[BeNos]

alright for all those tech savvy blokes. im in the market for a new laptop. at present most definately want to stay away from the hp/compaq yobbos as i had a quite expensive hp pavillion dv9000 which imo was a pos from day 1.
im currently looking for something from asus as ive almost never heard of anyone having dramas with them and they seem well built. looking to spend around 1500 or so.
without knowing exact specs and the like but would prefer
windows 7 of some sort. vista is absolute trash
minumum dual core processor.
prefer twin hard drives but big single might be bearable.
15" or bigger screen
dvd burner.
minimum 1.5gb ram,
mainly i use it for web use, downloading music and movies, storing pics from the camera. would like to be able to play some games on it as well smoothly. and possibly one day hook a gps reciever into it with maps and the like and mount in the car rubber mounted or something with remote screen for those long drives into knowhere. but this isnt exactly top priority but something id like to do one day mayby,
so any ideas or recommendations would be great. il most likely buy off good ole gerry harvey but if i can get a better deal elsewhere il gladly shop elsewhere. but the idea of interest free from hardly normal makes it pretty easy to buy. and also short term cheaper.
cheers lads.

 

[T0nka]

No1. Never buy from Hardly Normal, always work out what model you want then go straight to shopbot.com.au

No2. Asus have picked their game up a lot,probably a good choice. Acer is rubbish. Gateway is a disguised acer. Toshy's aint bad. Dell is ok too. Apple are by far the best built machines but lots of people dont like the operating systems. Apples running win 7 is another option.

No3. If you have any hassles feel free to throw me a pm, ill come over and give you a hand, free of charge of course. I'm a computer fixer thingy guy.. have been for the last 20 years. I know a trick or 2.

 

[bloke83]

Im keen on Toshiba, i have my issues but are easily resolved. Dell in a close second.

There are some great deals on machines under $1500 going round. Comparable to machines going for $3500. Anything above $1500 is all about ****y features ie Blue Ray, big hard drives, huge screens, and other ridiculous gadgets you will never practically use. A good work horse for work will never cost more than $2000 these days. Trust me lol

Budget? It all depends on how much you trust an item and how long you expect to use it for too. Warranties always when somethings new. Im currently using rentsmart and for what I do and all the travelling, the extras are a real bonus. I rely on my machine for work.

I tend to buy machines for CAD operating which can be somewhat different, depending on the graphics requirement.

 

[bloke83]

The fact that me and tonka posted at the same time and mention roughly the same thing and are in the biz, should say something lol

 

[bamr33]

Your requirements won't be had to fill as you'll be flat out finding a new laptop these days with vista, dual core processor or less than 1.5gb of ram.

MSI have some great products

MSI GX740 17.3" i5 4GB 500GB HD5870 1GB GAMING 3 Yr Wty (eBay item 330526633560 end time 13-Feb-11 22:28:55 AEDST) : Computers

 

[T0nka]

bigbear i was just thinking the same thing

 

[bloke83]

Sorry but MSI are total and under crap AVOID!! There chassis are plastic and the connections flex and break. Dont waste your money end of story keep walking.

bigbear i was just thinking the same thing

haha yeh, relying on your gear teaches you alot.

 

[T0nka]

macbook pro chits on macbook air in my opinion.

 

[BeNos]

yeah ive hear acers are trash, toshis arnt to bad. the gf has one and never had any real dramas with it.
ive thought about an apple but i guess just being used to a windows machine makes me a bit iffy bout going to the fruitie side of things,
yeah ive heard msi aint much chop.
i dunno about dell. have heard good and bad reports about them.
and tonka would you say there is a better unit than the asus, im hoping for it to last a while. like i aint gonna go out every couple of years and upgrade if i dont need to. and so what your saying is go to hardly normal use their display models to pick what you want then go direct to the maker or something. as ive been looking on the asus website and they seem to have pretty good deals and stuff going with free postage. or am i better off even just ringing the makers themselves and seeing what they have to say. or are they just gonna sell me what ever they feel like getting rid of at the time.
jeez i have no idea bout these dam things haha. i look at spec sheets for all the different models and just get that real confused no hoper look on my face. so appreciate the help fellas.

 

[BeNos]

Your requirements won't be had to fill as you'll be flat out finding a new laptop these days with vista, dual core processor or less than 1.5gb of ram.

i certainly dont mind if the specs are alot better. im just using that as a guide to what i had in the current pc which when it was working alright seemed to go alright.
i just want something that will run smoothly and not always stall and go slow and annoy the hell out of me to the point i wanna wrap the dam thing round a pole.

