I am considering buying a laptop/notebook computer. I will need it when travelling and such.
I am having a hard time deciding what is a good/reliable brand. I’m not sure what I should be looking for in a notebook computer.
I would like to keep it under 1500.00, so that probably limits my choices a lot.
Anybody have any suggestions.
An iBook. You can get one for $1000, and they’re awesome.
I’ve got to second the iBook recommendation. I’ve had mine for just over a year and I love it. And unless you’re going to use it for work or you’re really into PC gaming, compatibility really isn’t an issue.
I have thought about an iBook. I have heard that they are pretty good.
About software… will it use adobe acrobat? Is there a version of MS powerpoint that it can use. I will be using it for work mostly, and they have PC/Microsoft software. Can the files be transferred?
If not what PC notebooks would be good… anyone.
That was supposed to be “does anyone use PC notebooks that they would recommend?” :o
We just purchased a Toshiba notebook for our daughter. I was a Pentium 3.2 GHz machine in the Satellite series. I liked it better than HP-Compaq. Of course we went for the larger screen ( 15") so that she could use it for school or DVDs.The Ultra Brite screen is very nice but it’s a bit heavy. Toshiba’s are worth a look.
If you are travelling with it, pay attention to sturdiness. Maybe stay away from anything with a dock for peripherals (less to carry).
IBM Thinkpads and Dell Inspirons are fairly sturdy. I can’t speak for iBooks, but everyone I know who has one says they have terrific battery life.
Toshibas are good, if you don’t get the ones where the hinges for the display are inset from the edge of the base (hard to explain, but you’ll know it if you see it). The laptops were very good, but prone to display problems. No metrics, just anecdotal evidence.
My company issued a bunch of Fujitsu Lifebooks and we had a lot of problems with them holding up. They were great for the folks that didn’t travel much, but those of us who do had a lot of small, annoying problems.
Whatever you go with, get the warranty and save the service instructions in a safe place. Laptops cost a fortune to repair.
Yes, but you can also view PDF files in Preview, which is Apple’s version of Windows Picture and Fax Viewer. Speaking of PDFs, one neat thing you can do that I don’t think you can do on a PC without buying or downloading a special program is convert any file into a PDF. For instance, if you type up something in AppleWorks’ word processor (although you can get Word for Macs—see below), you can “print” it as a PDF file, which you can then email to anyone—Mac or PC users. But yes, if you specifically have to have Acrobat for whatever reason, there’s a Mac version. All of Microsoft’s Office programs have Mac versions, too. In fact, there’s a Mac version of most of the software you’d want to use. Any time you’re wondering whether a particular program has a Mac version, just go to its Web Site and you can find out.
I’m pretty much a Mac convert for life, I think, but I’ve always said that if for some reason I had to buy a PC laptop instead, I’d get a ThinkPad. I think they’re beautiful to look at (more so than Mac laptops, in fact, although it seems the reverse is true for most people) and I understand that they’re very high quality machines. Dell, on the other hand… Well, I’ve heard a lot of people complain about both their customer service and the computers themselves and a lot of that complaining has been done here on the SDMB. And I can tell you from personal experience—stay the hell away from Compaq (and probably HP, too) and Gateway. It was my experiences with them that drove me to Apple.
And yes, iBooks have great battery life. Of course, the battery life shortens over time, especially if you use the battery a lot, I guess, but you can get replacements from Apple. If you order online, they even give you the option to purchase an extra one then.
I think I’ve got the same computer as your daughter. I got it off the Circuit City website (though I didn’t have it shipped, I drove to Ohio to pick it up) and with rebates it was only $1000. The deal I got is expired but there are always rebate deals on that site; right now I can find quite a few high-end (not Dell/HP/Compaq although those are passable brands) laptops for around $1200 after rebate. These are for larger computers though (seven pounds or over) so if you need something really small for traveling you’ll have to pay quite a bit more.
If by “traveling” you mean “you want to use it on an airplane”, then you want light, sturdy, and a smaller screen. A 17" screen may seem like a good idea, until you try to open it up in an airplane seat. I’d say IBM, but their ultralights (around 3 lbs) start right at the limit of your budget, according to their website. But that’s really the way that I’d go with a PC for business travel.
I’ve heard good things about the Dell 600m. Everyone seems to love the screen. Only problem I heard is it doesn’t play games very well. My Inspiron 6000d should arrive tomorrow; I’ll let you know.
Sorry, that should be 700m.
