betor notebook thread advice

[Q Classic]

I think that most of the bad rap they get derives from being #1 in the market for so long (not anymore) and therefore shipping out the highest absolute number of broken PCs. But your odds are no better or worse than with anyone else in my experience.

Actually, the gripe that I had was that the ones I worked on and with always ran extraordinarily hot, had poor screens, were noisy, appearance-challenged, and always came overloaded with a bunch of crap software. (Dell desktops are fine, I just don't like their laptops.) *shrugs* It's the same problem I have with HP ones.

I forgive Toshiba, largely because I've never had a problem with them; I forgive Lenovo because their ThinkPad series is still largely true to IBM's ethos of not putting a bunch of junk pre-installed; Samsung because I've never had issues with them and their design is usually decent; Apple because their design is top-notch.

[Felch]

I've got a used Dell Inspiron I'm trying to sell, but I assume you want new. And not Dell.

[self biased]

my wife has this one, and loves it.

[Zopperoni]

I'd stay away from Dells. They are nothing but trouble

I have two Dell laptops: an Inspiron 4000 from 2000 that still works fine (roommate uses it) and a Latitude D630 from 2008 that I'm using right now.

-b etor:
Your biggest considerations are going to be:
Size: 13.3", 15.4" and 17" are the popular formats
Weight: You might prefer one that's weighs under 4.5lbs, especially if you'll be hauling it around campus all the time. In this case, a netbook might be worth checking out.
Screen: Consumer laptops have this glossy screen (cheaper to make) but I prefer matte
Keyboard: Obviously, you'd like your typing experience to be as comfortable as possible
Extras: The importance of this depends on what you already have, e.g.:
- If you take a lot of pictures, you might want an SD(HC) slot (or MSPD if you shoot w/ Sony)
- If you have numerous peripherals like a keyboard, a mouse, a printer and an external hard disk--and you don't want to use a USB hub--you'll want at least 4 USB ports

Go to a store and just play with a few of them to get a feel for what the differences are and what you'd be comfortable with using.

If you're feeling adventurous, look on eBay to find refurbished models. I bought this one (the D630) on eBay. It was around 600 EUR (new, it would have been 1,800+ EUR).

[Zopperoni]

Important: Whatever laptop you buy, get the extended warranty (e.g. AppleCare for Macs). Laptops are far more prone to damage, just because they move around a lot, get bumped, etc. The life expectancy of a laptop HD is considerably shorter than a desktop.

This is an excellent point that I'd like to expand further on:

Some netbooks don't ship w/ standard hard disks but rather with Flash storage capacity (that is usually 8GB or 16GB). In this case, an external hard disk is imperative if you want to store your videos, music, photos, etc.

Backing up on an external drive is good, but because of its physical presence and its close proximity to the laptop/netbook, some very bad things can happen: fire damage, water damage, theft, etc.

As an alternative or additional backup, you could also consider online backup services. Here are a few good ones that I've tried out:
Mozy: http://mozy.com/
Dropbox: http://www.getdropbox.com/
Zumodrive: http://zumodrive.com/
Syncplicity: http://www.syncplicity.com/

All have free account options (limited to either 1GB or 2GB which might be enough for your truly essential files) that you can try out.

Microsoft's Live SkyDrive (http://skydrive.live.com/) offers 25GB free for file storage but is an absolute uploading b*tch.
Humyo (http://www.humyo.com/) offers 10GB but requires you to log in at least every 90 days.

[Alinestra Covelia]

to everything Zop said.

...and I have nothing to add, except that I've saved that advice to a text file. I'm interested in those online backup services.

[Dinner]

my wife has this one, and loves it.

When the hell did Asus start making whole computers? Back in the day they literally made nothing more then mother boards for PCs.

[Zopperoni]

I'm interested in those online backup services.

Here's some more info on each of them:

Mozy:
- True backup service
- Backs up folders of your choice
- Built-in scheduler and reminder
- Free account available w/ 2GB capacity

Dropbox:
- More of a file sync'ing service than a backup service
- Very handy if you have multiple computers you'd like to sync across
- To-be backed up items have to be dragged and dropped into Dropbox folder (cannot specify which folders to share)
- All shared/synced files will be downloaded to each computers Dropbox folder
- Free account available w/ 2GB capacity

Zumodrive:
- Similar to Dropbox, but with a very important difference: shared files are only kept locally on the host computer, all other computers will stream the files from the server
- Benefit of this is that it saves disk space (you do have the option to download frequently used files to be used locally)
- To-be backed up items have to be dragged and dropped into Zumodrive drive (Z
- Free account available w/ 1GB capacity

Syncplicity:
- Hybrid of backup and file sync service
- Backs up folders of your choice
- Free account available w/ 2GB capacity

[Alinestra Covelia]

Thanks. Sounds like Mozy's the one I need most.

[Metaliturtle]

Moleskine... High class, high useability, plus other people mispronounce it.

[Mrs. Tuberski]

We currently have 3 notebooks in the house with the oldest being a HP, the middle one being a toshiba and the other one a dell. All three are good, havent had a lot of problems with any of them. I dont care for the toshiba so much as it didnt come with any back up disks, and it has vista on it which i dont care for either. My sister swears by the sony viao but most of the ones i looked at are expensive.

[asleepathewheel]

we have had a crapload of issues with our dell laptops, the one I'm on now, a latitude d630, is a replacement upgrade due to so many issues with the previous one. Would not get another unless we get the top-level service plan, which we have on this one (through wife's university)

we also have a lenovo which went in the crapper a few months into use, but they replaced the harddrive and now its running well...

My wife is extraordinarily hard on laptops, the programs she uses are not intended to be run 24/7 on laptops, but what do I know. :"(