Is there anything I should steer clear of when buying a laptop... emachines ?

[UnatcoAgent]

Someone suggested getting one of the new Athlon64 E-Machine systems, but... it's emachines? Bad?

 

[n7]

Emachines are actually one of the better built brands if you are buying a retail PC.

Yes, they used to be poor quality, but i don't think that's the case anymore.
The notebooks area has a few threads about Emachines lappys for more info.

 

[robphelan]

we have a presario 2500 CTO from a previous AT hot deal... it's pretty heavy. my advice is to check the weight of any laptop.

We normally use it in the living room @ home for wireless browsing and it's still a pain cuz it's so heavy.

 

[UnatcoAgent]

Originally posted by: robphelan
we have a presario 2500 CTO from a previous AT hot deal... it's pretty heavy. my advice is to check the weight of any laptop.

We normally use it in the living room @ home for wireless browsing and it's still a pain cuz it's so heavy.

Ok I will definetly keep that in mind. What about graphic cards? I see Radeon 9000 shared a lot, as well as 32DDR Geforce 4 MX's and 64Geforce 4's at futureshop, any ideas if I wanted to do some light gaming?

 

[UnatcoAgent]

What do you guys think of this one? It's right in my price range.

 

[mjuarez]

I've heard very good EMachines references from a lot of people. I communicate with at least two people in other message boards who have bought the eMachines Athlon64, and there's been nothing but good news. I would buy one myself, but I'm in the process of buying an Athlon64 desktop for gaming. My current machine is a laptop, and I yearn for the advantages a desktop gives you (like the ability to plug in a 21" LCD), including upgradeability.

Marcos

 

[UnatcoAgent]

Originally posted by: mjuarez
I've heard very good EMachines references from a lot of people. I communicate with at least two people in other message boards who have bought the eMachines Athlon64, and there's been nothing but good news. I would buy one myself, but I'm in the process of buying an Athlon64 desktop for gaming. My current machine is a laptop, and I yearn for the advantages a desktop gives you (like the ability to plug in a 21" LCD), including upgradeability.

Marcos

Ok I will take a good look at them.

 

[Cheetah8799]

Stuff to steer clear of? Most of this will require research on the net for other user's experiences. It also helps if you can go to a store and look at the laptop in person before buying online or wherever.

Flimsy lcd mounting brackets, some models break easily.
Poor battery quality and lifespan.
Special keys on keyboard that are useless? Some new laptops also don't have the Windows key, which I find useful.
Touchpad mouse surface may be over or under sensitive. Also, mouse buttons may be stiffer on some models.
Built in wireless is nice, but depends on where antenna is located and how you hold and use the laptop.
USB and PCMCIA slot location is important if you use wireless PCMCIA card, or USB devices like flash drives. They will stick out a bit, and you don't want it to make using your laptop a pain...

 

[Cheetah8799]

What about graphic cards? I see Radeon 9000 shared a lot, as well as 32DDR Geforce 4 MX's and 64Geforce 4's at futureshop, any ideas if I wanted to do some light gaming?

What is light gaming? Depends on what you want to play. Light gaming in Doom 3 is probably almost impossible with any budget laptops... You might find some good deals on laptops with ATI 9600 chipsets. That would allow for a lot of fairly recent games.

 

[UnatcoAgent]

Cheetah, thanks very much, I will check everything you mentioned when I go to futureshop today.

Also, by light gaming I mean like Quake 3, origional CnC and some other more classic games, nothing like doom 3.