cruz Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 Okay guys, I am planning on buying a laptop soon and will be going through QVC to do so, this way I can pay it in 4 monthly installments and don't need to break the bank to do it. I want a toshiba laptop, I hear the quality is good. I want to go with a 2G model. Is this enough? In reality, the only thing I will be using it for is sharing photos and internet use. I have a photobucket account so I don't think I will need to store and keep so many pictures in the laptop. I will also have I-tunes with all my music and stuff in it. I am not a big computer guru, to tell you guys the truth, they kinda intimidate me but I need to own my own and it's the right time for me to buy. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. What do you guys currently have? Are you happy with it? What is really the best brand or the most reliable? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clay Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 Marcos, I recently bought a new laptop. An HP Pavillion. Not sure of the model number though. I got it on sale at Staples for $599. It came with 4gigs of ram. And its a studio laptop meaning it has the full keyboard. I will look later to see what model it is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrObsessive Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 Cruz, I just got a new Dell Studio laptop recently (typing this post with it) and I couldn't be happier! I got it through the job as where I work has a liaison with Dell as we can get them a bit cheaper. I'm running 3GB of RAM with a 250 GB hard disc..............I strongly suggest the 3GB's if you can afford it. Over time as you add music (and especially programs) the computer can begin to slow down with programs hanging up on you. I still have my other 'puter (Dell Dimensions desktop) and recently had to add 2 extra GB's to the RAM as 1 GB was just not enough------especially with power hungry Vista. Now it runs like a champ------better than new! Another thing, I advise getting something in your hard drive called a "free fall sensor" (ask the sales rep). What this does is if the laptop senses a sudden drop, the heads in the hard disc will retract saving your data. When laptops get dropped, they may look fine, but when you go to boot up------the hard disc has crashed! Not a good thing. Hope all this helps Bro........and go get that laptop! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfhess Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 (edited) I bought a Compaq laptop from WalMart last year for $500 and am very happy with it. Not sure of the hard drive capacity but there is more than enough. I have some friends who own Toshiba laptops and they have nothing but trouble with them. Edited February 19, 2009 by sfhess Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruz Posted February 19, 2009 Author Share Posted February 19, 2009 I bought a Compaq laptop from WalMart last year for $500 and am very happy with it. Not sure of the hard drive capacity but there is more than enough. I have some friends who own Toshiba laptops and they have nothing but trouble with them. Wow!! Thanks for the input guys. It's funny you say that your Compaq has not given you troubles, I have a friend telling me the complete opposite. He bought his through his company and it was suppose to be the top of the line but said he had the worst experience in dealing with Compaq. I guess that with any computer some people will have good and bad things to say.... Also have another griend that tells me to stay away from Compaq and HP. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B-dub Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 OKie dokie... here is my advice... STAY AWAY FROM ACER... I mean seriously.. they are over priced.. have nothing in them .. and are just crappy machines.. Dell.. is okay but somewhat overpriced if you buy them when they are not onsale.. HP great machines.. and always having random sales.. mine is just plain awesome and cost less than any other on this list and is better than any other I priced.. compared to a dell of = performance and features it was 1/3 the price... and as for toshiba it was about 1/2 the price.. but note, I got it onsale.. Toshiba are cool .. I know a lot of people that have them and they are nice from what I can see.. just research them.. one of their lines SUCK.. they are seriously like a prehistoric laptop.. TISK TISK on cutting corners... seeing as compaq/hp are somewhat the same (from what I've heard..) then it may be okay but I have NEVER.. EVER...EVER EVER EVER seen a decent compaq.. maybe if you have it built up.. in my opinion the only thing worse is an ACER LOL.. oh and this sounds like I'm biased towards HP .. well I'm not.. I love dell a lot.. but when it comes down to it.. for the price.. an HP is better.. if I had the money to waste I would have gotten a dell.. just for what I paid would have gotten me a crappy dell Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaronw Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 