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Whats the best laptop that is not a Mac?
- Thread starter crazycat
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I agree, In my opinion dell are the best make of windows laptops. Preferably the Studio line.
But HP takes the prize for best Windows Tablet
But HP takes the prize for best Windows Tablet
Grrr... don't even mention the word Dell. >_<
I'd go with HP. And it doesn't really matter what a certain software the manufacture puts on the computer, you can always take it off.
I'd go with HP. And it doesn't really matter what a certain software the manufacture puts on the computer, you can always take it off.
I wouldn't touch a Dell notebook with all of the problems that I've had with them and people I know who have problems with theirs. I actually find Sony laptops to be pretty good quality and HP is decent.
How does that make it difficult to compare? If anything it simplifies the comparison to just the hardware reliability of the computer.
I'd get a Sony Z-series laptop.
Or a Lenovo of some sort. I don't think Dell has any computer with specs or looks that I like right now, though there are a few that would be with just one change.
Or a Lenovo of some sort. I don't think Dell has any computer with specs or looks that I like right now, though there are a few that would be with just one change.
Lenovo makes a great machine. A distant second is HP, although the quality drop off between the two is dramatic, in my experience.
I think Sony's and Lenovo, they make some nice computers, and in models Apple does not(sub 13'' screen)
For any short comings, I do love my EEE PC by Asus!
For any short comings, I do love my EEE PC by Asus!
I'd go with a sony vaio, not from personal experience, but from what a friend had over 3 years ago:-
17" Widescreen - just like the mac book pro/Powerbook had for some time.
Wi-fi and Bluetooth - just like any CURRENT mac laptop, I think Bluetooth was a more recent addition after they moved to intel, I may be wrong.
Dual 2.5" drives - You'd think at least the Mac Book Pro would have this option by now.
If there was an newer version of this laptop with 8Gb support and a Core 2 Quad that could be hackintosh-ed, it would be a fantastic all round system for anyone working with video/audio or just wants 2 large 2.5" drives to cart a large iTunes library around
17" Widescreen - just like the mac book pro/Powerbook had for some time.
Wi-fi and Bluetooth - just like any CURRENT mac laptop, I think Bluetooth was a more recent addition after they moved to intel, I may be wrong.
Dual 2.5" drives - You'd think at least the Mac Book Pro would have this option by now.
If there was an newer version of this laptop with 8Gb support and a Core 2 Quad that could be hackintosh-ed, it would be a fantastic all round system for anyone working with video/audio or just wants 2 large 2.5" drives to cart a large iTunes library around
Thats quite a hard one.
I've had other laptops in the past, one being an advent, which was absolutely terrible, stopped working after 2 years. And the other being an Alienware 7700m (3ghz pentium 3), which is coming up 4 years old and is still going strong, but I can't help feel that the build quality is no where near as good as it is on the mac laptops, and compared to my previous gen MBP, there is just no comparison to any other laptop I have seen.
Alienware are good from experience, but I don't think I would go back to a non-apple laptop now.
I've had other laptops in the past, one being an advent, which was absolutely terrible, stopped working after 2 years. And the other being an Alienware 7700m (3ghz pentium 3), which is coming up 4 years old and is still going strong, but I can't help feel that the build quality is no where near as good as it is on the mac laptops, and compared to my previous gen MBP, there is just no comparison to any other laptop I have seen.
Alienware are good from experience, but I don't think I would go back to a non-apple laptop now.
Avid fan of dell laptops. I think their accidental care is the best in the industry. We have 4 dell laptops in the house one that is 8 yrs old and still running on original moboard.
I have a XPS1530 and son has a XPS1730. The 1730 is a very nice machine but large and heavy but unbelievable.
Lenovo had a for work and was pretty nice. Very light but with the reduced weight the duarability wasn't there.
Sony and Hps just put too much proprietary stuff on their computers. Dells can be easily stripped and run on a clean windows install.
www.gotapex.com locates some of the better deals (no affiliation whatsoever)
I have a XPS1530 and son has a XPS1730. The 1730 is a very nice machine but large and heavy but unbelievable.
Lenovo had a for work and was pretty nice. Very light but with the reduced weight the duarability wasn't there.
