Laptop recommendation

[ssgatbliss]

I'm looking for a laptop for travel, nothing special. I have all the software I need so I don't want to pay for it again via Dell/Gateway. It will be used for e-mail, MS Office, Visual Studio 2005. Just something to plug in at the hotel so I can get my work done while I'm traveling. Any recommendations on companies that you have used?

Thanks!

[Zxian]

What's your price point? That'll play a role in what you can get.

Any preference on size? I know my father won't travel with anything larger than a 12" screen, because otherwise the laptops are too heavy. On the other hand, my hands are large, so I can't type on any of those tiny keyboards.

Do you need lots of battery life, or just a portable computer that can be used on occasion without being plugged in?

Dell and Lenovo would be my first two picks. Asus makes some nice laptops, but they can be pretty pricey. Just make sure that if you get the Dell, get the CompleteCare package. It's accidental protection (against pretty much everything except theft) so if you drop it or spill coffee on it, they'll fix it or replace it.

[ssgatbliss]

I'm trying to keep the price down as much as possible, I don't need any bling just functionality. Size/weight doesn't really matter and it will spend most of it's time plugged in so neither is battery life. Like I said I have software (XP/Vista/Office, etc) so I'm looking for just a machine. I hate to pay Dell $150+ for software I already have. Just wondering if anyone had any luck with a brand other than the likes of Dell/Gateway/HP.

[Zxian]

You might want to look into purchasing a barebones laptop and adding the necessary components. You'll be able to use your own software on it without any troubles, and the price would be up to you.

[jcarle]

If you're really tight on the budget, you may want to look at Acer laptops. They're inexpensive and perform well for their price.

[puntoMX]

If you're really tight on the budget, you may want to look at Acer laptops. They're inexpensive and perform well for their price.

I agree with that...

Just a tip, take the ones that have 6 powercells and up.

[prx984]

Why not get a decent used laptop? I have had very good luck with them. Dell's older notebooks hold up very well in the way of reliability and quality. I still have a really old Latitude XPi CD

A Pentium 4/Celeron/AMD Athlon notebook would probably be good for what your planning on doing.

However, for a brand new notebook, I'd have to recommend Dell or Toshiba as Zxian said. I have had exceptional luck with both companies. I recently bought a Toshiba Satellite A100 for about 600 dollars CAD and it's a very well rounded notebook for the price. I dumped Vista from it and loaded Windows XP Professional as Vista OEM (the OEM discs that is) was way too much for the computer. A clean install of either XP or Vista is what I recommend on this model computer. It's a Celeron M 430 @ 1.73Ghz with 533Mhz FSB, 1GB DDR2 Ram (533Mhz), 80GB SATA HDD, ATi Radeon m200 320MB PCIe Video, and a 15.4" widescreen display. It's a very light notebook for it's size too. I think it's ether 6Lbs or just over.

Edited May 18, 2007 by prx984