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Thread: Help choosing laptops

  1. #21
    Senior Member Trinie's Avatar
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    I have Dell and it is working fine... I actually really like it. I just got it a few months ago and it is fine...
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  2. #22
    Senior Member ghostdarTeal'c's Avatar
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    my sister have been using dell for 3 years....and it kinda get ****ed up at the second year........the only reason she's holding on to it is cuz she doesnt have enough money to buy a new one.......but truthfully the cost of fixing it up in these 2 years probably equal to the cost of buying a new one....
    Last edited by ghostdarTeal'c; 07-23-07 at 09:45 PM.

  3. #23
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    the only thing that you can't fix in a laptop is the screen/mobo/graphic card, I think the rest of them can be replace to a certain extent, although i throw my laptop around alot, it has cracks and stuff because i drop it multiple times on hard floors, it still works, it's a dell 600M, model was not manufacture anymore since 3 years ago i believe.

  4. #24
    Senior Member Hoju!'s Avatar
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    creamcheese,
    I bought a Sony Vaio (FJ series I think; can't remember right now) about a year ago, and while it looks really nice and I love the screen, I personally would never buy another Sony laptop again. A few months after I bought it, the built-in wireless card stopped working. I got a replacement, but the problem happened again. I finally got mad and bought an external one. Also, the battery life is extremely poor. I can't remember what the advertised battery life is anymore, but after about 6 months, I was lucky to get 1.5 hours (after turning the brightness of the screen down) and that is quickly dropping.

    Good luck with your shopping.

  5. #25
    Senior Member pemberly's Avatar
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    hoju!, do you leave your laptop plugged in a lot? i heard that corrupts the battery or something. it's better to let your laptop run on its battery until you really must plug it in, or just pull out the battery pack and use it through the ac adapter to extend the battery life.
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  6. #26
    Senior Member Hoju!'s Avatar
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    pemberly,
    I didn't use to plug it in a whole lot before, but I now have to since the battery life has gotten so short. The computer was fully charged this weekend because I had intended to bring it on a short trip. I forgot it at home, but when I came back 36 hours later, the battery was completely drained. I've been debating buying a new battery from Sony, hoping the one I have is just a lemon.

  7. #27
    Senior Member pemberly's Avatar
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    eep, and sony won't just replace it?

    but sony is always known for bad customer service. the vaio IS very pretty though.

    i think for a laptop, since there's always a chance that you'll need something fixed, it's better to go with a brand that has good customer service. dell customer service has plummeted downhill and their call centers are all outsourced to india now. sony customer service, as for any of their products, has always been almost non-existent. -_-
    nytimes: Every hr you have 10 minutes where you’re not doing anything productive at work, & you can’t look at porn. So you make a comment & fulfill this desire to show yourself off as a smarty-pants.

  8. #28
    Senior Member Trinie's Avatar
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    Gosh, you guys are making me worry. My brother told me to never overcharge the battery. Basically, I just let my dell run on the battery until it needs to be charged, then just charged it to nearly 100% and then I unplug it right away. I really hope that my laptop lasts.... I thought Dells were good too. Lots of people seem to have the same exact one that I have so I thought that it is a good brand...
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  9. #29
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    Quote Originally Posted by Trinie View Post
    Gosh, you guys are making me worry. My brother told me to never overcharge the battery. Basically, I just let my dell run on the battery until it needs to be charged, then just charged it to nearly 100% and then I unplug it right away. I really hope that my laptop lasts.... I thought Dells were good too. Lots of people seem to have the same exact one that I have so I thought that it is a good brand...
    it's cheap enough to buy. Almost all company use the same parts with different casing, no reason to buy brand computers. BTW if you have not realized, the battery in dells are manufacture by sony haha, remember the massive battery recall? that was sony battery, dell also uses toshiba batteries, they manufacture nothing, i'm starting to think that the dell wifi is also built by another company that they just rebrand.

