So I'm debating getting a laptop.

[ozzfreak]

I am really on the edge of just saying yes, I'll buy one. But I don't want junk. I've put them off for years, because every one I've ever seen just seemed like slow junk. Until I seen my friends Toshiba. I have seen on here, that a lot don't like Toshiba Laptops, and that's fine with me, I'm just looking for advice on what is good. I know absolutley nothing about them. I can build a desktop easily, but yeah. What I'm looking for in this system would be something that could easily run photoshop CS4, play movies (with as many external ports to connect to various tv's as possible), and of course wireless to connect to my router. Do they all come with that? That's how laptop dumb I am, ha. Bluetooth would be nice too, but nothing major, I could get a dongle if need be. I'd prefer a 17"+ screen since I'll be doing photo editing. I can't think of anything else, I'm sure there is more though. Oh, the price, I'd like to stay around 1000, give or take a hundred or so. So what do you think, can it be done for this price?

[EzyStvy]

What model is your friends lappy...Will it play games? If so that would be a good place to start...Add/subtract parts as needed.

[ozzfreak]

Well, that I can't find out. He moved, so there is no way to ask. Which is why I ask the powers of PCMech,

[Masaki 7-11]

Here is a pretty good laptop within your budget that can run CS4 (and games), connect to multiple TVs/Monitors and has wireless: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834152090, a better option for a decent amount more (but still within budget) is this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834152087

[ozzfreak]

I like how it has the 3850 video card on that 2nd MSI. I've never seen an MSI laptop. What's the thoughts on these? And what about Dell's? I found this one, http://www.dell.com/content/products...dio_17_cto_4~~ what are the thoughts on this? Are Dell's Good? I have way to many questions it seems.

[glc]

I prefer Dell.

[ozzfreak]

I was looking more into the Dell. I checked the battery reviews since there was an upgrade option to a 9 cell for only $40 more dollars. The one the comes with it had horrible reveiws...... http://reviews.dell.com/2341/312-0576/reviews.htm A whole 1.3 out of 5 rating, and 0% would recommend it. Then I read the reviews of the battery upgrade, http://reviews.dell.com/2341/312-0386/reviews.htm wowzas. Not much better at 1.8 out of 5 and only 14% would recommend it. Are all laptop batteries this bad? The reviews on the two battery options alone makes me not want that particular laptop.

[glc]

My stepdaughter has an Inspiron E1520 with a 9 cell, and her battery lasts forever.

[Masaki 7-11]

I don't really like Dell laptops, the ones I've worked with all have run very hot (which is weird since I live in Canada) and would overheat from time to time. I've had good experience with Acer, Asus, and HP/Compaq laptops. From the reviews I've read, MSI makes pretty good laptops.

[not important]

I'd also go with Dell. I don't know about MSI but I've worked on and had too many HP/Compaq.

[jdeb]

I prefer Dell or Lenovo. If it were me, I would start here...

http://www.dell.com/content/products...ref=lthp&s=dhs

[glc]

The last Dell laptops that I saw with heat issues were the ones with the desktop P4's. Yes, those were nasty.

[Masaki 7-11]

Originally Posted by glc The last Dell laptops that I saw with heat issues were the ones with the desktop P4's. Yes, those were nasty.

The last few Dell laptops that I had heat issues with had Core Duo and Core 2 Duo processors (and discrete graphics). I've had a few HP/Compaq computers which worked pretty well and were much easier to service than Dell computers. I think there may be a difference in tech support between Canada and the US as HP seems to have much better tech support in Canada than Dell does. I find that Dell really likes to overcharge for discrete video cards (which are necessary to run CS4 fast, and for gaming). Asus and Acer laptops have worked great for me, they ran cool and were easy to service.

[thefultonhow]

Originally Posted by ozzfreak I was looking more into the Dell. I checked the battery reviews since there was an upgrade option to a 9 cell for only $40 more dollars. The one the comes with it had horrible reveiws...... http://reviews.dell.com/2341/312-0576/reviews.htm A whole 1.3 out of 5 rating, and 0% would recommend it. Then I read the reviews of the battery upgrade, http://reviews.dell.com/2341/312-0386/reviews.htm wowzas. Not much better at 1.8 out of 5 and only 14% would recommend it. Are all laptop batteries this bad? The reviews on the two battery options alone makes me not want that particular laptop.

Batteries in general aren't that great. There's a reason why even manufacturers with three-year warranties on their laptops only put one-year warranties on their batteries -- they don't last. Expect to be buying a new battery after 1.5-2 years, no matter which laptop you get.

