I need a laptop. Recommendations?

[RayB]

I want to finally untether myself from the desk and do Photoshop, web editing and Flash development and maybe low-end Unity on a laptop (+ the usual crap like web surf). I don't care about current PC gaming (eg: if I want to play Skyrim, I'll do it on Xbox)

I'm seeing some amazing prices and specs out there in the typical mainstream stores, but I haven't followed PC hardware in many years, so all the graphics and CPU model names/numbers are meaningless to me.

HP: All I know is the HP Pavillion I had access to 4 or 5 years ago started dieing rather prematurely and had horrible power jack problems that killed it. Battery also died really quick. So now I'm HP-averse.

Acer: Some say it sucks, some say they are great for the price.

Asus: I have always bought Asus motherboards and parts for tower PCs, but how are they for complete consumer products?

Toshiba: They make good TVs... Laptops look nice...  

Sony: They make attractive looking laptops. Not sure I want to pay a premium if the hardware quality doesn't match. I don't like paying extra for a name or aesthetics, and I don't really want to support a company that thinks it's ok to install rootkits.

Dell: I heard good and bad things about Dell, but I think that was back in the "bad cap" days that all electronics companies were affected by. I've been recommended a Dell XPS. I'm considering it.

Gateway: They had their heyday 15 years ago. I assume they are crap now.

Apple: I've debated getting a Macbook Pro and having it run both OSX and Windows. This way I can do iOS development. But my Windows software might not run properly (or at all?) and they are expensive.


I've been checking the Windows 7 "rating" they have in "System" and so far the best I found was a 5.4 . My own desktop is rated 5.9. Anything around 5 should be good enough.  FOr screen, I'm not sure if 15" is big enough, but some say the 17" laptops are too big to be practical. Lastly, I need gesture support on the trackpad (too used to my girlfriend's Macbook Air and once you get used to the two-fingered up/down to scroll a page, you just can't go back, just like how I can't live without a mousewheel). I was surprised that most of the laptops at Best Buy did not have this feature, yet the crappy cheap Acer did.

OH, and looking at the Dell XPS options, I'm so tempted to also want touchscreen.

So, any recommendations ?  

[Xiaou2]

Anything HP sux these days.  Horrible 1yr warranties, and hardware failures up the yinyang.  Everything from power adapter ports issues, to failed components on motherboards.

Acer - from last Ive seen, they usually skimp out on quality... such as a poor quality LCD. This can be very annoying, and not worth the savings.

Toshiba - Boss had gotten a bunch of them a few yrs back for some of our clients... and they have lasted very well for many years.

IBM - Thinkpads are another option.  Ive seen them in the wilds for years without issue.

 No real depth of experience with the others.

[gamer2112]

Acer

[CCM]

I've had my Toshiba laptop for about 6 years and have never had an issue with it,  I would definitely buy another one. 

[Samstag]

I love my thinkpads.  My older one is around 7 years old and still works like it did the first day.  As long as it's a T or X model.  I don't think I'd touch any Lenovo other than those.

I don't know if they do touchpad gesturing.  I disabled mine right away since the trackpoint mouse is so much better than a pad.

[Richard_Nixon]

My Toshiba was a really low-end model when it was new 5 years ago. But it came fully loaded, and was backward compatible with XP (one of the last ones at the time). I tossed an extra 2gb of ram in there last year but it still ran like a champ without it. I used to use it for CAD and 3D modeling without any issue. Now its only used for DJing and some lighter tasks. But I would buy another Toshiba in a second, should the need arise. Haven't had any issues whatsoever, even the old battery still gives me a good 2 hours!

[Dawgz Rule]

I have been purchasing ThinkPads for years and they seem to hold up the best.  That being said, I have never been led down the wrong path when I went with a purchase that had great reviews at Newegg.

[ark_ader]

I second Thinkpads.  I have had 3 and they have followed me all over the globe and are still going after 11 years. 