  10. #30
    Senior Member lysil's Avatar
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    I need a laptop too. Is a second-hand laptop an good option??
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  11. #31
    Senior Member ghostdarTeal'c's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Trinie View Post
    Gosh, you guys are making me worry. My brother told me to never overcharge the battery. Basically, I just let my dell run on the battery until it needs to be charged, then just charged it to nearly 100% and then I unplug it right away. I really hope that my laptop lasts.... I thought Dells were good too. Lots of people seem to have the same exact one that I have so I thought that it is a good brand...
    what you brother said is right, but it is not the problem only with Dell batteries. all batteries would discharge after it's fully charged, and that would lead to its life deterioration. thats why it's important to unplug the battery when youre plugged to external power supply. although the life span of the battery may not likely to be reduced by overcharging (there should be a controller chip to avoid overcharging), leaving it charged for an extensive period may damage it due to the heat.

    battery life will deteriorate over time, its life spanning from one to five years, and this depends on the charging and discharging pattern (usually 500 to 700 charges before it loses charging capability).

    there are of course many ways to extend your battery life. just google the words and you'll get your answers
    Last edited by ghostdarTeal'c; 07-26-07 at 10:08 AM.

  12. #32
    Senior Member Ian Liew's Avatar
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    Other small petty things to consider would be your personal preference on the casing side. I got my new notebook with decent specs and it can do everything I want it to do, but I just don't like it due to the way the casing is arranged.

    If you're right handed, try and get one with a USB port in the far right corner. Mine has 3 USB slots down the centre right, which means I get more cable around my hands than I would like when using the mouse. Try and get the DVD drive on the correct side - I'm right handed, and it's so annoying to have to put in the DVD on the left. The headphone/microphone sockets should ideally not be on the same side as your mouse, so the extra cables don't clutter up one side. Finally, if you're going to work in a room with bright fluorescent lighting, be aware that some screens reflect the light quite effectively, making it hard to see what's on the screen. I personally prefer the soft fabric screens rather than the glossy screens, although my colleagues tell me it's supposed to be clearer (when there's no light reflection, probably).

    I'm trying very hard to love my notebook, I really am....

  13. #33
    Senior Member Trinie's Avatar
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    Thanks for the info ghostdarTeal'c! I know that everything will wear out with time. There are so many people that keep on changing laptops since they wear down... This is my first laptop ever and I was sooo happy to get it because all through my undergrad and for part of my grad years, I was always using my cheap old computer which was really slow and pathetic... I hardly take my laptop anywhere anyways unless I really need to. I always have to keep an eye out for it so that people won't steal it.
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  14. #34
    Senior Member KJ's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Hoju! View Post
    pemberly,
    I didn't use to plug it in a whole lot before, but I now have to since the battery life has gotten so short. The computer was fully charged this weekend because I had intended to bring it on a short trip. I forgot it at home, but when I came back 36 hours later, the battery was completely drained. I've been debating buying a new battery from Sony, hoping the one I have is just a lemon.
    You might want to use a different example, 36 hours is a very long time.
    Quote Originally Posted by Trinie
    Thanks for the info ghostdarTeal'c! I know that everything will wear out with time. There are so many people that keep on changing laptops since they wear down... This is my first laptop ever and I was sooo happy to get it because all through my undergrad and for part of my grad years, I was always using my cheap old computer which was really slow and pathetic... I hardly take my laptop anywhere anyways unless I really need to. I always have to keep an eye out for it so that people won't steal it.
    What wears out? If you're talking about the battery wearing down, then just replace the battery, not the whole laptop. If you're talking about the speed of the CPU, then that's just the nature of technology.
    Last edited by KJ; 07-27-07 at 10:13 AM.

  15. #35
    Senior Member creamcheese007's Avatar
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    I don't find HP that much cheaper

    After customizing one at Hp to meet the requirements, the end cost came out to be very much similar to a Vaio CR 140, about $10 less. The Vaio CR 140 costs about $1350.

    The Hp laptop that I tried costumizing at the site was a dv2500t.

