Looking for a new laptop

[lti]

The hard drive in my HP Pavilion ze1210 laptop has started to fail. There have been a lot of bad sectors for about a year, but the bad sector count has been increasing for the past few days. Since this laptop is so old and needs a new keyboard, touchpad, optical drive, and battery, I have decided to start looking for a replacement.

I am looking for a cheap and reliable laptop that is able to run Windows 7 and modern software. I don't need a very fast computer, but a dual-core processor might be nice to have. I don't want a screen smaller than 13". I am going to use this laptop for college. What manufacturers make the most reliable low-end laptops?

[ratdude747]

Re: Looking for a new laptop

dell latitude d620 or d630. make sure it uses intel graphics (nvidia ones are not relaible). they are bery well built (full magnesium shell) and the d630 in particular has a fast core2duo in it. ! love my d630... i paid $250 for it... but it was a lucky find.

[lti]

Re: Looking for a new laptop

Where I live, it is almost impossible to find a used computer that was made after 1999. I don't want to buy a computer online.

[lti]

Re: Looking for a new laptop

Are there any new laptops with a screen resolution higher than 1366x768? I can't find any with a higher resolution unless the screen size is 17" or larger.

[ratdude747]

Re: Looking for a new laptop

Where I live, it is almost impossible to find a used computer that was made after 1999. I don't want to buy a computer online.

if you shop smart you can score well. Granted, my d630 was not an online buy, but my d400 was. Ebay can be your friend if you avoid impulse purchases (think before bid).

The most important thing is to make sure that it has some form of a warranty. AS-IS is only for those who have a working backup and have money and time to fix and tweak.

Make sure it has the hdd caddy. a lot do not and you will get nailed in the butt on a caddy (it is a long story to why).

if you are in college, there is a way to get win7 pro for $30 with a .edu email. it is an upgrade disc, so keep an xp or vista disc handy. point is you can get away with a laptop with no OS this way.

If you really want to buy it retail, be forewarned that you will be spending at least $650 for a decent one... any cheaper and you will get a flimsy POS.

Another choice is to see if your local college sells surplus stuff to the public. if you luck out, they will sell stuff by the unit. this is how I got my current laptop. Others sell it by the pound in crates, and others are not public at all.

Also check craigslist... sometimes deals show up there.

[yyonline]

Re: Looking for a new laptop

When it comes to notebooks, I don't believe that any of the major manufacturers produce their own. Most of the components such as LCDs, fans, hard drives, etc have common manufacturers between brands of laptops. Most of the motherboards are again made by a handful of manufacturers that are common across brands. What is different between the brands? The level of warranty, support, and parts availability. I've been able to get parts for 5 year old Dell laptops without a problem. For HP, they tend to stop stocking parts after about 2 years. I've never had any luck getting acer/emachines/gateway to send me parts out of warranty. I'm only talking about consumer grade machines here.

Another shameless plug: I have a half-refurbished Latitude D620 (Core2 Duo) if you're interested. I'm waiting for a buyer before I do any more work with it. PM me if you're interested.

[ratdude747]

Re: Looking for a new laptop

Another shameless plug: I have a half-refurbished Latitude D620 (Core2 Duo) if you're interested. I'm waiting for a buyer before I do any more work with it. PM me if you're interested.

this guy packs stuff well... he has sent me stuff before. I recommend this shameless plug!

[lti]

Re: Looking for a new laptop

I figured out why the screen resolution on new laptops is so low: You don't need a high-resolution display if you only use the computer to watch movies and look at Facebook. That seems to be what most new computers are designed to do. I don't think I will need a higher screen resolution for actual work, but having the same screen resolution on all displays from 11" to 15" defeats the purpose of having a larger screen (unless you have trouble reading small text). My dad's Toshiba Tecra M9 laptop has a 14" display with a native resolution of 1440x900. A 15.6" display on a new laptop shouldn't have a lower screen resolution than a 14" display on a laptop that is almost four years old.

The high school I attended had some Dell Latitude D620s. A new battery only lasted 45 minutes, but they could have had the power management settings disabled.

[ratdude747]

Re: Looking for a new laptop

The high school I attended had some Dell Latitude D620s. A new battery only lasted 45 minutes, but they could have had the power management settings disabled.

sounds like they had tiny 4 cell batteries... not a 6 cell or the d630's 9 cell (cross compatible)

[yyonline]

Re: Looking for a new laptop

For the D620...I get about 2 1/2 hours on the 6-cell, and about 4 1/2 on the 9-cell with Intel graphics and default/balanced power settings. For the D620 with Nvidia, I get about 2 hours and 4 hours, respectively. This is assuming a healthy battery, of course.

The Toshiba Tecra is a business class machine. You won't find high resolution displays unless you go to either business class machines or a very high-end or gaming consumer laptop.

