Yet Another Laptop Thread

[Pagal4321]

Hello O Wise Members of CP...

I'm trying to find a computer for my dad, he would be primarily using it strictly for his work, so the only thing he would be looking for is an overall reliable laptop. Nothing too fancy in a price range under 1200. I've just been deciding between a buying a laptop from Memory Express or a Dell (just because of the warranty). How are the Acer and Asus laptops?

Thanks in advance.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by Pagal4321

Hello O Wise Members of CP...

I'm trying to find a computer for my dad, he would be primarily using it strictly for his work, so the only thing he would be looking for is an overall reliable laptop. Nothing too fancy in a price range under 1200. I've just been deciding between a buying a laptop from Memory Express or a Dell (just because of the warranty). How are the Acer and Asus laptops?

Thanks in advance.

I sell a lot of acer's to my client base and they seem to be pretty solid and pretty feature rich.

I din't like Asus very much.

If I was buying a laptop, I'd stick to tier 1 (HP, Lenova)

or tier 2 (Dell, Acer etc)

[Incinerator]

Dell Inspiron 1501, Dual-core AMD under $1000.

[STeeLy]

I would actually recommend Asus over Acer.

My friend's Acer laptop. In a span of about 3 months, he had to send his laptop in 3 separate times. But he puts a lot of programs in there so it's probably his fault.

My friend's asus has been ok ever since he bought it.

I personally use NEC, but u can't buy their laptops here in Canada.

[Table 5]

speaking of laptops, apple users note that there is a new macbook pro out with an led screen.

[photon]

We've had Acers in the office for a long time and they've been very good.

A few friends have Dells and have been happy with them.

There's some HPs for sale for good prices at FutureShop and Best Buy right now I think too.

[Bobblehead]

I've erad that Acer quality really varies between models. Some are solid, others seem to have issues. Just do a bit of research on your particular model and you should be good.

Personally I swear by Lenovo Thinkpads. they can be a bit pricier, but the money goes to quality components.

Laptop techs I've spoken with say to stick with the business class laptops. Consumer laptops have had so many corners cut to make the price attractive that the rate of problems and cost to repair are much higher.

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

If I was buying a laptop, I'd stick to tier 1 (HP, Lenova)

or tier 2 (Dell, Acer etc)

A big consideration for me between Tier 1 and 2 is case material. If a Lenovo and a Dell get into a head on car accident the Lenovo will be fine and the Dell will be in pieces.

If your dad is moving it around a lot (work to home or travel for work) it's pretty important to consider. If it's just sitting on a desk most of the time it obviously doesn't matter as much.

[Biff]

I have bought and sold probably 180 laptops. Hands down for reliability, quality of engineering, support, cost effectiveness and overall satisfaction it's been Dell over and over. Inspiron 1501 are nice...just bought 5 of 'em. I don't agree with placing Dell as a tier 2. If anything, there typically well ahead of HP and Lenova in terms of current feature set (it's a function of the build to order rather than setting a product model every 3 months).

Order a Dell online or at a mall kiosk. You'll be fine.

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by Biff

If anything, there typically well ahead of HP and Lenova in terms of current feature set

Something tells me you may not have much experience with Lenovo laptops.

[metal_geek]

Originally Posted by STeeLy

I would actually recommend Asus over Acer.

I second that... I've had alot of success with the asus laptops vs. Acer and Toshiba...

As another consideration. If your dad is gonna be moving around with it.. Avoid the wide screens if possible, they add to the size in a confined area like a vehicle..
________
LovelyWendie

[FlamingLonghorn]

Originally Posted by hulkrogan

A big consideration for me between Tier 1 and 2 is case material. If a Lenovo and a Dell get into a head on car accident the Lenovo will be fine and the Dell will be in pieces.

If your dad is moving it around a lot (work to home or travel for work) it's pretty important to consider. If it's just sitting on a desk most of the time it obviously doesn't matter as much.

we talking dell inspiron or dell latitude?

[Biff]

Originally Posted by hulkrogan

Something tells me you may not have much experience with Lenovo laptops.

My bad for the spelling mistake. Haven't bought Lenovo for a couple of years...but much experience with IBM branded thinkpads over the years.

[Pagal4321]

Thanks for the input guys....
I am leaning towards Dell strictly because of their warranty, in that if my dad has issues with his laptop he can go directly to them, as he isn't very technically inclined.

Say I've got it down to either the Inspiron 6400 or 1501...is the diference in Memory and Video Card that significant??

http://www1.ca.dell.com/content/prod...dt1&l=en&s=bsd

[enthused]

I have an acer laptop, not quite sure of the model off the top of my head since I am not on it right now, but I have had no problems with it in the two years I have had it. I'm a university student so all I use it for is writing papers, surfing the net, watching movies and the occasional music download. I'm not sure how it would hold up for anything too intense, but for the basic things that I do it works just dandy!

[llama64]

I currently use a Toshiba Tecra A3 from about 3 years ago. I've put the thing through way too much abuse and yet it's still fully working. Course, you need to watch the software creep as alot of the Toshiba utilities have some issues.

My wife has a newer HP laptop I bought back in Feburary. It's quite nice as a piece of hardware. The Vista OS on it on the otherhand...

Were I to buy a new one to replace the Toshiba, I'd probably pick a new HP, if I don't decide to do the Apple thing. Too bad the hardware in Apples are over priced compared to the PC world.

[ken0042]

Just glanced at it, but to me it looks like the more expensive one shares the video memory with the main memory.

[Bobblehead]

Originally Posted by Pagal4321

Thanks for the input guys....
I am leaning towards Dell strictly because of their warranty, in that if my dad has issues with his laptop he can go directly to them, as he isn't very technically inclined.

Say I've got it down to either the Inspiron 6400 or 1501...is the diference in Memory and Video Card that significant??

http://www1.ca.dell.com/content/prod...dt1&l=en&s=bsd

The big difference there is the processor, both of those are a bit older tech, but may be okay for him.

What specifically does he do on his laptop? If it is simply Office then this may be fine, but if he uses some programs that need a bit more power then he may not be satisfied. Does he travel a lot, or just between home and office (that is to figure out if weight/batter life is important)?

I've heard lots of people complain that they didn't get a fast enough system, but I rarely hear anyone say their system is too fast.

Figure out a budget, then find the best computer you can for that price.

[Pagal4321]

Bobble,

He uses his laptop just for work....that is usually MS Office and then a bunch of financial programs. But I assume none of those require anything significant out of his computer seeing as he is using my old beat up computer right now. And I want to put XP on his machine.
He works out of home and would only take this laptop with him to meetings, if and when he has them.

So the only big issues would be battery life, wireless connectivity and ease of use.

[FlamingLonghorn]

Originally Posted by ken0042

Just glanced at it, but to me it looks like the more expensive one shares the video memory with the main memory.

Any hypermemory is going to share some of the main memory both of them are probably 50% on board and 50% main....