Good Laptops?

[Corndawg]

So I have this friend that I met on the cruise I took not long ago, and he's trying to find a good laptop. I'm not good at finding laptops tailored for any purpose, be it specific or general, but I know you guys are pretty damn good. I asked him a few questions and this is what he told me.

My budget is fairly open. I don't want to spend any unnecessary money. And the purpose of the laptop is pretty much anything from school, to internet, to media.

So he has an open budget and needs a decent all-around laptop, suggestions?

 

[Revilo]

Any of the Dell XPS should be decent enough for everything.

Such as this one. You said open budget, but I didn't go too expensive.

Edit: In fact, tell him to take a look at this shop.

 

[Ebin]

Never buy dell.

 

[Revilo]

Why is that? Everybody I know that has used them has never had a problem with them, and I'm asssuming that his friend didn't want anything with too much flair.

 

[Ebin]

MacBook Pro.  Boot Camp.

Friends don't let friends buy Mac unless their friends are pretentious artsy hipsters.

Why is that? Everybody I know that has used them has never had a problem with them, and I'm asssuming that his friend didn't want anything with too much flair.

Proprietary drivers? That's one thing wrong with the 3 dells we own.

 

[Ebin]

MacBook Pro.  Boot Camp.

Friends don't let friends buy Mac unless their friends are pretentious artsy hipsters.

Or they're actually people who want a Mac for it's superiorities over Windows but still want Window's gaming and apps.

Or if you don't want Mac's "Superior" Apple script and want to play games then you buy Windows. Apples script might be hard to break and is extremely stable however it's still an inefficient way to run applications. However all the benefits of Apple Script and Windows Gaming would be found on Linux, not Mac.


EDIT: Actually Gaming was never mentioned. So if you wanted a computer for Media, almost any computer would work.

 

[Revilo]

Well ok then. If your friend is a Dellophobe then see what he thinks of these two.

Sony Vaio

Acer Aspire (Would be my personal recommendation)

 

[EdwardWellcraft]

I'd recommend Dell to anyone. My Dell netbook has never given me a lick of trouble, and most of the people I know own Dells that have been quite good to them. Like most retailers they load the computers up with a bunch of worthless programs that you should clear off the system (or just reinstall a clean OS at the start) but all in all they are very good machines.

 

[Ebin]

18.4" is kind of big. Actually 17" is kind of pushing what you would call portable. I have a 21" myself and I know that it's not portable at all 

I'd recommend Dell to anyone. My Dell netbook has never given me a lick of trouble, and most of the people I know own Dells that have been quite good to them. Like most retailers they load the computers up with a bunch of worthless programs that you should clear off the system (or just reinstall a clean OS at the start) but all in all they are very good machines.

Unless of course you put a OS that isn't Dell approved on it. Because that dell is going to have a bunch of "Dell" makes of all sorts of crap and you have to get THEIR proprietary drivers. My dell 1737 for example is not compatible with Windows XP, Ubuntu, and Mac because of these proprietary drivers.

 

[Revilo]

Well at the end of the day it's his friends decision, I'm just putting them out there.

 

[Ebin]

True, but with some arguing we can help point out what is good and bad in each. Which can help pick out the best computer.

From what I get at, he is looking for a "Portable" computer for school and Media (define media?).

 

[Revilo]

I'd guess it's either image and video viewing/editing or design work. It'd be good if we had more to work on though.

 

[Ebin]

I mean, if Media is what you said Revilo, then a Mac book air or another tiny not so powerful laptop would suffice and you wouldn't be wasting any money. But if Media includes gaming, You're not going to easily find an easily portable laptop that can do some Hardcore gaming. Unless mild gaming (EU series, Older games) is what you're looking for.

 

[Corndawg]

I told him a few of your suggestions and am now waiting for his reply.

 

[kosmik]

Acer Aspire  5739G is pretty nice. Have had it for a year now, haven't had any problems with it yet. And can do pretty much everything with it. Only downside is that it is rather big.

 

[Ebin]

MacBook Pro.  Boot Camp.

Friends don't let friends buy Mac unless their friends are pretentious artsy hipsters.

Or they're actually people who want a Mac for it's superiorities over Windows but still want Window's gaming and apps.

Or if you don't want Mac's "Superior" Apple script and want to play games then you buy Windows. Apples script might be hard to break and is extremely stable however it's still an inefficient way to run applications. However all the benefits of Apple Script and Windows Gaming would be found on Linux, not Mac.


EDIT: Actually Gaming was never mentioned. So if you wanted a computer for Media, almost any computer would work.

But unless you're very computer savvy, Linux isn't the way to go.  If you can handle Linux, that's great, but you have to agree, the majority of people won't be able to understand it.

Eh, I wouldn't say too computer savvy, however it does require more than Windows experience to operate.

But to Clarify my previous statements on Mac and Dell.

I have a Dell 1737. I knew someone with a Mac Book Air and my Dell (With it's wittle X4500HD Intel chipset) out powered the Mac Book. However when my dell's internal hard drive broke I had to switch to XP to run it off an external USB hard drive. So I couldn't get the appropriate drivers so I called Dell tech support. Everyone told me to do a "Dell Diagnostic" then told me my Hard drive port was broke (No ****) but didn't actually offer a way to fix the problem because I didn't have the super special Dell complete warranty program which protects against me purposely dropping it off a 2 story building. So after some ****ery I got it to work on XP with the wrong drivers (Dell doesn't provide the "Super Fantastical Dell drivers" to any OS Dell did not intend for the Dell versions of the hardware to operate on), however it still out performed that guys Mac Book Air.

Note on that, My 21" computer is a pain in the ****ing ass to carry. That little Mac book air is so convenient.

 

[Swadius 2.0]

Don't buy Mac. It' like paying for a car that takes care of some of the problems but charges you 50% more than if you just took care of the brain dead simple problems yourself.

If all you need is to do a little course work, I would recommend this.

If you plan on playing games or other high demand capabilities, I would suggest you settle down with a desktop.

 

[EdwardWellcraft]

Unless of course you put a OS that isn't Dell approved on it. Because that dell is going to have a bunch of "Dell" makes of all sorts of crap and you have to get THEIR proprietary drivers. My dell 1737 for example is not compatible with Windows XP, Ubuntu, and Mac because of these proprietary drivers.

Unless you have some very specific needs Windows 7 is more than enough for anyone. In fact, it's better than XP, Ubuntu, or OSX. The only reason you'd want either of those three is if you had some kind of software that wasn't compatible with 7.

 

[Ebin]

Other than I'm not aware of being able to mod Windows 7 for an external USB drive but you can with XP. Which isn't a common scenario I know, but I'm sure there are other problems with these proprietary drivers that would come up.