How the hell do you pick a laptop?!

[rexload]

It doesn't matter. The parts are all made in the same country. It really IS the opposite of shopping for a car. You just go on newegg.com and buy the one with the best specs in your price range.
The only difference between different models is the software they come with, I am talking about the useless software.. like the HP experiece software when you buy an HP for example. You will end up deleting that crap anyway as soon as you get it, unless you want unnecessary programs using up resorces.

ALSO buying a Mac is retarder IMO. You pay $1300 for a computer that has the same specs as a $400 windows computer. And guess what? You can run Mac OS on a windows computer. Just delete windows, install Mac OS, get a one button mouse and you got the same thing for $900 less. Good luck.

[CustomLowz]

its LENOVO not Lenova

[Pandemic]

I have two HP laptops. Both have served me quite well. Both have hard drive swaps but I've also owned both since about 2002. My parents have an HP desktop that's run flawlessly for the past 6+ years. My sister just got an HP i5 laptop for about $1200. The thing is sweet.

Now, my other sister has a macbook. She's had it for about 3 years and has had some hiccups with it regarding fans and hard drives. Warrantys are golden.

[wed3k]

been a fan of hp...have had some issues but it's a PC, it's usually common and can be fixed

[Pandemic]

Last year I had my HP all torn apart. I actually had to solder the power connector back onto the mother board. Never thought it'd start again but it's the machine I'm using to type this message.

[19dabeast85]

its LENOVO not Lenova

It should be Lenova....it sounds better than "Lenovo"....

[93blackcb7]

just make sure it has at least a 2gb ram and 250gb hhd any lower and youll run out of room if you are into movies and stuff

[Jon]

just make sure it has at least a 2gb ram and 250gb hhd any lower and youll run out of room if you are into movies and stuff

Yeah the bare minimum I'm looking at is:
4GB ram
500GB HD
Dedicated graphics
15" screen

Going to hit up Walmart and maybe Best Buy tomorrow and see what they have. Then on the weekend hit a few other places. Hopefully my search will come to an end in a few days.

[93blackcb7]

yea that sounds pretty good cause if you download movies and stuff it will fly by mine is a toshiba and ive had no problems at all also download some kind of computer cleaner if you want to stay fresh lol

[DrLove'sKuDang]

a quick search on newegg, , dedicated video being the only stipulation, the cheapest is $600.

[LinX]

Sony Vaio Z Series but its way outta your price range. I'd have mine for over a year and I cannot imagine getting a different laptop. Solid state drive nuff said.

[Leung]

I must cast my vote for Toshiba also. I bought my laptop back in 2006 and it still works like a champ. Sure the processing power isn't the greatest nor is is the graphics capabilities but I bought it so I could surf the web and read email while I was traveling. Vista was the only thing about it that I came not to like over the years so I recently upgraded it to 32bit win7 and it zips through everything. Battery life is important to look at, my Toshiba A135 only lasts 4 hours depending on the brightness of the screen, if I have wifi going, and if the CPU fan is running but you can get around that by buying a better battery with more cells.

Toshiba doesn't recommend it but I can also upgrade the CPU to a 2.0 Ghz dual core and get about the same battery life.

[blu35p4rr0w]

I got an old Dell. Dell is ok for PC but not so great for laptops. Plus they're overpriced. Lenovo, Toshiba, Asus & HP are good choices. One of these days I'll get my hands on an HP Touchsmart but I'm putting my money towards the CB & a place to live for now. If I was in the market, that's what I would get. Or if I had even more money I would get a convertable tablet pc with even better specs from one of the other brands. But for the money I'd say the Touchsmart is the best deal if buying new & you want a tablet & a notebook. I'd never get an iPad or similar tablet only computer. I need a keyboard. LOL I would only use the tablet for GIMP or Photoshop if I had it.

[DJ metadelic]

Gotta say, I love my Dell laptop.

Also have an HP desktop, the multi-memory reader is great must say.

Either way, but if you can afford it- I say Mac all the way.

[stevediraddo]

best way is to put an ad on craigslist for broken laptops, you can get lots and lots of offers from people who THINK their laptop is useless. got a dual-core acer for $100 from a guy who thought it was toast, turned out to be a bad harddrive.

lately i picked up a HP DV9000 for free, cause it wouldnt turn on. took a torch to the GPU (it desoldered itself due to heat), now it works fine

that being said, my list of favorite to least goes as follows:
TOSHIBA (i have the A10, A70, and P100, all awesome)
LENOVO (have an n100 with no screen)
DELL (new inspiron and studio laptops are amazing)
ACER (cheap and reliable but loaded with bloatware)
HP (same as acer)

when selecting a laptop, remember you get what you pay for. a $400 laptop sounds like a great deal, but obviously not as capable as say a $700 laptop, or even a $1300 laptop. the GPU makes all the difference nowadays, do your homework.

[edit] i personally steer clear of MAC computers. ever since they adopted intel hardware, they have been a joke. sure they work, but they arent as adaptable, and cost AT LEAST TWICE AS MUCH for the SAME HARDWARE, because you are paying for the name.