Best Laptop maker?

[mr_smartepants]

I have owned both Gateway and Dell notebooks and they are both running fine. The gateway is roughly three years old (prior to the eMachines merger) and the Dell is ~6-7 years old (P3, ATI Rage).

While Toshiba makes nice machines, I've had to repair two notebooks with broken power input connections (cold-solder joints to the mainboard). I've also had trouble installing XP on the new Toshiba line for a few customers who don't like Vista (no XP driver support).

YMMV.

[amit_talkin]

Toshiba is best if u can afford it. otherwise Dell seems good.

[andrewpayne]

I own a Toshiba P3500 Tablet, Dell D600, Dell X200, Dell X300, Dell D505, IBM ThinkPad X41 Tablet and a Sony Vaio FS - my fave (old) laptop is the ThinkPad. However both the Sony and IBM have been upgraded with 1GB RAM and both run Vista Premium - but the Sony performs better with the built in NVidia Graphics Chip.

Brand New Laptops - Dell D520 with Core2 Duo and Sony Vaio FE41S are my best picks - the Sony comes STANDARD with 2GB RAM, 160GB HDD and Vista Premium for £800+VAT which is double the price of the equivalent Dell - but has a fantastic widescreen 15.4" LCD screen. Sweet!

[Zxian]

I'd have to suggest Dell, for two reasons. Their tech support, although it might not be based in the States, is actually top notch. I've had a couple of minor issues with my two dell systems years ago, and then just a few months ago, and they were very kind and prudent with their service, unlike some other companies (*cough* HP/Compaq *cough*).

Secondly - CompleteCare. It's accidental coverage of the laptop for a very minimal price. $100 on top of the 3 year warranty for any type of accidental damage - drop it, spill liquid on it, whatever. Call then up, tell them what happened, and they'll take care of the rest.

[ripken204]

I'd have to suggest Dell, for two reasons. Their tech support, although it might not be based in the States, is actually top notch. I've had a couple of minor issues with my two dell systems years ago, and then just a few months ago, and they were very kind and prudent with their service, unlike some other companies (*cough* HP/Compaq *cough*).

Secondly - CompleteCare. It's accidental coverage of the laptop for a very minimal price. $100 on top of the 3 year warranty for any type of accidental damage - drop it, spill liquid on it, whatever. Call then up, tell them what happened, and they'll take care of the rest.

ya thats why i recommend dell alot, only for their great customer service. they cant diagnose problems well at all but when you need something fixed, they are happy to do it.