I love my Asus Z3sc and that does a decent job of keeping a good battery life.  I have a couple of HPs (that will be projects soon) and they are solidly built and perfect for bog standard stuff.  I would look at getting:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834230240

Don't let the processor speed fool you.  My Z3 is Dual Core 1.5 and it overclocks on the fly.  The AMD will have Cool&Quiet and will help your battery on the long run.  The HD6320 should be enough for you graphical needs and maybe Skyrim too.

Besides at that price, I would get two. 

[Blanka]

All on your wishlist needs a high-res good screen, a high-res good screen and a high-res good screen.
All the rest is irrelevant

PROBLEM! NOBODY MAKES A LAPTOP WITH A GOOD SCREEN ANYMORE! They are only in PADS.

So your best bet is to buy a second hand Dell or IBM. They had very nice dual core P4 ones with 1400x1050 or 1600x1200 IPS or MVA screens with 100% sRGB backlight. Today you only buy TN crap with low-gamut (70-80% srgb) LED backlight. The screens in those old Thinkpads are perfect for PS, coding etc. And a lot smaller than the crap 17 or 18.5 inch full-HD models of today, yet 1600x1200 is much more convenient.

[newmanfamilyvlogs]

I buy a lot of laptops at work... one of the stupid things I look for first in build quality is how they mount the monitor to the body. I hate wobbly hinges after a year of use. Dell is the worst here. Toshiba and Lenovo are pretty tied for solid monitor mounts, in my experience.

What might be a nice choice would be to find someone selling a newer Toshiba or Lenovo with a broken LCD, then buy an upgraded replacement panel for it, higher than stock.

[fallacy]

Like Blanka was saying it hardly matters the specs are so high now with 8 gigs of memory and i7 processors. Only thing that would matter is the displays in which case if you are doing photo shop work hook the laptop up to your monitor and optical mouse.

If you wanted one for gamming that would be a different story because usually graphic cards in laptops are behind the curve.

I would say go to best buy and see one that feels and looks right. Then buy it online for cheaper.

[BadMouth]

Had a $375 Acer and hated it. The keyboard keys were flat and felt weird.  I literally could not type correctly on it.
The speakers were the worst in any device I'd ever owned, including my cell phone.
The cover would fall off the dvd drive and the drive itself sounded like it was going to shake the laptop apart. They're just cheap.

From what I've heard, Sony charges to download Vaio drivers.
I'm not 100% sure it's true, but you might want to check into it if you're going to be messing around with other operating systems.

[hypernova]

Had one Toshiba, until it was stolen about 18 months later from our house.

Replaced with a bigger and better Toshiba for the last 3 or 4 years.  Been happy with it.  Battery seems a little suspect the last few months.  Still works rather well besides the rare problems with the battery doing something weird about once a week or so.  It's been my main PC choice since I've gotten it.  I use it about 95% of the time.

[RayB]

Thanks everybody. Toshiba and Thinkpad seem to be the definite front-runners here.

[knave]

I've bought 3 Dell notebooks over the past 5 years for various family members, all still perform well. I've bought one Acer and while the computer is great the build quality is lacking. I've fixed a few HP's and Toshibas and while I can't speak for longjevity they both seemed to work well enough.

If I were in the market for a new notebook today I would let price + Spec's be my guide. Most likely though I would still buy from dell because there are always good deals and the order process is so easy not to mention that I can use all of my existing chargers.

As far as specs I would get an i5 or above, 8gb ram 1gb descrete graphics with a 1080p screen (HDMI out is a must), I'm also a fan of a 9 cell battery and backlit keyboard but while nice they are not required. For less than a grand you can get a pretty loaded i7.

[CheffoJeffo]

I used to be a fan of Toshiba notebooks, then I did a run of 3 HP notebooks. The HPs had some battery issues, but were nice machines to work on with nice screens.

My current notebook is a Sony with the most horrible battery life on the planet (40 minutes if I am lucky) and a ---smurfy--- connector for the power brick. I am still not sure if I like the chicklet keyboard, but the screen is beautiful and is what made the choice easy. Originally, my business partner's wife bought it for image processing, so it has nifty adjustments for the display. A pricey option, but well worth it.