It seems the market is moving from 16:10 to 16:9 aspect ratio as well. That's annoying in my opinion, as so much of what we do on computers is vertically oriented.

[lti]

Re: Looking for a new laptop

That still seems low, but I don't think I will need to leave it unplugged for that long.

I am currently looking at new laptops, but I might end up buying a used one.

[lti]

Re: Looking for a new laptop

Are there any manufacturers that should be avoided? A lot of people say that Acer, Toshiba, and HP laptops should be avoided, but Compaq laptops are good (even though they are just HP laptops with a different brand name).

Business-class laptops should be more reliable, but it is hard to find a store that would sell one to a consumer. I don't see why a business-class laptop would need a high-resolution display. Maybe it allows the user to see more of a document at once. That might be nice.

I am looking at laptops with 13" or 14" displays. Anything larger might not be very easy to carry around. The only games I play ran fine on the old laptop, so onboard graphics will be fine. I don't need a built-in camera or a fancy case design.

[ratdude747]

Re: Looking for a new laptop

Business-class laptops should be more reliable, but it is hard to find a store that would sell one to a consumer. I don't see why a business-class laptop would need a high-resolution display. Maybe it allows the user to see more of a document at once. That might be nice.

photo and video editing.

my d630 has a 1400x900 panel... most did, some had a lower resoltion ( I do not remember the exact resolution)

[mockingbird]

Re: Looking for a new laptop

D630 is going for a little over $300 on http://www.dfsdirectsales.com (Dell Refurbished)

Make sure you get the non-nVidia model. I personally prefer the lower res screen...

They even offer like a 1 year warranty for $25.

[ratdude747]

Re: Looking for a new laptop

D630 is going for a little over $300 on http://www.dfsdirectsales.com (Dell Refurbished)

Make sure you get the non-nVidia model. I personally prefer the lower res screen...

They even offer like a 1 year warranty for $25.

the high res screen works fine... for what I do it is perfect... after using it, it makes the 1024x768 panel on my old d400 seem tiny... if you can, find a laptop with each and see which seems better for you...

I agree, that the intel graphics model is a safer bet... go ahead and call me a hypocrite for owning an nvidia d630, but in my case it was dirt cheap ($250) and I had a backup laptop (the d400). I suspect that since my d630 was a later model (shipped 6/08), the newer bios with the cooler fan curve might have been stock and hence giving mine a longer life; it was just over 3 years old when I bought it, my guess was the warranty ran out and the university sold it figuring "better safe than sorry".

[yyonline]

Re: Looking for a new laptop

Business-class laptops should be more reliable, but it is hard to find a store that would sell one to a consumer. I don't see why a business-class laptop would need a high-resolution display. Maybe it allows the user to see more of a document at once. That might be nice.

More reliable? Not really. More durable? Yes. Better parts availability? Definitely yes.

I've bought business class stuff direct from Dell and HP for personal use. I've used Latitudes exclusively for the past several years. The initial reason for me getting the Latitude was kind of silly - I preferred a matte screen and every consumer notebook had a glossy screen. 5 years later, my D620 still looks great, and works great (even the nvidia graphics...knock on wood), and I can still get parts for it should something break. It runs Windows 7 flawlessly, and I see no reason to upgrade as it's only used as a secondary machine.

Most consumer electronics stores (Best Buy, etc.) don't stock business class machines as most businesses don't order there, but direct from the manufacturer.

Check out outlet.dell.com for deals on Dell refurbished like-new laptops. You can often get a Latitude there for around the same price as a consumer grade notebook, and most Latitudes come with a 3 year warranty. Add the warranty option to the consumer notebook and it will easily cost just as much. Still, even a factory refurbished Latitude isn't exactly cheap, and I don't know what your budget is.

[ratdude747]

Re: Looking for a new laptop

[QUOTE=yyonline;180452 More durable? Yes[/QUOTE]

this is why one I had my first dell latitude, I made sure the next one was also a dell latitude (but I would have settled for a toughbook). trust me, dell is the apple of the pc world- their high end stuff is built to the same grade as apple's highest end (think macbook pro, powerbook, etc.)

[shadow]

Re: Looking for a new laptop

It seems the market is moving from 16:10 to 16:9 aspect ratio as well. That's annoying in my opinion, as so much of what we do on computers is vertically oriented.

Agreed on the point above.

I bought a mid range Dell laptop a few years ago and it is still going great! I must have lucked out with the battery and got one from a batch that has a life above normal expectations. Still get 3.5-4hrs battery during normal use.

I got my laptop super cheap because I bought a surplus model from Dell's official EBay store on auction (in Australia thou). Basically paid a bit less than the current model (of the same laptop) but got a ton of optional extra's as standard.

[ratdude747]

Re: Looking for a new laptop

I find 16:10 to be nice... 16:9 is a tad too narrow. 4:3 wasn't bad either, nor was 5:4.