whats' the buying guide for a laptop?

[andylawcc]

my sister wants a laptop, (yes, i have a sister, she is not an alias for my g/f ) which I don't have one)
and I told her these are my priority,

1) Price (you don't need PIII 800, a Celeron 700 will do)
2) Technical Support
3) Battery Life, Weight, and Monitor Size

I didn't focus much on feature and specification, coz all will be about the same and she won't have a clue if I say a i815ep motherboard pair with a week 36 SL36D PIII would beat a K62 500 one.

anyone want to add/correct me?

 

[Lord Gwynz]

A lot depends on what you plan on doing with the laptop. If you're looking at some wholesome 3D gaming on a portable, you'll need to focus on what video chipset to get as well (Geforce2go, ATI 128 Mobility, SavageIX/MX, etc). But aside from that, here's my order of priorities when shopping for a laptop:

1) Warranty - Models with a 3 yr. warranty I assume are of higher quality and reliability. If it's a model with a 1 yr. warranty you're looking at, try charging it on a Gold/Platinum credit card that automatically doubles the warranty coverage to 2 years because repair costs for these things can really get up there in a hurry.

2) Service support, Technical support and Driver support.

3) Price.

Features I pay most attention to would be keyboard feel, an active matrix/TFT screen, and a tv video out port. And support for an internal mini-pci lan card is always a big plus too in my book.

 

[andylawcc]

well,.. my sister doesn't play games, so a Virge or Neomagic can do,
and can you explain that credit card = more warranty thing? does this works for all credit card?

 

[Lord Gwynz]

I believe most Gold/Platinum Visa/Mastercard credit cards offer some kind of automatic extended/double warranty on most purchases. Usually there's some restrictions, such as the item must be new, not used or a refurb, must have a manufacturer warranty of 1 year or less, and make sure you keep all receipts and paperwork. You'll have to read the terms and conditions of your card since restrictions can vary. I think American Express cards offer similiar benefits as well.

 

[SeaHarp]

I dont want to take over your thread, but maybe you know. I have a sony vaio w/ the neomagic video....Is there anyway you can change your video card or are they integrated. See, my sony laptop came w/ win98 and I cant do a clean install of win 2k without going through sony's specific path to do so. When I do, the drivers for my neomagic wont install. You can't just install the o.s. and then download drivers.

What I'm saying is that I would'nt really recommend sony. I love it but it should be a free standing computer and NOT "Sony Recovery Disk" dependant.

 

[Lord Gwynz]

Why don't you want to follow Sony's specific upgrade instructions for W2K (or do they simply instruct you to buy a newer model haha )

Have you checked MS's compatibility list for your laptop, it may provide some helpful info.

And no, the video chipset usually isn't upgradeable at all when it comes to laptops

 

[SeaHarp]

Yes it is compatable w/microsoft. I have the model f-580 which has win 98. They have a 580k which has the exact same componants, but comes with win2k as the operating system. But, the only way to upgrade mine to win2k is w/their recovery disk, which I cant get, or install win2k in addition (not instead of) win 98.

When I install win 2k, I'm missing my modem and video drivers. You cant download those drivers. Well you can, but only if you have win2k already installed on your system with their disks. Really screwed up. Even on their site they tell you they have no solution, other than having both operating systems on my computer until they get it fixed.

My computer is sony software dependant first, and operating system second.

 

[andylawcc]

I don't know much about Laptops, but I wouldn't mess with the software and especially the hardware of them.
and I am sure the videocard is build in, if it isn't, it wouldn't worth the risk to crack open the casing to put one in... (you need to find a laptop Graphic card first too)

 

[andylawcc]

anyone else?

 

[Lord Gwynz]

Dude, that's wrong, since you already paid for a licensed copy of W2K you shouldn't have to pay twice for some stupid recovery disc from Sony. I say band together all the Sony users you know and petition Sony to release those drivers W2K pronto. Man, that's unbelievable and I think that would be grounds for a class action lawsuit right there.

 

[newbiepcuser]

Find out if there authorized service repair center near you, so you can see if something goes down, how long before you get the laptop back. I work as technician for retail chain. Some notebook manufactures wouldn't let us work on the notebooks, it had to be ship out. It would up 3 weeks for certain brand of notebooks. Also see if any of your Credit Cards will automatically double the warranty. I just bought a Toshiba for the following reasons, there is service center near by, and 3 to 4 day turn around from the service center. After confirming with Citibank, the warranty for my notebook was extended another year at no charge, so you don't have to buy the extended warranty.