My next notebook is on order and is also a Sony. Again, mostly for the nice display, although I am downsizing from my 18.4 behemoth but keeping the resolution.

I get great deals from Dell as they supply most of my servers, but I have yet to be impressed enough to buy one. I have friends with nice flashy Dell notebooks, but they just haven't impressed me.

Haven't bought a desktop in almost a decade.

[knave]

The display and the battery life are two of the most important considerations for me when choosing a notebook.

[NiN^_^NiN]

I can tell you now Stay away from HP period unless your going for a high end model.

We use Thinkpads at work and they last and last and are worth it even if the laptops don't have such a stylish look compared to other laptops.

I do recommend you don't look at a T400 (they are old stock now) We have stuck with the T line from T60 to T420 and T400 where the only ones that had an issue now and then but these are built to last.

As for the others I can't mention as i've only had one or two of the brands so I don't like to speculate.

[Cakemeister]

Thinkpad +1. Not stylish, but reliable.

[HaRuMaN]

I have a Toshiba satellite at home, bought in 2004, still running today.

At work I use a Dell Precision M6500.  It would be a decent PC if our IT department didn't load it up with crap and force us to use Win XP. 

[Vigo]

From the brands that I used:

HP: Definitely much better than a few years ago. Used to be very problematic back around the time they bought out Compaq. These still have their share of problems, but if you find a solid model, they seem to be about the best bang for your buck.

Acer: Not very classy looking, but these are hands down the most reliable laptops I have ever encountered. I have one from 2002 going strong, and never had a single hiccup in it's entire life. (That is until I detached the LCD from the base a couple months ago to see how well it would work for a slim bartop machine.  )

Asus: If I was not such a tightwad and found a huge deal on an HP, I would hands down Asus right now. Classy, strong laptops that are reliable and comfortable. They are simply great machines.

Toshiba: Another Great Brand. This is the brand laptop I recommended to my parents. The design of these can sometimes be a little dumb though. USB ports on some models are on the right front, and if you plan on hooking up a real mouse, and wires in the right front are horribly annoying.

Sony: Battery Hogs. I just dont tread around sony laptops for that reason alone.

Dell: There is too much bad blood between me and dell for me to ever be unbias against them again. I think they are garbage, but the one my brother got a few years back actually doesn't seem so bad. I still don't think I could rank them as terrific.

Apple: I haven't used an apple laptop on a serious level since the clamshell days. All I can say is that unless you specifically need the OS, pass. For the amount you would spend, you could get some very serious hardware in a different brand.

OK, with all that "brand" gabbelygook said, my advice is don't heavily base your purchase on the brand. With a laptop, you are stuck with the monitor and keyboard, and those two things are gonna be far more important than the brand you go with. Go to Best Buy, look at the placement of the USB ports, the usability of the functions buttons, quality of speakers, look of the screen...things that are tangible to your senses. At the end of the day, the specs from brand to brand in any given price range are not too far off from each other.

Oh, and one more thing. If you are a desktop user, you may find it difficult to live without a number pad. Consider that when picking a laptop, because even with widescreen, they don't always come with one.

I've been checking the Windows 7 "rating" they have in "System" and so far the best I found was a 5.4 . My own desktop is rated 5.9. Anything around 5 should be good enough. 

Eh, I always thought the windows rating was a bunch of BS. The score is only as strong as it's weakest score, and sometimes that weak link is not critical to what you do. The numbers are arbitrary as well, windows can and does change the scale system on a whim. I think the thing is there just to get PC gamers to buy a new gaming rigs every 2 years. 

[BadMouth]

Oh, and one more thing. If you are a desktop user, you may find it difficult to live without a number pad. Consider that when picking a laptop, because even with widescreen, they don't always come with one.

It always annoyed me not having one on my old laptop.
So when I bought a new one, I made sure it had a number pad.
....Then quickly became annoyed that I had to hold my hands to the left to type.  

