Which laptop would u recommend?

[Statica]

The thread about proprietary desktops and my personal experiences with the industry "leaders" like Compcrap has made me rethink my impending demise of the old one and the purchase of a new laptop.
With laptops, I guess its, there is no choice of building one

I was leaning towards Dell till I saw the total lack of morals in their pricing ESPECIALLY delivery et al. What are your thoughts? Any pointers to what I should avoid would be appreciated as well

Thanx in advance.

[HAL9000]

I like the Toshiba's if money isn't a concern. They make an awesome and reliable laptop. We have sold quite a few without any trouble at all. I do have to agree with you on the Dell though, they would absolutely rape Toshiba when it comes to price.

I hate IBM's. While a floppy isn't used much anymore, they don't even include one.

And Comcrap... well... enough said.

[Gabe]

We have a Toshiba and I have never had a problem with it ( at least one that I never caused )

[alfielev]

Well, I haven't had much experience with laptops, but I got this Sony Vaio just a few days ago with Windows XP pre-installed, seems solid as a rock at the moment, no crashes (I did accidentally rip the power cord out of the socket once when trying to type in bed, just call me Homer Simpson).

I do like Sony stuff in general though, never had a bad experience with any of their products.

[mbossman2]

I have used Dell, IBM and Toshiba laptops over the last 3 years.

My Toshiba (and those of my co-workers) had horrible hard drives and they spent some much time with the IT Support staff they were dropped as the laptop vendor of choice.

My (current) IBM thinkpad is rock solid, rugged as hell. Have not had an issue with them since I got this back in July. No software issues, no hot running drives etc. The downside on these is cost. Man is IBM expensive, but from all appearances worth it. Don't really worry about the lack of a floppy, as this system is hooked up to the network 90+% of the time, I find that I just do not need one. If I need to transfer files, I encrypt 'em and ship 'em (via email)wherever they have to go.

I have a Dell Lattitude sitting at home. I like it. No problems. I reserve judgement on the Dell as it does not travel nearly as much as my IBM does (to and from work, territory visits, plane rides etc) so I can not really evaluate its ruggedness.

[audiyoda]

Toshiba's are rock solid -- but as has been pointed out, they are costly -- probrably the most costly of the bunch.

My wife and I both have Sony Vaio's -- they have both been very reliable running Win2000 (mine came stock, my wife's was a upgrade from ME). The Vaio is of particular value to me with it's built in IEEE1394 support. Of course more laptops are coming out like that all the time -- what I don't like about most of them is they are 4 pin connectors -- mine is a 6 pin.

-Craig

[shecky981]

well of course i am the one guy who voted for Apple.

regardless of that, for Wintel laptops Toshiba is the overall best. very reliable, fairly rugged, good vale for the dollar when you consider what you get. i would consider Sony a close, tho more expensive, second choice. We very rarely see toshiba and sony's come into the tech shop, whereas the rest are in there all the time.

[Jason Padgett]

I personally have had an IBM ThinkPad iSeries for several years now. I've never had problem one with it. The only thing I've ever done to it is add more memory.

And, I bought it refurbished (almost brand new - still had all the stickers on it and if they hadn't told me it was refurbished I never would have known). The keyboard is great - I've never seen a laptop that can compare.

Yes, it is a tad more expensive than the other brands but I firmly belive IBM is the Cadillac of laptops.

IMHO

[glc]

Most *durable* laptop? IBM, by far. You pay dearly for this.

Toshiba is getting out of the PC business, and this includes laptops. Sorry to see them go.

Best *value* in a laptop? Chembook. Check them out, we sell them and every single one of our customers is very pleased. You can't beat the price with a stick. I *think* that Dell uses the same OEM as Chembook for their Inspirons.

www.chemusa.com

[Statica]

Thanx for all your opinions so far, if anyone has any more feedback it would be much appreciated.

Originally posted by glc Best *value* in a laptop? Chembook. Check them out, we sell them and every single one of our customers is very pleased. You can't beat the price with a stick. I *think* that Dell uses the same OEM as Chembook for their Inspirons. www.chemusa.com

George, am bitten by the "no-name-brand" laptop disease. I dont know the popularity of durability of the chemusa firm, but my previous notebook is/(soon to be was) a Trogon Computer .. fabulous deal, astonishing value and performance; but where is Trogon now? No driver support, lousy after sales support. Am just glad I got some solid (ab)use out of it before its started misbehaving.

[moparacer]

My Toshiba (and those of my co-workers) had horrible hard drives

Tell me about it....I have a Satellite laying here that the hard drive went bad in no more then 2 weeks after the warranty was up. They also sent me several bios updates to try and resolve a heat broblem they had with the AMD processors.....

[Mr N8]

I would definitely recommend Toshiba. I've had 2 now, and I love them. Right now I have a Sattelite 5000. I am almost tempted to use this to network for AOE and Galctic Battlegrounds. Its definitely lighter than my antec workstation!

Nate

[glc]

Chembook has been around since 1990. They appear to be quite stable, and look at some of the "name brand" companies that are no longer around...........

Chem's website is not much to look at, but their phone support to their resellers is outstanding.