What companies do you buy from?

Discussion in 'Laptops & Notebooks' started by nm+, Dec 24, 2005.

  1. nm+

    nm+ Don Cappuccino

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    Notebooks are not something you can build easily (this is changing as you can now buy chassis from some ODMs, notabily ASUS).
    In this thread, post whom you've bought from and your experence with them.
     
    BlindBison likes this.
  2. nm+

    nm+ Don Cappuccino

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    Powernotebooks.com
    I currently own one notebook from this Nevada outfit and have assisted in purchasing 3 others. Powernotebooks provides service that really goes above and beyond the call of duty. In my experence, they will go to nearly any length to make sure you are happy.
    Their notebooks are also of good quality and are sold at good prices. After support, their strongest strength might be how customizable thier notebooks are, you do not ahve to get items like an OS or Wifi card unless you really want it.
    Very highly recommended
     
  3. nm+

    nm+ Don Cappuccino

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    Gateway
    I bought a gateway 600XL a few years ago and it was nothing but trouble. During its 3 year warranty period, 2 keyboards died, 1 Hd controller died,there were 2 fatal grapics card problems, and 4 cd-rw failures.
    Gateway phone support was actually pretty decent and was done inhouse, at least until the last few months of my warranty. However, Gateway seemed unable to gent the shipping part right. I was once returned the notebook sans battery, and it took 6 months to replace my cd-rw as they sent me wrong part after wrong part.
    Not recommended
     
  4. god4sure

    god4sure Elite Trini Guru

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    Thaks nm+. I've always threatened to look at powernotebooks and I think I will now. I've never had to purchase a laptop before so I wasn't sure if i should go for a dell. They had the better options but i know alot of people who had serious problems which powering the notebook on.
     

  5. nm+

    nm+ Don Cappuccino

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    Unfourtunatly, I think Powernotebooks only ships to US addresses.
     
  6. god4sure

    god4sure Elite Trini Guru

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    That' s ok cause I have a skybox in the states, so when it reaches there, they will ship it to me
     
  7. orenda635

    orenda635 Ancient Guru

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    Apple
    www.apple.com
    I recently bought an 12'' iBook G4 2005 Edition. Their laptops are built like a rock and Apple is pretty good for standing by their product. Was shipped in a fairly timely fashion considering it came cross border quite a distance. Came in excellent condition, not a single dead pixle on the screen as I can see. They also offer a deal for students. Mind you they are a tad overpriced but still cheaper than what places like Voodoo PC and Alienware are selling similar products for.

    Edit: I've decided to rate laptops I've come across on several criteria. 1 star is poor, 5 stars is exceptional. Lets look at the 2005 iBook G4 12''.
    Performance CPU: 4 Stars (1.33ghz G4 is outdated but still holds its own)
    Pefromance GPU: 2 Stars (Radeon 9550 only has 32mb ram which limits its power)
    Storage: 3 Stars (40gb is small, HDD quiet, 4200rpm. DVD/CDRW noisy)
    Battety Life: 5 Stars (6 hours is hard to beat)
    Portability: 5 Stars (At 4.9 pounds, its perfect for being on the road. 'Bulletproof' durability.)
    Appearance: 4 Stars (Clean white stylish iPod-esq design but really shows the dirt)
    Value: 4 Stars (Just a tad overpriced at $999 US)
    Overall Rating: 4 Stars
     
    Last edited: Dec 26, 2005
  8. nm+

    nm+ Don Cappuccino

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    Apple make a very solid product. My mom has a 12" powerbook; it's pretty awesome.
    iBook's pretty sweet. I wouldn't buy one myself as the G4's pretty aged, but if your just doing productivity its worth a look. When x86 is out they will probably be the notebooks to buy.
     
  9. orenda635

    orenda635 Ancient Guru

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    Definately. I don't like their switch to Intel, but at least with x86, we'll finally see some more software for them. Too bad the SOBs at Microsoft won't let them use DirectX as there aren't too many OpenGL games out there.
     
  10. zhackore

    zhackore Ancient Guru

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    Asus GTX 570
    got my inspiron 6000 from dell.. shipping was very quick within 4 days and I live in Canada... um so far the laptop is alright, screen is the only problem not has high quality as I would have liked. The video card x300 coupled with 1GB ram and a 1.73 ghz cpu do pack a decent punch when plugged into the wall. As a mobile laptop, the battery life is good if you're just doing tasks such as surfing on wireless or word processing. I havn't really got any issues with dell yet.
     

