Need computer help fast. Best buy unfortunately.

[Nanner]

Asus

 

[Blown 89]

Why the big debate on brands? The guts of the laptop are what really matter.

Because the hinges, connectors, heatsinks, etc are all different. Some brands hold up better than others and some brands handicap their operating systems with bloat worse than others.

Without going in and looking at what Best Buy has I can't recommend a specific laptop but I can say two things for certain:
1) Price match the internet.
2) Install an unmolested version of 8.1 on top of the Windows that comes with the laptop. I would rather get a $400 laptop and a $100 virgin Windows installation than a $500 laptop with Dell's bloated version of Windows installed.

 

[JasonSnake]

get one with an IPS screen. You'll know it's IPS because on the garbage laptops, when you look at the screen at different angles, the picture becomes washed out and just have shitty resolution altogether. Manufacturers are still being super cheap using LCD technology from the early 2000's. IPS screens on the other hand, have great resolution, nice viewing angles, awesome contrast. I'm sure you can find one around that price range there at BB.

edit: this one doesn't seem so bad:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/toshiba...lver/1530094.p?id=1219054453950&skuId=1530094

 

[venom_inc]

Because the hinges, connectors, heatsinks, etc are all different. Some brands hold up better than others and some brands handicap their operating systems with bloat worse than others.

Ehh that's really just nitpicking at that point. You buy what gives you the best bang for the buck. Hinges are the last thing on my mind when looking for a laptop.

 

[760-MPH]

Thanks for the feedback. Ended up with an hp. Hopefully little buyers remorse due to gift cards. First porn site installed all the malware I need.

For those of you who offered the 10% off coupon thank you but I had one. I appreciate it though.

 

[CobraBob]

How is the HP screen overall, and at angles. Just curious. Hope it keeps you happy. Nice that you had gift cards.

 

[roadracer247]

I'd go with Lenovo. Great laptops!

 

[RDJ]

Why would it be a joke? Both of my laptops went downrange with me for over 9 months at a time; given the austere environment that they were put through, I believe that is more than enough reason to buy another one.. So after I got back from downrange the second time, I went ahead and bought my third HP laptop... Never had a problem with them.

3 laptops in 7 years is not a good record. I have a dell that is I have had for almost that long that has been down range for almost the entire time and going strong. I still use it out here.

that being said, Dell > HP / toshiba > asus > acer IMHO

 

[RDJ]

I'd go with Lenovo. Great laptops!

yeppers give your money to the communist chinese comrade citizen, they appreciate your amelican dahrras ...

 

[jmsa540]

3 laptops in 7 years is not a good record. I have a dell that is I have had for almost that long that has been down range for almost the entire time and going strong. I still use it out here.

that being said, Dell > HP / toshiba > asus > acer IMHO

I apologize, I miscalculated, 3 laptops in 8 years. 06-14

 

[mustangmanjeff]

Ive been fixing pcs for many years and My past experience:



Best laptops hands down are/ pc:

1. IBM
2.SONY
3APPLE
4.TOSHIBA


1. Ibm / lenovo thinkpads, $$$ , but built tough , the older IBM t10 t20 models are bullet proof shit you not, they have kevlar in the case you can jump on them drop them shoot them They are beasts. Ibm I stand by hands down.





2. Sony Laptops, big $ but some of the best ive seen over many years.




3 Apple laptops, not a fan of apple products and alot of $ , I only buy pcs, but alot of people love apple laptops. / products. and stand by them.


4. Toshiba , pretty decent for the $.


That being said, for your price range and only can buy from bestbuy / products in the $500 range, apple and ibm and sony is out of the ? for you , so I would say a toshiba laptop. unless you get lucky and can find a sony in the $500 range.

hp / compaq dell etc are cheap crap.


Ive fixed alot of computers for people over the years, and the most common ones ive had to fix have been dell, compaq, hp, toshiba. never ever hear people with ibm,sony,apple needing work done on them. so thats food for the thought but you would need to spend more then $500 and shop else where then bestbuy.



I actually have 3 laptops and 1 desktop pc to fix right now to fix for people on the side, 1 being hp needs a hard drive/ virus and is slow . 1 is a toshiba needs a new screen,1 being a dell needs virus removal and is slow aswell , and desktop is a hp and needs upgrades and is slow and prob a virus.


But food for the thought..

 

[Zemedici]

^excellent post.

 

[RDJ]

^excellent post.

not really I will post up a response to it later ... but there are a few things wrong with it

 

[VenomousSVT]

#1 ibm/apple dpending on if you want osx or windows
#2 sony but my con to sony is you're likely paying more for some media software suite you'll never use
#3 hp buisness machines (ie the elitebooks, mobile workstations)
#4 Asus they just are a great bang for the buck laptop

none of the top 3 are going to be very cheap though. If i had $500 to spend on one id be looking at ASUS personally. And they dont come bundled with a bunch of bullcrap either.

 

[RDJ]

Ive been fixing pcs for many years and My past experience: ..

