Buying a new Laptop. Which would you buy?

[Bobblehead]

Toshiba has some good machines and some bad ones. A couple years ago they designed the cooling fan's intake on the bottom of the machine and it acted like a dustvac picking up every piece of dust and lint in the area. Other machines have been solid.

I've always liked the IBM Thinkpad line, but they are a bit out of your price range. From the techs I have spoken with, the business class laptops are much better built but you pay for that. On the consumer grade class be sure you get the warranty; they are built to be as inexpensive as possible and the quality sometimes reflects that.

[bluejays]

Originally Posted by fleury

After much ranting about Futureshop, my sister needed a laptop and wanted one pretty fast (within the day), so I helped her look for one and found one for an alright price (I did say I would not buy from Futureshop in the near future, but I didn't say others close to me wouldn't . Anyway, here's the one that she got. I thought it was a good deal, and I've always liked Toshiba when it came to laptops. The 640m that others posted was another really really good bang for buck deal too, and that was one of my considerations, but it would take a week to get it which was not viable at the time. In addition to the pricetag for the 640m, you can find some nice coupons on redflagdeals to go with it. It was up there a week and a half back...check out that site too.

Quoting myself, but another thing I forgot to mention, if you're going to FS to get it, the sales people push extremely hard for you to get the extended warrenty. My sis wanted the computer, so I decided to try and wheel and deal the customer service guy into getting an even better deal. It didn't work, but they tried selling their in-store warrenty ($300 extra dollars for a 3 year deal on a $900 laptop). So I say to the guy, I'll take my chances, knowing that to buy the extended warrenty would be assuming there's a 30% defect rate, which is ridiculously high. His response...statistically, there's a 33% defect rate among laptops within the first year. What a joke. Does this guy think customers are fools? We just took the laptop and checked out. Oh, and in between helping us out, he receives a call on his cellphone, tells us to hold on a few minutes, and comes back 15 minutes later! Ridiculous. But yeah, back on topic those extended warrenties are a scam.

[mykalberta]

I have a Toshiba Tecra S2 - work - not a cheap notebook at the time and I dont seem to have any issues with it. The only complaint is the heat output is to the left on the side and if you put a cold drink next to it, it isnt cold for much longer.

PS: People who quote themselves are wwwwicked

MYK

[Top Shelf]

I feel compelled to also add that I think the IBM thinkpad's are some of the best laptops around. Yes, the new one's are expensive. However, if you can find someone willing to part with a used one, jump on it. Those things are like little tanks, they just last forever.

I work a lot supporting laptops, and the most annoying thing is when you are typing away on the keyboard and the bottom of your hand lightly grazes the god damn touch pad! Suddenly you've got 15 windows open and accidentally sent an all staff email to everyone about what you're going to be doing that Friday.

Yeah, the thinkpad's rock for that reason alone, no touchpad.

[jolinar of malkshor]

Thanks for all the suggestions guys. I still haven't decided yet.

[Deelow]

Make a decision yet? I'm curious beacuse I'm looking too. That decent dell deal seems to have expired now.

[Rathji]

For a laptop, get a Dell. Pricewise is pretty good. I just bought my secondary laptop and one for my wife for 1400$ for both.

[jolinar of malkshor]

Originally Posted by Deelow

Make a decision yet? I'm curious beacuse I'm looking too. That decent dell deal seems to have expired now.

Still haven't yet.

I actually went to three different locations over the last couple of weeks and was prepared to buy one. But the service was sooooo bad I had to just walk out of the place.

Went to future shop.....asked a guy for help and he said sure I will be right with you. 45 mins later he still wasn't back so I left.

Went to the Source downtown first thing in the morning one day....there was three sales people standing behind the counter yaking about what they did last weekend. No one else in the store but me. I stood in the computer section for about 5 minutes waiting for help...I even stood staring at them...they looked at me a few times but never came over to offer help so I left.

