Laptops

[jchutz1]

I understand what specs I should have but what brand should I get?  I was looking at Dell but I've heard both good and bad things.  Does it matter what brand if you have a warranty?  What brands would you stay away from?  I was looking at the Dell Inspiron 600m and 8600.  If anyone has these I would appreciate any advice.  Also my brother in law just got a compact with a similar 3 year warranty as Dell's.  I hear to stay away from Compact though.  Thanks in advance for replies.

[vw515]

I have a dell 600m it works great not that heavy and everything built in it is cheaper it runs smooth. I did not juice it up to much because everyone told me I wont need that much memory etc. if I dont plan to download too much it will be mostly for school I kept my desktop. I usually buy gateway but I have heard great things about dell so far i am content. definatley dont buy compaq. Good luck

[farnsworth]

I've heard hit and miss on Dell.  I just got my 600m yesterday, and it isn't completely up and running yet (I reformatted it out of the box to install XP Pro instead of Home, and get rid of software I didnt want).  From what i've seen of them, I'd agree with the last post- relatively light and thin, and probably the best price you'll find for a decent Centrino system.  Really good battery life compared with previous laptops I've used.   I'll let you know how I like it after I play with it more.

[rainmkr07]

I have a compaq and I love it.  I got it about 4 months ago, and have had no problems.

It also cost $699 with all the same features as the 600m from dell (minus the centrino chip).

I don't think I will have any problems with it, and if it worries you enough, for an extra $199 Best Buy will slap 3 more years of extended warranty on it.

My decision was that if something went SO bad that my compaq just *&^% the bed entirely, I would buy a new one.  Even then, $1398 for 2 laptops is less than a Dell.  But that is worse case scenario of course, I highly doubt the $699 compaw won't last me for 3 years.


Ryan

[g35]

I don't think you can really beat the build quality of IBM thinkpads.  They're a little bit more expensive than other brands, but they really are built to last.  I've heard horrible things about Dell's customer service, not to mention compaq's build quality, but everyone has different experiences. 

The nicer Toshiba's and IBM's are usually the best way to go if you want reliability.  But if you want lots of features for a lower price, the dells anda compaq's are the way to go.  But remember you get what you pay for.  Hope that helps.

[Andrew..]

I can't resist throwing in the Apple name here (there's a similar thread on the boards right now).  If we wan't to get any real world use out of these machines, we've gotta make sure that some other mate on campus can't mess with em just because we're using a Windows machine with wireless internet. (that's all it seems to take these days)

the networking strenghts of Mac OS X make communicating over domain-based networks a breeze (remote printing, shared drive access etc.).  My 3 year old iBook puts these newer Dells to shame.

Good luck with your purchases, though!