[JMan09]

I want to know what you would pick if you had to get a windows base laptop. My sister is about to start college and needs to get a laptop, and is probably going to spend about $1000 or less. She likes my MacBook, but I don't know how well the Apple support is at her college(Kilgore).
Let me know what yall think, it doesn't have to be Dell or HP. Just a good computer for about $1000.
thanks.

[OldManMac]

What support would she need? And I wouldn't buy a Windows box. Never again.

[MacosNerd]

I bought my wife a Dell, and while it was a desktop I was pleasantly surprised about the process. I picked the cheapest (free) shipping method and they delivered it a week before the estimated delivery date - on a saturday no less. Usually you have to pay extra for fed ex to deliver on a saturday.

Build quality appears to be ok, though I'm disappointed in the "ultra-sharp" monitor. There's no way for me to adjust the height, kind of stupid.

I've purchased Dells for years (yes a mixed marriage ) and I've rarely been disappointed so my vote is for them

[mduell]

Dell, from the small biz store.

[Cold Warrior]

I'd also go for Dell ahead of HP. I've used a lot of Dell laptops over the last 4 years, and I've never seen a lot of problems with them.

[vmarks]

ibm/lenovo.

[Lateralus]

If you're not gonna go with a ThinkPad^^^, I'd recommend HP over Dell any day of the week.

In my experience, Dell's laptop quality has slipped as of late, while HP's has steadily risen. The same can be said for each companies tech support offerings.

[JMan09]

I guess the only support she would is when she cant figure something out or it freezes on her. I could somewhat help her with a Mac, and what I don't know I could ask you guys. On the windows side I have only used Windows higher than Windows 98 a few times, so I don't really know it that well.
Thanks for the help so far, I've heard good things about ThinkPads, and not so great things about Dells(before this thread), and personally like HPs for some reason. I'll see what some more people have to say, and we'll make a decision soon.

[His Dudeness]

I own both a Dell Inspiron and an HP notebook. Either way you go, they're still pretty nice. IMHO, Windows is the drawback. Here's something to seriously consider: look at ebay for relatively new IBM Thinkpads. I bought one for just under 500 bucks which had a new 100 gig drive installed. You could surely pick up a newer one for a grand there.

[Biest]

Look for Lenovo college deals online or check of there is a college store for her's, they might have a good deal or two. Lenovo is the only laptop i would recommend hands down, alone keyboard does it for me.

[CharlesS]

I've seen two different people with Dell laptops that had all the air holes for ventilation on the bottom, so that if they set them on a flat surface such as a desk, the air holes would get blocked and the laptop would overheat, causing everything to lock up. I have no idea if Dell is still doing this, but I'd avoid them if it were me. If you do end up getting a Dell, you should check the case to make sure it ventilates out the side instead of the bottom.

[Laminar]

For what it's worth, my little sister picked up a brand new C2D MacBook for $949 last week and got a free 4GB iPod too. It does everything she'll ever need with as little trouble as possible.

[ghporter]

Given the choice between Dell and HP? Dell, without a microsecond's thought. HP went WAY downhill when they acquired Compaq, and a lot of their machines show it. Dell also has a (sometimes significant) discount for students. My school supports both Dells and Macs (weird, huh?), and Dell has always come though for us. My son's Inspiron 1505 is about a year old now, and it's still going strong, in spite of his relatively rough handling. On the other hand, I have a couple of classmates whose HP laptops (NOT Compaq-branded machines) have given them nothing but trouble-in spite of fairly careful and delicate handling. Sorry, Lat, but that's what I've seen.

Support issues: my son's Inspiron had its wireless card die after about 15 minutes running time. Just plain died. It took about three days to get the new one from Dell, and it was a very simple thing to replace it. He does programming (including C++ and Java), web design, games, and I don't know what all with it and hasn't managed to hurt it yet. In contrast, one classmate has had HP take THREE MONTHS to get around to sending her a new hard drive when they themselves diagnosed it as being bad. For that whole time (almost an entire semester-in graduate school!) she had freezes, DLL glitches, lost files and so on. Currently she's having similar problems with the new (is it really new?) drive. Even if HP's machine quality is on the increase, their support has-in my experience-"sucked."

But given the choice of ANY Windows laptop, I'd go Lenovo. Much more expensive, but top-of-the-line hardware.

[His Dudeness]

Any product recalls about Lenovo laptops, being made in China and all?

[peeb]

Aren't pretty much all laptops made in China?

[His Dudeness]

No, I think Apple's and Dell's are made by Quanta, which is in Taiwan.

[peeb]

I know my powerbook was made in China.

[His Dudeness]

Quanta Computers - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

They may have outsourced it or something. This is why I tell people that Dell laptops are actually pretty good. Because Dell doesn't make them.

[peeb]

I guess they might have changed manufacturers since my machine was made.

[His Dudeness]

I don't think so. I remember reading a few months ago about Quanta getting the orders for the iPhone and the new MacBook. I know I have heard of people ordering from the Apple store and the shipping label reads as China being in the shipping route. So who knows these days.

[peeb]

I mean that my machine may predate the Quanta deal.

[ghporter]

The home office may be in Taipei, but many Taiwanese computer firms are using the Mainland for their manufacturing. For example, Foxxconn, which does a LOT for Dell does much of its manufacturing on the Mainland-they are also the contractor that makes iPods.

[JMan09]

There's good news now, she is going to be getting a MacBook. And add on Microsoft office. When I was getting my MacBook they thought I was crazy because they never used Apple and now they see I don't have problems and they want one too. My brother might be getting a Black MacBook soon too.

[irunat2am]

Edit: whoops!

[alex_kac]

Originally Posted by JMan09 

I want to know what you would pick if you had to get a windows base laptop. My sister is about to start college and needs to get a laptop, and is probably going to spend about $1000 or less. She likes my MacBook, but I don't know how well the Apple support is at her college(Kilgore).
Let me know what yall think, it doesn't have to be Dell or HP. Just a good computer for about $1000.
thanks.

Never ever ever ever get an HP laptop or computer. Out of all the brands out there they are the most unreliable and poorly built machines. I have seen more than dozens of them at businesses, churches, and homes over the last 5 years and while the first year is usually OK after that they fall apart. Literally. Bezels come off and such. Plus look at the Gripe Line - HP has one of the worst warranty records.

[shifuimam]

I'm a big fan of Dell's laptops. The Inspiron line is quite nice now (much better than it was 3+ years ago), and is priced well.

Buy a hard drive separately and install it yourself. Dell (just like everyone except Fujitsu and Toshiba) uses Hitachi TravelStar drives in their laptops, because those drives are cheaper than any other brand. They're also pieces of crap and are extremely unreliable. Buy a Seagate or Toshiba drive separately. Installing it yourself won't void the warranty and only takes a few minutes to do.

Just my $0.002.