New computer advice please

I snagged an HP Mini courtesy of woot.com for about $225.

I fix Windows machines for a living but go home to a Mac household. MacBooks aren't the cheapest out there but they're among the most secure and safest from viruses. They also come with full applications you might actually want to use like iPhoto and iMovie, not trial or "lite" versions. You'll need to add an office suite (word processor, spreadsheet, etc.). Play with one at the nearest Apple store to see if you'll like it.

You can get a Windows notebook for half that price and if you do, buy it from a reputable firm like Lenovo, Dell or HP. DON'T order from the website. Instead, build the machine of your dreams at the website, then call their toll-free order line and read off the specs and features to the order taker. Ask for a full-installation DVD of the operating system (most likely Windows 7) and not just a system recovery DVD. They should be willing to include it at no extra cost if it means making the sale.

When your new machine arrives, have a tech-savvy friend help you wipe the hard drive and install a clean virgin operating system, without the bloatware and trialware HP and Dell are notorious for. You'll get the best performance from the machine along with warranty coverage for any hardware failures.

As to security, Microsoft's free Security Essentials should be plenty, especially if you have a router with a hardware firewall. The anti-virus component is as effective as commercial products. Enable automatic updates and you'll be fine.

The jury is out on extended warranties but I haven't owned a notebook that didn't outlive the manufacturer's warranty.

JoeEkaitis said:

You can get a Windows notebook for half that price and if you do, buy it from a reputable firm like Lenovo, Dell or HP.

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What joe said.

Both my laptops are HP and I've had no problems with them.

Reg, we'll move your thread to Tech Help, where the good folks there might offer additional advice.

JoeEkaitis said:

I fix Windows machines for a living but go home to a Mac household. The $999 MacBook isn't the cheapest out there but it's among the most secure and safest from viruses. It also comes with full applications you might actually want to use like iPhoto and iMovie, not trial or "lite" versions. You'll need to add an office suite (word processor, spreadsheet, etc.). Play with one at the nearest Apple store to see if you'll like it.

You can get a Windows notebook for half that price and if you do, buy it from a reputable firm like Lenovo, Dell or HP. DON'T order from the website. Instead, build the machine of your dreams at the website, then call their toll-free order line and read off the specs and features to the order taker. Ask for a full-installation DVD of the operating system (most likely Windows 7) and not just a system recovery DVD. They should be willing to include it at no extra cost if it means making the sale.

When your new machine arrives, have a tech-savvy friend help you wipe the hard drive and install a clean virgin operating system, without the bloatware and trialware HP and Dell are notorious for. You'll get the best performance from the machine along with warranty coverage for any hardware failures.

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Everything he said.

It would help to know where you're comfortable when it comes to "not too expensive" and what kind of use this computer will see.

Toshiba.

Upside...comparatively inexpensive and they last, a long, long time.

Downside...if you wish to upgrade the memory or HDD, you have to go with Toshiba specific (HP is the same way I think).

HP

Upside...cheapest PC you can get (there are noname brands that are cheaper, but you get what you pay for).

Downside...do not last long at all and are very buggy.

Dell

Upside...you can customized and build exactly what you want, with nothing you don't.

Downside...you will pay for it. Dells tend to be on the pricey side for laptops.

KP

Well? Tell us what you bought and how it went!

I'm extremely happy with my Dell laptop. Investigate the difference between a netbook and a laptop. I would not be happy with a netbook. I believe no CD drive, but that was minor. The size of the screen was a big part. If you go to any of the manufacturer's website, you should be able todo a side by side comparison.

In response to previous poster: price was comparative to other brands. Plus, I've had better life and luck with Dells than I've seen my hubby have with gateway, hp, etc. Btw, HP needs to stick with printers... their laptops have something lacking. We use them at work and no one is happy with them.

JoeEkaitis said:

As to security, Microsoft's free Security Essentials should be plenty, especially if you have a router with a hardware firewall. The anti-virus component is as effective as commercial products. Enable automatic updates and you'll be fine.

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I'm hearing this from just about everyone, whether a security/IT specialist, or a software person.

I've got a Toshiba and an HP Notebook. Both are a little long in the tooth. I added a gig of Ram to the Toshiba and it made a world of difference.
Whatever brand you choose, don't skimp on the memory. go for 4 Gig if you can afford it. The difference in performance is like magic.

kappapi99 said:

Toshiba.

Upside...comparatively inexpensive and they last, a long, long time.

Downside...if you wish to upgrade the memory or HDD, you have to go with Toshiba specific (HP is the same way I think).

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Ditto. I love Toshibas. The only reason I replaced my first Toshiba after 2 years was because I needed a little more hard drive space (80 GB to 250 GB), a little more RAM (512 MB to 3 GB) and a better operating system (Windows Vista to Windows 7 Home Premium) but my first Toshiba worked GREAT and this one, so far I have no complaints. Buying Toshiba specific hardware is not a downside for me. I can just go to Toshiba's website and buy what I need. Toshibas are awesome.

My last couple of laptops have been HPs, but high end models so I don't know how the quality compares to the lower end HP, but I love them. I've never had any hardware problems with them at all.

Other people have mentioned Toshiba and quality, and I have to agree. I have an old, 400mhz Toshiba laptop that still works. The hardware has been perfect other than the battery wearing out (it holds no charge at all at this point). I don't use it anymore, but I sometimes boot it up and let my son web surf on it.