  16. #36
    Senior Member MysteriouX's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by creamcheese007 View Post
    I don't find HP that much cheaper

    After customizing one at Hp to meet the requirements, the end cost came out to be very much similar to a Vaio CR 140, about $10 less. The Vaio CR 140 costs about $1350.

    The Hp laptop that I tried costumizing at the site was a dv2500t.
    ok but what about the specifications when compared?

    how about the asus? see any that you liked?

    also I've found that prices in asia tend to be cheaper then anywhere else since most of the electronic components are assembled there.
    Last edited by MysteriouX; 07-27-07 at 07:31 PM.

  17. #37
    Senior Member creamcheese007's Avatar
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    The specs are really similar, but I think the Vaio was a little better with it's vaio entertainment programs that it comes with.

    I checked the Asus website, but I just can't seem to find a price for the notebooks.

  18. #38
    Senior Member MysteriouX's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by creamcheese007 View Post
    The specs are really similar, but I think the Vaio was a little better with it's vaio entertainment programs that it comes with.

    I checked the Asus website, but I just can't seem to find a price for the notebooks.
    Asus doesnt sell their laptops on their site, you have to deal with a retailer.

    However if you're going to be using your laptop at home and at school and taking it around everywhere, I wouldnt recommend Sony nor HP (they are too sensitive and not that tollerant).

  19. #39
    Senior Member Canuck21's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by warlock110 View Post
    it's cheap enough to buy. Almost all company use the same parts with different casing, no reason to buy brand computers. BTW if you have not realized, the battery in dells are manufacture by sony haha, remember the massive battery recall? that was sony battery, dell also uses toshiba batteries, they manufacture nothing, i'm starting to think that the dell wifi is also built by another company that they just rebrand.
    Does that surprise you? The graphic ships in either Dell, Sony or Toshiba are not from those respected companies either. They're either from ATI or NVIDIA. The CPUs come from where? Intel or AMD. If you know computer hardware, you'd know that no company does everything. Dell is mainly a computer manufacturer so all it does is assemble parts from other companies. Toshiba and Sony are manufacturers of different electronic components, not just PC so they might incorporate their own components, but their computers are also assembled from different parts from other manufacturers. That's why I have never bought a brand name computer because I know that there's not much difference in components. The only advantage is the price. This is one of the rare case when the no name might cost more.
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  20. #40
    Senior Member MysteriouX's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Canuck21 View Post
    Does that surprise you? The graphic ships in either Dell, Sony or Toshiba are not from those respected companies either. They're either from ATI or NVIDIA. The CPUs come from where? Intel or AMD. If you know computer hardware, you'd know that no company does everything. Dell is mainly a computer manufacturer so all it does is assemble parts from other companies. Toshiba and Sony are manufacturers of different electronic components, not just PC so they might incorporate their own components, but their computers are also assembled from different parts from other manufacturers. That's why I have never bought a brand name computer because I know that there's not much difference in components. The only advantage is the price. This is one of the rare case when the no name might cost more.
    but there is a reason why those brand names exist:

    they test the components and configurations so that you get optimum performance. they also provide service, warranty, and though we have had personal computers for the past 20 years, there arent many people who are computer litterate, and in corporations and large business, they can't afford the budget of keeping their own IT/Network support staff capable of dealing with any hardware and software issues.

    Hmm thinking about it now, I haven't seen that much articles about product reviews in magazines where they put laptops made by Dell, HP, Toshiba, etc into extreme tests such as dropping them from waist height, sub zero temperatures, high temperatures, coffee spills, etc. 8 years ago a lot of PC magazines had such articles, but I haven't seen one lately.

    personal users like us may not need to buy those brand names, but busineses do. Dell has one of the best service/support teams in the world and for business and companies they can provide such service/support at a cheaper rate then what it would cost to that company to have their own private IT/Network troubleshooting team.

    Only large businesses and international corporations may have their own internal teams as the benefits of having their own staff would outweigh the large budget needed to keep such a department.
    Last edited by MysteriouX; 07-28-07 at 02:53 PM.

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