I have owned a Compaq and an HP laptop and found them both fine. I did have a warranty issue with the HP but their service was great, they sent fedex to my work to pick up the computer and I had it back within a week. One suggestion I was given when I bought my first laptop was to go to a store and play with several different brands. Get a feel for the keyboard and mouse, look at the different screen sizes. Being comfortable using it can be just as important as what is under the hood (to keep it car related ). Laptops have really come down in price, so you don't have to spend a ton of money for a good basic computer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeMc Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 (edited) Two words.....Tiger direct!! www.tigerdirect.com I've bought two refurbished laptops...17" Gateway and a 15" HP for the daughter. I couldn't beat the price, value and warranty thru tiger direct... each have 3 and 4 GB ram 160 HD....with a sep hard drive for my storage...I couldn't be happier!! Total $$ for both......under $1100.00 US Edited February 19, 2009 by MikeMc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CAL Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 Wow!! Thanks for the input guys. It's funny you say that your Compaq has not given you troubles, I have a friend telling me the complete opposite. He bought his through his company and it was suppose to be the top of the line but said he had the worst experience in dealing with Compaq. I guess that with any computer some people will have good and bad things to say.... Also have another griend that tells me to stay away from Compaq and HP. Yes Compaq at one time were real good, then HP bought them which was also real good but both got bad for awhile. I had an HP that was replace with a Compaq which was replaced with another Compaq all under warranty, and then had gone bad again just out of warranty. I think if I was going to buy a laptop I'd get a MacBook. Otherwise I build my own. Best computer I have ever had, hands down, period. I guess HP's quality has gone back up a bit, but not without a black eye. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaronw Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 Yes Compaq at one time were real good, then HP bought them which was also real good but both got bad for awhile. I had an HP that was replace with a Compaq which was replaced with another Compaq all under warranty, and then had gone bad again just out of warranty. I think if I was going to buy a laptop I'd get a MacBook. Otherwise I build my own. Best computer I have ever had, hands down, period. I guess HP's quality has gone back up a bit, but not without a black eye. Yeah, it was kind of funny Compaq was considered much better than HP when I bought my first laptop. A few months later HP bought out Compaq and planned on using it to replace the HP line of Laptops. When I bought my second laptop a few years later the Compaq name had a bad rep but HP had a good one. Maybe it was timing but I good luck with both of mine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruz Posted February 20, 2009 Author Share Posted February 20, 2009 Okay guys, I made my decision, hopefully it was a good one.. I went with this Toshiba!!! Includes notebook, six-cell lithium-ion battery, AC adapter, bag 2.13GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor P7450 Mobile Intel GM45 Express chipset 14.1" diagonal widescreen WXGA TruBrite TFT LCD display, 1280x800 native resolution, native 720p signal support 4GB PC6400 DDR2 SDRAM 320GB SATA hard drive DVD SuperMulti +/-R double-layer drive with Labelflash, supports 11 formats Intel WiFi Link 5100AGN (802.11a/g/n) Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD with up to 1759MB dynamically allocated shared graphics memory Built-in harman/kardon stereo speakers Built-in Web cam, microphone Modem 10/100 ethernet TouchPad 5-in-1 bridge media adapter: SD, MS, MS Pro, MMC, xD Three sleep-and-charge USB 2.0 ports IEEE 1394, RJ-45, RJ-11 ports RGB, S/PDIF, headphone outputs Mic input ExpressCard slot Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium, SP1 MS Works 9.0 Adobe Acrobat Reader Measures approximately 13-1/8"W x 9-1/2"D x 1-1/2"H UL listed adapter; 1-year Limited Manufacturer's Warranty Made in China Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeMc Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 Okay guys, I made my decision, hopefully it was a good one.. I went with this Toshiba!!! Includes notebook, six-cell lithium-ion battery, AC adapter, bag 2.13GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor P7450 Mobile Intel GM45 Express chipset 14.1" diagonal widescreen WXGA TruBrite TFT LCD display, 1280x800 native resolution, native 720p signal support 4GB PC6400 DDR2 SDRAM 320GB SATA hard drive DVD SuperMulti +/-R double-layer drive with Labelflash, supports 11 formats Intel WiFi Link 5100AGN (802.11a/g/n) Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD with up to 1759MB dynamically allocated shared graphics memory Built-in harman/kardon stereo speakers Built-in Web cam, microphone Modem 10/100 ethernet TouchPad 5-in-1 bridge media adapter: SD, MS, MS Pro, MMC, xD Three sleep-and-charge USB 2.0 ports IEEE 1394, RJ-45, RJ-11 ports RGB, S/PDIF, headphone outputs Mic input ExpressCard slot Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium, SP1 MS Works 9.0 Adobe Acrobat Reader Measures approximately 13-1/8"W x 9-1/2"D x 1-1/2"H UL listed adapter; 1-year Limited Manufacturer's Warranty Made in China You will be happy......But don't drop it!