  11. orenda635

    orenda635 Ancient Guru

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    GPU:
    BFG 7600GS 256mb / Radeon 9550 32mb
    Compaq/HP
    www.hp.com
    www.compaq.com
    My dad bought a Compaq Presario R3000 laptop in 2004. The laptop was bought from Futureshop (owned by Best Buy, identical in concept). It was a display model but was in good condition. The system came mislabled, stating that it had an AthlonXP 3000 where it really had an early mobile Athlon64 3000. A bonus for us but it's not a good idea to mislable your products. The 17'' widescreen display is bright with good colour. The system features an nForce 3 chipset and came with a fairly crappy Geforce 4 MX420 video card. Despite that, it can play some games and handles HD content up to 720p flawlessly. This system is a desktop replacement so it is quite heavy. It's max battery life is a respectable 3hr considering the how power hungry the early Athlon64 mobiles were. The chassi is not very durable. One of the side fan grills is in a odd place, and cracked.
    One big bonus with Compaq laptops is that their CPUs are fully upgradable, the R3000 for example features a standard Socket 754 setup. They also feature a heatpipe cooler. The laptop looks great too coming in black and silver as most Compaqs do. Newer Compaq laptops feature Turion processors. Price was steep at $1700 Canadian.
    Couple more things worth noting, RAM is only PC2700 slowing max CPU speed. I also would have liked to see it come with Windows XP Pro standard in order to upgrade to the x64 edition. Stock BIOS also incorrectly ids processor as an Athlon XP but its 64-bit capabilities are recognized. CPU uses a Clawhammer core yet only opperates at 1.6ghz due to the slower ram.

    Compact R3000
    Performance CPU: 5 stars (The Athlon64 3000+ is well suited for this system)
    Performance GPU: 1 stars (The Geforce 4 MX420 has 64mb ram, but its just a crappy card)
    Storage: 3 stars (Generous 60gb ram. 4200rpm slow. noisy. DVD/CDRW combo, quiet)
    Battery Life: 2.5 stars (Power hungry desktop replacement)
    Portability: 2 stars (Very heavy and bulky, not that durable but I've seen worse)
    Appearance: 4 stars (Black and silver looks great)
    Value: 3 stars (Quite expensive but pretty average for a DR)
    Overall Rating: 3 stars
     
    Last edited: Jan 10, 2006
  12. GuitarScott

    GuitarScott Maha Guru

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    ive got a dell inspiron 1100.. had it for about 2 years. it gets hot.. and ya can't really play a dvd or cd 3d game on battery.. which is fine.. but its a good computer.
    also have a powermac g4.. the specs don't jump out as impressive.. but its an apple.. it doesn't need uber speeds, it's more efficient than windows..
     
  13. SorienOR

    SorienOR Guest

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    GPU:
    BFG 8800GT + Acer 1080p
    Dell Inspiron 6000.

    Pentium-M 1.6/533 fsb
    1gb DDR2-533 dual-channel (256 original)
    60gb 5400rpm drive
    15" W**A (1280x800)
    DVD-RW/DL
    128mb Radeon X300
    2-year warranty
    $900 after ram upgrade.

    Not a single flaw in this notebook yet. It is plenty fast for most games but I have noticed fps issues playing NFS:MW when there is a huge amount of action on the screen. Overall a really decent, inexpensive gaming laptop, which is a hard combination to find. Not to mention I love the multimedia buttons on the front of the laptop.

    I have not had any cause to contact tech support yet.

    I am not a big fan of the color scheme though. White+silver is just a little boring for my taste. It is also a bit heavy for me, I'd like something a bit lighter.

    I wouldn't mind something a bit faster, but I can't complain about the price/performance ratio at all.
    ----------------
    I replaced the Insprion 6000 with an E1505.

    Came with a T2300, already upgraded to T2500 and really want a T7200
    Came with 512mb 533, already upgraded to 1gb 667 and really want 2gb.
    Came with a 80gb 5400RPM drive. Upgraded to 7200rpm, but need more space..waiting for the Samsung 200gb 7200RPM drive.
    15" 1280x800, glossy
    DVD burner
    128mb Radeon X1400
    Came with 1 year warranty, added 2 more years.
    Cost $932 originally, ordered it the day they released the E1505 with dedicated graphics. The upgrades were free courtesy Intel :D

    Definitely a gaming upgrade from the 6000 but I really am not too impressed with the overall performance. My desktop 'feels' faster. I think it has a lot to do with ram, and having 2gb in the laptop should make a huge difference.

    System works flawlessly still, but the screen has some play in it..ie does not stay where you put it exactly.
     
