Whos makes the best Laptops??

[PMG]

Looking for a good laptop,whats everone using these days and who makes the best in your opinion..

 

[The Vector Doctor]

I favor the Mac laptops, always have been a Mac person.

The nice thing about the new Mac Intel laptops is you can also run Windows on them and have the best of both worlds on one machine.

 

[Pro Signs & Graphix]

Depends on what you want to do, and accomplish.

If you are looking just for...

Cost:
HP, Dell

Quality:
Toshiba, Sony

Battery life:
Sony

Picture:
Sony

Gaming:
Alien (I think), Dell

Durability:
Panasonic

We have been through all of these. We have been considering the new MAC, just for the hell of it, but it would not handle all of our work requirements - but still nice, and prices are reasonable (as compared to long time ago).

My personal notebook might as well be called a telephone book. It is the 17" Dell. Defintely not a laptop. Decent screen but very very cumbersome. Would never do another 17" again! The wife uses a Sony. Damned battery life is 6 hours, and it is three years old!!

I miss my Toshibas. Very reliable. Batteries just like everybody else - about 3 hours.

The advantage of Dell is being able to select options online, and click "buy". If financing is required - it is very easy also. Parts are also easy to get for Dell machines.

 

[Ken]

I was thinking a 17 inch screen would be good 'cause when you have a program like corel, photoshop or illustrator loaded, the toolbars, menus etc take up a lot of the viewable real estate, leaving a much smaller space to view the actual file you are working on. I'm also in the market for a laptop so that I can proof files on-site with my clients, and (hopefully) not do the back and forth file revisions. For this purpose, I dont see battery life being a problem. There will usually be electricity available.
I'm running 2 GB of ram on my desktop and would also like to have that on a mobile computer.
Ken

 

[Chad.]

I have had an HP zt3280 for almost 3 years now and the only thing i have ever had go wrong with it, is the toshiba hard drive that was in it crapped out. I replaced it, and not had a problem since. It has been a rock and i use it multiple hours a day. The battery life has greatly deminished, im only getting about 120 minute as opposed to the 4 hours i used to get.

Overall i would buy one again in a heartbeat.

 

[WYLDGFI]

We just picked up a 15.4"? Gateway Widescreen with an AMD X2 Turion. 2gb ram....pretty quick actually! Lots of storage as well. Dont forget, if you want you can always put it on a desk and hook up an external monitor to it as well. IMO...If youre looking for something mobile Mac Ibooks have the best battery life of about almost 4.5 hrs! And yes the intel macs can run xp

 

[djenurm]

I say the mac laptops too, for the price I wouldnt consider anything other than the iBook and for a high end machine, the macbook pro laptops build quality cant' be compared to anything else. The 17" is only an inch thick. A benefit in the shop is you will also be able to handle mac files from clients no problem.

Dave

 

[signage]

For PC based I would say IBM (Lenovo), warranties are transferable, most warranties are three years and you pay nothing if they need to go back. They send you a box to ship it out in and they return it. This is why most major corporations go with them.

 

[anothersign]

I have to go with

gateway or dell there next day on-site service is 2nd to none. At my full time job we all have gateways and for the money i dont think you can beat it. My gateway had hinge problems with the screen (3 years old and bounces around my car all day) i called gateway and had a new laptop the next day at 10am. My friend bought a hp with on-site service from best buy only to find out the on-site service dont start until the factory warrenty runs out until then he needs to ship it to hp. Thats a sack of sh*t in my eyes so i say gateway or dell.

 

[OldPaint]

the best is one i got....HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
SONY VAIO ....its 1.3 gig with a 40 gig h/d 1meg ram...
i got it for $600. does all i need. i had a an IBM THINKPAD......celeron....worst thing i ever owned....daytime you couldnt see the screen.

 

[2NinerNiner2]

Why play around with all those 'toys'... get a MacBook Pro, install Parallels $79.95 'Desktop for Mac' and run just about any OS ... simultaneously!

http://www.parallels.com/en/products/desktop/

Customer Review...