Sony and Hps just put too much proprietary stuff on their computers. Dells can be easily stripped and run on a clean windows install.
www.gotapex.com locates some of the better deals (no affiliation whatsoever)
For me, ASUS 1000HE
This thing is about the best thing around. Best, Part: it is only $374!!
http://blogs.computerworld.com/apple_netbook_where_to_start
The ASUS Eee PC 1000HE 10-Inch Netbook is exactly what I want in a Netbook and here's why... and what Apple could do with this hardware.
ASUS Eee PC 1000HE 10-Inch NetbookToday's NetBooks are a bit too slow. The 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270, which is in just about every NetBook out there, can't do video very well and lags often enough when typing or opening programs to get annoying. The update in the Intel Atom N280 is just enough (especially with the faster 667MHz front side bus. memory and GN40 chipset) to get the job done. Coupled with the new processor, the 1000HE also has a much denser battery pack which ASUS says can ride 9.5 hours (real world is closer to 8 hours). Wow, perfect.
While I would happily shell out a few extra bucks for two or more GB of RAM, the Hard Drive really hits the sweet spot. My $1500 Unibody MacBook has the same 160GB that this $370 Netbook has. Hrmph.
The comparisons to the MacBook don't stop there. This thing has 3 USB ports compared to my MacBook's 2 (and the Air's 1). It also has Bluetooth and 802.11N networking. The screen, at 10 inches and 1024x600 pixels compares pretty well to my MacBook's 13 inch 1280x800 pixels. The Eee only has a 92% sized keyboard as well. These are the sacrifices you make when getting a laptop that can fit into a purse.
The Eee also has an SD Card slot which Apple doesn't think I want. If wanting an SD card slot is wrong, I don't want to be right. It makes uploading photos and videos a snap.
Of course the Eee PCs aren't made to the exacting standards with which Apple's new unibody MacBooks are. They aren't going to bounce off the floor when you drop them and they are much more likely to break during normal usage. Aesthetics are important, too: they aren't nearly as sleek.
This thing is about the best thing around. Best, Part: it is only $374!!
http://blogs.computerworld.com/apple_netbook_where_to_start
The ASUS Eee PC 1000HE 10-Inch Netbook is exactly what I want in a Netbook and here's why... and what Apple could do with this hardware.
ASUS Eee PC 1000HE 10-Inch NetbookToday's NetBooks are a bit too slow. The 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270, which is in just about every NetBook out there, can't do video very well and lags often enough when typing or opening programs to get annoying. The update in the Intel Atom N280 is just enough (especially with the faster 667MHz front side bus. memory and GN40 chipset) to get the job done. Coupled with the new processor, the 1000HE also has a much denser battery pack which ASUS says can ride 9.5 hours (real world is closer to 8 hours). Wow, perfect.
While I would happily shell out a few extra bucks for two or more GB of RAM, the Hard Drive really hits the sweet spot. My $1500 Unibody MacBook has the same 160GB that this $370 Netbook has. Hrmph.
The comparisons to the MacBook don't stop there. This thing has 3 USB ports compared to my MacBook's 2 (and the Air's 1). It also has Bluetooth and 802.11N networking. The screen, at 10 inches and 1024x600 pixels compares pretty well to my MacBook's 13 inch 1280x800 pixels. The Eee only has a 92% sized keyboard as well. These are the sacrifices you make when getting a laptop that can fit into a purse.
The Eee also has an SD Card slot which Apple doesn't think I want. If wanting an SD card slot is wrong, I don't want to be right. It makes uploading photos and videos a snap.
Of course the Eee PCs aren't made to the exacting standards with which Apple's new unibody MacBooks are. They aren't going to bounce off the floor when you drop them and they are much more likely to break during normal usage. Aesthetics are important, too: they aren't nearly as sleek.
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What about the best looking, most stylish windows laptops around?
Voodoo
http://www.voodoopc.com/#/productsenvy
Voodoo
http://www.voodoopc.com/#/productsenvy
My primary need for a laptop is mobility and runtime as well as decent quality / reliability - and I find that Sony's flagships usually satisfy this requirement. In the last two years I've probably bought close to 30 upper-end, Made-in-Japan Vaio's - mostly duplicates to put in the various workplaces I occupy. And of them, I believe three have needed attention, two for a very minor issue. I've liked the understated styling of the SZ and TZ ranges. I'm not finding the new TT and Z machines as appealing, although they are better machines as such.
The crapware can be removed, but you can't add the Vaio attributes to another lesser machine which may not come with crapware. With any new Vaio I just spend a couple of hours figuring out what I should get rid of, do a base install of my own apps and I take an Acronis dump of that state.