Bought a new laptop in December and made sure that I got one without a number pad.

(a fairly specc'd out i7 Alienware m14x.  They are overpriced, but I had some killer discount codes that brought it down to what I wanted to pay.  Very happy with it)

[knave]

(a fairly specc'd out i7 Alienware m14x.  They are overpriced, but I had some killer discount codes that brought it down to what I wanted to pay.  Very happy with it)

I can't think of anyone I know who has purchased an alienware and regreted it. (they all seem to use the PC for a long time 3+ years)

[Xiaou2]

We had a customer who bought a netbook.  I think it was Asus.  Thing was Horribly slow, for even the most basic of tasks.

[MonMotha]

We had a customer who bought a netbook.  I think it was Asus.  Thing was Horribly slow, for even the most basic of tasks.

It's a netbook....  They're kinda slow by design.  The theory behind them was to get good battery life, be small, and have just enough horsepower for casual web surfing and media consumption ala an appliance.  Then people decided they wanted them to be "real" PCs that just happened to be cheap, Windows got thrown on them, and the market died having been supplanted by the modern tablet (ala iPad, etc.).

I have a Thinkpad W500, and I'm pretty happy with it still despite it being over 2 years old.  It's in very good shape (I use it hard, but I'm pretty nice to it physically - seems well built, though).  It has pretty quality components, decent design, etc.  Being an older model, it's lacking things like eSATA, USB3, and a few other modern niceties, but the modern models (W520 is I think the current model in that line) have all those.  I got mine late in the model cycle because I wanted the 16:10 WUXGA, but all the new ones are 16:9 1080p.  A friend of mine has the W520 and likes it.  Just be aware that the stock Windows build can be a bit "polluted" with Lenovo garbage (not trialware, etc., but their "utilities").  This has gotten better, apparently: my friend's W520 was pretty clean except for some branding whereas mine was barely usable.  A clean install fixed all that.

I like the look of the Thinkpad bricks over the "modern styling" found on most other models, but that's personal preference.

I know people who have Alienware and Dell XPS series machines, too, and they're reasonably happy with them.  I did have a client recently purchase a Latitude E5520 (Core i5), and while it works well enough, I found it to be no faster than my 2 year old W500 (Core2 Duo) even with a clean Windows build.  I suspect the factory hard drive may be to blame, but I didn't really investigate.

You tend to get what you pay for.  Even if things have "similar looking" specs, the one that costs twice as much probably (but of course not guaranteed) probably has better supporting components and/or secondary specs, and you'll probably notice it if you're anything more than a casual user.

[BadMouth]

FYI, turned the alienware m14x on today and it was dead.
Keyboard lights up, monitor doesn't come on, 7 beeps=motherboard or cpu problem.
Detached and reseated everything I could without voiding the warranty.  Nothing made a difference.
I was hoping they'd send someone to my workplace, but they are sending a box to have me ship it back in.
It's only a few months old. 

[Donkey_Kong]

The wife and I have owned like 5 Dell laptops over the past decade. I think all were model Inspiron. The batteries last like a year then won't hold a charge. Then the next problem that arises like clockwork between that 1st and 2nd year, is the inability to keep the power cord connected at the laptop. It gets all sensitive to the slightest movement and becomes disconnected. Very annoying. We have also had to replace the power brick for I think all 5 of these somewhere along the line.


We're due for new laptops and are subscribing to this thread.

[Malenko]

Make sure your wife gets one with a good webcam 

[Donkey_Kong]

Whach you talkin bout' Willis?

[Hoopz]

Whach you talkin bout' Willis?

Dudley, stay out of the bike shop!!!!

 

[Malenko]

Whach you talkin bout' Willis?

Tell her Axl Rose says hi!

[RayB]

Hmm. Well I ended up getting a Dell. It was on sale for $200 less than it is now. Core i7 quadcore, Nvidia 525 chipset, etc... nothing else at that price matched the specs. It was one of those 1-week introductory specials and the stores sold out everywhere, but I managed to get one.

