Need Help Purchasing A Laptop

[Daseal]

Originally Posted by Monkeydad

I have a newer iMac for work and a Windows 7 machine for myself...I prefer Windows overall.

I've built PCs, ran Linux, used Macs and I keep going back to Windows. Win 7 if the best version they ever made.

I won't touch that POS Windows 8. I absolutely hate what they've done to it.


Choose a Windows 7 machine for the best bang for the buck.

Choose a Mac if you want your bank account to be sodomized by fruit.

Windows 8 has some great positives. The kernel is cleaned up and runs really efficient, once Blue (Windows 8.1) comes out, you can set that as your default home which will bring back the start button/etc. At that point, I think I'll make the switch.

[Dirtbag59]

Originally Posted by Daseal

Windows 8 has some great positives. The kernel is cleaned up and runs really efficient, once Blue (Windows 8.1) comes out, you can set that as your default home which will bring back the start button/etc. At that point, I think I'll make the switch.

Yeah to be fair I've heard similar critiques in favor of Windows 8 in that its more stable and efficient then Windows 7. It seems to be, with good reason, that the main gripe is the removal of the traditional start button as well as the system not starting in desktop mode in which case theres plenty of fixes out there from apps that you pay $3 through paypal to a couple free ones. Also as ThatGuy pointed out Microsoft is likely going to bring it back in an update.

[DynamiteRave]

You only have to buy an entirely new operating system every few years.

[That Guy]

if you're worried about chinese parts, don't buy a computer. ever.

I'd say at least 90% (probably more) is made in china, and that's everything from individual ICs on up. their government keeps their currency cheap and subsidizies their international shipping, so it's not like there are a ton of places that can compete.

and buying a $300 warranty or a $350 laptop is stupid. they don't push it that hard cause their losing money on it. if you want piece of mind, dell has in home tech support (if the remote tech support can't fix it).

if you want win7, you'll have to pay a LOT more than $350 right now, but windows 8.1 is supposed to give you the startbar etc back.

I just got one of the lenovos for my uncle a couple months ago (same one, from office depot) and it's good. does everything he needs, no issues, not a ton of bloatware, etc. and it's got an i3, which is much better than a old duo core or celeron.

[BDBohnzie]

Lenovo bought the part of IBM that made desktops and laptops.

Anything in the $300-500 range with an Intel i3 and at least 4GB of memory will do what you need it to do.

[Dirtbag59]

Originally Posted by BDBohnzie

Lenovo bought the part of IBM that made desktops and laptops.

Anything in the $300-500 range with an Intel i3 and at least 4GB of memory will do what you need it to do.

Basically this. The only time you really need better specs is when you're either gaming, video editing, or doing 3D Cad drawings. I guess it could also help to get a better CPU if you have extreme ADD like me and you open multiple multiple multiple tabs. The other day I was closing Firefox and I had a popup tell me something like "You're about to close 106 tabs are you sure you want to proceed?"

[FRPLG]

You need a tablet.

[That Guy]

same thing that's always true, did microsoft make it?
wait until service pack 1.

[BDBohnzie]

Originally Posted by That Guy

same thing that's always true, did microsoft make it?
wait until service pack 1.

This all day and twice on Sunday. I was an early adopter of Vista at work because we needed a SysAdmin up on it. It wasn't until SP1 that a good many of the daily quirks went away. I didn't wait on Windows 7, but only because it was pretty much a SP and then some of Vista. The Network Admin got a new laptop with Win8 and after a month, downgraded to Windows 7. Win8 is not very business-environment friendly, especially without a touchscreen.

Windows touchpads in general suck. That is one thing that Mac has done leaps and bounds better than Windows. The touchpad on the MacBook Air I have for work is amazing.

[Dirtbag59]

Just reminded of something. Be very careful about getting a Lenovo. The one I set up for my Dad had a very funky touchpad mouse that in my experience was very unresponsive. Theres some interesting features like paging down by putting two fingers on the touch pad but it seems more often then not the mouse does things you had no intention of doing, like it has a mind of its own. There were also times where we had to click it like 3 or 4 times to get one left click to work.

[That Guy]

i remember before SP1 in vista... try to copy 5,000 files - time remaining: 12 hours.
after SP1, time remaining: 2 minutes.


wtf?

[firstdown]

Well we have finally moved so I told my wife to read this thread and to go buy something today.I told her she could spend up to $600 what's the odds she spends more?

[CRedskinsRule]

So I had a Toshiba laptop that always ran hot, had it for years, and usually could resolve most quirks. The other day I came home, turned it on, and...
nothing. no bios screen, no home screen the power light comes on, but there is no harddrive activity whatsoever.

I took out the harddrive and reseated it, I took the ram out, and reseated it. I let it charge for more than enough time, and I took out the battery, and reseated it.

Still nothing. Anyone have any ideas, or is it officially dead?

[724Skinsfan]

No beeps? Sounds power related then. Take the battery out and use just the AC adapter. Then put the battery back in. I just had a 2 year old Lenovo that I was working on and that did the trick.

[CRedskinsRule]

Thanks, no beeps, nothing. I did try just AC, and didn't work either. My assumption is that the bios chip overheated, but I have never actually seen a computer that didn't atleast read the bios.