    Last edited: Jun 1, 2007
  14. RandyB

    RandyB Banned

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    I've had a few Dell laptops in the past and although they seemed to be pretty fast overall, the build quality left a lot to be desired. As well, the service and support seems to have gone right down the tubes (IMHO).
    I believe the best one ever was the Toshiba Satellite 5200 - first with DVD-RW, three spindle design, remote control, HK speakers, subwoofer, U**A, etc., etc. The one I had was over three years old when I sold it a couple of months ago for $1000(cad).
    This time around, I went with an Asus barebones Z71V; 15.4 S**A+ screen (1680X1050 - very sweet), 1.86 Dothan, 2GBs dual channel RAM, 80GB SATA main drive, 80GB PATA secondary drive to swap with the CDRW drive, wireless A,B,G, multi card reader and a Geforce MODULAR6600/128MB video card. I'm loving this laptop. It does everything and does it well...good performance, good build, HAPPY HAPPY!:bigsmile:
    BTW: anyone looking to purchase - wait for another month or so. All the major vendors are starting to ship the new Dual Core lappies...Dell, HP, Fujitsu, Acer - and Toshiba does it once again with their new Qosmio (not yet available) with DC and the first HD-DVD drive!
    This will be an exciting year!:dave:
     
  15. OldGuy932

    OldGuy932 Master Guru

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    GPU:
    Radeon 3850 / 3870 Crossfire
    I own a Nobilis Laptop (Made by Equus).

    1.73 Ghz Pentium-M 533mhz FSB
    1Gb DDR2 Ram
    X600 128mb Graphics
    17in Widescreen Lcd
    75Gb Hd
    3 Year No-Fault Warranty, except on the screen.
    What this does is that if anything goes wrong with the laptop within the next 3 years is that I can send it back and get it fixed free of charge. The screen they only replace free of charge 1 time.

    The only thing I find somewhat wierd about this brand is that I cant find the model for this anywhere on the Equus website. It runs most game pretty well when its plugged in, not sure about when on the road. It gets around 2 hours of battery life on average, more if the wireless is turned off. Drivers can also be a problem, I called the reseller that I bought the laptop from like 2.5 weeks ago about where to get an updated video driver, and when I called him back, the company still hadn't gotten back to him, which could prove to be a downside. Its probably to only reason I'd switch to another manufacturer, but the warranty is really nice, even if it does cost an extra 200 USD.
     

  16. eat@joes

    eat@joes Maha Guru

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    GPU:
    Sapphire AMD 6850
    Gateway 7422GX
    1GB DDR333 (not dual channel :-(
    ATI Mobility 9600 64MB (256 aperature) w/ Omega (5.13) drivers
    Athlon64 3400 CLAWWWHAMMMERRRRRR!! It's seriously ass-whomping good.
    15.4" widescreen extra bright
    80GB Hitachi 5400RPM
    VIA K8T800 northbridge

    This laptop gives me a rubbery one every time I use it. I've had it for about a year now and haven't had 1 problem with it. It can encode so well, while multi-tasking. It's certainly not top o' the line, but it runs awesome. The clawhammer is such a good core (plus it keeps my little girly legs warm).
     
  17. Mod Enerjen

    Mod Enerjen Member Guru

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    GPU:
    Geforce 7800
    Similar to the Compact R3000,

    My Notebooks Specs:
    HP Pavilion zv5000z series
    15.4 inch WXGA
    Athlon 64 3700+ (4 stars out of 5, driver installation a hassle,
    512MB ram
    Geforce 4 440 Go 64MB (1 star out of 5)
    60 Gb hdd 4200 rpm (1 star out of 5, I'm replacing this with a faster one)
    dvd/cd-rw combo
    Harmon Kardon speakers (4.5 stars out of 5)

    Overall, 3 stars out of 5

    I got mine for a good deal because I used several online coupons.
    The Pavilion zv6000z's aren't all that impressive either. uses 128MB ATI RADEON(R) XPRESS 200M w/Hypermemory(TM), so unless you don't care about video. In that case I would recommend HP if you customized the zv6000z with the top-of-the-line parts in terms of speed.
     
    Last edited: Jan 17, 2006
  18. RandyB

    RandyB Banned

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    HIS HD4870/Samsung2343BWX
    WOW! It just amazes me why any company would put together an otherwise high-end notebook and then stick a crappy 4 year old video chip inside! ...not even DX8. Even Intel integrated would have been better. At least it's DX9. I hope you got a really good deal!:)
    BTW: I guess all the companies are trying to get rid of their 4200rpm drives. There should be a law against sticking a 4200rpm drive in a modern notebook!
     
    Last edited: Jan 17, 2006
  19. orenda635

    orenda635 Ancient Guru

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    Geforce 4 isn't DirectX 9, it's a DX8 card. Only Geforce FX and above use DX9. It is a pretty crappy card. Onboard memory aside, my laptop has a better gfx card than my Dad's.
     
  20. EDogg007

    EDogg007 Guest

    i personally like compaq's Evo line. I have one right now and it's been great. i bought mine off of Ebay for $610.00 US.

    Specs:
    P4-m 1.7ghz
    1gig PC2700
    30gb 5400 rpm
    DVD- ROm
    Radeon 7500 32mb
     

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