So a day after buying it I'm installing software and discover the Q key doesn't work right. 

Been waiting for the stores to have them in stock again so I can exchange it, but now Donkey_Kong has me second guessing whether to get a different brand. 

[Donkey_Kong]

I'm suspicious that our problems could be partially due to the fact that we have always ended up with the lower budget Inspiron models. If you are getting a higher end model XPS or the like, then your guess is as good as mine.

[MonMotha]

I've found Inspirons to be, in general, "total crap".  Might as well get an Acer or black Friday special.  Latitude and XPS lines vary but are usually OK.

I've also found that, in general, any laptop costing less than $600 is "total crap", even if it appears to be heavily discounted.  $600-1000 may be decent if it's got lowish "apparent specs", but if it's touting all the latest high end stuff, they've probably cheated (e.g. not using the low power CPU) and probably have everything not specifically called out crap, too.

>$1000 could be decent.  Caveat emptor.  >$1500 probably is unless you're paying a premium for a certain name (Sony Vaio, Macbook, etc.), and even then it's probably fine, just overpriced.

The old adage is generally true: you (roughly) get what you pay for, but of course look for the best deal.

My laptop was nearly $2000.  It's 2 years old, and it still outperforms a lot of what I see people getting these days, and it's 1920x1200, to boot.  It's also not falling apart, but then that's probably at least partially due to me treating it reasonably.

[knave]

The two Dell Inspirons and my XPS are still going strong one at 4 years, one 3 and 2 years for the XPS.

I think its the nature of laptops to be susceptible to wear at the plug. I have been really paranoid about setting down my laptops on a bed or sofa while plugged in and putting pressure on the power plug. My daughters Acer is failing like that...loose connection. I bought a new battery and charger for her over the holidays and the charger works better than the stock one.

Her battery died completely in December.  I bought our computers at the same time and my XPS still holds a charge after two years.
The other dells still hold a charge too...I wonder if it has anything with my insistence on getting 9 cell batteries.

In any case I think all labtops susceptible to these issues. Especially the batteries loosing capacity.

If you order the extended warranty from dell a month or two before your factory warranty expires it will cover the power plug issue.
I didn't get it though and have had good luck with them.

[BadMouth]

As a follow-up to my new alienware m14x dying after 2 months......

I called about it on a Sunday evening.
They overnighted me prepaid box to ship it back in on Monday, which I received Tuesday.
I shipped it to them on Wednesday & received it back the following Monday with a note that the mobo had been replaced.
So it basically took a week with all the shipping back and forth.  They actually received my laptop on Thursday and shipped it Friday or Saturday.

About an hour after it was delivered, I received an automated call from dell telling me it had shipped.  

What's really weird though is that it's now Friday, and I just received another automated call from Dell to inform me that they have received my laptop for repair.

I'm extremely happy with the performance of the computer, but I expected a lot more as far as reliability and service go.

[paigeoliver]

Maybe they will end up sending you another repaired one!

What's really weird though is that it's now Friday, and I just received another automated call from Dell to inform me that they have received my laptop for repair.

[Unstupid]

Of buying Dell only buy Latitudes or Precision laptops because they have docking ports on the bottom of them so when you are at home you can just throw it on the docking station and use 1 (or 2) regular monitors and real keyboards and mice.   

[knave]

Of buying Dell only buy Latitudes or Precision laptops because they have docking ports on the bottom of them so when you are at home you can just throw it on the docking station and use 1 (or 2) regular monitors and real keyboards and mice.   

I don't doubt that the convenience of a dedicated dock is a nice thing to have, but I've never found it difficult to use any laptop this way. plug in a usb hub and your external monitor and go...

Truth is I don't prefer to use a computer at a desk these days. I've stopped using my desktop altogether. I'm most comfortable with my laptop...on my lap.

[Green Giant]

I still have my Sager laptop I bought in 2002.  But somewhere along the line they stopped offering the best bargains in town and transitioned to high end gaming laptops.

But if you want power, Sager.