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I'm looking for a used lap top, i've got about $350 us to spend...
I'm thinking of getting an apple but if not whats the best Windows lap top to get?
I'm not getting a Toshiba Satellite cause I had one once and it was a load of shit...
IBM think pad looks affordable and quality?
I personally have a FujitsuSiemens Amilo A1655G. It does the job it needs to do (mostly Matlab and 3D-CAD) excellent. It runs very smoothly and the sound quality is pretty good. The light weight and compact size makes it quite easy to carry too.
The motherboard broke though after three weeks because of a manufacturing fault. The service was excellent and it was picked up and delivered back, without loss of data, within three days all within warranty.
I heard a LOT of bad stories of HP laptops so I cant really suggest you those.
For your price range, Acer would be a good bet. If you can get what the Amilo like Drakkie said, then that would be more reliable.
I have an 12" Apple PowerBook G4 - and it has served me well and still does, I wouldn't dream of buying a PC after trying a mac - and best of all - you never have to be bothered by windows again. but you won't get much mac for 350, even a used one...
I wouldn't recommend Acer thou, they have crappy reliability and the WiFi antenna sucks. My Vaio had served me very well throughout the 2 years ownership and without a slightest hint of performance degrade. Well, you could have bought a top of the range Acer compared to my lowest range of Vaio and have degraded performance for the two years and would still outperform my Vaio... ahaa~
For something personal, I'd recommend Apple.
To me the Apple would be your best choice Spaz, if not, I've had my HP dv2000 dual core laptop for three months now a have nothing to complain about.
I've had a Toshiba M40X Sattelite for one year and and four months and I've never had any problem with it.
People who recommend an apple usually suck at computers. </rant>
Get a Dell. It offers the best bang for the buck.
[quote=Rockefella]
Get a Dell. It offers the best bang for the buck.[/quote]
Not always :) I've never seen another laptop with the specs mine has for the very low price of 550 euro :D
And it has 1.8 GHz,1024 MB Ram,Ai radeon 200m video card, DVD-writer etcetera etcetera...
[QUOTE=drakkie]Not always :) I've never seen another laptop with the specs mine has for the very low price of 550 euro :D[/QUOTE]
Thank you for proving my point.
[QUOTE=drakkie]The motherboard broke though after three weeks because of a manufacturing fault.[/QUOTE]
You were saying?
[quote=Rockefella]Thank you for proving my point.
You were saying?[/quote]
Three days and i had it back at no cost,with a free mouse as a compensation. Never heard of that service with Dell.
[QUOTE=drakkie]Three days and i had it back at no cost,with a free mouse as a compensation. Never heard of that service with Dell.[/QUOTE]
Dell doesn't ship laptops with motherboards that break.
I might be looking for a laptop as well. College is coming soon. I was thinking about a Sony Vaio. Any ideas on that?
[QUOTE=NSXType-R]I might be looking for a laptop as well. College is coming soon. I was thinking about a Sony Vaio. Any ideas on that?[/QUOTE]
Two of my friends have, well, bought Sony Vaio's, one a laptop, the other a PC a couple years ago. They're good and all, but they're too expensive to justify the price.
Last summer Hewlett-Packard had some great deals on laptops at distributors like Best Buy, so look out for that in the near future. What I usually do is go to the company websites and customize the laptop/computer the way I want it, and then look around those online-coupon websites. From the few manufacturers that I was looking at, Dell gave me what I wanted for the best price.
Thanks for the tip.:)
All I can say is, anything but HP. We've never had any of their computers, but that's because their printers are so bad that we don't even want to know what their computers are like...
We have always had IBM's. They're slow to start up because of all the extras IBM put on there, but are strong and run well, and are reliable. There's a reason these are favorites with companies worldwide (although I understand that this was sold to some Chinese company, so the recent ones are probably POS's too.)
I also can say that Dell laptops from ca. 2000-2004 aren't a terribly good choice. In my Dad's time as a quality control director for IBM's (and later Hitatchi's) Hard Drive division, he was getting an alarming hard drive failure rate in the Dells. The reason? Dell placed the hard drive right under the spot where most people rest their wrists. Some put a lot of pressure there, and POOF! there went the drives.
[QUOTE=palmedrengen]I have an 12" Apple PowerBook G4 - and it has served me well and still does, I wouldn't dream of buying a PC after trying a mac - and best of all - you never have to be bothered by windows again. but you won't get much mac for 350, even a used one...[/QUOTE]
[url]http://www.trademe.co.nz/Computers/Apple/Laptops/auction-86578947.htm[/url] This is only 50 dollars NZ over my price range, and would suit my needs fine...prices cheaper in NZ perhaps?
Thanks for the advice guys BTW. I'm thinking IBM Think-pad so far if I don't buy an apple. IBM products look solid enough and specs look ok too.
Oh, one more important thing to add to this thread..
90% of the time, it's not the computer, it's the user.
looks like i'm getting an apple, mums given me some money to get one sooooo
i'll just buy one?
I like Apple's products, and I don't suck at computers. On the Windows side of things, Dells seem to be pretty good.
Apple, though, would be my choice.
[QUOTE=Spastik_Roach]looks like i'm getting an apple, mums given me some money to get one sooooo
i'll just buy one?[/QUOTE]
Go for it Spaz, you won't regret it. I still have my trusty 6 year old iMac, I can't seem to part with it. :)
[QUOTE=jcp123]All I can say is, anything but HP. We've never had any of their computers, but that's because their printers are so bad that we don't even want to know what their computers are like....[/QUOTE]
My experience with HP has been totaly different. I have a m7540la desktop at home and a dv2000 at the office and haven't had a single problem with them since I got them.
As far as the printers go, I have two HP PSC All in one printers that have also worked flawlessly. To bad you've had bad luck with HP.
[url]http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=86822478[/url] Just bought this little beauty :)
Bit out of my price range but oh well.
HP - Huh? Print?! :p
My HP printer has served me pretty well...the catridges are expensive but thats to be expected with printers I guess.
[IMG]http://www.a-zcomputerhandel.de/images/content/hp_deskjet_5550.gif[/IMG]
[QUOTE=Spastik_Roach]My HP printer has served me pretty well...the catridges are expensive but thats to be expected with printers I guess.[/QUOTE]
Lulz, I have the same printer. I like it, it matches my PC and does a good job.
I've never had any problems with HP printers either, having used one older (Deskejet 720C) and one newer (some photo inkjet). Also the one HP laptop I've used is a rather sturdy machine. It's not an IBM but good anyway. With an older HP scanner I had some driver issues a while ago but for those I blame Windows XP.
I have a Vaio. bought it 2003. Still going strong. 2.8ghz P4 and I upgraded to 1GB of RAM. I took it on two overseas deployments with not problems. I've also spilled an entire glass of water onto the keyboard while it was running. On accident of course. That was over a year ago. It's still running great. The DVD rom drive is having some issues though. But, I've never had any other problems with it.
In order from crap hardware to quality hardware and good build quality*
all the rest<Toshiba<IBM<Apple
Do NOT underestimate build quality. It's an important feature since you'll be lugging that machine around. Nothing as annoying as a flimsy plastic laptop that weighs a ton.
The best you can get is a ThinkPad, they've always been the best. Even better than Apples when it comes to build quality but than again, they don't run the MacOS so that's were they lose points.
I own a ThinkPad X23 as my secondary computer (primary being a Mac) it's great, is weighs very light and great build quality. Has never let me down.