I’ve got one also, and I love it. I went with a slightly heavier version with a big screen because I don’t travel with it all that much. When I researched it the claim was that it is power hungry, but I’ve had no problems. It was just over $1,000 at Fry’s, and came with a printer free after rebate. If I traveled a lot I’d probably get something lighter, but for mostly home use it is great. And blazingingly fast,
All the Compags I had were junk.
Wow! Thanks for the information.
Well when I say travelling, I mean at hotels out of town, not necessarily on an airplane, unless it was a really long plane ride which is unlikely. Sturdiness and weight is a concern of mine.
I have seriously been considering an IBM ThinkPad. They are supposed to be fairly sturdy with that new “anti-jiggle” system now. I just have not had the time to actually configure one on their website to see what it would run me.
I have also been looking at the Dell notebooks, but I have also heard that their customer service has sort of gone down the tubes. My home PC is a Dell that I have had for four and a half years and have never had a problem with it. Most likely, if I cant find a ThinkPad that is within my price range, then I will probably get a Dell. But I will definitly look at the Toshibas. I think my sister has a Toshiba laptop. I will have to ask her what she thinks about it.
As far as getting a Mac. I would like to, but I really don’t want to deal with file converting or buying the MS for Mac right now… maybe in the future
Damn you and such, Bill Gates. Damn you and your Microsoft world 
I’ve been a loyal ThinkPad user for many years but I just bought a new Dell and I like it so far. It’s an Inspiron 9300, one of those huge 8-lb “desktop replacement” units with a 17" display. Pentium-M (Centrino) 1.6GHz*, 80GB HDD, 1GB RAM, $1200 plus shipping from the Dell factory outlet store (refurbished unit). The big selling point for me was the DVI video connector - at home I can connect it to my 20" LCD and use them in dual monitor mode. You can do this with a Powerbook too, but not many Windows laptops have DVI output.
*Pentium-M does more work per clock cycle than Pentium-4, so a 1.6GHz Pentium-M is not much slower than a 3GHz Pentium-4.
Hello LVgeogeek!
I just went to Fry’s Electronics and bought a new Fujitsu with 17" screen - love it, but to be honest, probably a tad heavy to schlep very often and it was $200 more than your budget…but Fry’s had a huge selection from under $1000 to over $2000. The nice thing there is they have the laptops arranged by step-ups so you can sort of get the feel of price vs bells and whistles.
Another good thing about going there is that even once you settle on the lap top, then you need the case, and of course you need the extra USB cords, oh - and yeah, you need those and that would be good and give me a couple of those and and and…well, you get the idea. You are going to wind up going to Fry’s or Radio Shack or somewhere to get all the other little minor necessities anyway.
If nothing else, you can window shop and then go back to your computer and see if you can get a better deal.
And speaking of great deals, don’t forget to try my favorite website for great deals:
Check there often as the deals change daily!
Let me know how things are going and have fun with your new laptop!
Item 1: A fresh-out-of-the-box Mac will be able to open most mainstream Windows files without any conversion needed.
Item 2: IIRC, new consumer-level Macs (anything without the word “Power” in the name) will come with Appleworks, a slightly-creakey MS-Works-style software suite that will open and save MS Word and Excel files.
Item 3: All Macs include Textedit, a basic text editor/word processor, and it can also open and save MS Word files. I’m not sure about the support for advanced Word features, but if you’re just doing basic word processing, this might be enough to get you started.
Just something FYI. 
If you decide to go the route of a Mac and don’t want to buy MS Office, you can also check out NeoOffice/J. It’s free, easy to install, and will deal with Word, Excel, Powerpoint and other MS office documents, no conversion required. Note the ppt file open in a screenshot on the main page.
At the risk of going all Apple-fanboy on you, I can’t recommend the Mac enough. I bought my first Mac about 2 years ago, after having used Windows only, and I’m a complete convert. It just works.
Anyway, it sounds like you’ve decided on the Thinkpad, so I hope it all works out well.
Note that NeoOffice/J is essentially OpenOffice with an Aqua UI, so the comments in this thread may be applicable.
At the risk of fueling the fire - I got my first Mac last fall (an inherited Powerbook G4 with the latest version of OSX) and made an effort to switch over. There are some aspects of it I like, but overall I don’t see a huge difference in ease of use, ease of administration or stability. I had to conclude that at least for me, Macs do not offer enough advantages to make up for its disadvantages (namely higher cost of hardware and limited choice of software).