 

[the evil twin]

Got an MSI Wind Netbook and it's the ducks guts... waaaay better than the others for vehicle use as its one of the few with a matt screen, wireless, blutooth etc all onboard I take it everywhere.

Don't know what their Lappy's are like but Bigbear doesn't rate them.

Lappy wise I rate Toshy as the most reliable, ASUS as the best all round, Dell as the best value for money.

I have an old Toshy Satellite Pro that is now 10 years old and still going and for the first 4 years of its life it got kicked at least 100 metres a day by every Airport baggage handler in Aus. The hinges are all but snapped off and it's on about its 20th Battery.

All the WA Gov Lappys at work are Toshy's as well ('cept for one Panasonic Toughbook) and I haven't had one Toshy fail in over 6 years.

 

[T0nka]

benos.

Asus 17 Inch G71V-7T073G T9600 Notebook Blu-ray - Online Shopping @ Shopping Square.COM.AU Online Bargain & Discount Shopping Square

and its a 17 inch

 

[BeNos]

evil twin what do you mean by matt screen?

well im gonna go up to hardly normal tomoz and see what they got to get an idea of what i can and cant get. but i wont buy of em. might even check out jb hifi to see what they got. mainly due to the fact that i just cannot get my head round paper specs of pcs haha i have no idea what is good and what isnt as good.

 

[skegbudley]

Laptops are one of those things where you get what you pay for.
The cheaper ones are cheap for a reason. They look good but will not last.
Stay away from the cheaper Toshiba laptops. They will only last a year or so before being ready for the tip.
Dell used to do a nice laptop but I feel that their quality has gone downhill in recent years. One of my kids Latitude had to be sent away for repairs 11 times last year.

IBM thinkpads are pretty tough laptops. My last one did a heap of trips around Aus in planes, foorbys, car boots, etc. It spent half its life in construction environments before finally cooking itself by turning itself on inside my laptop bag on a flight. 4 years aint too bad. Oh yeah. It got dropped more times than I care to think.
HP still build a good laptop. Not the flashest laptop out there but it is pretty reliable.
I wouldn't have a Acer laptop if you gave me one.
As for Macs. I would buy a Landcruiser first.

 

[T0nka]

skeg - mac with win 7 mate or dual boot

it rocks.

FTR i am a dell and apple tech.

 

[the evil twin]

evil twin what do you mean by matt screen?

If you check out the majority of current generation Lappys and Netbooks they have a gloss or shiny screen. This is because video, images and games etc all look much sharper but there is a downside. If there is any higher level of ambient light like in a car the screen then becomes a mirror and you can hardly see Sh#@ because of all the reflections.

The matt screens are the traditional ones with a bit of texture so the reflections are like 1/10th what the gloss buggers are.

When you are at Hardlys have a look and you'll see what I mean. No biggee at all if you are inside but if you use it in a car like I do as a Mapping PC interfaced to G.P.S. then gloss screens suck big time.

 

[skegbudley]

evil twin what do you mean by matt screen?

well im gonna go up to hardly normal tomoz and see what they got to get an idea of what i can and cant get. but i wont buy of em. might even check out jb hifi to see what they got. mainly due to the fact that i just cannot get my head round paper specs of pcs haha i have no idea what is good and what isnt as good.

Some LCD screens have a matt finish instead of a glossy one. The idea being that the matt screens don't reflect as much so they are better outdoors and in very light environments. Glossy screens are better if you want to watch movies indoors. The picture looks sharper. It comes down to personal preferance.

 

[BeNos]

benos.

Asus 17 Inch G71V-7T073G T9600 Notebook Blu-ray - Online Shopping @ Shopping Square.COM.AU Online Bargain & Discount Shopping Square

and its a 17 inch

i like i like alot. in saying it has dual screens does that mean it has a small built in screen somewhere else or has the option to hook up dual screens?
it certainly looks the goods. wonder how long that deal is good for. and also i take blueray drives will play normal dvds and also burn dvds??? or only good for blueray discs?
wonder how long that deal is good for. and by reading the details about it i take it its pretty quick and will play almost any game no dramas???
the only downside though is its still on vista which ive heard just isnt a good operating system hence windows 7 was brought on very quickly.

 

[skegbudley]

skeg - mac with win 7 mate or dual boot

it rocks.

FTR i am a dell and apple tech.

Think of it like Holden vs Ford.
Sure the XR6i s nice to drive and its a pretty good car but I would never never never have one.
I'm a IBM person myself.

 

[T0nka]

only downside is it has win vista.. but i can fix that.

best bet is like you said, go to harvey's and have a play. Youll know which laptop you want when u use it.