[Mallrat]

Hey-

My friend is in the market for a notebook to replace his dying desktop PC.

He prefers a PC notebook, even though I'm trying to talk him into an iBook.

He needs a computer mostly for writing purposes. However he wants one with a DVD-ROM, wireless internet, and decent battery life. Not much else.

He wants the cheapest one that will get him this goal (of course).

I've been out of the loop when it comes to PC notebooks. Any recommendations?

I figured DELL, GATEWAY, IBM, TOSHIBA, or SONY would be best.

Any tips would be great. He knows very little about computers (hence getting a PC, just kidding) and needs my help.

Thank you.

[goMac]

Originally posted by Mallrat:
Hey-

My friend is in the market for a notebook to replace his dying desktop PC.

He prefers a PC notebook, even though I'm trying to talk him into an iBook.

He needs a computer mostly for writing purposes. However he wants one with a DVD-ROM, wireless internet, and decent battery life. Not much else.

He wants the cheapest one that will get him this goal (of course).

I've been out of the loop when it comes to PC notebooks. Any recommendations?

I figured DELL, GATEWAY, IBM, TOSHIBA, or SONY would be best.

Any tips would be great. He knows very little about computers (hence getting a PC, just kidding) and needs my help.

Thank you.

Centrino might be the best way to go, but unlike the iBooks, those are on the expensive side. A Celeron or Pentium Mobile might be a bit cheaper, but be prepared for the Celeron to be slow.

[HackManDan]

How about something besides the usual suspects. These are pretty sweat:

ABS Mayhem G3 (AMD Athlon 64) for $1699

http://www.abspc.com/app/config.asp?mono=1850


Asus S5N (Intel Centrino) for $1599

http://usa.asus.com/products/noteboo...n_overview.htm


Alienware Sentia (Intel Centrino) for $1649

http://www.alienware.com/product_det...de=SKU-DEFAULT

-HMD

[Spliff]

Originally posted by Mallrat:
He needs a computer mostly for writing purposes. However he wants one with a DVD-ROM, wireless internet, and decent battery life. Not much else.

You just described an iBook. Seriously, this guy needs an iBook. Have you emphasized all the security issues and problems with viruses, spyware, and adware he's going to have to deal with if he gets a PC?

[Mallrat]

Originally posted by Spliff:
You just described an iBook. Seriously, this guy needs an iBook. Have you emphasized all the security issues and problems with viruses, spyware, and adware he's going to have to deal with if he gets a PC?

Yes, I have, but he is still hesitant. He's never worked with an apple before.

I will try to show him the beauty of the ibook and how it seems that (at least in the notebook game) that the ibook is priced pretty sweet.

By the way, I forget to mention, that his budget is close to the 1000 mark.

Yes, the iBook would be my first choice, but I wanted to give him PC options in case he doesn't want to make the switch.

[goMac]

For what you're asking, the iBook will actually be the cheapest option.

[Spheric Harlot]

Originally posted by HackManDan:
How about something besides the usual suspects. These are pretty sweat:

ABS Mayhem G3 (AMD Athlon 64) for $1699

http://www.abspc.com/app/config.asp?mono=1850


Asus S5N (Intel Centrino) for $1599

http://usa.asus.com/products/noteboo...n_overview.htm


Alienware Sentia (Intel Centrino) for $1649

http://www.alienware.com/product_det...de=SKU-DEFAULT

those are all nearly double the price of an iBook.

[Eriamjh]

Friends don't let friends buy PCs.

[sugar_coated]

For a very affordable 548$! this may be his best choice.

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/produ...60580012799258

or even this one

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/produ...A4070%3A106249


He doesn't need an expensive ibook if he is not into music, photos and home movie editing etc. Good luck! and happy computer hunting!! Hope you don't have to look too hard.

[Spheric Harlot]

*no* burner???

[Mallrat]

Originally posted by sugar_coated:
For a very affordable 548$! this may be his best choice.

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/produ...60580012799258

or even this one

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/produ...A4070%3A106249


He doesn't need an expensive ibook if he is not into music, photos and home movie editing etc. Good luck! and happy computer hunting!! Hope you don't have to look too hard.

Thanks. Those are damn cheap. I wonder if they fall apart when you bring them home.

Is Balance, Walmart's own brand? Do you know anyone that actually bought one?

