Trying to get a feel for laptop companies

[onlyCOpunk]

Hello,

Was jsut wondering what the deal was with laptop manufacturers. I have only owned one laptop in my life and that was a Powerbook G4, but I am not going down Apple's road again.

Sadly I'm utterly clueless about Windows based laptops. There only seem to be so many, and I haven't really heard any phenominal reviews regarding any besides Alienware, but we all know they charge a premium for their service, yet they seem to use parts that make the premium "worth it."

I'm not looking for anything fancy, but a company that uses a proper video card in case I wanted to play some games would be nice, also one with a great keyboard as so far the PB's keyboard has been nothing but perfect.

 

[JustaGeek]

HP/Compaq is my personal favorite - for whatever it's worth...

Great affordable computers, both desktops and laptops, and second to none support website with all the necessary drivers, software and... repair manuals!

Just type-in your model number... like this one for my little Compaq V5305WM:

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfr...s&dlc=en&lang=en&cc=us

Good luck with any choice you may make...

 

[onlyCOpunk]

Sorry if I'm just having a discussion with myself.

I found two laptop companies that tickled my fancy thus far (besides the ever present and ultra pricey Alienware) Toshiba laptops seem to provide good hardware at a cheaper price then the bigger name laptop makers, and then there is ABS a DIY notebook maker, the thought sort of intrigues me because I would be fun to build my own notebook.

 

[nordloewelabs]

i vote for Toshiba and HP.

 

[cardiac]

The last 3 that I have had have been HP/Compaq, and they have given me great service.....

Bob

 

[Fardor]

Well, I got a Inspiron 9300 with a geforce go6800, 1 gb, and 1.6something ghz a few years ago for around $1400 and it has been very good.
I think I might have stumbled upon a really good deal though; I'm really not sure if their prices are the best or if Dell laptops are the best laptops.
I would suggest you look into them though.

and, I'm really not sure how their support is, since I never had a single problem with it.

 

[0roo0roo]

why aren't you considering apple anymore? their notebooks are just intel notebooks now, can run parallels or winxp dual boot if you wish.
notebooks certainly suck less now, dual cores and cheap ram make for a snappy general use experience unlike the speed sacrifice of the past.

one thing hasn't changed that much, you aren't going to get brilliant gaming out of a laptop. the high end can do something less than brilliant, but its still not without sacrifice in battery life/size/weight etc.

 

[WildViper]

I would vouch for Sony and Asus. Though watch out with Sony and their specs. Sometimes to make the price cheaper, they would put things like a 4200 RPM HardDrive in a Core2Duo T7100 with 2 Gigs ram. It just doesn't work.

Asus, you will find, actually manufactures a lot of the other brand laptops.

 

[Rottie]

Lemme see...I have owned Two Compaq notebooks (new one I bought last month), Dell, and Toshiba. I am truly happy with new Compaq notebook for a month.

I think you should give HP/Compaq a try.