Laptop Recommendations

[Kills On Site]

Well next semester I will be entering college and every caollege I've applied to requires new freshman to have a laptop. I have never really purchased a laptop before and haven't built a pre-built computer in years. So my first question is what laptop are good. The brands I can think of are HP, Dell, Lenovo, Acer, Alienware, Flacon Northwest. So what brands are good, reliable laptops. I want something with good performance, I am thinking Core 2 Duo with at least 1 GB of RAM. Is the increase to 7,200 RPM from 5,400 RPM in laptop HDDs worth the extra money and battery usage. No clue what would be a good screen size or type either. What advice do you guys have?

[+JuggerNaut+]

HP and/or Dell have been very good laptops from my experience. screen size is up to you since you'll be lugging around the extra weight.

[dzjepp]

Do you think you're really going to be using it much besides average school work (word processor) or are you going into multimedia design and playing games in off time? If you'll be sticking to basics why not get the cheapest one out there or get a 2nd hand one? There's a good chance you could have it stolen.

[Foo]

Do you think you're really going to be using it much besides average school work (word processor) or are you going into multimedia design and playing games in off time? If you'll be sticking to basics why not get the cheapest one out there or get a 2nd hand one? There's a good chance you could have it stolen.

Cheap laptops are shockingly bad, even for word processing and surfing. Plus they're hot. And heavy. And have poor components and poor warranty.

Safer to lock yourself into a mediocre $800 purchase than a really poor $650 one... 'cause once you've bought a laptop it's not as if you can swap out all the components as you can with a desktop.

[Kills On Site]

Well I would like to game, not necessarily hard core 24/7 gaming, but some during free time. I also tend to do a lot of multitasking, so it gets pretty processor and memory intensive.

As for brands, I truly don't like Dell and as for HP they have so many lights and shit on them. As with both companies, as well as most I'm sure, they come with a ton of useless shit. I am looking for something with Windows, drivers and that is about it. Of the two brands, I would most likely go with HP.

Any do or don'ts of what to buy or not buy on a laptop? Looking at HP, they don't offer Vista Ultimate. I would like the Buisness part of Vista due to large networking and security, but I also want the ability to hook up to my 360 and stream videos and whatnot.

[Kills On Site]

Anyone with brand suggestions besides HP and Dell?

[werldhed]

Nope. I'll have to recommend Dell, too... Solid, with good service.
You can get a good discount on them if you search online.

Don't give in an buy an oversized screen, though. Laptops over 15" are just too big and cumbersome, IMO.

[RLucky82]

I think lately HP has better service then dell. I recently went on a trip to Lake Tahoe and saw alot of HP laptops flying through the air! they all looked good to. I have an older dell thats been pretty good and solid but their costumer service has gone down hill (or out of this country).

I love the bigger screen sizes but couldn't imagine lugging a 17" widescreen around from class to class!!! one option is to get a 12" monitor and a bigger lcd to hook upto when at home/dorm.

Toshiba is another favorite that I have heard alot of good things about, and will probably be my next purchase!

[Kills On Site]

Someone recommended iBUYPOWER, I haven't really ever heard of them before. So far HP is looking the best, I want a Core 2 Duo and 2 GB or RAM. I hear the laptop requirements for the college of engineering at State are high, requiring a dual-core laptop.

[DiscoDave]

I've had experiences with both HP and Dell laptops and generally they're both excellent brands, though we've had more problems with the dells than with the HP's.

[plained]

sony

[4days]

seriously? i've only had a few run-ins with sony laptops and they've all been bad.

dell aren't very exciting, but they're cheap, they work and they're pretty well supported. ibm thinkpads are very nice machines, but they're a bit too pricey.

[Tormentius]

I'd recommend Acer or HP.

[FragaGeddon]

I'm thinking about getting another laptop from Dell again. But something small and leightweight this time. I gave my last one to my niece as a graduation present.