After much fretting, and shopping around, comparing specs, and quality, and service, I decided to get a (gasp!) Dell Inspiron 1720 for my wife. The model I purchased has the T9300 intel proc, and 8600M graphics chipset. So far she's very happy with it. It came with Vista, and actually it's my first good look at Vista. So far it's been all right IMO. But she won't let me install any games on it yet.
I've got a Sager NP9262 from XoticPC coming soon (knock wood). Pretty good prices, although I used paypal so couldn't claim the cash discount (3%). They've responded to my emails really quick and have kept me nicely updated throughout the process. (Gettin' some custom paint so it's taking awhile). Their stuff comes with 24/7 lifetime tech support and they offer some pretty wild skins, paint and chroming too. Tho the chroming machine was broken when I ordered edit: looks like there's a disconnect between their painting dept. and the colour charts listed on the site, at least the BMW chart. Just got an email advising the BMW silver I picked off the chart didn't exist, and we went with Titanium Silver which, oddly, isn't on the colour chart (tho it's like every 2nd beemer you see is in TS.) For car colours, probably best just to give 'em the yr/make/model. edit: apparently their policy is to email their customer a rendering of the lappy with the planned paint job for final approval. Got my email today. No biggie for solid silver me, but a nice touch nonetheless. edit: one of the 4 USB ports just died. I'm trying to determine whether it's OS or hardware (hope not, wouldn't be worth the shipping charges)
In the UK I tend to get my parts from Ebuyer or Scan. Also used Aria on occasion and havent had any problems with either of them. It's almost time to upgrade again so will let you know if I have any problems in the future.
i recently bought a new laptop from killernotebooks called the Nagamaki. the experience with them has been excellent so far and very personalized, which is something you do not find anymore. Their prices are reasonably lower than others too. the specs are: Quad QX9300 Dual ATI3870 in Crossfire 4GB DDR3 1333Mhz 4GB Turbo Memory 17” WUXGA 1900x1200 Glassview BlueRay Reader CD/DVD Writer 2x 320GB 7200rpm HDs in Raid 0 A/B/G/N 270Mpbs and Bluetooth v2.1 Vista Ultimate 64 Real Carbon Fiber skin
Dell I bought a brand new P4 dell laptop, I used it for almost 1 year but I got a problem now I am wondering why it gets too hot...
I have got an Acer Aspire 5920G for 649 euros, a very nice price for the performance. Most HD videos play without lag, and most games run on medium/high settings. The specs: CPU: 4 stars (Intel Core 2 Duo T5550, not the best, but it's enough for light multitasking and most HD videos) RAM: 3 stars (The RAM is 3GB DDR2, that's just enough but it is a bit slow. Also my GPU steals 768MB from it, so I guess that's the problem. Also the weakest link in my laptop.) GPU: 3 stars (GeForce 8600M GS, only 256MB real memory, but it steals 768MB from my RAM using TurboCache, and total is 1GB, but its performance doesn't match all that memory. Most games run on medium settings, but on Source games it runs everything on high with medium texture resolution. Increasing it to high doesn't steal that much performance. Can lag horribly some times, but overall this is a good card. nVidia demos really underrate it, even Lite ones.) Storage: 3 stars (160GB HDD. Not bad, quite good for most users, but for me it's a bit low, and lower-end Acer models can have 320GB too.) Overall: 3,25 stars. Recommended, but on heavy games it can lag horribly, and some Acer services pop-up all the time. After this laptop gets really old, I'll get a gaming laptop.
Samsung NC10 for traveling. Nice, portable netbook. Work's great with Windows 7 Beta 7022. Got it in Best Buy store in Shanghai for $400. Added memory up to 2G and ready to exchange the screen with touchscreen.
in the UK i normally use novatech...their prices are good and their selection of customized laptops is definitely worth a look
I've bought a few from dell. I've found them to be fast, but flimsy and the screens were a hit and miss proposition (M600 was the best one). I've had a couple of Toshibas (when they were still made in Japan) and the last one that I had years ago was the best ever. I even sold it for $1000 when it was a couple of years old. I still have a white box Asus (with two hard drives) that is the most solid I've ever had, but Asus refuses to provide drivers when a new OS comes out! :knock: I currently have an Asus M51sn-c1 that I upgraded and am very content with. Oh; and I have an older Toshiba with a pentium 4 chip that my friend gave me because he thought it was toast! It actually just has a loose internal power connector, which I came up with a workaround for. A guy can't have too many laptops.:banana:
Dont know why though i still have my Acer 5672 running without any problems at all and i simply love it. Had it since 2006. The only thing i upgraded was the CPU from Core Duo to Core 2 Duo T7200 and 2GB memory. Had a Sony notebook that i received a while ago and that thing simply refused to work. The motherboard died on it right after my warranty had expired.
Nice little upgrade. I upgraded from a T5450 to a T9300. That and the 7200rpm HD really made a difference...not sure why, but I would NEVER buy a Sony.
I currently have the Asus G73, and it's pretty decent. I said decent because even though it's a powerhouse for laptop, still can't touch my main PC. Then again it's a pain to drag my PC around anywhere, lol. The warranty is great, 2 years and 1 year accidental sealed the deal for me.
Recently bought an Alienware M11x machine. Very solid and fast as well. Battery lasts about 7 hours with max savings and to top it all you can OC the CPU from the BIOS as well. Yeah i know its an Alienware but this one is actually worth the money for a portable 11.6 inch that can play Crysis on Medium settings and have a long battery life. Oh and yeah doing a review later on so wait for it.
I don't have one yet but MSI caught my eye on their GE600 budget gaming laptop that's $899 on Newegg getting one in June.
