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I wanting to get a laptop any suggestions...


capstone21

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I am looking for some suggestions...from people who like or don't like theirs.

It really depends on your needs. I doubt you are a hard core gamer so there's no need for a massively high end system. If your needs are more along the lines of a business class laptop from the Dell refurb store which is basically the laptops that they get back from business leases. For less than $500 you'll get a laptop that is plenty powerful.

The big things to look for are getting a glossy screen, a serial ATA hard drive (7200 rpm if you can), 1gb of RAM (or more), wireless network adapter, etc.

If you can find one, the XPS class of laptops are great, although with a 17" screen they can get a little heavy if you carry them around a lot.

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On the other hand . . . . if you are in to graphics and design etc, Apple is just amazing. Probably pay more, but they are truly a work of art. My daughter has one and she has just fallen in love with it.

They are very nice looking and function quite well, but you certainly don't need them for graphics and design as all of the Adobe suite runs quite well on the PC and there are TONS of plug-ins for the PC versions of those tools that you won't find on the Mac.

I can see the benefit of having an iMac since they don't take up much room because of the entire computer being built into the screen, but their laptops are grossly overpriced IMO.

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I actually just bought a new laptop during tax free weekend. I ended up with a macbook, i was going to go with a PC, but the fact that Vista was not working properly with the DJ software i was using pretty much made my choice. I've had a Dell laptop for like 6 years, i had no problems with it except that its just time for an upgrade and i didnt wanna lug that laptop when im at DJ gigs, it was kinda embarassing. I still use the dell at home to edit sound files and for downloading, but the mac is what i use for everything else now. It really depends what you are planning on using your laptop for.

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I actually just bought a new laptop during tax free weekend. I ended up with a macbook, i was going to go with a PC, but the fact that Vista was not working properly with the DJ software i was using pretty much made my choice. I've had a Dell laptop for like 6 years, i had no problems with it except that its just time for an upgrade and i didnt wanna lug that laptop when im at DJ gigs, it was kinda embarassing. I still use the dell at home to edit sound files and for downloading, but the mac is what i use for everything else now. It really depends what you are planning on using your laptop for.

Good point about Vista. I would only get a PC if I had the means to put XP Media Center Edition on it. Vista blows and hopefully Windows Seven won't take too much longer to come around to replace it.

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I have a Dell Inspiron 1720. I reallly like it. At some point I am going to have to dedicate a weekend to removing Vista and installing XP. There are just too many strange issues with Vista.

The only thing that I would change on my computer is that I got the High Resolution screen. That was a mistake for 40 year old eyes. The fonts are just too small. Bumping up the resolution doesn't work very well because things start displaying strangely.

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as mentioned, it depends on what you want it for. If you're just looking for "a laptop" pick up your local sale circulars (bestbuy, circuit city, etc) and find a good deal. They are ALL basically the same and you'll get a great price on an HP/Compaq, gateway, acer, etc. You can find something that will be comparably spec'd with anything else (dell, apple) for much less. There may be mail in rebates, but as long as you actually do them, you'll get a better deal that way than anything else. I've been an IT consultant for going on 20 years and this is all I have ever done.

The next step up with either be a Dell or Mac. You're going to pay more for either, but you end up getting more in terms of components. If you're familiar with Windows and have no complaints (not other peoples misguided, misinformed complaints) then you probably want to stick with it. Vista is a fine operating system, in fact it's the best operating sytsem they've ever made and is comparable with anything else you're going to get, including the latest release of leopard. Most people who run around dogging Vista have never used it! The few who dog it and have either:

1. Installed betatest releases and expected them to work like full, retail releases

2. Installed it on a system that was not capable of running it effectively or didn't have the proper hardware drivers

3. Bought a system that came with it and simply didn't have the specs to run it properly. Early on lots of manufacturers were putting it on systems that simply shouldn't have had it installed.

If you buy a system today, out of the box, with Vista, you will not have any problems. What many forget or refuse to consider is that it is a completely new operating system. Many of the same issues that came about when XP was introduced are being experienced again. It's what happens when you make such major changes and redesigns. Apple has had similar problems with their OS when doing the same. It's just reality in the modern computing world.

