need help with getting a laptop

**musclehead1** · 12-12-2007, 03:51 AM

im lookin to get a laptop, for school, photoshop, movie editing, web browsing/msning...but im really unsure on what to get. Iv been hearing the you need 4gigs of ram for vista to work properly. If someone here can send me to the right direction....does anyone know if the dell comps on ebay are any good?
thanks

**jackjackson** · 12-12-2007, 01:15 PM

Stick with xp and 2gb.
Stick with a core 2 duo and at least 128mb nvidia card onboard.

**DSM4Life** · 12-13-2007, 07:47 AM

Originally Posted by jackjackson

Stick with xp and 2gb.
Stick with a core 2 duo and at least 128mb nvidia card onboard.

Agree with both.

I would maybe steer clear of ebay for an expense like this. Try this site: http://www.newegg.com/ they have decent prices and ship really fast. Another good one is www.zipzoomfly.com.

**jackjackson** · 12-13-2007, 09:45 AM

There is not one reason to go to vista, half the Vendors are offering XP now and Microsoft extended XP life.
Vista doesnt offer much more as of now and XP has alot more support than vista.
Vista is much better for programmers but as an end user pfft, they even rebuilt the tcp/ip Stack for god sakes.
I have a intel quad core
2Gb pc9200, MSI 8800 Ultra OC 768MB, asus striker extreme.
My box can handle vista with no problems, but I use XP, F VISTA.
Things a freaking hog, maybe after SP1 I will try it again on VMWARE, not as a actually LIVE OS.

http://www.techpowerup.com/gallery/1088.html

http://www.techpowerup.com/gallery/1183.html

Honestly when it comes to getting a laptop, get it from some vendor, I hate to say it but maybe dell or hp or IBM.
If you can get a warranty, god forbid your screen goes dead, or you **** it it, that screen alone can run you over 500$, mobo 200$.
That will total the laptop, Im not much of a warranty person, but get one for like 3 years, if you have the $$$ it will be worth your troubles.
Even if the HD dies which it will , its mechanical only so much uptime as in a lightbulb.
You can easily get one from dell, for under 500 or 600, even on ebay you will be paying 300-400 for a used one which is probably a p4 or a little higher, spend another 100-200 and get a brand new one with a 1 year warranty by default, which will have faster memory, better and more battery efficient proc.

**jackjackson** · 12-13-2007, 09:50 AM

btw check slickdeals.net for some good offers on laptops and stuff, just check it daily when you come into work.

**Tock** · 02-18-2008, 10:19 PM

Originally Posted by musclehead1

im lookin to get a laptop, for school, photoshop, movie editing, web browsing/msning...but im really unsure on what to get. Iv been hearing the you need 4gigs of ram for vista to work properly. If someone here can send me to the right direction....does anyone know if the dell comps on ebay are any good?
thanks

I just ordered a HP Pavilion DV9730US Notebook with 17" screen
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834147558
not from Newegg.com, but from the HP store online. Newegg and HP have the same prices (about $1050), but I went with HP because if something goes wrong with it, I'll have to send it in to HP for service anyway . . .
Bigdig.com sells for the same price, but they offer a generic extended warranty that's cheaper than the others. No idea if it's any good . . .

Here's what I found out in my researches . . .

I went with the AMD chip because it's cheaper, and I've had good luck with 'em in the past. I have no idea how they compare with Intel chips, but this Turion is supposed to be way faster than the AMD Athlon I'm running now, and it's plenty fast for everything.
The Turion 64x2 TL-64 chip is more frugal with battery power than the other chips, using about 31 watts of power compared with about 80 for the other chips. Should I ever need to use the battery, this will help keep things running longer . . .

I got 3GB of memory, because Windows Vista can see only 3 GB because it's a 32 bit system. You gotta get the top version of Vista to get the 64 bit version before it can see all 4GB of memory.
Folks seem to do ok with 2GB of memory on their machines, and the 1GB rigs seem to chug along ok, but as they say, "Too much is better than not enough."

I got the default graphics card, because I'm not running games on it, and from what I gather, the basic card is fine for just about everything. And, I'm too cheap to pay extra . . .

It's got lots of other features, but nothing that other laptops don't have. Built-in camera & microphone, lots of disk space, lots of plugs for external stuff, built-in (mediocre) speakers, built-in keypad.

