Notebooks from Brick and Mortar Stores - Which brand is best?

[stuman74]

Hello,

I have looked online at Dell, Gateway and Micron notebooks. I was wondering though, which brand of notebook that is sold typically at brick and mortar stores is the best to get out of HP, IBM, Compaq, Sony and any others?

Any recommendations or comments are appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Adul]

IBM would be your best bet IMHO.

 

[Howard]

Cheap laptops
A PERFECT RESELLER RATING

 

[Gunbuster]

Adul: IBM is not sold at brick and mortar stores


1800 series compaq: huge/heavy but pretty hooked up in specs and price

Toshiba has a model with geforce 2 go sold at compusa.

HP: current line seems flimsy to me, screens flex way to much

 

[John]

Buy direct and cut the middle man out in notebook sales.

 

[stuman74]

So there is really no clear standout at the B&M stores vs like going straight through Dell?

 

[BassDominator]

I think Sony is the most impressive out of the bunch, but I'd still rather customize a machine from Dell.

 

[MWink]

I don't know about B&M stores but I agree that Powernotebooks.com is an EXCELLENT place to buy one from.

 

[stuman74]

That powernotebooks.com is probably fine, but I think I have it narrowed down to either a Dell Inspiron 4000 or a Sony Vaio F or FX series notebook.

Still mulling it over.

Anyone recommend one of the Dell service plans over the others?

 

[stuman74]

Bump

 

[BassDominator]

I spent the extra $100 for the next day onsite warranty. I've never needed it personally, but it's nice to know you have it. Beats having to send your computer away and wait ages for it to get fixed.

PS. Both sony and dell are excellent machines IMHO

 

[LXi]

Sonys and HPs, just dont get Compaq.

 

[SiliconVandal]

Get a Sony VAIO FX..they are pretty nice.

 

[pm]

You can get IBM's at Best Buy. And I agree with Adul that they are my favorite. I've used about six different laptops for prolonged periods and my favorite remains IBM Thinkpads.

But one thing of note is that pretty much any main brand should be fine. A lot of them use the same components to put them together. For me, battery life, ergonomics, and price/performance top the list of things that I look for.

 

[Lord Gwynz]

Do any of the typical B&M stores (Best Buys, Circuit City, CompUSA etc.) carry any of the higher-end models? Last time I was shopping for a notebook, I couldn't find anyone local who carried Tecras or Thinkpad A20/T20's, mostly all I would find were Toshiba Satellites (not even Pro's) or the TP iSeries models.

 

[Gunbuster]

Did you guys miss the whole IBM selling web only in the USA thing?

Unless something changed recently IBM does not sell in the brick and mortar retail channel

 

[pm]

Well, my father bought an IBM at Best Buy about a year ago, and a friend purchased one this last summer. I know this because I was there helping them choose it.

Edit: They were i-series Thinkpads from IBM and it looks like they stopped selling them at Best Buy in the latter half of 2000. I still think they are my favorite laptops, but I guess they are not available from Brick & Mortar any more.