Recommend me a Laptop!

zirconium

zirconium

zirconium

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Joined
9 Apr 2007
Posts
68
Hi

After a laptop to replace my desktop, I will list the important criteria it must meet

1. Must look Professional (Sorry but the some Dell models have too many lights and looks plastic and cheap) No Offence!
2. Have a good reputation
3. Good Customer after sales service
4. Must be able to convert DV & DVD Video with ease (Very Important)

I have been looking at Alienware, Rock, Dell, Sony etc.. Everytime I get close I read reviews and the hunt starts again.

Any help would be appreciated
 
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All depends on how much you want to spend.

I just bought myself a Sony Vaio (VGN-AR71ZU), arrived this morning, not really had a chance to play with it properly. This thing has excellent build quality that I have come to expect from a Vaio. Will have a proper play with it at work tomorrow, will post back then.
 
Sony are very nice machines, however they come with loads of crap installed. if you can confirm they come with a OS disk, and I can do a fresh install without all of there rubbish then I would be more than tempted to buy one.
 
You need a Thinkpad, pure and simple.
You may be paying a slight premium, but they are bombproof, look the business, and the customer service is perfect :)

Don't even think about consumer grade stuff, IMHO business grade machines are the only place to head.

-Leezer-
 
zirconium said:
Sony are very nice machines, however they come with loads of crap installed. if you can confirm they come with a OS disk, and I can do a fresh install without all of there rubbish then I would be more than tempted to buy one.
Click to expand...

Yeh, that is one down side to the Sony, No installation media, you have to reinstall via recovery partition. But surprisingly there was not a lot of crap that was preinstalled. google toolbar, Nortons trial, Office Trial & one or two others.

I was thinking about Alienware myself, but I realy dont like Dell & alienwares are just supped up rebadged Dells.

Thinkpads are great, but the screen sizes are too small for desktop a replacement
 
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Look at the HP business laptops: 8510w, 8510p (15.4") 8710p, 8710w (17").

Better build quality over Dells
Nicer looking than IBMs (am I the only one that thinks they look like a prop from a '70s sci-fi film?)
More professional/business oriented than Sony: available with docking stations, extended batteries, 3G cards, Quadro graphics, insane-res screens (upto 1920x1200 on the 15.4"!)
 
Thanks for the feedback people! much appreciated. Never really considered the thinkpad due to there smaller screens.

I had my heart set on the HP8710W but after speaking to friends and reading forums HP computers seem to spend more time in the repair shop then being used!

I must say that these are experiences from a few years ago.
 
Sony Ar series....look nice, have good build quality, and the best display by a mile of any laptop I have seen...provided you go for the full HD premium models. My machine has zero problems, and everything works very smoothly. I uninstalled all the useless software that comes preinstalled, which didn't take too long, so it's nothing that should prevent you purchasing it.

Also as you requested, yes it looks very professional and expensive.
 
Couple of things I could never forgive Sony for (Few years ago mind you)-
There was a laptop model (Friend had one, not me), can't remember off the top of my head which precise one, on which the designer thought it would be a good idea to use the pins for the Cardbus socket to attach it to the motherboard. This resulted in about 5 new motherboards before they issued a revised design :rolleyes: The same laptop's keyboard kept losing keys, and the hinges broke about 14 months in.

Second was a riduculously expensive desktop which my uncle bought, with supplied speakers & microphone. These were colour coded and labelled on the rear panel; The only problem was that both the colour coding and the panel label were wrong- Caused several hours of head-scratching.


In the same vein, I'd never touch a Toshiba again either. Had a Tecra S1, which in itself was a nice machine, when it was working. The initial motherboard revision had serious heat dissipation issues, as well as USB ports which came loose. The new motherboard revision came in after 18 months and three new motherboards, which again solved the issues, but IMHO glaring design flaws like this are inexcusable.

-Leezer-
 
Enterprise grade stuff is where its at :)

IMHO IBM is the best of all, but a lot of that's personal preference.
If you don't like the look of the IBM models on offer, then my second choice would be the enterprise grade HP stuff.
I'd also place the Lenovo stuff in this bracket- The build quality isn't quite with that of the 'real' Thinkpads, and they've moved away from the traditional territory somewhat.
Final choice really would be the Fujitsu and Samsung offerings, again there are some nice machines here, some are better than others :)

Admittedly you get some good models and some bad with every manufacturer, but the more consumer oriented the manufacturer becomes, the worse the quality.

-Leezer-
 
Can I just pipe in and say that all this Sony VAIO love is undue. I bought an AR11S and was thoroughly disappointed in build quality - loose, wobbly screen, malfunctioning speaker, side panels coming loose/breaking off, unduly heavy, very poor battery life, etc.
 
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