laptop computers help

[48 BARNEY CUB]

Hey
i'm interested in buying a laptop but don;t really know witch one
what do you use if you are running on a laptop ?
what kind?
what size screen
what hard drive
how many gb's
i'm not looking to break the bank but want to get something that will work and have plenty space to hold things
any information will be greatly apprecitated
48 Barney

[VinceD]

Ask 100 people - get 100 different answers.

I have a 17" wide screen and really like it.
I don't think the size of the hard disk is as important as the amount of RAM. I suggest you have as much RAM as you can get. I would recommend a minimum of 4 GB. I have seen some of the new machines come standard with 6 GB.

Good luck with whatever computer you decide on.

[John *.?-!.* cub owner]

Barney, what is going to be it's use? Will it be your main computer, just something to use when you are away form home or when wife is using the main computer, etc.

[Rudi]

Barney:

The best laptops on the market for price/dependability/service and warranty have to be Toshiba - bar none! Not only that but you can buy a full extended warranty - called accidental which will cover your laptop even if you drop it in the pond! I am not aware of anyone else doing that except maybe Panasonic's ToughBook series -- but to buy one of them you will break the bank

If you got to Toshiba.com which is the US site, you should be able to find some pretty good deals. Look under accessories/extras for the extended warranty.

I have been servicing Dell, IBM, HP and Toshiba laptops for years and the only laptops that I buy now are Toshiba's. At this moment we have 2 Toshiba Satellite P300's, an M-60, 20 Satellite A-100's that we use all the time. One of my daughters has an Acer - nice .. reasonable. I have 3 Dell Latitude's left but they are strictly to use in the pole barn.

I no longer buy Dell's mostly because of quaility/service issues. HP is overpriced and under serviced and well IBM no longer really exists it is now Lenovo and they are all made in China ..... so I don't buy those at all, even used ones.

If you can get the largest screen you can afford. They are worth it. Figure out what you need it for, what type of add-ons and what you can live with/without or can't live without. It should not be a snap decision but one based on a bit of research.

[48 BARNEY CUB]

John
i want it for the mobility to use it on the go also get something faster then i have now
48 Barney

[John *.?-!.* cub owner]

Rudi and I frequently do not agree on things, but I do agree with him about Toshiba being one of the best laptops. After my recent experience with Dell I steer clear of them. As to size screen, you have to make that decision. Larger is better as you get older, but also makes it less portable. A suggestion is to get one that does not have a real big screen, which makes it more portable and will give a longer battery life, but use an external monitor and keyboard at home, which I recently did with my several year old Toshiba laptop when my main computer crashed. To do that you may need to go into the graphic adapter settings to switch between monitors. I am on old geezer, and frequently do not adapt well to change, but as I am getting used to Windows 7, I really like it, though it does take a little learning.

[Rudi]

I like the fact that we have different points of view.... makes for interesting conversations

John does make a good point. The larger the screen the less portable. I have a 17" LCD and it is very portable. A bit heavier than many of the previous units but comparable in weight to say a Toshiba Qosmio G50 which has an 18.4" LCD. These are very nice size screens yet do not exceed the portability quotient. Amanda has the G50 and her twin Samantha has the Acer with the almost 19" screen. That is about the largest size you can get and still find a laptop bag for them. Any larger and you almost need a Samsonite suitcase to carry them around in. Now mind you these two laptops, the Acer and the G50 are higher end and these are artists that use them and require fast processors, huge chunks of ram to run the ram/resource intensive programs that graphic artists use. My 17" is a Toshiba Satellite Pro P300 and it is more than enough computer for just about anyone. It came with Vista Business. Both our youngest daughter Kristina and I have the same laptops, she needed them for her web design course. I inherited one when it came back from Europe damaged.

Point is, depending on what your needs are and how much you want to carry .. the above laptops are probably in the 8 - 10 lb range or a bit more and can be a bit challenging when flying but for most other forms of transport poses no large inconvenience.

Again, decide what you can live with and can live without. Then search for the laptop that meets your needs and meets your budget. I would strongly recommend the Toshiba's ... and that is based on many years of experience with them. My first Toshiba was a T-200 .. and I have had about a dozen Toshiba's since. I much prefer them to Dell's, HP's or Lenovo/IBM's.

Course if I could custom build a laptop like I do with my desktops, I probably would still opt for a Toshiba as they simply cannot be beat.