Hey guys, was wondering if you could give me some recommendations for laptop computers. My friend is looking for a new one, and while I mainly use desktops, my only experience with my previous laptop was solid, but lackluster.

She's looking at....

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....=1196470144972

Price isn't too much an issue, bang for the buck is more a priority. Her current laptop is 5 years old, so it's definitely time for an upgrade. Looking for something under $1000, but if it's more and you guys think it's worth it I'll take that under advisement. She's definitely willing to go over that amount, I'm just putting it as a benchmark.

As for the laptop, I wasn't all that impressed with it. Thanks for you help!

I think its more important to know whats the intended use of the laptop
and what kind of portability is expected.

Would you rather have something little bulky, but very powerful or
something light, but powerful enough to take care of
email/browsing and similar light weight processes.

if I had to get one for myself, I'd go with a sub 13in MacBook for its
portability and reliability. But your needs would be different from mine.

I'd stay away from that lineup of Toshiba. Google "A215 Black screen of death".

I've heard that Toshiba have provided a "fix", but it doesn't make me confident that they are doing the kind of QC you want on a notebook.

What are you looking for in a machine? Office use only? Suitable for gaming?

She prefers something light, I know that. She wants it for grad school, so something with email/browsing, powerpoint, (which is every computer, I know) and something with a long battery. I'm pretty sure she doesn't do games, or anything that would really need graphics or heavy processing. I'd think she'd want something along the lines of what a business traveler would want.

If the usage is not heavy like you've said, I'd go with something like
this:
Mac:
http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPL...family/macbook

PC (Lenovo Thinkpad)
http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/c...FABC3CE1BC569A

http://www.deals2buy.com/search/notebook

There's an HP for $700, though it's a larger 17" display; and one for $600 with a 15.4" display. Both pretty good specs and better than Toshiba IMHO.

Also there are some Dells in the $700s that look pretty reasonable. People either love Dells or hate them, so one must decide where one stands on that brand.

For a copy of Microsoft Office, use www.computersworth.com or her college's store if it's cheaper there; and if possible, she should check at the school for any school discount programs from Lenovo, Dell and/or others for both the hardware and the software.

Check out the Sony Vaio SZ Series http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....=1199496322538

that is the top Spec SZ model with a carbon fibre chasis et al

the lower spec ones in SZ series (google them, or check out www.sonystyle.com ) have mag al casing, are just a little bit heavier (still, around 2 Kgs - someone convert that to lbs) and have a great battery life..

I have a similar Toshiba and the keyboard does NOT impress me as being durable. And battery life is GHASTLY for the 15.4" display.

Buy a Lenovo Thinkpad that will last for less money!

Bottom feeder laptops are almost always sold with minimal batteries and memory.

Figure on adding a hundred bucks for a real battery, and another 50 or so for memory to get to price for a usable system.

This is particularly true with Toshiba.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....=1186004969970

The cheapest white Macbook currently available will be more than enough. Macbook's Intel architecture is superb and of high-quality; it'll offer her more than enough juice to run all of her software. If she will be using things like MS Access which is only available through Windows, she can run a small partition of Windows on it as well to seamlessly continue her work. And.. you actually get someone that understands you well on the phone when you call 1-800-MY-APPLE. (No more repeating your creditcard numbers... haha!)

I am actually a marketing agent for Apple on campus for a college in the Northeast region. If you want more help, feel free to post back here! I can go over the usual requirements if you can tell me a little more about what kind of degree she'll be pursuing in her grad school.

I should also be able to forward her directly to her school's campus rep to assist her in person or via email on any pre-purchase issues!

# AMD Geode� processor LX800* with 400MHz frontside bus
# 512MB DDR memory for multitasking power

Uh, no thanks.

If you use your computer for business the most important question has to be how quickly it can be repaired.

I have sung the praises of the Sony TX series on this forum because its lightweight design.

But yesterday marked six weeks since the day I called for service and my computer is still not fixed. (They called me with an update.)

As I keep saying to Sony, "This is a business machine, not a Play Station Portable."

As to Toshiba, I've had many of them and while they routinely break their word as to the Depot Express service, they generally have the machine back to you within a week.

I felt that the Sony was a better computer than Toshiba and needed less service (this is the first trip to the shop in two and a half years versus two mother boards in six months for one of my Toshibas last year), I have been very disappointed with Sony service.

Sir Howard will definitely be hearing from me--if I ever get my computer back.

Sony:

Toshiba:

Anybody have good, reliable, quick service?

For business machines, onsite service is the only way to go unless you have another lying around you can swap out. Depot just takes way too long, even if it's just a couple of days, it's way too long in some cases.

Very respectfully, it took onsite two weeks to call me back and by then the Sony store had asked me to bring the machine to them for sending in.