The three-in-thirty ratio contrasts sharply with the 80-plus-percent FOA/minor/major repair rate of Apple notebooks I've purchased in the same timeframe (91% this year). And since the Vaio's offer better runtime and portability, they have actually been carried around more than the Apples during the same time. As I was saying elsewhere, I have no idea how good or bad Sony's support is on a regular basis, because I hardly ever need it. On the other hand, I have a very good idea how Applecare is, because I need it so often.
I think Lenovo is overrated these days, although they still make fine notebooks - it's just that Dell's upper-end business range / Sony's upper-end range nudges the quality of Lenovo's finest, and this isn't so much as these two manufacturers radically raising it's standards as Lenovo's dropping slightly over time (I think the matt cases hid this for a long time). The last Lenovo I had was the X300 - nothing has really caught my eye since then.
Dell is who I turn to for the mainstream. I usually buy only from Dell's Latitude and Precision ranges with minor exceptions. I currently have a small brace of M6400 Covet's, which are probably the best 17-inch-class semiportable machines I've ever used, packing extreme power into a not-too-extreme weight, while being visually rather appealing. The Studio notebooks were purchased for a virtually throwaway task, but turned out to be unexpectedly good for the very low price and I'm very happy with them. The XPS's were more of a mixed bag. The 1730 and the 1710 before it, I've found to be solid machines if spectacularly ugly (and weighty). The M1330 on the other hand has been a disaster of almost Apple proportions - and I think I was even more apoplectic at Dell's XPS support because although I've grown to expect utterly crap QC and chronic lack of reliability from Apple, it's not something I'd pegged Dell with before - at least, not on a non-budget machine like the XPS series. The latest XPS - an XPS 16 - we'll see. So far, no issues and it's a solid machine.
Between Dell and HP, Dell tends to get the nod more often from me as their account manager offers better deals and I also get better benefits of a large business account, including sneak peeks at new stuff. However I do have a few HP mobile workstations and I can't say anything bad about them - very solid machines, well engineered if not as visually salubrious as the Apples or even today's Dells.
The crapware can be removed, but you can't add the Vaio attributes to another lesser machine which may not come with crapware. With any new Vaio I just spend a couple of hours figuring out what I should get rid of, do a base install of my own apps and I take an Acronis dump of that state.
The three-in-thirty ratio contrasts sharply with the 80-plus-percent FOA/minor/major repair rate of Apple notebooks I've purchased in the same timeframe (91% this year). And since the Vaio's offer better runtime and portability, they have actually been carried around more than the Apples during the same time. As I was saying elsewhere, I have no idea how good or bad Sony's support is on a regular basis, because I hardly ever need it. On the other hand, I have a very good idea how Applecare is, because I need it so often.
I think Lenovo is overrated these days, although they still make fine notebooks - it's just that Dell's upper-end business range / Sony's upper-end range nudges the quality of Lenovo's finest, and this isn't so much as these two manufacturers radically raising it's standards as Lenovo's dropping slightly over time (I think the matt cases hid this for a long time). The last Lenovo I had was the X300 - nothing has really caught my eye since then.
Dell is who I turn to for the mainstream. I usually buy only from Dell's Latitude and Precision ranges with minor exceptions. I currently have a small brace of M6400 Covet's, which are probably the best 17-inch-class semiportable machines I've ever used, packing extreme power into a not-too-extreme weight, while being visually rather appealing. The Studio notebooks were purchased for a virtually throwaway task, but turned out to be unexpectedly good for the very low price and I'm very happy with them. The XPS's were more of a mixed bag. The 1730 and the 1710 before it, I've found to be solid machines if spectacularly ugly (and weighty). The M1330 on the other hand has been a disaster of almost Apple proportions - and I think I was even more apoplectic at Dell's XPS support because although I've grown to expect utterly crap QC and chronic lack of reliability from Apple, it's not something I'd pegged Dell with before - at least, not on a non-budget machine like the XPS series. The latest XPS - an XPS 16 - we'll see. So far, no issues and it's a solid machine.
Between Dell and HP, Dell tends to get the nod more often from me as their account manager offers better deals and I also get better benefits of a large business account, including sneak peeks at new stuff. However I do have a few HP mobile workstations and I can't say anything bad about them - very solid machines, well engineered if not as visually salubrious as the Apples or even today's Dells.