As for a Mac, they make wonderfully designed and engineered hardware, but in the end, what's inside a mac is the exact same things you'll find in every other top rated system on the market. They just do a much better job than most at packaging it and you do pay a premium for that. On the operating system side, it's not Windows. Don't expect it to be. It's going to be completely different than anything you've used (unless you've used a mac before!). If you want it for basic web functions (browsing, email, music, etc) and to use the software that comes with it (they give you a lot of free stuff!), you'll have a wonderful experience. If you have pre-existing Windows apps that you want to use, you may well be out of luck. Ignore comments from people who say "you can install windows on a mac!". Unless you're a techie type guy, don't bother. That's like having someone tell you you can buy a Honda civic and make it perform like a Porsche. Sure you can, but unless you know more than the average car owner, it's never going to be the same.

Otherwise just make sure you get good specs. You need at least 2gb of ram, don't go with just one 1gb. Also make sure you go with a core2duo processor (not a pentium D, or any of the celeron derivitives).

One last alternative I'll mention. If you just want something small, compact to use for web surfing around the house or on small distance trips, consider a UMPC (ultra-mobile pc). These are notebooks that are smaller than (about half the size) of a traditional laptop. THey have 8"-10" screens, no harddrive, no cd drive, etc etc. They usually come with 8-12gb of integrated solid state storage (no moving parts to break if dropped) and are made for light, on the go connectivity. Companies like Asus (EEEpc), MSI (wind) etc are all making these and Dell also has one in the works. I think Compaq and others are making them a well. You can usually find one of these starting at $299.

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Chilz I respect your idea that Vista is just new and has to have the kinks worked out, but I do have to say that after about 7 months of Vista vs. XP, I like XP better. Vista has a strange problem of not recovering properly from sleep mode. I never experienced that with XP. I believe that my current Inspiron is more than enough computer for Vista. I have 3 gigs of ram, dual-core processors (2.2 gig hrtz? can't rememmber right now). However, I have to constantly recorver the computer from an "unexpected" shutdown after it goes into sleep mode. Its really frustrating.

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Chilz I respect your idea that Vista is just new and has to have the kinks worked out, but I do have to say that after about 7 months of Vista vs. XP, I like XP better. Vista has a strange problem of not recovering properly from sleep mode. I never experienced that with XP. I believe that my current Inspiron is more than enough computer for Vista. I have 3 gigs of ram, dual-core processors (2.2 gig hrtz? can't rememmber right now). However, I have to constantly recorver the computer from an "unexpected" shutdown after it goes into sleep mode. Its really frustrating.

Thats spooky. I have the exact same specs on a brand new Inspiron 1525 with Vista and experience the exact same problem. It drives me bananas. Sometimes when I sleep it I open it back up and its like it restarted. OR, sometimes it completely crashes and says restart in safe mode or whatever. When I click Hibernate, it sleeps, and when I hit shut down, occasionally it hibernates. Thats the only issue I have with vista and otherwise I have a great computer (3gb, 250gb, 2.1 dualcore)

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Chilz I respect your idea that Vista is just new and has to have the kinks worked out, but I do have to say that after about 7 months of Vista vs. XP, I like XP better. Vista has a strange problem of not recovering properly from sleep mode. I never experienced that with XP. I believe that my current Inspiron is more than enough computer for Vista. I have 3 gigs of ram, dual-core processors (2.2 gig hrtz? can't rememmber right now). However, I have to constantly recorver the computer from an "unexpected" shutdown after it goes into sleep mode. Its really frustrating.

It's not a "vista problem", it's that your hardware doesn't have drivers that will allow some part of it to recover gracefully. Update your drivers (motherboard/chipset and video most likely, could also be wireless network card related, which happens often) and the issue will likely be fixed. Being that it's a Dell, if you go to support.dell.com and put in your service tag, it will take you to the correct download location for all the drivers your system needs.

The

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It's not a "vista problem", it's that your hardware doesn't have drivers that will allow some part of it to recover gracefully. Update your drivers (motherboard/chipset and video most likely) and the issue will likely be fixed. Being that it's a Dell, if you go to support.dell.com and put in your service tag, it will take you to the correct download location for all the drivers your system needs.

The

The????

service tag is on the underside I believe?

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The????

service tag is on the underside I believe?

hmm not sure what that was. Yes you can usually find the service tag on the bottom of the system. It'll be a 8 character or so tag. Just go to the link I posted and put that in and it'll take you where you need to go.