Originally Posted by Masaki 7-11 I don't really like Dell laptops, the ones I've worked with all have run very hot (which is weird since I live in Canada) and would overheat from time to time. I've had good experience with Acer, Asus, and HP/Compaq laptops. From the reviews I've read, MSI makes pretty good laptops.

That's funny, I've had the exact opposite experience. I've only seen a few Dells manufactured since 2003 that didn't last at least three years with no major problems (and one of them was due to the recent defective nVidia cards). Every time I've called Dell support except one, they've been at least adequate, and usually quite good.

In contrast, I saw two HPs today alone with dead motherboards, both around 1.5 years old, and another HP that was under warranty with a dead backlight... but when we called HP support to get it replaced, they were absolutely abysmal. At least they now have a service campaign out on their dv6000 and dv2000 laptops -- the wireless cards would stop working, and would require a $500 motherboard replacement to fix. I have also had really terrible experiences with Acer support (at one point they outright lied to me to get me off the phone), and considering Asus's mediocre motherboard support, I wouldn't trust them to have great laptop support either (with that said, their laptops look quite nice and I've heard of very few problems with them).

[glc]

These days, I won't touch HP, Toshiba, or Acer laptops with a 10 foot pole. Too many issues in the past.

[David14259]

Originally Posted by Masaki 7-11 I don't really like Dell laptops, the ones I've worked with all have run very hot (which is weird since I live in Canada) and would overheat from time to time. I've had good experience with Acer, Asus, and HP/Compaq laptops. From the reviews I've read, MSI makes pretty good laptops.

Haha, thats a funny joke Masaki. Everyone knows that Dell laptops are much better than HP or Acer laptops! In fact, I just got a Dell Latitude E6500 and it is excellent! I recommend it for a portable yet powerful solution.

I use CS4 on it with no problems, and the screen with the LED back lighting is excellent for watching movies.

[thefultonhow]

I'm willing to make an exception for Toshibas. Their entry-level stuff tends to be pretty bad, but if you actually spend some money on them, they can be decent.

[Masaki 7-11]

Originally Posted by David14259 Haha, thats a funny joke Masaki. Everyone knows that Dell laptops are much better than HP or Acer laptops! In fact, I just got a Dell Latitude E6500 and it is excellent! I recommend it for a portable yet powerful solution. I use CS4 on it with no problems, and the screen with the LED back lighting is excellent for watching movies.

I've had to work on many Dell laptops before, and a large portion of them had overheating issues; hardware upgrades are also harder to do on a Dell laptop than on a HP/Compaq, Acer or Asus as Dell uses proprietary parts which are hard to come by. HP/Compaq also uses proprietary parts to some degree, but their parts are much easier to come by. Acer and Asus use standard parts, so they are really easy to come by. Since I started working on Laptops about 3 years ago, I have yet to work on a HP/Compaq, Acer or Asus laptop that had hardware issues. I'm not sure who everyone that you are referring to is, but HP/Compaq, Acer and Asus are generally preferred here over a Dell.

[thefultonhow]

Define "many." I see dozens of laptops per shift at work. We get mostly Lenovos and Apples because my college has a deal with them, but also a fair number of Dells and HPs. The Lenovos, Apples and Dells usually come in with dead hard drives (a universal problem) or software problems. The HPs often come in with other hardware problems. The Acers I've seen have usually been dead hard drives or software, but I have not been impressed with their build quality -- it did not seem like they would last very long, kind of like the older, 2002-2003-era entry-level Dells.

Also, EVERY laptop uses proprietary parts for the motherboards, heatsinks, batteries, screens, keyboards, and all casing. Every laptop also uses industry-standard ones for the processors, memory, and hard drives. This is not a Dell vs. HP/Compaq thing, this is a universal thing. If you were under the impression that anything else was true, I question how many Dells you've actually worked on.

[Masaki 7-11]

Originally Posted by thefultonhow Define "many." I see dozens of laptops per shift at work. We get mostly Lenovos and Apples because my college has a deal with them, but also a fair number of Dells and HPs. The Lenovos, Apples and Dells usually come in with dead hard drives (a universal problem) or software problems. The HPs often come in with other hardware problems. The Acers I've seen have usually been dead hard drives or software, but I have not been impressed with their build quality -- it did not seem like they would last very long, kind of like the older, 2002-2003-era entry-level Dells. Also, EVERY laptop uses proprietary parts for the motherboards, heatsinks, batteries, screens, keyboards, and all casing. Every laptop also uses industry-standard ones for the processors, memory, and hard drives. This is not a Dell vs. HP/Compaq thing, this is a universal thing. If you were under the impression that anything else was true, I question how many Dells you've actually worked on.

