The children of my family are competing for a laptop. (Highest GPA wins. I’m in college, younger sibs in 6th and 8th grade. Its a reasonably fair fight, akin to the Tortise and the Hare story. They have every chance to beat me easily, if they weren’t so bored at school.)
Now, the next question is, which laptop? (So I’m really asking on behalf of my parents…) We want one with a DVD player, reasonably good, and sturdy, ability to upgrade a plus. Either Mac or PC, with a lean toward PC. Oh, and not horribly pricey. Since I am nearly computer illiterate (what’s this? Oh! an e-mail machine! Cool!) I thought I’d ask the better minds of the world to steer us toward a choice.
What price range? And what do you want to do with it?
If it was just word processing and Internet, I’d just buy three used or discounted laptops plus a cheap DVD player. I’d still be using my 3-year old IBM ThinkPad 560Z if I didn’t break it by accident.
I find that the most important quality of a laptop is the overall feel - especially the keyboard and pointing device, but also the size, weight and quality of the display. So go to a well stocked store and try them all out. They’re pretty much the same inside anyway. My personal favorite is IBM - I’m on my 5th ThinkPad.
Use? I’d truck it around school with me and do everything on it. It needs to run a word processor and Excel (as well as any of the engineering software I may need to use at some point in my college career.) I’d like it to be able to hook up with the Internet and play my MP3’s.
For the most part, laptops are the same as everything else in this world: one size never fits all.
I would suggest that first, you consider your specific needs.
Then compare the specific components necessary to cover your specific needs.
Finally, shop around a little bit. The shape and layout varies very little between makes and models, but try a few out. If you are in college, surely, some of your many friends have laptops that you can play with.
Last but most certainly not least, consider service. Some companies produce excellent computers but provide pisspoor customer service.
Also, just because it has a big fancy name, does not necessarily mean that it is worth paying more for the name alone.
I picked up an excellent WinBook for a better price than any of the big names. I was able to customize it completely to my own needs and desires. And have had absolutely no problems with it at all.
It will be your computer, so make sure it is your choice, though, and not some one elses.
One note - laptops are NOT sturdy. I gave my old laptop to my 14 year old niece, and within 2 months of it going to her it had more wear on it than I put on it the 3 years I had it. She and my 12 year old nephew both use it a lot, and there’s pieces broken off the case, the screen is shaky, and it’s just very, very worn in general. If your younger siblings are going to use it, you or your parents really oughta enforce some rules, like “It gets used ONLY on this desk. It NEVER gets left on the floor in the living room for people to step on. It DOES NOT get toted to school in a non-padded backpack.”
Also, make sure they all know how to use it. My nephew couldn’t get it to turn off, so he pulled the battery out while it was powered on. The laptop has never been quite the same since.
For what it’s worth, this was a WinBook. I thought it was a so-so machine. The sound quality was miserable, and after 3 years of use, it wouldn’t reliably run off battery power. This was with a brand-new battery ($200!) and before my nephew/niece abused it.
I replaced it with a Dell 8000, and I have to say, the Dell seems to be the superior machine. Granted, it’s several years newer, but overall it feels more solid. Beautiful screen, too - 15" 1200x1600 resolution.
My biggest piece of advice - whatever you get, get the 3 year warranty with it. In my experience, laptops tend to run well for a couple years, then the start showing their age. A warranty will assure you at least 3 years of perfect service.
I can do this part. I need something that can write papers, do e-mail, surf the web, play MP3s and run Excel and a few games. (Sims!)
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This is the problem. I’m not knowledgeable enough to know how to start doing this part. A computer, to me, has the button part, the screen, and the tower that I stick Tigger stickers on. What more parts do you need? (Kathryn’s list of specific components for laptop: foldy up part, keyboard, DVD player. Maybe a battery.)
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Some of my many friends? Uh-huh. I see so much of them. <insert schedule here> Lets put it this way, my time off is limited to snips of Dope/e-mail/livejournal time during the day and friday night gaming. And no, none of my gamer buds have laptops.
WinBook, gotcha, I’ll go look at it. It will be my (ish) choice, but I need to be educated about the choices availible first. Which is why I’m asking.
Athena, That’s why sturdy is an issue. I know how rough I am on things. I’m pretty sure it’d be okay with me (I haven’t managed to kill more than one PDA yet…) but even so, things happen and the three of us are not gently used people. I hear you on the three year warrenty! My mom and I got PDAs at the same time and I knew I needed extensive coverage (see above). Mom, being responcible and able to take care of things properly, skipped it. Guess who broke thiers first? (So far we’ve both gone through one. Takes practice?)
I cast a vote for a PowerBook. Feed them enough RAM and acquire a PowerPrint cable and you’ve got the most go-anywhere do-anything machine of any laptop owner.
I can’t directly testify about the latest model, but my circa 1998 “WallStreet” PowerBook is about as fragile as a set of PlaySkool wooden blocks. I am seriously rough on equipment, my PB goes home with me every single night (and to work every workday), rapidly ripped from its Targus case and hauled out for presentations hither and yon, accidentally dropped from a height of 5 feet in a subway car, slammed shut way too often, cables snapped in and yanked out daily, etc.
