What laptop to buy?

Tacoma747

Tacoma747

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 20, 2005
Location
Winston-Salem
Looking at getting a laptop. Need something to carry in my van so I can access the internet during the day (needs to have a wireless modem), and also so I can put various parts manuals etc. on it to save space in my van.

My wants:
wireless internet
decent size screen
speakers
DVD burner
decent sized harddrive

Anything else I should consider?

Price range is: cheap as possible :)

What is a decent computer, what should I look for, and where at?

Thanks
 
I got a dell inspiron 6000 2 years ago from the recondition center at Dell. Dvd burner, 15 inch screen, i believe its a 60 gig HD and wireless internet capable. Also has a SD slot on the side so its easy to get pictures off my camera without having to hook up the cables. I paid 1050 with all the software, windows XP, ect.

Id take a look at the reconditioned ones they have on the dell website. Very happy with it, except the customer support is terrible with dell.
 
x2 on Dell refubed, they get warranted just like a new one.

Wireless you will have to buy a Verizon or Sprint card and service, or bunk up beside hotels...
 
Ive owned two Asus's and loved them both. They build a solid, simple, reliable laptop. Mine is the F3JP, got it from www.newegg.com. 120GB HD, 1GB RAM, 2.0Ghz Core 2 Duo Processor, DVD Super-Multi drive, 15" WXGA (widescreen). I paid $1300 for mine, which was by far the best price on any computers with similar specs, but they actually have an open box at newegg for $1100 right now. In case you don't know, Asus has been making motherboards for forever and is considered one of the top brands in the business.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220142R&Tpk=asus+f3jp
 
My IBM T40 has held up great for the last 4 years, but I also like my Dell Latitude D620 I just got at work is a pretty sweet computer too.
 
There are any number of options for a laptop today. If all you need is one with a large HD and wireless ethernet you can find one as cheap as $300-400 on sale especially heading into Christmas. Brand is not as important as it was in the past. I work for HP and I use a Compaq from the HP/Compaq merge for the last 4 years. I keep all my manuals docs and anything else I need to on it. Nothing fancy but it does everything I need and more. I just bought a Compaq model V2710 last year, for my wife to use in her business, for about $400. 14" wide screen DVD rom/CDRW, wireless etc... BTW that was brand new at BJ's wholesale. Hope that helps
 
Michael, I think you'd be better served with a tough book, just because of what you do ( I'm looking myself) either that or find a good cheap used /refurb . And get a hard mount for the van, will help with damage control.

The environment you work in is tough ( I know mine is) and REAL bad on laptops. My company has been looking at this for awhile, and Toughbooks are what they came up with. Then there was the connectivity thing, which they are still trying to work out. Till they get connectivity dialed in, we won't begetting them as company issue.
 
Toughbooks are solid.

I replace my laptop about once a year or so. My longest-lasting laptop to date has been a Toshiba. I haul it around every day, in and out of client offices/etc. Right now I got an ACER (from a demo/NFR deal). Been a good laptop as far as the computer stuff, but not as solid or well made -- it even feels a little flimsy. Already broke 2 things on it (i.e. CD drawer cover).

One pet peeve I got with laptops is the actual surface of the screen. I like a matte finish, most laptops now are a glossy screen surface... this is real annoying if you are outside, or in your car, what with the reflections on the screen of brighter stuff around and behind you. FWIW
 
Two things I would take note of on that one:
No CD or DVD drive
Older style processor and external wireless card will eat your battery pretty quickly. Without a 12v plug in your vehicle for the laptop, you won't make it to lunchtime.

I'll second the Toughbooks even though Ive never had one. Ive heard nothing but good things about them. Ive got one on order for work but it hasn't come in yet.
 
Speaking of the 12v power issue, save a little $$ to get yourself either a good inverter, or an adapter to run the unit directly off of your 12v. That could be an additional $75-$100+ for one that is pretty stout and reliable.
 
I've got 3 dells right now, and over 30k in dell stock. And my next laptop--in the next few weeks hopefully--will be a toshiba. I'm done with dell.
Toshiba is about the best bang for your buck that you'll find, especially when they're on sale...
 
The Panasonic Tough Books are nice. I carried a CF-47 in the field doing doing radio service work pretty much every day for five years, and that's not even one of their "fully ruggedized" models. In that whole time the only things I ever had to do to it was upgrade to more memory, a bigger hard drive, and I replaced one battery. That's damn good for five years. They're spendy, but they're worth it. Some dork busted out the side window of my van and stole it a few weeks ago, if not for that I'd still be using it. The company bought me a Dell to replace it, and while it's nice, I can pretty much guarantee they won't be getting the service life out of it that they got out of the Tough Book.
 
You could just get a barebones laptop and build it yourself. that way you know you have what you need. I second the statement on getting an inverter to run it. I have three older dells and getting an Acer in a couple of days. But usually I get all my electronics from Pricewatch since they watch all the sites and pick out the best deals.

For example I got a Pentium 4 Dual Core 3.4 ghz, 1gb ddr2 533 ram (upgradeable to 4gb), 160gb SATA hard drive, DVD rom, DVD +- RW, Nvidia Geforce 256mb video card, and a couple of other things for about 300 bucks brand new and everything on the board is upgradeable even the processor. Running Windows Vista Ultimate and Office 2007 (bought seprately).

They do have the Tough Books on there sometimes, you just have to look through the notebooks they have or do a search for them. Take a look and see if there is anything that suits you. http://www.pricewatch.com/notebooks/
 
I love my Toughbook ... CF-29 the thing has been thru about everything i can do to it and it keeps on going ... of course if it was for the fact the company I work for sells them I probably wouldn't put it thru half what I do but everytime I go on a job theres always someome saying are they really that tuff so mine hits the floor on a regular basis and has yet to give any problems.
 
Back
Top