Yall, I need to buy a laptop. I do normal MS Office operations and WiFi internet stuff, no gaming or video editing stuff.I usually buy from dell www site, at least 3 yrs ago I did.What brands are good value?Thanks in advance
From a longtime Dell owner, let me say: Buy an Apple! I just got a MacBook a week ago after 4 years of Dell laptops locking up, replacing hard drives, rebooting Windows, etc.
There are deals for $400 dell laptops out there. Sounds like they will do what you want and save you some $$$.
As Steve Jobs said a couple of weeks ago: "We don't know how to make a $500 computer that's not a piece of junk." And neither does anyone else. As with most things, you get what you pay for.
You'd have to spend a little more than that to get one of the new MacBooks. My son got one as soon as they were available and he loves it. If you haven't checked out a Mac recently, you owe it to yourself to do so. There's a reason Apple is growing market share much faster than their competitors. Apple stores are the best place to look, but most Best Buys also have Apple sections. Here's a review. If $1000 is your max budget, consider one of the previous generation MacBooks which are still made and now go for $999.
Lenovo T61 Thinkpad. Unless you find a compelling reason to get a Mac (and I suspect that you will get many here...), this is a solid machine; not too pretty, but very well built with excellent support by mfgr.
A friend of mine recommended the Toshiba Satellites to me about a year and half ago. I must say, the best PC I've ever owned, and it was had for about $900. No matter what you buy, the first thing you do after boot up is go toThe Link and buy their VIPRE protection software. It's virus, spy/mal/adware all in one and is only 30 bucks a year.
Oh, if you buy an apple, you don't need anti-virus or spyware protection. Yet another reason to buy Apple.
I bought a $700 Toshiba M305D with a mobile processor. 2.2GHz, 1MB cache, dual core, 600-700 GB hard drive (can't remember), CD/DVD burner, around 5 pounds. Bought it at Circuit City preconfigured. Came with Vista (my 1st time with Vista). I don't consider it a piece of junk. It is actually pretty cool. I sold the battery on ebay and bought an extended life battery from Toshiba Direct for $100 difference. The battery life is now ~5 hours.
Unless you edit video or play games, just buy a $400 laptop, a $100 external HD. Install decent anti-virus software. In 2-3 years, when it starts to be unreliable, buy another $400 laptop. It will be much nicer, faster, and more reliable than any $1200 laptop you keep for 2+ years.
I'm typing this on my HP laptop. It's my second one and both never gave me problems. Its got some bang for its buck just don't go overboard with extras.
Will recommend the Apple if you're willing to put out that much. If you want to stay around the $1k range, I'll recommend the Lenovo. I really like the one I have. Dell support has really sucked from my experience
Call up a Dell SMB sales rep, tell them you're starting a new company and you need a laptop. Act like you just got a catalog that had a Latitude with an E-Value code that caught your eye. The Latitude noteboks are built better and come with standard US support (even though Dell does not publicize this) Anyway, tell the rep you just can find your Evalue code at this time and you will call back in later. First, they know all of the Evalue codes out there and they're not going to let you go as this hurts their metrics. Once you two find an Evalue code for a system you like and configure it how you like, ask them what they can do on the pricing. If you've added some options, it usually gives the sales reps some wiggle room with their closing tools in IDD. If that doesn't work, find a comparable competitor ad and ask them to send this to MOD for a price match. Most of the time managers will throw in Complete Care and upgraded warranties. You just have to ask the rep what his manager will do. Both the rep and manager usually have warranties as part of thier stacks, also. One last thing: Tell them you would like to apply for a DFS account. Just let them know your business is a sole prop and apply to be personal guarantor for the biz. If you finance with DFS, you can get another 2% off your purchase. I don't know if they're doing 60SAC or what they have going on anymore, but find out.