Nice stock set of built-in ports and whatnot. Good screen.
Don’t kid us, Kathryn. We know you just want to play The Sims: Hot Date during your Diff Eq class.
I’ve had my Compaq for about three years now and it’s been a good machine for the most part, but YMMV. (They did have to replace the motherboard at one point, and screwed up the keyboard when they fixed it…)
When I’m really wanting to buy a PC, I usually go buy the latest PC Magazine that has evaluations. Or I ignore them and drool over the recommendations in Computer Gaming World. Then, unless I’m going to go blow my money on a Falcon (only did that once, mind you), I just read the lastest game review and forget about it for awhile longer.
I suppose that strategy won’t work for you…
If I was buying one, I’d head down to the local stores and comparison shop. Put the info in an Excel spreadsheet or in your PDA…
Price
Processor Speed
Memory
Hard Drive Size
DVD/CD, Speed
Display Size, Resolution
Estimated Battery Time
Sound Card/Speakers
Pointing Device
General Look & Feel
Expansion Options
After you’ve done that, you can compare side by side, eliminating the lesser candidates until you come up with the best fit.
Not that I’ve ever done it this way, mind you… PC Magazine usually was quicker. Of course, I haven’t been a subscriber for quite some time now.
Nah, for what Medea wants to do, I think a midrange iBook would be a better choice. Long battery life, good 'n durable, handles basic computer needs just fine, loaded with features and software, ready for wireless networking, and priced very competitively with Windows laptops. Plus, it’s a Mac, which automatically makes it a superior choice.
The DVD version is about $1500 new, or just $1250 if Medea is willing to go with a refurbished unit. Considering it’s got the same warranty as the new one, I’d suggest the refurb if price is a concern.
I have a Dell, and I’ve been very pleased with it. Their support is pretty good, better than average, I’d say. (Agreeing with Athena here, the three-year warranty is a lifesaver! Buy it!) I have a 4000, and my husband has an 8000. The 4000 is lighter, but it has only one drive bay, so in order to use the floppy I have to swap out the DVD. That’s my only gripe with it. Just about anything you get will be able to do word processing, play MP3s, and connect to the internet. Laptops in general aren’t as upgradable as desktops, since everything is integrated on the motherboard. You can upgrade the hard drive and the RAM, but anything else is problematic.
Since you’re in college, I’d recommend getting one with a NIC or a NIC/modem combo, so you can plug into the campus network. Weight and battery life are big considerations if you plan on using it “on the road” a lot. The pointing devices on all laptops basically suck, so I’d also be sure it had at least one USB port, preferably two, to connect peripherals like an external mouse or printer. CNet has good comparison charts that might help you with your choice.
Also, I wouldn’t pay much attention to the onboard speakers, they’re never very good. I plug headphones into mine when I’m listening to MP3s or watching a DVD.
I don’t think Medea’s Child is indeed looking for a laptop for her kids. Go back and reread the OP. My reading of it is that the new computer will go to Medea’s Child herself (for beating out her sibs) or to one of her younger siblings.
Nevertheless, y’all make some good points about the iBook.
2 to 3K? Jeez. For what you want to do, I don’t think you need that much machine.
I just got a Hewlett-Packard laptop at BestBuy for $1200, $1000 once you subtract two $100 mail-in rebates. (I believe this deal is available through Christmas.) It came with Windows XP preinstalled and Microsoft Works. CD-ROM/DVD player included, modem, good sized screen, and easy to use. I love it.
That said, I doubt it has Excel, though you might look into how much that costs as an add-on, as opposed to pre-installed. Or you might compare prices to get one with Microsoft Office (which has Excel) instead of Microsoft Works, which frankly is pretty worthless for anything but basic word processing. (I have a bro-in-law who works for Microsoft and he is sending me Office, so I didn’t have to buy a machine with it preinstalled.)
FWIW, I know Medea’s Child plays games on her PC… if she intends to use the laptop for games as well, it might be to her advantage to get something a bit powerful lest it become unable to run anything new in 12 months. (as opposed to 24-36 months… :()
Given your needs, gaming is going to be the deciding factor; you can do pretty much everything else on any old laptop.
I’ll second VeraGemini’s recommendation, as I’m partial to the Dell Inspirons; it’s what I usually recommend to clients. The 8100 series seems right; you’ll likely be looking at a price tag of around $1700 USD or so with all options you want, depending on how much you want to soup-up your machine. Throw in another $100 if you want to purchase a network card for possibly hooking up to the campus network or any DSL/Cable Modem access and a few hundred if you don’t already have access to a copy of MS Office. That’ll basically put you in the price range you outlined.
Durable? Well, durable as any other laptop I’ve seen, which is to say, not very. It’ll probably survive a short drop on concrete (e.g. throw it in a backpack, forget about it, and drop the backpack on the ground). I wouldn’t want to start flinging the thing around as a Frisbee, but it’ll take some punishment.
