Buying a Laptop

[Tronic]

.... a bit unsure why my remarks are completely disregarded.

I am far from lacking in technical skills - but on that note could someone please show me a higher quality BUILT laptop? I can not seem to find one... aluminum, extremely high quality screens and other parts...

Everything inside is upgradable and has been so for at least 7 years or so.

While one may not like the Apple OS - their physical quality of their products is without a doubt one of the best, if not the best on the market.

thoughts?

 

[Tronic]

And to the rest of you goons that think Apple is solely responsible for these terrible working conditions in china at Foxconn.... do some fucking research. Apple is only responsible for approximately 15% of that factories output. The rest? You guessed it... HP, Sony, Samsung, ASUS, Toshiba, Lenovo... the list goes on.

To make the argument that they are built under slave conditions means one must disregard all consumer electronics completely.

 

[soulfly22583]

And to the rest of you goons that think Apple is solely responsible for these terrible working conditions in china at Foxconn.... do some fucking research. Apple is only responsible for approximately 15% of that factories output. The rest? You guessed it... HP, Sony, Samsung, ASUS, Toshiba, Lenovo... the list goes on.

To make the argument that they are built under slave conditions means one must disregard all consumer electronics completely.

Thank you! I couldn't find the words to say this last night when I red the replies about Apple. The Company has a somewhat messed up business model that is in no way supportive of the hobbiest/technician market but that is what they want to do - for those that dislike it, buy something else!

The companies that produce in China, Thailand, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Japan are all doing very shady things. It is impossible to keep up with the demand of electronics in the "modern" world without deceptive and out right lies of how it is produced.

To single out one company over another is just another uninformed opinion in a sea of uninformed people.

 

[Hydro-Soil]

.... a bit unsure why my remarks are completely disregarded.

I am far from lacking in technical skills - but on that note could someone please show me a higher quality BUILT laptop? I can not seem to find one... aluminum, extremely high quality screens and other parts...

Everything inside is upgradable and has been so for at least 7 years or so.

While one may not like the Apple OS - their physical quality of their products is without a doubt one of the best, if not the best on the market.

thoughts?

Don't like apple, don't like apple OS's... Don't like equipment built with blood and modern slavery either... Guess there's not gonna be many laptops built without slave labor though. LOL

More people have old IBM thinkpads laying around... that still work... than any other mfg of laptop I've ever come across. Yes, they're upgradeable... but they eventually are too old anyway. Thinkpads are usually still working when they become obsolete...

Now... I have no idea how well built they are these days, but if I were to go looking to buy a laptop, that would be the first place I would look. Dunno what I would do if their quality has slipped.

Stay Safe!

 

[soulfly22583]

IBM sold of their consumer division to a Chinese company called Lenovo. They are, in my opinion, the best built PC's on the market at this moment.

The W530 line is mil-spec and HIGHLY upgradeable. These machines are made for serious computing though, not gaming. Ive seen the T line run games decently but nothing compared to the Alienware line.

Like said before though - you may hate Apple and their "slave labor" but it is being used by companies like Lenovo, Acer, ASUS, and HP too. When buying pre assembled machines it is inevitable that this type of labor is going to be used.

 

[Mr_Pat]

I would go with a Google Chrome Netbook

 

[barnyard]

The W530 lacks an HDMI port which makes it an unacceptable machine, IMO. It's also useless for business work without a number pad.

Netbooks generally don't have an optical drive so they also get the thumbs down.

 

[soulfly22583]

I can see the lack of a number pad being an issue if you are used to having one and using it.

You can do HDMI via Mini-display port on the w530 so not really sure why that would make it unacceptable to you. IMO - it's better to have the adapter so you dont accidentally mess up the port or the internal board the adapter is connected to in the case of an accident.

 

[watts]

optical drive? I don't have much use for one of them anymore. they are becoming like record players

 

[barnyard]

soul, the mini-display port on the S530 has audio so you're right that would work. I missed that feature at first review.

watts, you're right to. The optical drives are becoming obsolete but they are nice to have when you need one. Especially for some drivers that aren't available online and only on CD. Plus it's nice to listen to that old CD or watch a movie on a DVD.

Here's my recent laptop purchase for $299.18 USD including tax and shipping

Platform: PC
Primary Color: Black
Processor Brand: Intel
Processor Type: Intel Celeron B820 Processor
Processor Speed: 1.70 GHz
System Ram: 3 GB
Maximum Memory Expansion: 8 GB
Hard Drive Size: 320 GB
Laptop Screen Size: 15.6 inch
Screen Type: LED Backlight, Ultrabright Widescreen HD Display
Resolution: 1366 x 768
Graphics Card: Intel GMA HD
Multi Media Drive: DVD Writer
Card Reader Type: 5 in 1 card reader 1 x (SD Memory Card), 1 x (MultiMediaCard), 1 x (Memory Stick), 1 x (Memory Stick PRO), 1 x (xD Picture Card)
Battery Life: 4 hours 30 minutes
Battery Type: Lithium Ion
Network Connection: 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet & 802.11b/g/n Wireless LAN
Connector Type: 1 x DC-in, 1 x Ethernet, 1 x HDMI, 3 x USB 2.0, 1 x VGA
Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
Accessories Included: Power Cord,Battery
Model No.: NE56R10u
Shipping Weight (in pounds): 9.0
Product in Inches (L x W x H): 15.02 x 1.31 x 9.96

it's also the 3.5 mm audio jacks that aren't listed for some reason. A pretty basic machine but if something happens to it, I'm not out a grand.

Any whose, I don't meant to hi-jack this thread.

 

[FRIENDinDEED]

The slowdown has nothing to do with the hardware you put together. Computer hardware doesn't get 'slower' it either works or it doesn't.

Either learn to clean your current Operating $y$tem or switch to something that doesn't allow other people to use your machine so easily... like a *nix based operating system.

Though... it would be quicker to learn how to clean your machine and keep it clean.

Stay Safe!

there is so much i have to learn and keeping it clean in more ways than one, is one of the things i have to learn.

right now im using the tabletop that my wife got so many moons ago, im taking classes right now so no extra loot to put towards anything right now. DELL, winXP, 765mb of mem (total!!! shared or otherwise) so needless to say im runnin' mighty slow and the fact that sooooo much has changed and im not up on any of it is teh bigger issue.

brother kept talking about SSHD so once i finally canget my own laptop, i may just look into that as far as upgrading.

cant fault you for being absolutely right!!

 

[barnyard]

MS is phasing out support for XP in April but that doesn't mean that you still can't use your computer FRIEND

RAM is less than 10 bucks a GB. The older XP low RAM systems often run faster with a RAM upgrade. So this may help at least temporarily even though you won't have the computer forever.

 

[DIDM]

XP is a fine OS


if you just want to browse the web and do simple things, ie Word Exel games with low resolution

simple way to stay mostly safe

start clean, may need to go back to OG setup, or at least restore from before you had a problem, a few months before if you can.

install Microsoft Security Essentials

use Firefox and make sure to add these addons

foxy proxy
ad blocker plus

there are more you could add, but this will make it fairly painless

 

[GreenWitch]

Just sayin... mac. Mac mac mac mac mac. Always. All day. Every day.