Went to Bestbuy...there was only two people working in the computer section and they were very busy. I waited for about 30 mins until one of them was able to help. They only had like 6 laptops to choose from. I had checked the website for this one computer and it said that location had some. Of course the one that I wanted...they couldn't find. The computer said they had 5 yet the sales man could not find any of them.

So that is where I am right now.

[Bobblehead]

It's Dell's 10 Business Days of Deals right night now so you may want to keep an eye on there if any killer deals come up.

(Today thay have an 250 GB external Harddrive for $89, and a 750 GB SATA Drive for $349)

[Deelow]

http://www.amazon.com/Sony-VGN-S660-.../dp/B000FMQVMY
I can get this unit at Staples for $997.00. Regular almost $1300 according to the tag.
Anyone think that's a good deal? There's only one left.
I expect to see some decent deals on XP machines over the next while.

[ken0042]

If anybody's looking for a cheap laptop, I just came across this one at FS:
http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/pro...E6BD2DF755E115

[Deelow]

Found this one at RFD.
I just got one put on hold actually.
http://www.redflagdeals.com/forums/s...d.php?t=405558

Hey guys, I thought id share this deal with you all, which i always try to do. Seems pretty hot for a core2duo.

EDIT: You get a Free HP printer, $99.99, part is instant , the other part is mir of 78 dollars.


Specs:

Lenovo 3000 N100 Core2Duo
1.83Ghz
1GB
100GB
15.4
DVDRW XPH.

Regular Price: $1299.99
Whole bunch of INSTANT rebates adding: 500

Final Price: $799.99

These are at compusmart, they are tryin to clear them out!

[Top Shelf]

Originally Posted by Deelow

Found this one at RFD.
I just got one put on hold actually.
http://www.redflagdeals.com/forums/s...d.php?t=405558

Hey guys, I thought id share this deal with you all, which i always try to do. Seems pretty hot for a core2duo.

EDIT: You get a Free HP printer, $99.99, part is instant , the other part is mir of 78 dollars.


Specs:

Lenovo 3000 N100 Core2Duo
1.83Ghz
1GB
100GB
15.4
DVDRW XPH.

Regular Price: $1299.99
Whole bunch of INSTANT rebates adding: 500

Final Price: $799.99

These are at compusmart, they are tryin to clear them out!

Good call man, I'm posting this from my new Lenovo as well!

It is a really, really good deal for the specs. Core 2 Duo!

Good luck if anyone tries to find one.

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by jolinar of malkshor

Still haven't yet.

I actually went to three different locations over the last couple of weeks and was prepared to buy one. But the service was sooooo bad I had to just walk out of the place.

Went to future shop.....asked a guy for help and he said sure I will be right with you. 45 mins later he still wasn't back so I left.

Went to the Source downtown first thing in the morning one day....there was three sales people standing behind the counter yaking about what they did last weekend. No one else in the store but me. I stood in the computer section for about 5 minutes waiting for help...I even stood staring at them...they looked at me a few times but never came over to offer help so I left.

Went to Bestbuy...there was only two people working in the computer section and they were very busy. I waited for about 30 mins until one of them was able to help. They only had like 6 laptops to choose from. I had checked the website for this one computer and it said that location had some. Of course the one that I wanted...they couldn't find. The computer said they had 5 yet the sales man could not find any of them.

So that is where I am right now.

Forget the big box retail stores. Hit up one of the dedicated computer stores in Calgary.

www.memoryexpress.net
www.bcom.ab.ca

But I've got to admit, those Lenovo's sound good for the price!

[bluejays]

Originally Posted by Top Shelf

Good call man, I'm posting this from my new Lenovo as well!

It is a really, really good deal for the specs. Core 2 Duo!

Good luck if anyone tries to find one.

Damn right! Just found this thread (the one day I don't look at CP), called a couple stores here in Ontario, and they said all in Ontario are sold out. Damn it. What a steal.

[MoneyGuy]

Originally Posted by fleury

...those extended warrenties are a scam.

Agreed totally. Extended warranties are one of my biggest annoyances with retailers. I've sometimes told a sales guy that if he even mentions an extended warranty to me, the deal if off and I leave the store. They're bad insurance.