Consumer Reports says the only laptop computer that's significantly better (in reliability) than the others is Apple, but I'm not gonna spend the extra $$$. And they say that folks tend to be unhappy with repair and support services, so I'm not gonna pay extra for the HP extended warranty. I used a credit card for the purchase, and Visa doubles the warranty of any electronics I buy, so it's good for 2 years. I'll probably want something new by then, anyway . . .

People are paying more $$$ for less machine on eBay. Some vendors are adding 4GB of RAM to 32 bit systems, and people are paying extra for it. Most systems have older processor chips--they're either slower, or they eat up more power.
I bid on a few of them, but once I figured out how much a shiny new laptop with the latest & greatest technology was, I expected a substantial discount for refurbished stuff with "yesterday's chips." Couldn't get it, though, because people keep bidding inferior systems up over the latest stuff direct from the manufacturer.

CompUSA is having a liquidation sale . . . I checked out what they had. They say they're discounting their stuff, but geez, they're posting the full retail price, and discounting from that. And buying brand new from HP was still cheaper. I did find a good deal on some software to wipe the disk drives clean on my other PC's . . .

Back around 1989, I spent $1450 for a generic PC with DOS, 4MB of RAM, a 386sx processor running at 16mhz, two floppy drives, a 40 MB hard drive, and a black & white monitor. I think I'll like this one much better.

**SaSqUaDgE** · 02-18-2008, 10:36 PM

the 4gig ram is not true vista only uses up to 3gig if u have the extra its just there for show and wont use your best off getting a windows media center computer with 2 gigs to run photoshop i used to have a acer with 1 gig or ram and 100gb hard drive i bought for 400$ from walmart ran photoshop really good music no problem could even play graphical games

**Bryan2** · 02-19-2008, 01:48 PM

stay away from the 64bit version of windows nothing is compatable and it has no support

**Carlos_E** · 02-20-2008, 03:12 PM

Originally Posted by musclehead1

im lookin to get a laptop, for school, photoshop, movie editing, web browsing/msning...but im really unsure on what to get. Iv been hearing the you need 4gigs of ram for vista to work properly. If someone here can send me to the right direction....does anyone know if the dell comps on ebay are any good?
thanks

Movie Editing and Photoshop??? Get a MacBook Pro. You can dual boot to either Mac OS X or Windows Vista.

http://www.apple.com/macbookpro/

**Tock** · 02-23-2008, 09:14 AM

I can't wait to get my shiny new toy!
All this for only $1178, including Texas taxes, and shipping from Shanghai, China. That's less than what they were selling display models with less stuff at the going out of business sale at Compusa. And a better deal than what I could get on eBay, too.

-------------------------------------------------------

- HP Pavilion dv9700z Entertainment CTO NB
- Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium (32-bit)
- AMD Turion(TM) 64 X2 Dual-Core Mobile Technology TL-60 (2.0 GHz, 512KB+512KB L2 Cache )
- 17.0" WSXGA+ High-Definition HP BrightView Widescreen Display (1680 x 1050)
- 3GB DDR2 System Memory (2 Dimm)
- NVIDIA GeForce Go 7150M
- FREE Upgrade to HP Imprint Finish (Radiance) + Webcam + Microphone!
- FREE Upgrade to 802.11b/g WLAN and Bluetooth!!
- 240GB 7200RPM SATA Dual Hard Drive (120GB x 2)
- SuperMulti 8X DVD+/-R/RW with Double Layer Support
- No TV Tuner w/remote control
- 8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
- System Recovery DVD with Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium (32-bit)
- Microsoft(R) Works 9.0

**rocket22** · 02-23-2008, 10:13 AM

i dont know too much about new computers, those macbooks looks sick. dont mean to hijack your thread but anyone have experience with those?

**CheddaNips** · 02-23-2008, 02:13 PM

Dude I love my new Dell XPS. It was expensive but totally worth it in the end

**soccer#3** · 02-24-2008, 04:20 AM

Originally Posted by Carlos_E

Movie Editing and Photoshop??? Get a MacBook Pro. You can dual boot to either Mac OS X or Windows Vista.

http://www.apple.com/macbookpro/

how did they get the rights to vista. so ur sayin i can start wit either vista or mac os, whichever i want, whenever i want?

**Carlos_E** · 02-24-2008, 04:58 AM

Originally Posted by soccer#3

how did they get the rights to vista. so ur sayin i can start wit either vista or mac os, whichever i want, whenever i want?