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The few who dog it and have either:

1. Installed betatest releases and expected them to work like full, retail releases

2. Installed it on a system that was not capable of running it effectively or didn't have the proper hardware drivers

3. Bought a system that came with it and simply didn't have the specs to run it properly. Early on lots of manufacturers were putting it on systems that simply shouldn't have had it installed.

I certainly respect your opinion but I disagree that those are the only categorized users of Vista. I have used Vista quite extensively and I greatly prefer Windows Media Center Edition 2005. It has all of the media functions of Vista but runs much more efficiently like XP. I think there is a 4th category of people that just don't like it and that's where I fit in.

Also, if Vista was such a success they wouldn't be working double time on Windows Seven trying to replace it.

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I certainly respect your opinion but I disagree that those are the only categorized users of Vista. I have used Vista quite extensively and I greatly prefer Windows Media Center Edition 2005. It has all of the media functions of Vista but runs much more efficiently like XP. I think there is a 4th category of people that just don't like it and that's where I fit in.

Also, if Vista was such a success they wouldn't be working double time on Windows Seven trying to replace it.

I guess it depends on what you run it on for personal experience. On the systems I run it on, it performs wonderfully and is every bit comparable to XP from a performance standopint. Though I had many of the issues that other people have had when I was installing beta releases. I just knew what to expect and didn't blame Microsoft for going out on my own to install an unfinished product. I've also elected to use it on my MC's (two) as mc05 is no longer supported or being updated. MC05 is a dead end to me. Few people are even making plugins for it or updating old plugins. Though to be honest, I'm working on dumping Media Center entirely and moving to SageTV. Media Center is never going to get the support it needs to compete with a dedicated media center product. Though once the Directv/Dish HD tuners for media center come out, I may have to rethink that decision. Then again, Sage will likely have support as well!

Most people said the same thing about XP when it came out (vs. 98SE). Some people just don't like change and rather than form succinct reasons for disliking something they just say "it sucks". I'm not saying that's you, by any stretch, but when it comes to the computing world, I know how the "average user" responds to certain things and how fickle they are when they have problems, even when those problems are by their own doing.

The only reason Vista isn't a "success" is because the average person doesn't think for themselves and isn't interested in forming their own opinions. This is true in every aspect of life, be it computers or politics. They hear reports from people who shouldn't be giving them, people who tried to install it on systems that shouldn't have it or people who simply expected every old piece of hardware they had to work flawlessly, despite being told for a year that it might not work. Once the negative image is planted, it's there to stay. The latest round of Vista advertisements only highlight this. They pull people in and ask them for their opinions on Vista. Naturally they're all mostly negative. Then they have them try their "new" operating system, Windows Zephyr. THey ooh and ahh at the interface updates, the graphical enhacements and how well everything works. Naturally they're shocked when they're told that it's just Vista. I think they're perfect commercials because that's the exact same experiences I've had with clients and customers that I purchase systems for. I no longer let them have XP. After a couple of weeks of use, most of them come back and say they really like it. Of the few that say they still prefer XP, none of them have been able to actually tell me why. It's always "I just like XP better". In those cases I just have to smile and shrug. Again, I'm not saying that applies to you, but when ran on a system designed for it it's hard to see how anyone can have valid complaints about the OS. Other than performance issues it's still so similar to XP that after a few hours of use most people don't even notice anymore.

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This debate can go on and on and on and on...like Ford/Chevy or John Deere/whatever...its eternal.

Thanks chillz. That particular "feature" makes me go crazy sometimes.

no problem, I actually looked around on google and found that for the model you have, this is a common issue that can be fixed by a bios update from Dell. Others have worked around it by changing power settings for the wireless netowrk adapter.

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ok, I will definitely try to fix that. I can program sites like crazy but when it comes to hardware etc I am like a an angolan playing olympic b-ball.

what's your line of work chillz?

you make a good point on vista, everyone's neg. opinion is just based off of someone else's.

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It's not a "vista problem", it's that your hardware doesn't have drivers that will allow some part of it to recover gracefully. Update your drivers (motherboard/chipset and video most likely, could also be wireless network card related, which happens often) and the issue will likely be fixed. Being that it's a Dell, if you go to support.dell.com and put in your service tag, it will take you to the correct download location for all the drivers your system needs.

The

Makes sense. I will try updating when I get home.

I have to say the older I get the less and less I am inclined to deal with moronic computer crap like this. I would rather the damn thing work and me not have to go searching for hardware workarounds, bios flashes, etc. Life is just too short to deal with that sort of stuff.

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