Need laptop / notebook purchase advice

[drmwevr08]

The home pc is just outmatched and its time to call in reinforcements. Unfortunately the budget isn't primed for the move, so 4-500 bucks, maybe 6 tops is all I plan to spend. I dont do gaming or much of anything tough really. Web surfing, lots of photos to store, but very light on the editing. Perhaps I would try to get my video camera hooked up to do some storage, light editing there too. So, good computer nerds of CF (and I say that with my hat in my hand!) what to look for or what to avoid?

Dell has outlet models - Inspiron 1525s for under 500 and BestBuy has an HP pavilion for under 4 and I have seen a couple of sonys for 5-600 - for starters.

 

[dmclone]

I went with a cheap Dell ($450) a few years back and it serves the purpose of what I need it to do. It doesn't have a big fancy screen or anything but it works for travel and around the house. Any new Dell laptop will do hat you need it to do. My only two recommendations:

Make sure it has at least 1gb of ram

At least 160gb HD

Get the biggest battery you can find. My battery was the standard one and it says it will last like 8 hours but I'm lucky to get 2 hours when it's unplugged.

I also would recommend backing up any pictures that you put on the laptop. Just get a cheap $80 external hard drive.

I don't know what you'll need for the video editing. It possible that you may need a stronger video card and that's when you start talking money.

Any special reason why you're set on a laptop. You could get more power from a standard PC for the $$$.

 

[Whitey]

Go with Dell outlet. I'm getting one from them after having multiple co-workers have a great experience. All of the laptops there were in a customer's hands for less than 21 days, and they do a full check before selling them with a warranty.

 

[joefrog]

Unless you need it to really be portable, I really like the desktops. You can get a sweet custom one built really cheap, save a lot of cash. You already have the monitor. If you do want one built, I recommend Dymin in Johnston. Great folks.

 

[drmwevr08]

I am going to keep the desktop and once I pull most everything off and use it less it can sit there for another couple of years for the kids or whenever I want to be stuck at the desk. Otherwise I want to be able to surf and such on the couch!

 

[jbhtexas]

I definitely recommend going the outlet store route, particularly for those companies that sell a lot of corporate computers, because you might stumble into a very good deal. About 6 years ago, I was looking for a laptop and walked into the local Gateway store (back when they still had stores). Some company had just bailed out on a big laptop contract, and Gateway was selling the new laptops (well equipped) for $1000 under normal price. I still have it today, and it works fine for what I need.

My company uses Lenovo laptops, and they are very nice. I don't know if they have an outlet store, but they sell a lot of corporate computers, so it might pay to check them out.

I haven't looked at laptops lately, but for photo/video editing, you might see if you can find one with an e-SATA port (I don't know if laptop vendors are even doing that). I've got an e-SATA/USB external drive, and I ran a SATA/e-SATA cable from a free SATA port on the motherboard for the external drive. e-SATA flies compared to USB 2.0 as far as files transfers, which is very nice for editing video files, which can often run into the GB size range. I found a little utility called HotSwap for XP/Vista (works with only certain SATA controllers for now) that makes adding/removing SATA drives as easy as USB.

 

[DaddyMac]

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I've always bought Dell - about 5 or 6 of them. Never much of an issue at all. I just picked up a refurb monitor from them today - so I'm not dissing the outlet store. But if you look a bit and are patient for deals, alot of times you can get brand new for not much more. And don't be afraid to look at their small business section too - they will sell to you.

And as for the RAM recommendation above - if you're getting a laptop with Vista preloaded - you better get at least 2 GB and probably should get 3.

 

[TxCycloneFan]

I bought my second Dell laptop in January. I bought my first Dell laptop in 2002 and it still serves as a backup. Good product, good price. Very good service.

You can get a screaming deal on a used one if you go to their outlet site.

They sell some that were ordered and returned, but not used.