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kodiak Island Modeler Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 I have a son in Salt Lake City that works on computers. He built mine. The case is Gateway, but just about everything else is done by him. I don't do gaming, but it's that quality, and more powerful than our base computer. If you know one of the good local "backyard" builders, you can often get much more computer for the same price as one of the name brand jobs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrObsessive Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 You will be happy......But don't drop it!!! Yeah, that's seems to be the biggest downfall (no pun intended ) for laptops next to hard disc crashes. That's why a free fall sensor is handy...............I don't think the 320 GB's come with one though as I wanted a 320 GB with mine originally. The Dell tech told me the 250 GB's were the largest that come with the sensor, so that's what I went with. Cruz, you'll be playin' around with it for hours.............have fun! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gregg Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 Get a MAC or I will never talk to you again. Case closed! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Hall Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 I've basically quit using desktops, have 2 laptops these days..a Compaq Presario w/ Win XP (15 inch display, 1gb RAM) that I bought at Fry's last year for $650, fine for surfing the web, email, etc and an Apple Mac Book Pro (4Gb RAM) that I use for business/consulting/etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gregg Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 MACS rule!!!! Will be picking up MacBook Air for shows and traveling, and portable LCD projector to flash photos on wall while shooting. Had a Titanium PowerBook for years, till I rolled over in bed and cracked the screen. Picked up new white MacBook, it's fast, and doesn't know how to crash. Home system is a killer: dual 2.3ghz, 8GB Ram, two 1.5 TB hard drives, two 24" monitors one 19", four external HD's about 3TB total, two 13x19 printers, laser printer, etc etc. etc. Sure, there are not as much programs for MACs but you can run Windows on the new MACs now anyway! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruz Posted February 20, 2009 Author Share Posted February 20, 2009 I know the MACS are superior in a lot of ways Gregg but I just couldn't afford one of them. I am just glad that my notebook will be charged in 4 monthly installments which is why I decided to go that route.... One day, when I become a succesful model magazine editor and guru like you, then and only then I will have 10 or 20 laptops laying around the house collecting dust instead of memory!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gregg Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 I only have six old ones laying around, give me a break!!!! Apple also has a refurbished store on their site, you can get some great deals there!!!! bottom of page on the left. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeMc Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 I only have six old ones laying around, give me a break!!!! Apple also has a refurbished store on their site, you can get some great deals there!!!! bottom of page on the left. You couda given Marcos one of em....He woulda paid postage I'm sure... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gregg Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 Keeping them for the MCM Museum!!! I still have every one used in the making of MCM from the beginning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fernando Roman Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 (edited) MACS rule!!!! Will be picking up MacBook Air for shows and traveling, and portable LCD projector to flash photos on wall while shooting. Had a Titanium PowerBook for years, till I rolled over in bed and cracked the screen. Picked up new white MacBook, it's fast, and doesn't know how to crash. Home system is a killer: dual 2.3ghz, 8GB Ram, two 1.5 TB hard drives, two 24" monitors one 19", four external HD's about 3TB total, two 13x19 printers, laser printer, etc etc. etc. Sure, there are not as much programs for MACs but you can run Windows on the new MACs now anyway! Showoff! Edited February 20, 2009 by Fernando Roman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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