What laptop would you recommend?

[UpsideDown]

Hi.

My hand-me-down Dell latitude is dying a slow death here.

I would like to get a new one for myself plus something suitable for the kids (high school).
I have heard great things about Sony Vaio, Apple Mac and Toshiba. This all gets a bit confusing if you are as technically challenged as I am.

Any advice greatly appreciated. Budget per laptop is $1500 or under.

Cheers

UpsideDown:

[ladas]

Most of the time its horses for courses.

However before you go for a Microsoft or Apple based PC for a schoolchild it may be worth checking out what they use at the school.

Most propriatry brands are as good as the next - and some have features which suit some - but not others.

I have always been comfortable with HP/Compaq - but thats personal choice - and all mine are windows based.

[Blknight.aus]

much to my chagrin at that budget for optimal speed you would be looking at a dell/acer IMHO they are the toyotas of the laptop world but there are some toshibas at that price.

the toshiba is more like our beloved landy, not usually as pretty to look at but they are better where it counts.

last time I checked a dells were marketed via their storage conditions (lets say max temp of 60 degrees) and the same number on a toshiba was what it would still operate under.


asus also have some good bargin laptops and sometimes aldi let some pretty spec competative laptops go for $999.


I only buy toshiba laptops, never had one fail yet and ive got some really ancient ones still plugging away when i need them to one of them even predates cdroms and USB.

[Handbrake hates Camping]

You can save yourself some money on a bang for your buck basis and look at an ASUS notebook. They are just as good on a technical and reliability standpoint and you save hundreds of dollars in the process. You won't find them in your nearest Harvey Norman but certainly some of your local computer stores will be able to source them for you. Maybe Incisor could also source it for you (not sure if you are nearby to where he is). But look around and bargain hard. You can get some really good specifications for that that kind of $$$ especially in comparison to Toshiba and HP.

PM me if you want model numbers and ideas of what you should pay, only happy to help out.

Doc

[Captain_Rightfoot]

I would without question buy the macbook, either the entry level one or the one up (1499 or 1799). I know that's on the bleeding edge of your budget, but if it's for a school kid you qualify for the education discount which gives you about 10% off. Also with a mac you'll get cheaper office type software, and never have to buy nortons or the likes.

Also you'll have a lifetime of no viruses, no spyware, no rebuilds etc. The Apple OS is much better. It will deliver you several years of hassle free operation unlike the competition. But if you like pain go vista

[loanrangie]

My toshiba is serving well and i think it looks pretty with its nice brushed ss cover . Vista, hell no- try PCLOS2007 a linux derivative that works with endless amounts of free software.

[Blknight.aus]

totally forgot about the mac stuff.....

love em but I cnat use em as all the software that I need to use for work stuff is


yup. windoze

[Hoges]

A spare Dell Latitude makes a great platform for RAVE /GPS Navigation /Black Box Software etc

If it has sufficient RAM, get rid of the MS OS load it with LINUX and it can suddenly assume a new life!

cheers

Hoges

[EchiDna]

I'm too far away to let any of you in on this deal, but I get a corporate buyers discount of 56% off IBM's and we are allowed to buy 1 per month for personal use - current model is the T62 with 120gb HDD, 2gb memory, 17 inch widescreen, DVD writer for S$1700 (less than A$1400 at the moment).

try and find someone who can get this kind of thing in Australia - must be someone in your family?

[abaddonxi]

Went shopping for a friend's daughter this week. She was looking at a Dell for $799, found the same specs in a Asus or Acer for around $500. Not enough ram in them, and hard drives are smallish 60-80Gb.

$1500 buy three, make sure they've got XP on them, put another stick of ram in each of them and you've got one each. When you run out of hard drive space buy some little network box, whatever it is it'll be cheaper in six month's time. When they get dropped or stolen or break you're not too heartbroken.

Hmm, just a thought.

Cheers
Simon