Best Laptop Manufacturer

[Gandalf on Crack]

yah, I dont know much about laptops but i was wondering which manufacturer would be best for a new laptop, i instantly lean to Dell, but i really dont know, anyone have any reccomendations?

[chrisrog]

Dell makes good desktops, but horrid notebooks. I say go with Gateway on this one, they make quality laptops with good performance and battery life.

[ScotchGuy]

Make your own, I would much rather get a laptop with hardware I want and everything customized instead of one from a manufacturer that will most likely be way overpriced. You can get a laptop for much cheaper if you make it yourself to, and with better hardware.

[Gandalf on Crack]

well if you read the sub-topic, it says
Since i dont know how to build Laptops..


I have no experience with laptops....

[adamp2p]

I feel like the super Dell salesman all the time on this board but the fact is there is no way to get better performance for your budget, particularly at the refurbished part of their website.

A good friend of mine who works for Dell says that most of those refurbished systems have never ever been used but were assembled for deals that fell through, thus they lose the new classification and their price lowers by 15-20%, which is a huge discount.

I am an economics major and I have to know my numbers. Dell only makes a couple of points on each system they sell. If you didn't already know, Dell is able make money and better systems than most manufactuers because they they have very low overhead due to the fact they only do online and occasional phone sales. It is a hyperefficient buisness model that no other computer company has been successful at implementing. The most intelligent aspect of Dell is their president, Michael. He invests almost 40% of Dell's profit into research and development, which is way over other manufacturers R & D. That is why everybody would rather have a cooler designed Dell than a tacky HP or compaq, or gateway, not to mention the price difference.

And if you haven't noticed, Dell is always on top of technology relatively speaking. They implement the newest technologies at the lowest price. I wish I had more time to tinker with my computer, and I do here and there but I really like streching every dollar I have, especially as a student.

Go to the Dell and check out their refurbished systems they are a freaking steal.

(I am getting paid to say this, lol) :P B) ;)

[ScotchGuy]

Gandalf on Crack: Oh please, as if it's that hard to put together a laptop. You can always just ask the people at your local electronics store if you're that worried. I would definitely give that a try even if you don't know much about laptops.

[wienerschnitzel]

This post is about the best laptop manufacturer. The guy already said no. If you want start your own post about making laptops

Anyways refurbished dell are pretty good deals. There is only a small chace that it won't work. Personally I prefer Sony laptops. They look pretty and they have lots of good stuff inside. The only problem is they are reletively expensive. So the choice is up to you.

How much money are you willing to spend?

[Gandalf on Crack]

thanks for the feedback everyone, I dont have a set amout for spending but i'd like to keep it below 1,300 but might have to go higher :-/

[Xilo]

You can't really build a laptop because manufacturers even have to go through a lot of tests to ensure proper cooling and that since laptops are so small and compact. Alienware make the best notebooks though. :D

[wienerschnitzel]

Alienware laptops are moblie desktops. Not only are they one of the most heavyest but the battory only lasts around an hour. Its fine if you want to play games and you have AC near by but it also has cooling problems. Not a good choice for laptops for most.

There are so many options that you need to concider. Do you want a long battery life or more power? Are you looking for a desktop replacement? Are you worryied about heat (do you put it on your lap)?

Anyways...this site will get you some of the cheapest laptops that you can find and most of them work very well
Dell's Refurbished laptops page (http://www.dell.com/us/en/dfh/products/line_notebooks.htm)

[adamp2p]

$1300 from Dell Outlet get you:

SYSTEM SPECIFICATION
Inspiron 5100 (System Identifier 0118449Z)
Dell Inspiron 5100 Notebook: Intel® Pentium®4 Processor, 2.8GHz, 533MHz Front Side Bus, 15 XGA Display

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

System Price $1,457.00
Promotion Discount ($175.00)
Discounted Price $1,282.00

Memory: 384 MB, 266MHz SDRAM(2 DIMMs)
Floppy Drive: 1.44MB Floppy Disk Drive
Hard Disk Drive: 30 GB EIDE Hard Drive (5400 RPM)
Video: 32MB ATI Mobility M4? 3D Video, 4X AGP
NoteBook Screen: 15 inch XGA Notebook Screen
Modem: Internal Modem
Network Interface Card: Internal NIC
Operating System: Microsoft® Windows XP Home
CD Read-Write Drive: 24X CD-RW/DVD Combo Drive
Software: Software
WordPerfect Productivity Suite 10.0
Dell Support 2.0 Software
DVD Software
AOL 8.0 ISP Software
Dell SecurityCenter by McAfee, 90-day introductory offer
Music Match 7.1 Software
Dell Picture Studio, Paint Shop Pro Edition
Quicken 2002 Software
Software
Software
AOL 8.0 ISP Software
Software
Britannica Software
DPS Image Expert Standard Software
Dell Support 2.0
Misc: Shipping Material
Shipping Material
Standard Keyboard
Miscellaneous
Miscellaneous
Nylon Carrying Case
12 Cell Battery

Unistall all of that crap software immediately! Then you have a nice chip, but a power hog. You might want to buy a (few) extra batteries!

[adamp2p]

I will continue my Dell Rant, just becuause I want to empasize a particular point.

Have you ever seen a Dell inside of a retail store? No. Why? Because they do not depend on retail style marketing to sell computers. What sells computers? Quality, reliability, and, most of all, price$. You see your buddy's computer and you want one just like it (or better). And who do you think pays for the costs of shipping the computers to the retail store, the labor of the retail store employees, etc, etc? The uniformed consumer who buys a computer at a retail store who does not notice that he or she is getting single channel ram goes home with much less than they could get from Dell from their hard earned dollar.

If you do some simple comparison shopping, you will see that Dell is the cheapest in the entire world and they are among the forerunners in using the latest available technologies implement them as soon as they are available. Most computer manufacturers never integrated Rambus ram into their mainstream computer because it affected their bottom line, when, belive it or not, you could always find a cheaper Dell with Rambus Dynamic RAM then those crappy single channel DDR Intel systems from any other manfacturer. And if you noticed or not, Dell implemented Dual Channel DDR as soon as it hit market as well as integrating the Intel i875P chipset with Performance Acceleration Technology into mainstream affordable solutions (hey, I even got one, and I definately sound like a mainstream consumer, eh, lol)... :D

I have to admit that I have heard of television advertisments for Dell but I cant say that I have ever seen one because I never watch TV. I am way too busy with several hours of homework every day. I take school very very seriously because it opens doors. I am very interested in technology and I can say that the advance of computer science has advanced our species to a greater degree than any other single science. Cheers to the klite forum members. B) :)