I always get a laugh when someone your age says this. "many years" for you is 10 MAYBE 12 at best assuming you started "fixing" them when you were 17. I have been doing this shit since before you were born and have been doing it for a full time job as well as a hobby almost as long

Best laptops hands down are/ pc:
1. Ibm / lenovo thinkpads, $$$ , but built tough , the older IBM t10 t20 models are bullet proof shit you not, they have kevlar in the case you can jump on them drop them shoot them They are beasts. Ibm I stand by hands down...

they are good laptops but there is no such thing as an IBM laptop anymore . New ones are ALL lenovo, which is owned by the communist chinese. they are not on my recommended list for that reason alone. I won't buy one, recommend one, or work on one. I don't support communists or their companies

2. Sony Laptops, big $ but some of the best ive seen over many years. ..

sonys are good but not nearly the number two spot. they are expensive for what you get (much like apple) and for every sony user that you have helped that likes theirs I can show you one or two that hate them.

3 Apple laptops, not a fan of apple products and alot of $ , I only buy pcs, but alot of people love apple laptops. / products. and stand by them...

I have, use, and support both. good but again expensive and tough. I would put them at the top of this list rather than third

4. Toshiba , pretty decent for the $...

I have 4 sitting in a closet at my house that are doorstops two of which toshiba support couldn't fix so they replaced them. the other two blew up just outside the warranty window. toshiba was no help. not very high on my recommended list

That being said, for your price range and only can buy from bestbuy / products in the $500 range, apple and ibm and sony is out of the ? for you , so I would say a toshiba laptop. unless you get lucky and can find a sony in the $500 range. ...

bad adivce

hp / compaq dell etc are cheap crap. ...

and 100% untrue. YOUR experience may say they are "cheap crap". the military has been using Dells and HPs (but mostly Dells) in both Iraq and Afghanistan since the beginning. they are STILL using some of them that got here in the beginning. old tired stuff that is still working just fine, in spite of the abuse by both the conditions and Military. are they cheap? yes, for the most part they are. but that is what Dell started out to do turn laptops into commodoties. use them up and throw them away becasue replacing them would be cheaper than fixing them. Are they crap? far from it. I will take a Dell laptop over anything you have on this list except maybe Apple. They have their problems, no doubt, they have a good share of unhappy customers that are loud and vocal in their hatred .. but when you consider the MILLIONS they sell you are talking about 1 or 2% of their total customer base.

Whose is best or worst or whatever is ENTIRELY subjective in a discussion like this. everyone has an opinion based on their experience. In reality it doesn't matter a whole lot. They all use the same memory, and hard drive manufacturers so bitching about a dell hard drive problem or their crappy memory is a non starter. The real differences is in MB design and case design but even those, in a lot of cases, are outsourced to a total of 3 or 4 factories that make MBs and cases for more than one computer maker.

Ive fixed alot of computers for people over the years, and the most common ones ive had to fix have been dell, compaq, hp, toshiba. never ever hear people with ibm,sony,apple needing work done on them. so thats food for the thought but you would need to spend more then $500 and shop else where then bestbuy. ...

if this is true your experience is extremely limited.

I actually have 3 laptops and 1 desktop pc to fix right now to fix for people on the side, 1 being hp needs a hard drive/ virus and is slow . 1 is a toshiba needs a new screen,1 being a dell needs virus removal and is slow aswell , and desktop is a hp and needs upgrades and is slow and prob a virus....

and this has nothing to do with the quality of the manufacturer most of what you list are user issues and not the fault of the manufacturer, the hard drive is not made by the computer maker, they are made by a hard drive manufacturer as as stated above ALL the brands use the same few hard drive manufacturers

 

[mustangmanjeff]

i always get a laugh when someone your age says this. "many years" for you is 10 maybe 12 at best assuming you started "fixing" them when you were 17. I have been doing this shit since before you were born and have been doing it for a full time job as well as a hobby almost as long

my ? Is why get personal , you sound butthurt? Is this a competition? I was stating my personal experience and fyi, im 29, ive been fixing them since i was 13 i use to buy old 80's and 90's machines old 386 and 486 processor desktops and swap parts and part them out and sell them fix them, started on dos , windows 3.1 and windows 95, been fixing them since to this day do the math. I would say thats a long time...


they are good laptops but there is no such thing as an ibm laptop. They are all lenovo, which is owned by the communist chinese. They are not on my recommended list for that reason alone. I won't buy one, recommend one, or work on one. I don't support communists or their companies


...for a guy who seems to act to know so much, you should know and see i stated 'old ibm/ lenovo, i stated in my post old ibm / lenovo, lenovo bought out / the rights to ibm, you should know this since your an expert ... :rolls eyes:



sonys are good but not nearly the number two spot. They are expensive for what you get (much like apple) and for every sony user that you have helped that likes theirs i can show you one or two that hate them.
I have, use, and support both. Good but again expensive and tough. I would put them at the top of this list rather than third
i have 4 sitting in a closet at my house that are doorstops two of which toshiba support couldn't fix so they replaced them. The other two blew up just outside the warranty window. Toshiba was no help. Not very high on my recommended list
bad adivce

this is mostly true, but i stand by them by personal experience, i have fixed tons of laptops over the years, and i have never had some 1 complain or come to me to fix a apple and sony laptop...














