Need some laptop suggestions

[devil_dog_wife]

Ok guys I need some help figuring out what to get. My gateway laptop is about to die, it's 4 years old, takes forever to boot up and runs slow. On top of all of that it gets so hot that it's melting the power cord, so instead of buying another power cord for $100 I'm just going to get a new computer.

The husband has a Lenovo that he got through Tigerdirect.com which is what I'm thinking about getting. My main problem is I'm not sure what specifics I want/need.

I use the laptop mainly for basic internet stuff, uploading tons of pictures, and uploading videos/recording to DVDs.

Any help and suggestions you all can make, I'd appreciate!

 

[HeloBubba]

The first question I usually ask is what is your budget? Then the simplest advice is to buy as much laptop as your budget allows. You know, buy as much RAM/CPU/HDD as you can afford.

As far as makes, in my professional career I have had the fewest problems with Toshibas and HP/Compaqs.

 

[Pugs]

I use the laptop mainly for basic internet stuff, uploading tons of pictures, and uploading videos/recording to DVDs.

Any help and suggestions you all can make, I'd appreciate!

Pretty much the stuff a Mac excels at out of the box.

 

[scoolbubba]

If you can get past the 4 hour gee whiz transition of learning Leopard or Snow Leopard after years of using a PC, Macs are pretty good at the stuff you want to do. Downside: they are more expensive. Upside: haven't had a virus or a crash in 2+ years (besides the time I dropped my computer and the mac store had to fix it).

Edit: Just saw Pugs reply.

 

[helo_wifey]

We just switched to Mac at the beginning of the year and haven't looked back (well...except for my husband's Alienware that we kept around). We've got a Mac desktop as well as 2 MacBooks and love the ease of use with no software issues. We might have spent more than if we bought a PC but we won't be buying new computers anytime soon. Especially since when we had PCs (Sony, HP, Dell, and eMachines) we always wanted some sort of upgrade or new computer, we spent a lot of money and looking back wish we would have gone Mac sooner.

But that's just us...and we still have a PC in the house, but when we go to use it we both realize again how much we love our Macs.

 

[LazersGoPEWPEW]

I've been a Mac user for years now.

I've used their mid-range Macbook and just recently upgraded to their pro-line.

For your purposes I suggest their Macbook or the low-end Macbook Pro 13in.

Mac OS X is entirely user friendly and is not difficult to learn at all.

The updates to the OS are more meaningful than that of Microsoft.

If you don't game and you don't have specific windows needs I'd suggest moving to Mac. Also Mac offers a military discount that is fairly sizable on all their computers.

Outside of the Mac realm I'd suggest a Sony Vaio which are not only becoming more affordable but many models include a blu-ray player.

 

[Jynx]

As stated, if you can get over the Mac Tax, they're not a bad buy, as they're great for international travel, reliability, etc. You can take them into a store anywhere in the world and get warantee support. Once you get used to them, they're very intuitive. Also, you can install windows very easily and use the mac to run both OSes.

Dell and Lenovo seem to be the PC laptops to buy at the moment. Lenovo moreso. Gateway has been having some reliability and tech issues.
At all costs do not buy a late model HP. They have notoriously had problems with explosive overheating. AKA your graphics card has a better than 50% chance of melting/exploding into your motherboard within 3 years, more than likely two.
This happened to me with a HP laptop from 2 years ago. They wanted half again the price of the laptop just for a new graphics card, let alone the cost of a motherboard without graphics card components melted onto it. This is after the hard-drive had failed. They had wanted $400 for that as well. Plus shipping, handling, and labor. I got a third party one for $50 and screwed it in myself. Go fig.

http://consumerist.com/5141533/update-hp-laptop-runs-200f-support-says-buy-a-cooling-mat
http://forums13.itrc.hp.com/service...47627+1251718007430+28353475&threadId=1245319
http://consumerist.com/5349205/reader-says-hp-knows-old-laptops-are-rotten-doesnt-care

 

[LazersGoPEWPEW]

As stated, if you can get over the Mac Tax, they're not a bad buy, as they're great for international travel, reliability, etc. You can take them into a store anywhere in the world and get warantee support. Once you get used to them, they're very intuitive. Also, you can install windows very easily and use the mac to run both OSes.

]

WARNING: Installing Windows on your Mac will subject it to all the viruses that can affect Windows.

 

[HH-60H]

Once you get used to them, they're very intuitive.

That's a paradox.

 

[devil_dog_wife]

Well, considering I took the pickup in to the shop this morning to have the breaks checked and they just called with about 3grand worth of work needing to be done to various things. My computer budget is slim...

I've never even considered a MAC, just always been a PC user. Maybe I'll do some research. If I'm not brave enough to switch over any other PC suggestions?

Thanks for all of the replies thus far!

 

[Picaroon]

Despite what the people in this thread said, if you have even a hint of computer know-how and don't download too much illegal stuff, your Windows PC is not at risk from viruses and will be far cheaper for a comparable hardware configuration. If you know Windows, I'd say stick with it. The versatility is much greater. You'll save a ton of money.

Lenovo is supposed to be great. I've always used HP and have never had issues... the Mac we used to have at my house when I was in high school got hotter than any of my HP laptops ever have.

 

[RadicalDude]

Once you go mac, you never go back.

You can get a GREAT and new macbook for <$1000 if you shop around.

I'd start with macmall.com or smalldog.com

...and in response to Picaroon-- if you have NO computer know-how and download TONS of illegal stuff, your Mac will still never get viruses, and last about 3 times as long.

 

[Pugs]

WARNING: Installing Windows on your Mac will subject it to all the viruses that can affect Windows.

yep, I never let the Vista partition talk to the general internet. I just use it as life support for Visio and Project and only network it to go to MS for updates.

 

[DukeAndrewJ]

Depending on your needs/usage, I would look into the Asus notebooks. My laptop died a few months ago, and as a student, I didn't want to shell out 2k.

http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-1005HA-P...1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1251917818&sr=8-1

I have one similar to this and its all less the $400. Keyboard is slightly smaller than full size, but only took about 10 minutes to get used to. Smaller screen is annoying if you are the type to run 4 programs at once though. Not as much memory as the bigger laptops, but I have several movies stored on mine as well as tons of music and it runs great. Plus the battery life is amazing - it really does go about 8 hours on a single charge.

 

[statesman]

I am a supporter of buying a mac portable.

Im on a Vista PC as my desktop machine, but if I was going to buy a portable I would definitely go with a MacBook.

That said remember that viruses for OS X do exist... they are FAR less common and you generally dont have to worry about them, but they are not unheard of.