The MacBook Pro ships with Mac OS X. If you have a license of vista or Win XP or Linux you can install that as well and boot from each OS whenever you want.

The other option is to buy Parallels. It allows you to run windows while in Mac OS X without having to reboot.

**soccer#3** · 02-25-2008, 06:59 AM

thats great... if i could afford one

**Carlos_E** · 02-25-2008, 07:22 AM

Originally Posted by soccer#3

thats great... if i could afford one

Check out the MacBook. That is the consumer laptop. The prices run $1,099-$1,499.

**DSM4Life** · 02-26-2008, 05:50 AM

If you have some time on your hands do a little research and learn how to build it yourself. Premade systems are too over priced and most are lacking somewhere in performance.

Everytime i upgrade , i build the "top of the line PC" (at that time) for about 1300 bucks which normally go for about 2,000+ in most stores.

**Carlos_E** · 02-26-2008, 06:24 AM

Originally Posted by DSM4Life

If you have some time on your hands do a little research and learn how to build it yourself. Premade systems are too over priced and most are lacking somewhere in performance.

Everytime i upgrade , i build the "top of the line PC" (at that time) for about 1300 bucks which normally go for about 2,000+ in most stores.

Build a laptop?

**jackjackson** · 02-26-2008, 12:32 PM

Yes they have shell casing and parts to build laptops.
I would never but to each there own.

**soccer#3** · 02-26-2008, 08:18 PM

Originally Posted by Carlos_E

Build a laptop?

i think he means customize and not actually building it himself

**DSM4Life** · 02-26-2008, 10:12 PM

Originally Posted by soccer#3

i think he means customize and not actually building it himself

No, i build them myself.

A laptop is nothing more then a smaller version of the desktop PC. You have less room to work with but its all the same.

http://www.laptoplogic.com/resources/detail.php?id=22

**Carlos_E** · 02-27-2008, 02:08 AM

Originally Posted by soccer#3

thats great... if i could afford one

Apple updated the MacBook's yesterday. Check out this article. The MacBook is less expensive than a Dell.

Apple's New MacBook: Favorable Price Comparison to Dell
http://seekingalpha.com/article/6614...l?source=yahoo

**soccer#3** · 02-27-2008, 05:30 AM

i never used a mac before and its still kinda expensive for me. im in the price range of 700-800 dollars. im gonna wait till the summer to see if they fixed vista or not

**DSM4Life** · 02-27-2008, 10:34 AM

Originally Posted by soccer#3

i never used a mac before and its still kinda expensive for me. im in the price range of 700-800 dollars. im gonna wait till the summer to see if they fixed vista or not

Consider yourself lucky

**Carlos_E** · 02-27-2008, 10:43 AM

Originally Posted by soccer#3

i never used a mac before and its still kinda expensive for me. im in the price range of 700-800 dollars. im gonna wait till the summer to see if they fixed vista or not

Considering you want to use creative applications they're easier to use on a Mac. But, your decision.

**Carlos_E** · 02-27-2008, 10:45 AM

Originally Posted by DSM4Life

Consider yourself lucky

Most of the PC guys I know who have taken the time to use OS X prefer OS X to Windows. I have an Apple discount and I've lost count how many of my friends have used my discount to switch from a PC to a Mac. These are guys who work in Information Technologies.

**DSM4Life** · 02-27-2008, 10:49 AM

Originally Posted by Carlos_E

Most of the PC guys I know who have taken the time to use OS X prefer OS X to Windows. I have an Apple discount and I've lost count how many of my friends have used my discount to switch from a PC to a Mac. These are guys who work in Information Technologies.

lol i was just sitting here waiting for you to jump on me for that comment.

I view apples as a decent machine just not my cup of tea. Now if i was heavy into video/audio editing id probably own one myself but i don't.

**Carlos_E** · 02-27-2008, 12:50 PM

Originally Posted by DSM4Life

lol i was just sitting here waiting for you to jump on me for that comment.

.

I knew it was bait and took it.

**albino-rhino** · 03-01-2008, 02:09 AM

Originally Posted by DSM4Life

If you have some time on your hands do a little research and learn how to build it yourself. Premade systems are too over priced and most are lacking somewhere in performance.

Everytime i upgrade , i build the "top of the line PC" (at that time) for about 1300 bucks which normally go for about 2,000+ in most stores.

Agreed and you don't get all the crap software nobody needs with it.