What kind of laptop should I get?

[Brigid]

I am thinking of going to Best Buy tomorrow to pick out a new laptop. What should I look for?

[txwhitedove]

1. Sony Vaio, best I've had.

[HoosierStateDem]

8. Sony Vaio

I have a Sony Vaio and I love it. However, I love to play games at Pogo and because my Sony has a 64-bit processor, the display is way too small to enjoy playing. I've played with the display settings and I can get the game window to be big but that makes everything else too big as well.

Maybe I'm just unaware of a better fix.

[txwhitedove]

11. Welcom to DU! Yes, game playing is limited on a laptop, but you can

connect laptop to a larger monitor and keyboard.

:hi:

[Chan790]

2. I love my Acer.

Actually I've loved both my Acers. A lot of computer for a reasonable price...with a caveat.

As a company, they're really stingy with the RAM. They'll throw in the best components going but the minimal RAM they can get away with. (My current laptop came with Win7 and 1GB of RAM. The OS alone uses 1GB of RAM.) Whatever you buy, it's worth it to immediately take it and have the RAM maxed out. (You'll still come out ahead on the price) NOT at Best Buy though, their computer services (repair/upgrade) are good quality and convenient, but you'll pay for the convenience and skill because they're priced 2-3x the going rate. (Staples and Office Max aren't any more reasonable though.) You'll get better cheaper work under computer repair in the yellow pages. Or if you check the bulletin-board at your local univ. or ask around in the comp. sci dept. you'll usually find some kid who will install if you bring the parts...going rate is a case of beer.

[Betty88]

7. Agree, and ram upgrade is very simple

On a new laptop anyone with a small screwdriver and 5 min can upgrade the ram. Go to Crucial.com and input the make and model they will show you what ram to buy and how much the ram computer can use. You don't have to buy it from them, sometimes a better price can be found at newegg.com or other online retailers. You can save a lot of money this way and it really is simple. Netbooks are a little more involved but the newer ones are not that hard and you can usually find a video on youtube to show you how to do it.

[txwhitedove]

13. My first PC years ago was an Acer and loved it so much I couldn't throw it away!

Does Acer still take system "snapshots" so you can go back and reset your computer if you screw up?

[HipChick]

3. Motorola Zoom

[BOG PERSON]

4. Area Dad Just Wants Computer With The Basics

EDISON, NJ—Wary of paying too much for a new computer loaded with unnecessary bells and whistles, area dad Paul Moyers, 52, announced Friday that he just wants a regular, no-frills PC with only the basics.

Moyers, whose aging Compaq Presario ceased functioning earlier this week despite the fact that he deleted several old files and installed the latest version of Norton AntiVirus, said he doesn't want anything fancy and just needs a machine that allows him to get online, send e-mails, and use Microsoft Word.

Moyers reiterated several times that that's all he needs.

"I don't want someone trying to sell me something with a ton of memory or RAM or anything like that," said Moyers, adding that getting a computer with "all that graphics and sound stuff" would be a waste of money because he'd never use it anyway. "What I need is something that starts right up when you turn it on and goes right to Google when you click on Internet Explorer. Nothing crazy. As long as it's compatible with Comcast, so I can get on the Internet, I'm fine. "

http://www.theonion.com/articles/area-dad-just-wants-computer-with-the-basics,19195/

[Duer 157099]

5. Friend Buys Computer Just Like That

"Before you buy a computer, you're supposed to get some magazines, ask the office IT guy what he recommends, and find out how your friends like their computers," Cheng said. "People spend days just identifying their needs, let alone selecting a computer that meets those needs. I mean, it's a computer! How do you know what you're getting if you just snap one up?"

Cheng said that, once he realized what was happening, he followed Trask to the counter and demanded to know if his friend had done any research on the Internet or visited the store on previous occasions.

"He hadn't," Cheng said. "He just waltzed in there and bought the damn thing. I asked him what he would be using it for, and he said 'work stuff and Internet stuff.' He said he wanted a computer with a DVD player, so he could take it with him when he stayed at his girlfriend's place. And—oh, this was the classic line! This killed me! He said he wanted one that had an 'MP3 maker.'"

http://www.theonion.com/articles/friend-buys-computer-just-like-that,1709/

[jannyk]

6. Very happy with my Acer 'Aspire' beats the hell out of the HP I had. nt

[Monique1]

9. I just bought a laptop

I'm happy with my Toshiba Satellite. It does what I need it to do.

[Heidi]

10. I have a MacBook Pro now, but I _loved_ my Acer Aspire.

It served me well for almost five years. Excellent laptop.

[underpants]

12. Everyone I know who has an iPad absolutely loves it

[bigwillq]

14. I just got a Dell Inspiron

I love it! Has all the bells and whistles, and a 17-inch screen!!! :bounce: It's big, but I wanted a big screen so I can watch shows and movies, etc.
It's my first laptop. Really enjoying it. :hi:

[dawg]

15. Our Asus has been good and durable.

They probably made the motherboard for most of the other options anyway. But I hate laptops anyway. Give me a full-sized keyboard, monitor, and mouse any day.

If I want portable, I'll play around with my iPad.

[MilesColtrane]

16. The new MacBook Pros are out.

They feature a Thunderbolt I/O port that's 12X faster than Firewire 800.

http://www.apple.com/macbookpro/features.html