My wife has a cheaper Dell. I think it was about $600. It's been working well so far ( a year and half). It was definitely not expensive; it was pretty much the cheaptest I could find at the time with decent specs. It did have a problem with the touchpad, but that's all. Everything else has worked fine, and she lives on her laptop. She's on that thing probably 6-10 hours a day, including weekends.

One other quick note. If you can narrow it down to a few options, you may want to go to your local Best Buy or Frys or some place that has them in stock. I wouldn't buy it there unless they're having some massive sale, but I would suggest getting your hands on the keyboard to see how you like it. Sometimes keys end up in weird places, or they're too cramped, or the touchpad is in a weird spot, etc.

PEBKAC said:

My last couple of laptops have been HPs, but high end models so I don't know how the quality compares to the lower end HP, but I love them. I've never had any hardware problems with them at all.

Other people have mentioned Toshiba and quality, and I have to agree. I have an old, 400mhz Toshiba laptop that still works. The hardware has been perfect other than the battery wearing out (it holds no charge at all at this point). I don't use it anymore, but I sometimes boot it up and let my son web surf on it.

My wife has a cheaper Dell. I think it was about $600. It's been working well so far ( a year and half). It was definitely not expensive; it was pretty much the cheaptest I could find at the time with decent specs. It did have a problem with the touchpad, but that's all. Everything else has worked fine, and she lives on her laptop. She's on that thing probably 6-10 hours a day, including weekends.

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I found a pink Dell on BestBuy.com, great specs. 14" screen, nice keyboard, 3 GB RAM, 250 GB hard drive, good processor (don't remember which one), specs similar to the laptop I have now. It had an integrated webcam, all that, for $445, and that was in December. The reason why I didn't buy it was because BestBuy.com doesn't ship to Puerto Rico anymore. Then I went to Walmart.com and found this lovely, beautiful Toshiba for $469, taxes and shipping and handling included. I went to Dell.com, but the only computers that were $400 or less were the netbooks, and I hadn't used a netbook, hadn't gotten a look at the screen or anything so I was hesitant to get a netbook. Laptops were over $600. Needless to say I couldn't buy a laptop from Dell.com because I only had $500 in the bank designated for my new laptop. I bought it on the last week of December, and got it on Jan. 3, 2010. I don't regret it in the least. I discovered then that I couldn't get another brand computer, that my favorite computer is the Toshiba, and when this one stops working for me, my third laptop is going to be Toshiba and every laptop after that one. My neighbor recently let me use his netbook just because I wanted to see how everything looked like in that cute little screen and I liked it. It wasn't as bad as I thought. I could see everything I was doing actually and I didn't have to zoom in on any of the screens.

Medievalist said:

I'm hearing this from just about everyone, whether a security/IT specialist, or a software person.

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Had mini virus (think strep throat for laptop), Norton couldn't find it.
Bit Defender bombed as well.

Virus spread like an STD.

Downloaded Microsoft virus/firewall madness and ran scan.
Within seconds, pop up window announced it had located and quarantined a virus, then went on with brief description of what said virus does...like a cheerleader, I whooped because it NAILED IT!
And like Preditor, Microsoft ripped the virus from my laptop--spine, skull and all!!!

And it's free. Pfff...who knew?!

The new Acer series is pretty good. I have an Acer Aspire 8930 Gemstone Blue (with a 18,4 display), but I also use this beauty to create graphic arts and... ahem, play some games. Plus when I used to travel, it's my little mobile media platform.

But the smaller editions of the Gemstone Blue series, such as the 5735 (15" display), or the 6935 (16" display) are also trustworthy pieces. Just as the 893x series, the other editions are also coming with 5.1 surround system, webcam and other special items. You don't have to upgrade any of these models as each of them are coming with high-end CPUs (Dual or Quad Core), 4GB RAM and a 500GB or 1TB Hard Drive, while they're relatively cheap models (Comparing to Alienware).

Plus, what I really love in these models is the inbuilt Windows Vista or Win 7 installers (Win 7 in the never ones. My one has Vista.). You never have to carry and play with install DVDs, just press two buttons, Alt+F10 at startup if you want to reinstall the entire system and the laptop do the rest within a short time and installs everything, including drivers, net connection, anti-virus program, extras... so everything (That's my favorite in my Acer as after I installed dozens, or hundreds of Wins to various computers in the last 15 years, this extra is very refreshing. i.e. my Windows said bye-bye during a trip, far away from civilization, but I was capable to reinstall it without any DVDs within an hour, thanks to this extra.).

I think you should buy H.P. it is not to costly. It comes withn this configuration
Platform Technology Intel Centrino Duo
Built-in Devices Speaker , Wireless LAN antenna
Processor Intel Core Duo T2400 / 1.83 GHz
Multi-Core processor technology Dual-Core
Data bus speed 667 MHz
Chipset type Mobile Intel 945GM Express
Installed Size 1 GB / 2 GB (max)
Technology DDR2 SDRAM
RAM form factor SO DIMM 200-pin
Graphics Processor / Vendor Intel GMA 950
Hard Drive 120 GB - Serial ATA-150 - 5400 rpm

y'all are making mi' head hurt....
OMG!
Did I just say 'y'all?
10 months in the U.S. and I've developed a twang!

*opens can of spotted dick and pours a cuppa tea...*

Bloody 'ell, that was close!

regdog said:

So I had my plan all laid out. I was going to save up and comparison shop with the info you guys gave me and then phhhhtttttt my computer died on Wed. I got a Dell Inspiron 1545. Not bad and my family said they'd help pay for it.

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Just out of curiosity...what are the specs of your new Dell? What color is it? How is it working for you so far?