it’s just that MACs are more expensive, and I’m cheap (did I mention ‘Grad School’?). I promise I’ll use Firefox for my browser though!
Why go with a P4? For better overall performance and way better battery life look at the Intel Centrino lines. Anything above a Centrino 1.6 has good performance and battery life.
I work as a programmer and generally find only IBM and HP to be really reliable and stable. Personally I dont like the Dells, they have the price and service but aren’t great when you look hard at the spec’s.
I use a HP NX5000 with a Centrino 1.7Ghz 15" xvga screen, 1Gb ddr ram and 80Gb hdd bought in September for $1320.
I made a mistake when buying my first laptop: I got some generic (read: really cheap) one from a small store in a non-descript business park somewhere… The alarm bells should have been going off, but I was ignorant.
The point is, I had very little warranty help when the monitor went out. Nor when the keyboard went out. Etc.
With name brand, that probably wouldn’t have been an issue.
That is interesting you don’t like Dells. Have you looked at just their “home” machines or the business lines too? We use all Dells here (servers, laptops, workstations, mobile workstations) and we find them to be great. We do engineering so we have everything from the most basic user to users running CAD, GIS etc and we have no complaints.
Why go w/ a P4? Not sure, I was under the impression that it is a state of the art processor. FWIW, I’ll used it on my daily commute and it will be attached to a power source, so battery life is not too much of an issue. Thanks for that link - that’s actually a little less expensive than the Toshiba.
As for another comment, ‘go w/ a big name’, I was under the impression that Toshiba is a pretty reputable company seeing how they’ve been around for a while. That’s probably the hardest part about this whole thing - I hate Dell, they’re great, buy HP, don’t buy HP - individual experiences are just so varied.
Centrinos are the mobile equivilent of the P4 in terms of performance with longer battery life and stability in low voltage environments. I get a good 6 hours of wireless internet usage with mine on battery but if thats not a factor then look at the P4. The Centrino design allows for a smaller overall case design due to its lower power usage and heating problems, mobile P4’s get hot, so most Centrino pc’s are smaller and more compact.
I dont like Dells because I have worked for two large companies who swapped and had higher than what I would call “average” rates of problems. What they offer is ok if you want something to “do the job” per say. If you look real hard at what they offer in terms of specs like video and audio devices, hdd speeds and quality and motherboard quality etc etc then they are not good value.
Be careful about the battery. Most, if not all computer batteries are not guarenteed, or only so for a year. Of course mine died and I have not replaced it yet.
Thanks for bringing this topic up. I am aslo shopping for a laptop. Curious if anyone has tried the compaq, hp, gateway or emachine with the AMD 64 chip. Looks/Works great on the store display but need to talk to someone that owns one.
Good tip, thanks! I’m running SAS on XP Pro right now, and it works fine. Don’t think I’ll need much else. Only in academe can they provide you w/ a lab bench, a desk right next to it, but no PC on it!
I borrowed a HP similar to my current pc with an amd and was very dissapointed with its performance and battery life. Opening larger apps like Visual studio was slow and performance overall was not great.
"That’s probably the hardest part about this whole thing - I hate Dell, they’re great, buy HP, don’t buy HP - individual experiences are just so varied. "
Kind of like buying a bike!
I’m a big Dell fan too. I’ve owned 3 Dell laptops in the past 10 years and they’re great. The only problems I’ve had is one key on the keyboard came loose on me once (2 years after purchase) and Dell replaced the entire keyboard the very same day I called. Their support is excellent and that’s why I stick with them. Their telephone support is great too.
Whatever laptop you choose, just make sure you understand how the support and warranty work. If you run into a problem, you want to have an easy way to fix it. Sometimes you deal with the manufacturer and sometimes you deal with the store you bought it from.
Regarding “name brand” laptops/computers - I could not agree more with the fact that service is everything. The key is not the name on the box but the service you can get when you have an issue. I would encourage you to look into the service timelines on any notebook you purchase. Some local folks are approved to do local repairs which will save you from being without your unit for a substantial time.
One would assume that the “name brand” unit will provide more rapid/better post-sales support but that is not always the case. Find a local shop (check around for suggestions-don’t always go cheapest) and ask the questions like: 1) who do I call for service/support. 2) What happens if I need this thing repaired. 3) How long do reparis typically take.
“Name branding” on the unit itself doesn’t mean dick if you have to wait on hold to talk to a tech who after making you wait and try different “fixes” - tells you to send it to somewhere in TX or CA and that you should see it back in a few weeks. And when you get it back from a repair center, it will come back like new—that is in all likelihood wihtout any of you programs or data.
As for performance, nothing can beat the newer Centrino or Pentium M based units. They are worth the extra bucks for the extended battery life alone much less the fact that they tend to be lighter and “wireless”…
Feel free to PM me if you want more data or suggestions.
Anyhoo: I tried to use my grain matter, and made the trip to the library to check out what Consumer Reports have to say. Probably shouldn’t quote them as it’s a subscription website, but the long and short of it is that there are few differences between most ‘workhorse’ laptops as far as day-to-day performance is concerned. There are, however some interesting data on repair history on there (57000 CR subscribers were surveyed) in regards to frequency and quality of service. You may find this interesting if you’re shopping for a notebook. Check the 06/04 issue, page 44, 45, and the 12/04 issue, p. 44. I also found some good basic laptop buying tips on zdnet.com. IMHO, anyways.
I have a 2 year old Toshiba, My second, It hits all your spec’s but only 2.4 gig DVD burner, 2455 Satellite. My first one never died, A 300 pound Samoan stepped on it as a carry -on , it still works. I Highly recommend "the higher priced models "
You know what they say in business, right? “Nobody ever got fired for buying IBM” It’a true. I’ve owned a few IBM machines (laptops, workstations) and have built many IBM servers and have had very few issues with any of them. Can’t say the same for Compaq (now HP, although the new stuff is pretty good), Toshiba (great brand for laptops in general, but still more failures than IBM), or Dell (hate Dell - they make crap for anything higher end than a home-user system - and even those suck. They do have a really sweet 2mp 20" flatscreen monitor though…).
Macs are very nice machines. Generally well built, always stylish, and rarely lacking in power - but if your software won’t run natively on MacOS, you’re screwed. I say buy IBM.
