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Recommendations on a non-Apple laptop

If it's at the sub-Macbook price end, you could have luck or bad luck from anyone since they're all built similarly these days. If you're spending Macbook Pro =+ levels then there are many - and in many cases, better - options based on your primary use.

You may want your recommendations to be a Dell free zone, but if you're on a budget I have been reasonably impressed by the new Studio 15/17 series. I wasn't expecting much for a very low-cost consumer machine, but it strikes some good balances.
 
An additional help, go to BestBuy or the like store, and look for specials. They have been known to have a $1000 toshiba on sale that store only, for $645
 
I <3 my HP Pavilion.

Solid as a rock.

Get a laptop that under the 1 year warranty you can take it to a store.

I can take my HP into work to get HP warranty work (I work for Circuit City's Firedog)

Funnier still, I DO THE WORK. :D

HP/Toshiba/Dell.

HP has been cranking out some nice laptops, but a few down the line have had some flaws.

Toshiba used to make some really nasty laptops, but now are making decent ones. Though their newest series is dumb. The entire thing is shiny glossy plastic. Even the keyboard.

Dell makes some solid equipment that used to be butt ugly. Now they're designing some nice lookin' stuff.
 
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I currently have an HP and it's been solid...I got the inte core duo 2 years ago, but my cousin got AMD and hers crashed.

I used to have a toshiba and so did my norther... We both had issues - to the point where I reformatted 3 times in 2 months...

Now my brother has an IBM thinkpad that lasted him 7 years - amazing! He lives by them...

Sony is also great.. Sister and cousins using them for 3+ years, no problems.

So if u want reliability but not so sexy I'd go with lenovo, but for style the new Sonys are sexxxy :)
 
check out notebookreview.com, for info and recommendations... those discussion boards will have all the info you could ever possible want to know about any model (hacks, upgrades, issues, etc...), from $4k gaming notebooks to $250 netbooks. they've also got a "which notebook should i buy" section where you fill out a questionnaire and post it and you'll get like 5 pages of replies from people who live on those boards :)

mjb
 
nidserz said:
Sony is also great.. Sister and cousins using them for 3+ years, no problems.

So if u want reliability but not so sexy I'd go with lenovo, but for style the new Sonys are sexxxy :)
Click to expand...

:eek: (I love this smiley) Sony might be a Britney Spears, but a good MacBook Pro is like Michelle Pfeiffer or George Clooney. Timeless.

I don't know about their laptops (which I realize is the topic to hand) but I had a Sony Vaio desktop and it was the worst computer I've ever owned. I shall spare rants about the OS, since that's immaterial here, but they're a nightmare to upgrade yourself - literally an oriental puzzle once you open the tower - and it would overheat at the drop of a hat.

Sony customer service also sucks. They gave us something like 60 days free, then it was $35 for each time you call support - which we did twice, and they ended up telling us it was the problem of either Windows or the component maker and told us to go away and bug them.

Based on that (and a couple other experiences I've heard), I can't recommend Sony products. In all honesty, I do know a guy who has a Sony computer and thinks it's been the best thing since spliced bread.
 
thinkpads are quality. i remember last year seeing three of them together at a family gathering. they swear by them (for non-mac)
 
if you dont mind paying a slight premium, lenovos are the best especially in the quality department. i use them everyday for work and they are built like tanks and easily portable. however, i do think that the older ibm thinkpads were a tad bit better, but compared to the other choices out there they're the best.
 
I have to throw in with the Toshiba crowd. It's what I had in my "before Mac" days. I had a very rugged and reliable Toshiba Satellite that went everywhere with me. I used to drive tractor-trailer long haul and that is not the best environment for a lappy, lots of vibration in those rigs. The Toshiba took it without any problems and on the plus side the hardware played well with Debian. I ended up giving it to my brother in-law who used it for another 3 years before it took a fatal romp down a flight of stairs.
 
get a toshiba or gateway.
they make quality laptops and theres dont come with all the crap that HP and Sony puts on. not to mention HP makes very bad laptops
 
Though considered a luxury, gaming brand, by far my favorite company would be Alienware.

Check out the m15x - the site even looks like Apple's site, and computer is sleek like the Macbook Pro - it even takes some interior design ques.

Expensive though, but worth it.

The only other laptops I've had experience with were Dells and Toshibas - the Cheap Dells are terrible, the Toshiba is pretty good.
 
aside from the Mac's I have had, IBM was the only brand to give me very little problems overall.

some really nice IBM laptops out now. Ideapad s10s are really sleak, small cheap and quality machines (id assume anyways!). Im not really sure how much you want out of it.
 
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