The Site > Old Forums > Road Warriors, Notebooks & Distance > What brand Laptop to get?

What brand Laptop to get?

For all the non-gaming uses any modest laptop will do.

For world of warcraft you don't need enormous graphics power but you do want something beyond the basic laptop graphics. Maybe something in the $1000 range such as this 720 i7 with 230M graphics.

»www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopp···e_series

This isn't a final recommendation. It's just a starting idea.
What kind of budget are we talking about?
As things progress I will look more carefully at hp and dell options.
The key point is that gaming on a laptop will significantly increase its cost and one needs to be more careful about the graphics solution and the screen resolution and the balance between them.

Are you very particular about screen size? Did you have a particular size range in mind?

asd has good advice. I am not brand "crazed", although I personally have done well with HP notebooks. HP/Dell/Acer/Sony/Gateway/ASUS/MSI all make good noteboks, and are all pretty competitive with one another.

I would concentrate my search based firstly on:

What form-factor or screen size best meets your needs? IMHO, this is no small deal, and perhaps the first thing to consider! The difference in screen real-estate, not to mention "portability!" between say a 14.1" vesus a 17.3" is considerable!

Outside of a "better than integrated graphics card", your stated usage is pretty tame, and does not call for a lot of expensive bells and whistles. For example, you did not mention any HD type video capability, or desire for a blu-ray player, but it is something to keep in mind.

Another consideration: Battery run time. For me, I run primarily on AC, so it is not a big fator in my decision making process, but how about yourself? If you plan on running of battery a lot, you want to check out the run times from one model to another, as some of the differences there can be quite a bit.

Also, WiFi: Do you want/need 11n capability, or is 11g good for your needs? Plenty of notebooks still come with 11g only, and for many folks, this is no big deal, but be aware of this.

Although you can get some very good deals on notebooks with Vista installed, at this point in time, I would recommend not doing so. Many/most folks will want windows 7, and the cost of upgrading makes saving a couple bucks on a Vista based notebook questionable savings.

I would take these factors in mind, and kind of "profile" what you are looking for, then I would start looking at individual models that had the features that I was looking for. For your stated usage, there is a wide, wide range of models that might suit your needs, this is why I think you really need to narrow down the feature set that you want first. What commonly happens is that folks buy a model based on brand/appearance, or one or two specific features, only to later discover that there were other features that they were ignoring! For example "Gee, I really love the large, bright screen on this 17" notebook, but next time, I will buy a 14" screen model because this one is a moose to travel with!" Happens all the time...
--
Deeds, not words

reply to Monolith
Hello everyone, thank you for the info. I have considered most of the options listed. I should have been more clear as to why I was asking dell or HP, I have compared several types and the price range has been close with both, about 1500 with the added options so on. The reason I ask about which to go with is that I plan to finance it, and I have open accounts with both companys. So I should have asked what of the 2, seem to have the least problems with laptops, repairs, service?

Thanks

reply to Monolith
"So I should have asked what of the 2, seem to have the least problems with laptops, repairs, service?"

The problem with this is that you will get a lot of opinions and anecdotes with some people claiming one is crap and others the other is crap. The companies, who have the actual reliable data, aren't going to volunteer that information. These things are company secrets. So you have to take most of what you read with a grain of salt. Most people have very limited information about this.

I agree with pete. I have not developed any consistent attitude toward any of the makers because I think, overall, there is not a big difference between them. They all are capable of making roughly comparable product and they all have their complaints or problems. I would focus more on getting what you want at the right price, rather than brand, especially as you are going into debt to get the machine(an idea I'm not a fan of but I will not say any more about it).

reply to Monolith
Forget buying from Dell or HP, or you can getter a better notebook from these guys and if you have any problems they're in the US.
»www.xoticpc.com/index.php
»www.powernotebooks.com/
Still not sure, check out their their reseller ratings:
»www.resellerratings.com/store/Xotic_PC
»www.resellerratings.com/store/PowerNotebooks

Also here the best site for all your notebook/laptop research.
»www.notebookreview.com/
--
A bad picture is better than no picture at all, and I would rather have a picture with some noise and details,
than an picture with no noise and no details.

reply to Monolith