recommend a mid-high end laptop

[Ch3tan]

Righto,

my cousin has gone to the US, and my sister will be going in a few weeks. I have the chance to get one of them to bring me back a laptop for a lot less than it would cost over here.

Now I am very tempted to get a macbook, but what non mac laptops are considered shit hot right now? I would be looking to spend about $1000.

Ta.

 

[Jonty]

Hi Ch3tan

It really depends what you want. HP make some good notebooks that don't cost the earth. They're higher spec'ed than Apple's offerings, but obviously no OSX. Sony make beautiful laptops, but they're expensive and last I heard many components tend to require customized Sony drivers and software. Of course there are plenty of other makes too, but it depends what you want (e.g. portability, gaming etc.).

Kind regards

Jonty

P.S. You should note that the warranty usually isn't worldwide, and obviously you'll have a US keyboard and power supply, but the latter should accept 110-240V, so you'll only need an adapter for the plug.

P.P.S. Sorry, I forgot an important point, wait for your sister to go. Intel will launch Centrino 2 on July 14, so it's worth waiting unless you find some good deals before then (of which there are already a few as old stock is being cleared).

 

[Ch3tan]

Gaming would be nice, but it's not a major concern. Main use will be second PC for the house, but with portability.

 

[Kryten]

You can get a very nicely specced Dell Vostro for that amount of money, otherwise I'd be very tempted (and possibly more tempted for personal preference) to go for a Thinkpad not too dissimilar to the other recent thread (Naths iirc).
Damned good value for money.

 

[Jonty]

Hi Ch3tan

If your cousin and/or sister have a fixed address, I'd consider Dell as per Kryt's recommendation. They have some insane coupons in the US; hundreds of dollars off systems which are already cheap. Just check some of the major notebook websites for the latest coupons. Systems usually take 2-3 weeks to arrive, and you may need a US credit card (although they accept PayPal etc.), but it's certainly worth considering.

Kind regards

 

[xane]

I don't rate HP very much; my company gave me a sub-notebook, a lovely little machine but it's not very well-built and has nasty controls, fortunately I use an external keyboard and mouse. Sony are the iMacs of the PC world; admittedly they look nice and are more expensive, but I've seen too many failures to recommend one. I've owned two Thinkpads (now Lenovo) so far and they've been the best built laptops I've ever seen, but not the best on extras. Acer actually made some of the Thinkpads, but their own brands are another story, avoid at all costs. Toshibas are nice; I have an ageing Portege, they are very well built and a long way from the crappy examples of years back. My family has Dell Laptops; they are generally very good quality, good on extras, and a fair price. Also look out for Gateway; they are comparible to Dell.

 

[Gahn]

Just got tis one http://global.acer.com/products/notebook/as7520.htm from my firm, good for developing software and even playing.
Configured with 4 Gb of Ram and Vista 64 bit it handles 2 Virtual Machines with Windows 2003, Exchange 2003, Sharepoint 2003, Dynamics 4.0 (one for development the other one for Demo purposes) without a problem (adding over that it can run AoC without problems ^^).
It's a tuff machine i tell ya, maybe a tad higher cost wise (but you can always go for the normal 2 Gb edition).

 

[MYstIC G]

Get the MacBook son. Bootcamp works now.

 

[Kryten]

Funny really, my boss has been using the model below that at work for circa 6 months. Yesterday morning I get asked to refurb & image an aging Dell D600. Wander into the offices, over to his own little office and ask "What's the intended use, so I can set it up/upgrade it suitably?"

He lifted his Acer from the desk, calmly unplugged the monitor & power cables, stood up and dropped it. Then stood on it.

"I fucking hate this peice of shit, it's done nothing but cause problems and even an email is too taxing. I liked my Dell. Make it happen."

"No problem."