cool!
Hey, you've been very nice lately...
Thought I'd mention it's noticed and appreciated. Hope you're feeling
better!

my first laptop was a thinkpad and i loved it until the day i
accidentally blew it up, but i don't like that you now have to send
them back to ibm to get any repairs done. my sister had problems with
hers and took it to the local repair guys who are really good and
really reasonably priced (it was no longer under warrenty). they
couldn't do anything for her because they couldn't get parts for it.

my first laptop was a thinkpad and i loved it until the day i
accidentally blew it up, but i don't like that you now have to send
them back to ibm to get any repairs done. my sister had problems with
hers and took it to the local repair guys who are really good and
really reasonably priced (it was no longer under warrenty). they
couldn't do anything for her because they couldn't get parts for it.

"epicphart" <plazmadroidNOSPAM@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:41AC9371.1010604@yahoo.com...

Franz Bestuchev wrote:

elegy wrote:

if you were looking to buy a new laptop for a reasonable pricetag (ie,
i can't afford extra-fancy-shmancy), what would you buy?

i'm christmas shopping for myself.....


---
petey was a pit bull.
http://shattering.org

There's only about 7 laptop makers in the world. They build machines for
companies such as Dell, HP, Apple...to their specs. I've found that the
nicest machines (aside from Apple notebooks) are the Asus barebones
laptops. Any number of computer shops can buy these chassis systems and
configure it exactly how you want.

The ones we build are about the same price as the Dell Inspiron line
(which we repair WAY too many of) and have exceptional build quality.

We sell a lot of these:

http://usa.asus.com/products/notebook/m5series/m5200n/m5200n_overview.htm

Asus mobos' rock.

oh man ... this is too funny , " the ones we sell " AHAHAHAHAHAHAH

On Sun, 28 Nov 2004 02:33:03 -0500, elegy <elegy@shattering.org>
wrote:

i've heard a lot of people have problems with dells.

i'm kind of thinking about an ibook but the pc --> mac jump
intimidates me.

FYI on the Dell thing. I've had a couple of Dell laptops... not
because I like them but because work buys them for me. I am VERY hard
on my laptops, and I've never really had any problems related to the
fact that I routinely drop them, bang them around, and otherwise abuse
them. I destroyed a Sager that way (terrific machine otherwise).

I am not a fan of Dell. The first one I had was a total lemon; there
were problems ALL the time, and they couldn't be fixed without ending
it off, and I can't be without my laptop. And I think that they
really had to do with design, so I'm not sure if they could have been
fixed anyway. This one, which is a Latitude, is ok. It's slow, now,
and I'd like another, but I have no real complaints.

Here is the seriously good thing about Dell, though. Two years ago, I
was in Maine, and my motherboard blew up. They sent someone out to
the little island I was on and fixed it. 24 hours, no charge.

However, I would buy something else if I were buying it for myself.
Probably a Gateway. Like Dells, you either love or hate Gateways, and
I love them. I think that Franz's idea about a bare bones system is a
good one, though. I've done that before, but sometimes there are
support issues.

My Compaq has served us well, but it's age is starting to show.

The switch to Apple is not that hard, as Macs are very friendly to PC files,
etc. and compatibility for things like Office is not an issue at all. That
said, make sure that there is no software that you use (and must have) that
only has a PC version.

As for problems by by brands, I'd look at Consumer Reports for some guidance
(www.consumerreports.org). Often it is a particular model that is a
problem, and not an entire brand.