and 100% untrue. Your experience may say they are "cheap crap". The military has been using dells and hps (but mostly dells) in both iraq and afghanistan since the beginning. They are still using some of them that got here in the beginning. Old tired stuff that is still working just fine, in spite of the abuse by both the conditions and military. Are they cheap? Yes, for the most part they are. But that is what dell started out to do turn laptops into commodoties. Use them up and throw them away becasue replacing them would be cheaper than fixing them. Are they crap? Far from it. I will take a dell laptop over anything you have on this list except maybe apple. They have their problems, no doubt, they have a good share of unhappy customers that are loud and vocal in their hatred .. But when you consider the millions they sell you are talking about 1 or 2% of their total customer base.


i personally know a local company i was going to work for they did alot of the 3rd party warranty work for dells, and they have tons of them to be fixed, alot of issues, all the dell monitors, digital cameras etc, were rejected older sony models, they rebranded and resold as a "dell" monitor or product for more $. Lol i stand by my own experience, because ive had nothing but tons of customers coming to me with problems on dell and hp models. And just because the 'goverment' and military have and use dells doesnt mean they are good, they go for a budget and whoever gives them the best " deal " and contract depending what the budget is for goverment use. I personally work for the paint company sherwin williams, we sell and make alot of the camo military paint for air national guard the sub base etc. Doesnt mean are product is the best, we just give them a good deal, the guy who is in govt purchasing has a contract with us and they buy alot off of us for a reason hence why they do business with us.

Just like i live in the "insurance capital of the us" aetna . The hartford etc insurance companys all have contracts and they use dell, hp etc for computers, because they will buy 50-100 at one time and they go with whoever gives them a contract deal with the best price. Again doest say " oh they use them so they are good or the best.



whose is best or worst or whatever is entirely subjective in a discussion like this. Everyone has an opinion based on their experience. In reality it doesn't matter a whole lot. They all use the same memory, and hard drive manufacturers so bitching about a dell hard drive problem or their crappy memory is a non starter. The real differences is in mb design and case design but even those, in a lot of cases, are outsourced to a total of 3 or 4 factories that make mbs and cases for more than one computer maker.

^this is true and i agree with , but at end of the day its personal experience , now adays this is true, but if you went back to the 80's and 90's compaq did use brand specific parts and memory, the hard drives were junk even then they use scuzzi hard drives and hp and others were using fuji other brand hard drives. When i would use western digital i stand by them esp in the 90's. same with apple, before years ago they had brand specific hard drives and memory amd the processor before the g5 and g4 processors were made by apple, they would use dual processors in the 90's. now even apple Use intel processors, the only thing apple is the software pretty much and the case, the actual hard drive, memory, processor, motherboards etc are intel based.



ive fixed alot of computers for people over the years, and the most common ones ive had to fix have been dell, compaq, hp, toshiba. Never ever hear people with ibm,sony,apple needing work done on them. So thats food for the thought but you would need to spend more then $500 and shop else where then bestbuy.



I actually have 3 laptops and 1 desktop pc to fix right now to fix for people on the side, 1 being hp needs a hard drive/ virus and is slow . 1 is a toshiba needs a new screen,1 being a dell needs virus removal and is slow aswell , and desktop is a hp and needs upgrades and is slow and prob a virus.


But food for the thought..

[/quote]


^^^^^^^

 

[ZeroSVT]

Dell, alienware, Asus are some of the Better PC's...

Stay away from Gateway, Acer, and HP.

There is only one downfall to Dell's though, PJ030 ... if you know what i mean

-Matt

 

[mustangmanjeff]

Fact Ibm did make laptops pcs from the 80's until 2005...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenovo



Apple did use there own " brand specific memory / motherboards , processors, hard drives etc.

now its pretty much just software but intel base motherboards, memory etc

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple's_transition_to_Intel_processors

 

[RDJ]

Fact Ibm did make laptops pcs from the 80's until 2005...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenovo

i did not dispute that ... why you are bringing it up is beyond me. most any laptop built in 2005 is a door stop so "IBM Laptops" are worthless. and as I said .. Lenovo was bought by the communist chinese. I do not recommend communist products to customers ever. I do not support communist countries with my American Dollars when I have a choice in the matter

Apple did use there own " brand specific memory / motherboards , processors, hard drives etc.

now its pretty much just software but intel base motherboards, memory etc

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple's_transition_to_Intel_processors

again, what's your point? I said most, not all, and apple is the major exception, Dell has done both as far as motherboards go. Since I was not directly involved with HP or the others I cannot say to what extent they have. I can say that the other companies ALL use hard drives and memory from third parties. so if one company has a run of bad hard drives it is likely that one or more of their competitors will have the same issues because the hard drives came out of the same factory.

that other reply you did is a mess and not going to bother with it.

 

[RDJ]

Dell, alienware, Asus are some of the Better PC's...

Stay away from Gateway, Acer, and HP.

There is only one downfall to Dell's though, PJ030 ... if you know what i mean

-Matt

Dell was not the only brand to have that issue .. lol