In attempt to no longer bombard the Black Friday thread with my indecision, I’ve come here to make a new thread. I have owned one laptop in my life, a Compaq Presario V4000. Bought it back in August of 2005 and it has served me well. Only real issue I ever had was the hard drive going on me a couple years ago.
But now it’s time to upgrade as the Compaq is really deteriorating. Here’s what I’m looking for in a laptop:
-Max price of $500
4GB RAM DDR3
-500GB Hard drive
-Core i3 processor preferable, or something comparable to a Core i3
-14 to 17" screen
-4 to 5 hour battery life (not a major concern)
I have narrowed my choices down to the following 3 to buy on Black Friday.
I’m looking to see which one you would pick and why. I’m not incredibly tech savvy but I know the Core i processors are better to go with right now. The Acer is really tempting with the Core i5 processor but I’m still doing my research into seeing how quality of a laptop they are. Hopefully the goal is to get another 5 years out of my new laptop, which shouldn’t be asking a lot since I will still continue to use my Compaq until it dies.
Anyways, just looking for input on those brands or if anyone spots something better for the price, I’d be interested to hear about that as well. Thanks in advance!
The Acer seems to have the most for the price, but Acers are known to have weird hardware problems all the time. The other adds really aren’t two specific, but the Toshiba is probably the lowest powered of the bunch. Personally I deal with tons of HPs on a daily basis and really have had no problems with them, other than user stupidity.
Have you checked Dell Outlet? No fucking around on black friday required for about the same prices and there are always coupon codes floating around, they are refurbs but the warranty is better than most store-bought laptops. People bitch about Dell quality but it’s the warranty that matters, any cheap laptop is going to have the same quality
I would rather stay away from refurbs, even with the warranty. I’ve bought refurbished stuff before, some turned out great and some didn’t. I would rather not take the risk in the case of a laptop.
For me a laptop rarely leaves the house so my next one is going to be a 17". After watching Dell’s quality steadily go downhill (we resold Dell stuff here at work and finally gave up on them) I would never buy a Dell. I’ve been happy with HP. Two different friends of mine have gone HP laptops on my recommendation and no issues so far (one had hers over a year, the other only about 2 months).
Size wise you really need to decide what you’re going to do with it. No way I’d want to travel with a 17" model but no way I’d want to have a 14" if it primarily sat around the house.
I personally have been using HP’s for years. The computers my college supplies us with are the HP elite book and i havent had a problem yet, thing runs like a charm.
I love Sony Vaio’s but thats just me. They never give me problems… except that one time i dropped my laptop from standing height while it was running and needed to replace my hard drive(but thats understandable). I think they make solid devices and most if not all of them come with Blu Ray. Not sure on your price range though. looks like they are priced around $650 Im sure you could find one for cheaper on sale somewhere though.
edit: not a fan of HP but I had 2 bad experiences could of been an id-10-t user error.
toshiba toshiba toshiba. I just sent back my 3rd hp this month for a customer. All dead motherboard so I would stay away from them. Acer: no way. cheapo junk imo. My vote is toshiba, never had to fix one and anyone at bestbuy will say the same. no hp, buy toshiba
I’ve owned a shit ton of laptops over the years and HP’s always gave me issues with motherboards ,overheating and defective graphics chips.A friend has one that he just replaced the motherboard on,it has HDMI out/Blu-Ray so its somewhat current. I’ve owned many used Dells and i’ve never had serious issues with them.
Whatever you do go with,try and get a extended warranty on it with accidental damage coverage.Refurbs are usually fine as long as they’re manufacturer refurbished and not 3rd party.The Dell outlet really awesome,some great deals.
My acer extensa 4420 has been solid for me so far. first laptop i have had and so far so good. i bought it because it was cheap and i needed something to tune the SHO with. I didn’t want something expensive that i would be upset over when it got slammed around in the car and it has held up well. Spec wise it is nothing special though.
after reading this thread it dawns on me that every brand seems to have a few bad apples that make people think they suck, and some really good apples that make people swear by them. I think the biggest problem with any of them is the inconsistent brands/quality of hardware that is placed inside of them. Some work, some don’t. It’s a gamble, so I will go with the gentleman that said go with the laptop with the best warranty; Dell. I’ve had a refurb for almost 3 years now and it’s still going great. The warranty is up, but that’s fine because it’s pretty much as outdated as I can stand and will be replaced soon.
I’ve had one laptop myself, a Dell C2D for about 2 years, no problems whatsoever. It was an inspiron, upgraded, and I bought it used. Sold it for almost what I bought it for a few months back. My parents have Toshibas, never had a problem with them either.
Well against everyone’s advice, I still went with the Acer. I think it’s a good deal. Altogether paid $675 with tax and that includes a 3 year warranty with accidental damage protection. Initial impressions so far are good. I’m still getting used to little differences in the keyboard functions and mousepad. The mousepad is off center to the left so that throws me off a little but I’ll adjust. Speakers aren’t great but I can always buy a USB attachable one. Regardless, it’s a thousand times better than my dying Compaq. Any new laptop would be an upgrade, but I’m glad I went with this Acer and the Core i5 processor.