[Superchicken]

Let him waste his cash on a crappy PC... you CAN'T get a PC comparable to an iBook for near that price. It's just not doable. Offer to let him use your Mac. Show him he can get Word for OS X, and explain that Pages just came out so he has several options. Explain that this way his work will be safer... if he still says no, set him up with a boat of a Toshiba or HP or something... but you will NEVER find a PC laptop at a reasonable price that compares with the iBook on battery life or price. We got my sister a Centrino laptop, I felt OK getting her it because she wanted a PC and I figured at least this way she'd get the best available. The proc still drains her battery like nobody's business. It's near impossible to get good battery life out of a reasonably priced PC laptop.

[turtle777]

Originally posted by Mallrat:
He wants the cheapest one that will get him this goal (of course).

That, combined with your friend's determination to get a PC, makes him quite a stupid fellow...

-t

[Superchicken]

Fact is people always try and spend the least number of hundreds of dollars on a computer possible, but they end up hating it because it's an unstable hunk of crap... if they would have spent 1.5 times as much on it they would have enjoyed the experience and actually gotten something out of their purchase.

[andreas_g4]

Originally posted by Mallrat:
By the way, I forget to mention, that his budget is close to the 1000 mark.

Dude, we now have Euro in Germany.

[turtle777]

Originally posted by andreas_g4:
Dude, we now have Euro in Germany.

Dude, are you trying to be funny ?

-t

[Moderator]

The new Dell 700m is pretty snazzy...really light..decent looking...snappy..cheap

[sworthy]

honestly, I think this price range is where Apple's offerings are the best in the industry. It's hard to beat the price, and anything that does is fairly low quality and/or has low specs. Look into Amazon's rebates ($100 off). Try to find a better laptop for $899.

[olePigeon]

If you can part it for a few days, have your friend use your iBook for a while. And if you have one near you, take him to an Apple store so he can check out all the other gizmos.

[misnomer]

Definitely steer your friend toward Pentium M or Celeron M based systems if they don't end up with an iBook.

Dell currently has $300 rebates on the 700m (WideScreen & P-M), 600m (P-M) and 6000 (WideScreen & Celeron-M) Inspiron models.

http://www1.us.dell.com/content/prod...=19&~ck=bt

Stripped down they're, after rebate, $1049, $849 and $799, respectively. The 700m and 600m have 802.11b wireless built-in (which can be BTO upgraded to b/g or a/b/g) while the 6000 can have b/g wireless added for $15. All of the models come with at least a 8x DVD-ROM drive in the base config.

You'll almost certainly want to recommend that your friend pony up for a 3yr warranty, just like they should be getting AppleCare if they end up going with an iBook.

Oh, the Latitude D505 (P-M) is also currently discounted down to $799, for the base model, in the Dell Small Business store; that model is getting a little long in the tooth but may still be worth a look.

edit - Almost forgot... if your friend is willing to spend around $1K, pile on features to whatever Inspiron model you want to around $1500 before rebate. You can then use the 10% off $1499+ Inspiron coupon code: L20MS69BZR14W4 (expires on the 15th). Then that $1500 notebook will be somewhere around $1050 after rebate and coupon code.

BTW, I'll second what Moderator said about the 700m. We have a bunch of the little guys at work and they're great. If you add the 3yr warranty w/ 24x7 phone support and at home service, the price will be plenty high enough to use the coupon code. It comes to something like $1156.

[itai195]

I don't recommend $1000 laptops to people, because they're invariably hunks of crap. I don't want to bear that burden, personally.

But I think Dell's notebook line isn't bad these days. You may want to look into something used too. If you can pick up a slightly used, recent IBM ThinkPad in his price range that'd be a good option. The only problem with ThinkPads is that they're usually underpowered from a video standpoint.

[typoon]

Originally posted by itai195:
The only problem with ThinkPads is that they're usually underpowered from a video standpoint.

Sounds like what people say about Apple's laptops.

On that note I think the iBook is one of the FEW 1000 dollar laptops I WOULD reccomend to anyone.

Is he in school or an educator? have any kids? You can have him get an iBook at the EDU price if he does.

[itai195]

Originally posted by typoon:
Sounds like what people say about Apple's laptops.

Sometimes true, but usually not. The last few years Apple has been pretty good. The problem is they generally don't offer the newest, best video chips.

But Apple doesn't hold a candle to IBM in this arena. A brand new, top of the line, ThinkPad T42, in its high-end Performance configuration costs $1899 and comes with a 32MB Mobility Radeon 7500.