PC laptop advice

[danaeris]

So, I'm helping do research for polywolf, who needs to buy a laptop. Budget is under 1K, preferably more in the 500-800 range, especially if there's going to be room for a warranty.

Advice I've gotten so far:
Good: Samsung, Acer, Toshiba
Bad: HP, Gateway, Compaq

Celeron chips are bad

Factory refurbished is okay.

Comments or advice or suggestions?

Comments

[furious-g.livejournal.com]

We just bought a new Gateway laptop and so far it has performed very well. It is a model M-1615, uses an AMD Turion 64 chipset.

I have had good luck with Dell and IBM laptops, Acer is OK but getting service is sometimes a pain.

I would stay away from HP/Compaq though, I work for one of their partner companies, and getting support from them is a nightmare. Plus their machines don't seem to be that great.

[secretsoflife.livejournal.com]

gateway have a bad history with durability problems, specifically with the hinges. if he's at all hard on his hardware i'd steet clear.

i'd go with the $600 dell vostro laptop. comes with xp, no pre-installed trialware BS, and their business warranties are great.

they're even on sale now: http://www1.ca.dell.com/content/products/category.aspx/vostronb?c=ca&cs=cabsdt1&l=en&s=bsd

i've dealt with the vostros a bunch at work and totally heart them.

[lariel.livejournal.com]

I've had my Dell laptop for 3+ years now and it seems pretty good to me. Only issue I've had is when I dropped it and the screen went out... And they replaced that for free, since I'd bought the uber-warranty. Turn-around time for the repair was really fast once I'd figured out what to do.

[sassy-fae.livejournal.com]

I've had my Acer for 2.5 years now, and the only problem I have had with it was something that was my fault (and cheap to repair, thank goodness.)

It's anecdotal evidence to be sure, but I've heard other people with good things to say about their Acers as well.

[phoenix-keika.livejournal.com]

I've had terrible luck with my Toshiba personally, and I know others who've had problems with Toshiba's. I'm in the market for a laptop and was suggested to get an HP... I asked about Acer and apparently they like to hang.

[con-girl.livejournal.com]

I thought that Dell's customer service was dreadful - and that was before I bought not after. The build estimate (and I had nothing fancy) was over a month, and they missed that without letting me know.

http://www.ottawalaptops.com/ we bought from them - they were great, but they don't speak English very well. Shipping is super cheap.

[kgola.livejournal.com]

I love my Lenovo (formerly IBM) thinkpad...