"i have been using PC all my life. i got tired of it because i have to keep going back Bestbuy for virus and worst of all, my hardware crash!
then i decided to take the switch and bought a macbook pro. i found out there are other software that won'... Read more >t run w/ the macOS environment. i read about the parallel from online and decided to give it try. it's really amazing...it's like you got 2 computers in one sitting. it's the best so far!!
i never regret taking the switch...buying the mac and getting the parallel! it's worth even to the last penny."

 

[bob]

Laptops are fungible, meaning that aside from personal prejudice, they're all fundamentally the same functionally. To hear some militant brand chauvinist or another rant how brand X or Y or Z is the best and all of the others are fashioned in the workshops of hell might give otherwise reasonable people pause, but that does not alter the inherent fungibility of this class of product.

Ever heard a Ford, GM, or Dodge truck fan carry on about the other two that it doesn't fancy? Complete with obligatory horror stories? Same thing with computers, there's just more of them.

 

[Greenthorn]

I would say the best laptop is the one Walmart/Circuit City/Best Buy is hopefully selling the day after Thanksgiving! Just get there early!

I am in need of a newer one, and as soon as the ads come out, I'll make my decision.

Of course these laptops aren't top of the line, but for the money, you really can't go wrong.

 

[iSign]

...based on me & the wife & our 2 laptops, I think I can identify the battery life, & overall cost, durability & quality variances of all models of all major brands... but since bob let everyone in on the fungability factor, I guess I wont.

 

[2NinerNiner2]

That's right Doug! And 'bob', I have even seen here online where the new Macs, properly configured, have to problem at all running 'Fungible 2.8.01', but only if the proper extensions and libraries have been loaded That will, in turn, make them the commodity that all computers have now become, right along side them there toaster ovens (the Proctor-Silex ones ROCK!

 

[JERHEMI]

I will never buy a computer from Best Buy, Circuit City, etc. because I want a computer built to my needs and not what some company thinks I might want and puts it all together and sells it in those stores. For the average Joe who isn't very knowledgable about computers who just "wants a computer" for the family or to do normal everyday things and to play games and such these stores selling these pre-built machines are perfect for you. But, for those who are "computer savy" will either build a kickbutt computer themselves for insanely cheap the way they want or if they don't want to do that and want to get a warranty and tech support they go to Dell or Gateway or Mac. Personally, I'm a Dell guy...all my pc's are Dell but one which is Gateway but I don't like it that much. I have a Dell 700m 12in notebook pc built strong as well that weighs only about 4 pounds which is pretty nice! Go to Dell.com and build the computer you need and know exactly what you are spending your money on and what you'd be wasting your money with what you don't need with a computer from Best Buy!

 

[mladams7259]

Toshiba all the way! I have three Toshiba laptops! They are the best. No problems at all with any of them. They are built great!

 

[MAB SIGNS]

Wasn't fungability one of Bill Oreilly's words on The Factor? Gateway or Dell are two I've used with great satisfaction. I do agree on building your own.

 

[geedub]

bob is correct, all laptops aside from casing, build quality, and personal preference, are all the same, there is really no brand that is any better than another brand, unless of course it comes to durability, then that goes to the panasonic toughbook, duh. And if it comes to "laptop that shouldn't quite be considered a laptop, but more of a monster widescreen tv with a keyboard" that would have to go to acer, with their 21" widescreen laptop, YIKES. Besides that, most other laptops are the same. And there's nothing important that you guys can do on a MAC that I can't do on a PC. Mac's don't offer the latest technology in computers either, so if you want a "graphic design" laptop and you want the most power available, a mac isn't going to give it to you.

 

[2NinerNiner2]

...And there's nothing important that you guys can do on a MAC that I can't do on a PC. Mac's don't offer the latest technology in computers either, so if you want a "graphic design" laptop and you want the most power available, a mac isn't going to give it to you.

...WOW! What a 180 degree from the pre- Intel Core Duo days, eh? That's the exact opposite of the mantra the Mac dudes used to chant! PC'ers are getting all defensive now that the Mac can run XP !