Laptop Advice

[dyazdani]

My wife wants to get a laptop for school (she is a teacher). I'm looking for something under $1000 for sure. What experiences do you have with various brands or what would you recommend?

She won't need anything beyond standard features - ethernet connectivity and basic software should be fine.

[Vinny]

I've a Toshiba and HP and have used various brands through friends and relatives. And I am getting another IBM for replacing the HP for my gf.

The best price/performance you can get out there is Dell, which gets lower build quality(not the lowest compare to Compaq, yet it's still one of the lowest out there). If you plan on replacing the laptop every 1.5-2 years, they are decent for their price. 10% off for education as I could remember. But only get the inspiron but not latitude.

If you want the best build quality, the IBM(Lenovo) hands down. Sold to Lenovo and many people complained about build quality but IBM's laptop were actually made by Lenovo "before" it's sold to Lenovo(So pretty much BS for the complains). Most expensive for price/performance out there but you get the best build quality and service. In average they last 3-5years depends on how you abuse them. Most students/teachers can have 20% off or employees get 30% off. Low side it's still the price/performance and it's not as new as Dell is.

Toshiba is in the middle of two and lean toward to the IBM side. My portege 3505(first generation tablet PC) lasted 2.5years after I abused them daily by put it into my backpack and ride the bike to school every single day(not to mention tripped couple of times). The fan of the laptop is broken and I don't have time to take it 50miles away for repair. Couldn't really expect more out of that from the way I abused it. However I wasn't too happy with the service they offer within the warranty.

HP wasn't the best out there but it was cheap when I bought it 3.5 years ago for my gf. It was a desktop replacement and worked well. Slow and loads of additional software but my gf just used it for internet and basic office work. Build quality is not bad but too heavy comparatively.


If you were ask me what would I pick I'd go for the IBM(Lenovo).Lower models like R or Z series and get the 3years warranty with protection will be within $1000. It's almost 300 or something for the warranty with protection but they fix for anything hardware and the protection offers replacement for accidental spill(which kills the mainboard)/screen crack. I would take that for any clumsy moment that everyone has.

But yet I'd ask for your other half's opinion. If she wants to replace it every 2years or so, go for Dell. For long term go for IBM :B

Hope it helps :B

[dyazdani]

I agree that the Dell gives you the most for the money from what I've seen. No argument that you also get the cheapest quality parts. I tried to look at the teacher discounts, I saw about 3-4% savings...

I looked at Lenovo, they are just a bit too much $$ unless you go for the "outlet store" models.

One of our other HTG friends recently got a Mac Book, so I'm looking at that. Not sure if my wife would be comfortable with getting one from the dark side. It also comes with about a 5% discount for teachers.

[dyazdani]

Actually (I just thought about this), she's technically a college student AND a full time teacher, so I can get either discount I suppose.

I think Apple is giving a free iPod to college students for certain deals :T

[Vinny]

I thought Dell's doing 10 on teacher? Anyway it's 5 for students which can't really attract anyone for it.

For Lenovo outlet store models are usually one generation older, which is actually half generation older for now. This is because the Core Duo replaced the P-M and it did not change anything else for the new generation. The one I'm getting is also from the Outlet :B

As laptop gets tough to replace/repair I would put extra money into it as I don't want it breaks that often. And I cannot fix them(which is the biggest problem). A little too much at the beginning but over time it worths it.

I've encountered a couple MacBook that some friends bought them a while ago. They aren't fast but pretty stable. The keyboard did not give me good feeling compare to Toshiba or Lenovo laptops but the touchpad was pretty good. However if you compare their desktop and laptop price, the MacBook is decent deal for getting a laptop compare to desktop/laptop leap in PC. Unfortunately my gf never used a mac that is out of my consideration.

Apple constantly giving out iPods to colleges. Don't be surprised for that :B

[dyazdani]

I just bought a 2.0 GHz MacBook and a 30 GB iPod :T They're giving a rebate of $179 towards the iPod, plus we get the student discount so it worked out to be only $90.

I don't have much experience with Macs, but I'm about to figure it out!

[aud19]

I was going to recommend Toshiba, Fujitsu, Sony and IBM/Lenovo (generally cheapest to more expensive and "better" quality) but it looks like I'm too late :lol:

[dyazdani]

Yeah, I looked at all the ones you mentioned. I decided it was time to try a Mac and the rebate was attractive as was the education discount.

Thanks

[mjb]

Danish, when I saw this thread, I was going to suggest a MacBook especially with their education discount. So, congratulations, I hope she'll be very happy with it!