Laptop?

[lukevanoort]

Originally Posted by tagger

My advice would be to not buy a dell, dell is the company for people who don't know much about computers =\. I'd look at computer sites too, like newegg or something, they usually have some nice deals. If you can customize your own to what you need, you can definitely save some money if you know you won't need a lot of hard drive space or something like that.

I disagree with that statement. I like to think that I know a decent amount about computers; I am industry certified in networking and work as a PHP programmer/web developer. I happen to find Dells to be very acceptable. Someone who really knows what they are doing know exactly what he/she needs and gets it at the best price, and I have yet to see a laptop that beats the Dell Vostros for bang to the buck. Newegg and other component sites (yes, I know Newegg sells whole computers too) are sometimes great for building desktops, but they aren't the be-all and end-all.

In my experience the best way to get the ideal laptop is to buy one of the middle-of-the-road or business models with a good processor and graphics card (if you buy the stuff targeted at gamers and high-end non-business users [like Alienware] you often end up paying for the case, not what's in it); then, you perform a large RAM upgrade, and possibly hard drive upgrade (to a 7200rpm drive, if applicable) from components purchased from one of the component places. Laptop manufacturers seem to love to overprice the ram for some reason...

EDIT: HPs annoy the heck out of me, but they are nowhere near as bad as Compaq... I would not purchase a Compaq even at a 50% off sale. I have had no experience with Toshiba. I have heard good things about Lenovos from people I know who own them, and Apples some of the nicest laptops I have used (overpriced though...).