Over the last three years I've worked on about 50 laptops, mostly with software issues. When I'm referring to proprietary parts, I'm talking about parts that can be serviced by the user such as ram, wireless cards, optical drives, hard drives and processors. Acer and Asus use standard wireless cards while HP/Compaq, Dell (and others) use wireless cards with custom firmware which are harder to come by and are more expensive than standard wireless cards. My old High School had a lab full of acer laptops (30+) and not one of them had hardware problems during the three years I was there.

[thefultonhow]

I have seen wireless cards and optical drives with proprietary firmware, but have never seen such a problem with RAM or processors, and rarely with hard drives. And most of the Dells that I have seen have not required special firmware on their wireless cards or optical drives in order to function correctly. Either way, it's more important that the parts that aren't industry-standard (i.e.. motherboard, screen, etc) don't fail than that the parts that are don't have special firmware.

I can't give a good estimate of how many laptops I have touched in the past 4.5 years, because I've seen way too many. I have run a program that refurbished computers (including laptops), worked in a "clinic" where students can bring in their laptops that are having problems (including supervising in this clinic), and done freelance computer repair. I'm sure glc has seen even more than I have -- the company he worked for for years had a contract with Dell for warranty repair. After all that I've seen, the only laptops I can recommend with confidence are Dells and Lenovo ThinkPads, and I know glc has a similar position. We've just seen way too many problems with HP/Compaqs to be able to recommend them at all, and we've both backed off from recommending Acer laptops after seeing them in the field.

[Masaki 7-11]

About 95% of the issues that were affecting the laptops being brought in were software related, I've had only had one or two cases where hardware failed. The computers I worked on usually worked after driver updates, BIOS updates, firmware updates, ect. even the Dell laptops that were overheating would work fine after it had the updates installed or the power settings were tweaked. From my experience I've found hardware on laptops to be a good amount more reliable than a desktop, I can't even begin to imagine what would happen to a desktop if it was lugged around as much as a laptop.

[thefultonhow]

Not all of the hardware is more reliable. Hard drives in laptops would be a lot more reliable than desktop hard drives if used in the same way (of course, they're not -- people carry laptops around all over the place, sometimes even while running), but packing all those components into such a small space generates a lot of heat, which shortens their lives. Fans have to work harder and are less beefy to begin with, causing them to fail earlier. Laptop optical drives are also famously unreliable.

[Masaki 7-11]

I buy a lot of off-lease buisness laptops which run really slow and sometimes have issues when I first get them. Doing a reinstall of the OS and updating the drivers, BIOS and firmware to the latest version always gets them to normal performance. Most of the laptops that I buy are anywhere from 3-5 years, and I've had some of them running for over 2 years since I got them without any problems; not one of the laptops that I bought have had hardware fail. I really doubt that a off-lease desktop would be able to operate for this long.

[thefultonhow]

Keep in mind that business laptops are generally pretty high-quality, and that you are getting the best of the bunch of off-lease laptops (whoever you are buying them from would not sell laptops they know to have problems). I have seen even ThinkPads with dead motherboards and fans before the 3-year mark, and I have seen plenty of prebuilt desktops (even the very low-end Dells) last for a ridiculously long time.

[glc]

My personal laptop is a Thinkpad T20. It's 9 years old and still going strong - the battery is for crap, but that's to be expected. It does everything I need a laptop to do, and it does it without a hiccup. My stepdaughter has a Dell Inspiron E1520 and has had no problems whatsoever with it - and it's her only computer. My other stepdaughter just ordered a Vostro 1510, and I get to go set it up when it comes in. However, her husband's Vostro 1000 is a piece of crap, which is to be expected - it has an AMD in it and he's running Vista Basic. I didn't recommend it. His old laptop was a Latitude D630 (I think) and the kids are using that, and it's still running strong after a ram upgrade and a XP reload. The only laptop I might consider instead of a Thinkpad or a Dell might be an Asus. The Eee intrigues me, they now are available with a real 160gb hard drive.

[Masaki 7-11]

The whole netbook concept is pretty interesting, however it would make a lot more sense if they shipped with sometype of long range wifi like wimax (wi-max service with 512kbps download speed is about $20 per month, which is pretty affordable). Looks like Pegatron (Asus) is releasing an ARM based laptop which is supposed to cost between $199-$299, have 8 hour battery life with a 2 cell battery, has no moving parts (will use an SSD and the processor runs at something like 0.5W during load so it doesn't need active cooling) and uses linux as the OS: http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/09/p...heap-netbooks/
If they can get those out with some type of long range wifi and without any major issues, I would be very interested in getting one.