Which one is the best, anyone? Please help me thinking to buy laptop towards the end of the year..


budget - not over $800


thanks!

I got a good deal on a factory rebuild Gateway from office depot.

I have a great HP that was a deal...

you are probably not going to get any Apple under $1000.00 and then it may not have all the room you need on it...

start looking!!

Get an Acer or Dell.

If you're into gaming and have the money, Alienware is the best.

Custom built is always the best though. But, those are some of the best pre-built IMO.

As far as build quality goes, I keep hearing that either Toshiba or Fujitsu make the best ones. However, a lot of them are (or at least were- haven't checked for recent prices) pretty expensive.

I've also heard that Acer has been hittin' the laptop/netbook market pretty hard lately as well.

Acer is your best bet for performance per dollar.

I just got an HP notebook last summer. It's not top of the line, but it was a really good deal for the money. I built it online, so I can't speak for how convenient it is in a store, but I had a very easy time. There was a problem with the monitor when I got it, but I got ahold of tech support and they had it fixed and back to me within a week. Which I think speaks better than anything else. I've had a ton of problems with Dell support in the past so I won't be going back there. So anyways, I would suggest an HP.

Yikes. Acer's a good company, but don't get a Dell. If you've got a good Dell then I'm happy for you totage, but I know a couple dozen people that have Dells and hate them. Hell, I've had an e-machine, gateway, HP, Compaq and a Dell and the Dell was by far the worst one on that list.

hp is decent... for the price range you specified

i've owned nothing but ibm/lenovo laptops and i love em.
you can order from their website from their canceled orders or refurbs if you don't want to buy new. i got my current one as a canceled order that never shipped and got it for less than $500 and it's no slouch.


. . .

stay away from toshiba

they have problems

the first one i had was great

the second one was ok

the third one works

but is very temperamental

and can be a pain in the %^%$#^%!@

i prefer my dell

a couple friends have acers (i just set up one of those 8.9 inch screen ones for a friend made me want one almost <3 pounds <300$)

check w/tiger direct or new egg .com

they usually have some good prices

Toshibas are very slow, I've never had a Toshiba that was as fast as it should have been.

Totage, I have an Acer. Bought it at Wallmart. Can you tell me how it rate's? It's the only one I've ever used. So, I don't know the difference from mine and, other's.

i got a compac,about $400, its got AMD athlon x2, nvidia, windows vista,and built in wifi. its cheap,its fast,and so far i have no problems with it.

I do not think that name brand maters so much really. You need to buy whatever laptop suits your needs the best based on how you will use it.

If it is just for email, surfing the web, word documents and stuff then you might even want to consider getting one of the netbooks (eeePC) as they have some pretty nice ones for like 300 dollars with wifi built in 160GB hard drives and a GB or 2 of ram.

If you are wanting a laptop to play hard core or graphic intensive video games on then you are talking about something like an alienware in which case it may be beyond your budget.

I have a Sony Vaio here and like it a lot but I got my daughter a Toshiba for like 300 dollars and she loves hers. No matter what you get if you load it up with things int he start menu and security programs it like Internet security or cisco clean access on top of your anti virus you will slow down any laptop.

hope this helped but there is not much in a name these days as far as laptops go.

Thanks a lot!

So based from suggestions - I can aslo find less than $500 laptop that's fine to use for surfing, email, etc / basic functionalities.

Thanks!

Acer.

I have one and love it

I agree with Drew-
I've Owned 3 IBM ThinkPads, and they just got better as I upgraded models!
They do not call them ThinkPads any more - I believe IBM has Partnered with Lenovo?
(Please someone Correct me if I am wrong)

But I also Agree with adj4u as for where to Shop.... NewEgg Rules, and they have Very Good Prices!
http://www.newegg.com/Store/SubCategory.aspx?SubCategory=32&name=Laptops-Notebooks

***One thing to Consider***
If you want to "Downgrade" to XP from VISTA...
MAKE SURE that the Drivers are Available on Whatever Model you elect to purchase!!! Converting them can be the Ultimate Hassle if you are not armed with this information!!! DO NOT JUST ASSUME that it can be done! Some of the Bells and Whistles that initially attracted you to that particular Model may not ever work properly with the switch...

If you (or anyone on this thread) wants any more info on this particular subject, feel Free to E-Mail me... This is part of what I do for a Living.