Computer experts-name a good cheap laptop
 

I've always used Dells thru work, but I need to buy one for myself. Is one of the entry-level Dell Inspirons OK for moderate use around home? E-mail, Word, Excel, internet is about all I need to do. Maybe an occasional DVD on long flights, and my MP3 collection.

I strongly suggest you stay away from the Toshiba Satellite series. I do warranty repairs for Toshiba and they are the worst. Too many problems. Satellite Pros are ok. I don't see many of those come in. I just bought a Fujitsu, but it was not cheap. I don't really now much about the other brands.

Dave

I have a Dell Inspiron 6000, pretty great laptop for the money

Under 1k

And light

Averatec

Typing on one now....

Dell. Great workhorse and cheap.

I'd agree with the Inspiron 6000 suggestion - got one 15 months ago and it's been great (I've had bad laptops like the Dell 5150) and heavily used. Mine was a bit more than $1k, though, with the highest resolution screen, extra lifetime batteries, etc. One downside is that it's a fairly heavy, fullsize laptop (which I prefer when I'm not lugging it around).

Whatever you do get something with the wide (16:9) screen - you'll never go back...

I use an Acer tablet for work. I'm a network engineer, and the thing has been on about 12 hours a day for the past 18 months. Solid.

I did have a problem with the tablet screen when I first got the machine. Acer customer service was excellent.

That being said, Dell and Toshiba are both solid choices. Don't count out Lenovo (formerly IBM).

Averatec

I travel for a living. Worst case scenario for a laptop. Have had Sony Vaio for the last 3 laptops. Covers 12 years. They go obsolete before they break. I had one be run over by a towed airplane. Destroyed everything in the bag except the computer. Is the one I am on now on Mikonos, in Greece.

Got mine with point accrued from Marriott.

The best cheap laptop is a used high-end model, imo. My two favorites are the IBM Thinkpad and Sony VAIO series.

I use a Gateway, got it from Circuit city. On sale around $750. Its a good sufer, with the AV stuff already installed. Ticks my wife off I have the funstuff and her expensive HP is missing a card reader! :) The vurtual memory could be better but I could also pry some funds out of the wallet for the plug in thingie.

I bought my wife a entry level Gateway from Best Buy 3 months ago for $450.00 and by entry level I mean Celeron chip but it has 512K memory,60 gig H.D.,CD/DVD burner it's a very nice machine. I use a used Dell Lattitude that I've had for about a year now it has been rock solid.

You know the difference between a Gateway and a trampoline? You take your shoes off for a trampoline.



Sorry, couldn't resist! :D

Another VAIO supporter here. I am approaching one year with this one and not one propblem. My Dell that I had, ran way too hot, fried the motherboard one month out of warranty and their tech support is the absolute worst in the world.

I don't have a laptop but I'm thinking of getting one so I dropped in on this thread.

We have two Sony VAIO desktops here at work and I luv them.

What no apple heads out there? Oh sorry, you said cheap. :p

Second that and add HP to the list to stay away from. The produce the best printers in the world but their laptops are terrible.

+1 Spend about 200 nights a year on the road and have a Dell laptop with me. Using a 600m right now and its lasted 3 years, so its tough.

Also like IBM laptops and have heard good things about the Sony's.

When you buy your laptop (or any other major purchase) AmEx and some Visa/MC cards will double your factory warranty for FREE. They usually have a one year warranty, and buying it with a card like this gives you two years of warranty, which is more than enough.

I just bought one of these, Dell Inspiron E1405 35%off, http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/sna.aspx?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&~topic=dod

Typing on a Gateway that my daughter has used for 3 years of college. I have an old Gateway that is about 4 years old and trudges along but never a minute of downtime. Just bought my younger daughter a Lenovo for her freshman year. All 3 have served us well to date and were under 1000.00 when purchased

Apple computers have never been cheap. Neither have Porsches.

I can tell you from experience to avoid HP at all costs. Within 5 months, I had a hard drive that crashed, power input come free of the board, failed keyboard. HP wasnt very helpful in correcting these problems as well

For PC laptops, I like Thinkpad (was IBM, now Lenovo). Solidly built, minimal gadgetry, high quality, corporate-oriented. I've used the T42p, X40, and now the X41. I'd look for a used one, or investigate the lower-priced models (I think they are the R-series?).

I purchased a Dell Inspiron 9400 5 months ago and have no complaints yet. It was listed on sale for $975 to my door, but in the end it cost me less than $775. I happened to see a similar model a month later with more memory, so I contacted Dell and suggested they provide more memory or give me credit. They not only sent me more memory, but they also credited me $200. I was only expecting one or the other, so they have my vote.

Dell was in the news recently about giving up on rebates and simply advertising/selling for less. No doubt another good idea as we all hate those rebate hassles.

Here's a url for Dell and other deals. Sometimes coupon codes are provided. Hopefully the link will work without having to register to the home theater forum it resides on.

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/deals/deals.php

Dudes, I'm getting a Dell. They're having a decent sale, so I got an E1405, and was also able to use some of my Amex poiints buying a $250 coupon, saving even more.

I have always prefered the Dell's Latitude notebooks to the Inspiron. Both are good, just a personal preference.

Look on the Small Biz site and go to the Smart Deals. They have a Latitude D520 with dual core, 1 gb ram, etc. for $799. I would upgrade the hard drive to a 7200 rpm unit and that it. The wife / partner has a D500 and loves it. Thw D520 appers to be an even better unit and greatly upgraded over hers.

True, but you get what you pay for. And Apple, like Porsche, has entry models that give you a very good bang for the buck. For instance, how about getting a laptop than can run windows XP and Mac OSX together? If I were you, I`d consider a MacBook with intel core duo. They start at $1,099 and I don`t work for Apple.

Aurel

Tikanis.

STRONGLY recommend against HP and Compaq. We have one of each; one desktop(Compaq) and laptop(HP). I like their periphials, but both computers have had "problems", and in both cases, the company tried to avoid fixing them under warranty. I finally went to the State Attorney General and got a settlement. Over the phont technical assistance is terrible, off shore and usually wrong. Not to mention how often one has to ask for a statement to be repeated!!!

A once excellent company heading toward disaster. Next time either a Dell or probably we will jump ship and go for a Mac.

"cheap" is relative. If you can live with smaller screen, low resolution, limited i/o and capabilities, then sure you can get a cheap laptop. But start adding features and pretty soon you're at $1K. Which is close to a MacBook. Which doesn't suck. :p