Basically, I’ve never had a laptop. Always preferred my desktop over them. However, I recently decided that I finally should get one. While I’m pretty schooled on desktops and parts, that doesnt help me as much with laptops since I can’t exactly build my own. I’m just looking for some suggestions on who makes good laptops, and where to get a good deal on one. I’m not looking for a crazy powerful laptop, as any gaming type stuff or 3d crap will be mostly on my desktop. I just need a mid-range to upper midrange laptop and I dont want to spend over 800-1000 if possible. Any thoughts?
Only has a T6600 processor but everything else is great. (Only meaning it’s not an 8###+ like I would get) It will still do everything and run great, however.
OR…
if you don’t mind a HUGE laptop, a full HD 18" screen for a couple hundred more. Comes with a blu-ray player and better processor 
I personally have used this “laptop” even though it’s a lot larger than you’d really want to sit on your lap.
Or, here you have a choice of default graphics and a Blu-ray player or an 512MB HD 4530 and DVD burner. The 4530 makes it $25 more.
HP and Dell make decent laptops. Stay away from Toshiba, a lot of their models don’t have any way to “downgrade” to XP. They don’t even make software/drivers to support XP.
HP would be my choice if I had to choose today. I personally have played with a bunch of Dells and HPs and love their HDX series. They look great and perform really really well!
www.techbargains.com and www.slickdeals.net are the two sites I’d check daily for laptop deals
id look for a compaq too if your looking at HP’s same damn laptop prices a little lower.
thanks for the suggestions so far. I definitely dont need bluray or a larger laptop. I’ll probably be using it mostly just for some gaming, (but like i said, most of that will be on desktop), watching movies, music, and that sort of thing. a friend who has an HP suggested i get HP as well. I’ll be checking out those sites to see what I can come up with as well. Also, what is generally considered better nowadays in terms of processors? I havent really been keeping up too much lately, and i especially have no clue which is more preferred for laptops.
i have a dell inspiron 1525 and it suits me well… I think it was like $500, so there are definitely deals to be had. I dont do games or large programs so I can’t speak to that, but as a computer its great.
Great link to see how the processors compare. All of those numbers… so confusing sometimes! LOL! Even the list doesn’t have all of them, so look for the closest 
Like the T6600… compare it to a T6500 with same cache and FSB.
Oh and… mobile graphics cards too! Find out where your new laptop stands before buying it.
Get something with a decent integrated graphics solution.
Dont bother with discrete graphics and “gaming” laptop bullshit.
Get a LED backlit screen as the battery life will be significantly better.
Read REVIEWS on a model before you buy.
I think HP sucks (from personal and friends experience) and I will not buy another HP laptop.
My next laptop will be a Lenovo Thinkpad or similar. Focus on finding a system that is STABLE and RELIABLE. … no overheating issues or bios problems.
This deal is dead but you can find others weekly:
I also agree that Lenovo is greater than both… however, they cost more 
I recommended HP due to it’s pricing.
thanks for those links baldy. lots of good info in there. so much crap to go through looking around. how about power issues in laptops? how long should a good battery life be?
ha, not very long. Ill time it. unplugged now…
They don’t cost more because they can be had for the same price as the HP.
Check link.
Buying something that will not work after a while to save $50 is not the best plan. Buddy spent $800 on an HP last year. Exactly 1 year later the motherboard fried. Even if he saved $100… does it look like a good deal now?
been looking around a bit. so much stuff to look through considering im not laptop educated at all haha. probably gonna take a run to best buy sometime today just to take a look at laptops and get a feel for brands and such.
An hour and fifteen minutes later its down to “18 Minutes” remaining, with the little warning symbol next to the battery.
I was on full brightness with my screen and I have been using it constantly. Only word, fire fox, and windows mail have been used though…
Edit: it shut down at 6:13 exactly. I guess an hour and a half isnt that bad…
mine if i keep it on high performance unplugged i get about a hour and 1/2-hour and 45 min. thats just surfing the web and with my gf playing pogo
I’d steer clear of HP and Compaq. Dell is OK, Lenovo is good like everyone said. If you want something durable then go with a Panasonic Toughbook.
Against my better judgment, I bought a Sony Vaio a few months ago and it has actually been great. I needed something with blu-ray and graphic processing power and that was all I could find. Like I said so far, so good though.
hp and compaq is good if your surfing the web and doing homework. if had a hp for 3 years without a single problem. and now i have a compaq i got off here for 200 and the thing works flawless. and id never buy a DELL anything. even my uncle who works for them wont buy them. you are right about the Lenovo if you have the cash to play with buy on of thoes
Why? I had a couple Dell laptops and both worked perfectly. Why doesn’t Dell get any love with some of you? Having actually taken 2 of them apart, they seemed pretty well constructed too.
anyone know if MSI or Asus are any good for laptops?