notebook comptuter advice

[Lewis Ehrhardt]

I can get an Hp G71-34OUS or the DV6-35OUS for what I have to spend. My question is "Are these reliable computers? Fairly priced? Any problems?

I can't afford a Mac right now. So, it will have to be a pc. If any of you guys can recommend another make, I'm open.

I do little graphics, mostly word processing, of course, surf SC and a few others sites. Thanks for any help I can get. Lewis

[Tim Morton]

never say never...
http://store.apple.com/us/product/FC240LL/A?mco=MTA4MzIxNjk:D

[Peter Stahl]

Don't know but get one with a spell checker (notebook comptuter advice). Sorry I couldn't resist. If you really want a Mac then maybe Tim's suggestion is the way to go. Try some review sites or even Amazon to see what other people say. It's amazing what you can find.

[Curt Harms]

I don't have any strong feelings as to brand but I do have a strong preference as to keyboards & pointing devices. I would not have a notebook that didn't have the "eraserhead" pointer if one were available. All the Thinkpads have them, as well as certain H.P. & Dells that I know of. IBM/Lenovo call theirs UltraNav which includes both the eraserhead device & a touchpad. I find the touchpads difficult to use and imprecise, especially for highlighting text for copy & paste. Sure you can attach a mouse but unless you're using the notebook on some sort of desk or table, mice don't work real well. Having to schlep and attach a mouse doesn't enhance portability much, either. I do have an Asus Eee which doesn't have a "eraserhead" pointer. I sure wish it did. I've had Lenovo Thinkpads for the past decade. Lenovo has a line that doesn't include "Ultranav" which are somewhat cheaper but those would not be for me. An added bonus is that I've put Ubuntu Linux on 2 thinkpads. Both have been plug & play, everthing works. I find myself using Linux 98% of the time--snappy performance and no crapware.

[Matt Meiser]

HP is making a decent laptop right now. I had a run of trouble with Dell a few years ago, but they seem to have improved somewhat but not to what they once were.

I hate Thinkpads (I call them Stinkpads) because every one I've had has extra software that interferes with normal operation--for example their wireless card software or the hard drive protection software that freezes the machine whenever bumped--including the arm of your chair hitting your desk, your co-worker coming in your cube, etc. Removing all that, if you can, fixes that. But every one I've ever had also had momentary freezes for no apparent reason that I've never seen on any other computer.

[Brian Elfert]

I agree 100% with the trackpoint pointing device. My personal Thinkpad and work Dell have them. My old work Compaq also one.

On my Dell I have the track pad turned off completely in software.

[Alan Trout]

My work laptop is a Lenovo that has been super dependable and a workhorse for a little over 2 years now. I much prefer the trackpoint over a touchpad and most of the higher end Lenovo computers have a metal hinge with a latch for the screen. I use mine out in the field and the more robust nature of the machine is very nice. Now they are not that attractive machine, just a simple black box, but I really don't care.

Mine is has XP Pro and when I got the machine I did a bit of bloat wear removal and have had very little softwear issues.

Good Luck

Alan

[Carlos Alden]

I can get an Hp G71-34OUS or the DV6-35OUS for what I have to spend. My question is "Are these reliable computers? Fairly priced? Any problems?

I can't afford a Mac right now. So, it will have to be a pc. If any of you guys can recommend another make, I'm open.

I do little graphics, mostly word processing, of course, surf SC and a few others sites. Thanks for any help I can get. Lewis

If you are really jonesing for a Mac (I would be!) check out Powermax, a Mac place in Portland, OR. They have been around forever and are very reliable, and have a barnful of used Macs that come with a 90 day warranty. They take them in, check them out, and resell them. Very reasonable prices for late-model used and warranteed Macs:

http://www.powermax.com/parts/code/PM_CU_MK

Carlos

[Myk Rian]

I have 2 HP laptops and 3 HP desktops. They are great machines, and HP doesn't load a bunch of useless crap programs you don't need/want.
For the web I installed the Mozilla programs, Thunderbird, and Firefox. Instead of MS Office I use OpenOffice. All free.
http://www.mozilla.org (http://www.mozilla.org/#ggviewer-offsite-nav-9056440)
http://www.openoffice.org (http://www.openoffice.org/#ggviewer-offsite-nav-9056440)

[Horton Brasses]

I have owned a number of laptops and desktops. I recently learned one thing: Don't over buy. IE, if you surf the web and use Word primarily something pretty basic is fine. I use a HP TX2000 (there is probably a newer version now) that was under $800 and works great. About 1-1/2 years old so far with no trouble. Does some basic Excel stuff, opens PDF's, Word, e-mail, web, video (viewing- online, DVD, and Itunes vids). It also has a softphone so I can work from home on occasion (sick kid days) and it does that fine too.

HP is making some good stuff right now but the basic hardware is usually the same from brand to brand. Good keyboard size and feel are important so try them out. Some people really like the Lenovo Thinkpad keyboard so that might be important to you.

[Matt Sollars]

another mac vote. wait and find the money, charge it and pay it off in two months instead of one...etc.

You'll never go back.

[Curt Harms]

HP is making a decent laptop right now. I had a run of trouble with Dell a few years ago, but they seem to have improved somewhat but not to what they once were.

I hate Thinkpads (I call them Stinkpads) because every one I've had has extra software that interferes with normal operation--for example their wireless card software or the hard drive protection software that freezes the machine whenever bumped--including the arm of your chair hitting your desk, your co-worker coming in your cube, etc. Removing all that, if you can, fixes that. But every one I've ever had also had momentary freezes for no apparent reason that I've never seen on any other computer.

I don't know that I've ever run one with the factory installed software. One of the things I like is that hardware drivers are or at least have been available for older operating systems. My R31 came with an early version of X P home. I nuked that and installed W2K. Once S.P. 2 for XP came out I installed a retail version of XP. Ubuntu installed trouble-free on an R51 & R61i. The speakers are useless. Thinkpads have a program that you can install and it will find and install all the appropriate drivers for a given operating system provided the drivers exist. Just start with a basic install of Windows. The only thing I found was that I did have to find drivers for the wired Ethernet card first:o.

[John Coloccia]

I've owned tons of desktops and laptops, and over the years I've found that they're ALL either reliable or unreliable, depending who you ask. Quality control has been lacking for sometime now. I recently switched myself and my parents over to Macs, including laptops. My mother-in-law is on a Macbook also. All of our problems have more or less disappeared.

I'm not a Mac nut. Macs are not appropriate for every application. I have to admit, though, that I was finally charmed by my Macs and I'm much happier for it. Mac has very limited offerings, but they engineer the begeezus out of them and get what little they offer RIGHT. I like the idea of picking up a used Mac, especially if you're only using it for basic applications like web surfing, e-mail, maybe writing some documents, etc.

If you go the PC route, throw a dart and pick one. They're all reasonable, they all make some great machines, and they all also make some serious lemons I'm afraid. Some years ago, there was a time it seemed like everyone was making really great laptops. I don't know what happened.

And just for full disclosure, I only use Macs at home. Everything I do at work is PC/Windows based, and those machines can be made very reliable also. It just takes a lot more work and vigilance, that's all.

That's my opinion.