Which Laptop?

[fishhuntwork]

The wife and I are looking for a laptop. We currently have a Mac desktop, would love a mac laptop but don't want to spend that much money. We would only be using it for word, excel, and the internet. I really don't want to spend anything over $600. Any help would be great.

[upnorth]

Dell, HP, Toshiba, IBM, all have home user laptops that would fit the bill pretty well. Just try to make sure that you get something with 4GB of RAM. Unless you are looking at high end apps or video etc the rest should be fine.

[DTro]

Just buy whatever is on sale.

Right now, here's a good one at Best Buy:

Toshiba C675-S7103 SKU 4693115

17.3" Screen, 4GB Ram, 320GB HD, Intel Pentium, Win 7

$379.99

[PierBridge]

Lot's of good deals out there like the one DTRO posted. You can get into a Pentium i5 for as low as $500 if you go with ACER which makes a pretty darn good Laptop these days, check out Wally world dot com... ASUS is another good one. Personally I'm a Toshiba guy...... Also IMO I would steer clear of any HP Laptop based on mine and others past experience's top to bottom with HP.....

[OnAFly]

Oh, that's good to hear. My company just switched from Dell to HP and I'm next on the list to get one.

[PierBridge]

I'm sure you will be fine. There are a lot of HP laptops out there that are still kicking. My problem is based on my own experiences along with many co-workers and friends that have had nothing but trouble top to bottom with HP Laptops in the past.

[upnorth]

I have had 4 HP laptops for work and 2 at home in the last 5 or 6 years and for the most part very happy with them. The last 2 places I have worked had a mix of Dell and HP and not really seen and more frequency of problems with either. That being said, if you using a laptop as a laptop, meaning in and out of a bag and set up and torn down 4, 5 or 6 times a day don't expect it to live long. Couple years and I would say you are going have a pretty beat up device.

[Nick Kuhn]

My coworker was the reliability guy at HP for 20 years: they beat them up pretty good in testing, but for a laptop they probably only test to 3 years of usage. It's a 90/90 so at least 9 out of 10 should work without major repair for the 3 year period. Mileage will of course vary if you are an abusive user. Software issues will be the same across the board.

[OnAFly]

Well, that's reassuring. I just want something that's not going to carp out on me while I'm traveling.

[upnorth]

they are reasonably durable, but all the transporting takes a toll. And people on the go all the time and in a hurry are abusive. Panasonic makes a toughbook and they are, but you pay dearly for them.

[Shack]

they are reasonably durable, but all the transporting takes a toll. And people on the go all the time and in a hurry are abusive. Panasonic makes a toughbook and they are, but you pay dearly for them.

+1

I have been a Toshiba guy these last 3 laptops, but the only draw back and issue I have is more cosmetic than component failure. I always thought those reviews where reviewer is complaining about the laptop having smooth/glossy finished areas, either on the top or around the key board, where a weak point to complain about. Toshiba seems to like to do this and they are getting bolder and glossy year by year. This last Toshiba, which I still have, has the thick poly finish, buffed to look like glass, and also has the bigger flat glossy keys and all of it is in black. I am certainly not picky and messiness does not mean anything because we all are messy at one time or another, but MAN. Just a good day or evening of use and the gloss black shows everything from finger prints and smudges (never knew those could build up) to hair/eyelashes and dead skin. Not to mention any dust which falls on it. Not even trying to keep it looking new because they are IMO a consumable. On the other side, the glossy lack stands out enough that people do see. If someone goes to use it and I have not cleaned for a day or two, it looks as if I was liking and whipping greasy hands all over it. I may not be a neat freak, but I am not that dirty and do wash my hands thought out the day. I probably would not even say anything about it if it were not for people mentioning it to me and these are not he cleanest people. One evening of heavy typing and using it, to someone who does not know, the PC looks as if I have not cleaned for months.

The other downside is that the they buff it so smooth that even mild Windex, forget 409, makes it even look worse and you end up buffing it out and stat the cycle over. Light wipes with dampened cloth using water just save same as I could careless about its finish.

So beware of the black and deep glossy finish if

Besides some weak plastic trim and bezels, and the tightness and effort needed to close the of screen, this one I would say is the best laptop I have owned. My laptops are for more than just used for surfing and e-mail. Every year my requirements of my laptop go up and I have just started to look at what I am doing, the time and hassle I will save of the service life of the LP by just getting the max ram, Q-core, etc.,etc....

But certainly, like Dtro said, buy for what you need and if it is not much, then do not spend much.

LOL, here I finally gave one of those reviews I rolled my eyes at 2 laptops ago, but since then will never buy a black deeply polished laptop again. Unless t was just for display.

[cribbageboy]

Just bought an Asus laptop. Can't say I have any problems with it so far. Only time will tell. I went with a 14 inch screen so its nice and small to bring from place to place. I was an HP guy for years, but ended up jumping over to Asus after my buddy bought one and LOVED it. Only thing I noticed is the battery life on all Asus computers seems to be shorter than the average HP.

[itchmesir]

ASUS hands down.. best bang for your buck.. you should be able to get what would be a $1000+ laptop but instead is only $600 asus

[bobbymalone]

Personally I can stand HP. Had some bad luck with a desktop and my wife has went through about 6 HP laptops in the last 3 years through her job. Hard drive failures and blown mobos. That's probably less a problem with HP directly and more a problem with cheap components going into a budget corporate laptops.

I've got a top of the line Dell through work and I don't have any complaints. This is my second one in 7 years and I still use the first one at home.

[PierBridge]

My frustration with HP is more to do with me getting a few co-workers/friends to purchase HP laptops after I bought mine.

Thrown in multiple screen problems "3 out of 4 of us had" to the listed issues above.

This is almost 5 years ago now so I'm assuming they have addressed this and are putting out a better product these days.

I really the like ASUS line a lot and I have until the end of this this week to decide whether to bring my Toshiba back which I love so far but the 17" screen is bit cumbersome. So I may return it and look into an ASUS or 15" Toshiba model.

[Shack]

The only motherboard I would install outside of factory is an ASUS. Top notch. Their laptops I have just never gotten into.

Now the Alienware M17X (Sandy Bridge) the last I heard was pretty good setup, if you are into high-end.