Looking to get a new laptop

If price is a consideration and you don't need lots of power the netbooks are great with a great price.

Most cheap name brands do a find job for the usual stuff, word processing etc.

If you need to work with graphics a lot spend some money it will save you time and frustration.

Windows 7 with 3-4 gig of memory will do most anything.

Watch for sales. Office Depot/Staples have some fair prices. Best Buy has good prices most of the time however watch the model numbers and check online to compare features. They have a habit of having lesser specs than the typical and draw you with low prices.

There are xp and Vista models online yet that are a bit cheaper.

Figure out what you want to use it for and go find something that will do it.

Most of the stuff in normal stores is pretty fair stuff.

 

When I was looking for one a few yrs ago, Trotter told me about Dell Vostro.. and I haven't regretted getting it!...

You have to go to the Dell business site to get it, but it was well worth the $600 we spent.

 

If you decide to check out the netbooks, I'd recommend you look at the Toshibas; they have just about a full-size keyboard, and have gotten relatively high marks on netbook comparisons.

 

We have always been pleased with Toshiba.
Just got one at Best Buy. They honored in-store the lower internet price.

 

Most ten inch netbooks have near full keyboard, a very important consideration.

We have three Asus units and are impressed with a couple and - ehhh - on the other one :laugh: It is okay though. I just picked up a Lenovo convertible and though the unit is fantastic their supply is the pits. I bought a long lasting battery that is an anchor and they won't supply the smaller battery, but it is a great unit. Has touch screen for finger painting/writing. S10-3T if anyone has need.

 

Just out of curiosity, why won't you get a Mac?

 

My daughter just got a Dell - 4 gig, Duo core, 500 mb, great computer. About $500.

I bought a HP with the same stuff about 1.5 years ago, great computer!

 

That's about what I paid for my first computer, AT&T, 256k chip (?) and 2 floppy drives, and a Diablo 630 impact printer. Printer still works. Anyone need one?

 

The screen went bad on my 17" HP laptop.
It was only 6 months old and developed small lines that ran down the screen.
After a month of hemming an hawing HP service denied coverage and refused to fix it.

I replaced it with a smaller 14" Gateway (i3).
The smaller laptop makes it lighter and much more portable.

I'll never purchase another HP product again.

Rob

 

we just bought a Toshiba from best buy and so far we are happy with it, still trying to figure out windows 7 stuff....I was surprised it didn't come with Microsoft office,,,is this the norm? they gave us a free trial but was wondering if I could get it free somewhere? :thumbsup:

**Becky**

 

Very few came with office but many came with Microsoft Works. Lots of trial versions of late offered.

there are a couple free to inexpensive office suites if you don't want to pay big bucks for MS. You can also pick up older MS versions on ebay if you aren't in a hurry.

http://www.softmaker.com/english/ is a fairly cheap option and if you sign up for their email they offer it cheaper off and on.

http://www.openoffice.org/ is a freebie and isn't bad.

There is another one, don't remember the name. You could google "free office suite" and see what you find.

Corel has Word Perfect but it is a bit spendy as well, less than MS though.

There is also MS home and student version that is cheaper if it has what you want for options. Cheaper than the full version.

 

ours didn't even come with MS works...which would probably be all I need..

 

Ya, they stopped putting works on year or two ago I'd guess. My laptop had it when I got it three years ago.

Last time I saw works it was around fifty dollars.

 

If you are a student, or one of your kids or spouse is a student, you can get MS Office at a huge discount.

http://www.microsoft.com/student/office/en-us/default.aspx

 

www.openoffice.org