Giving In - Laptop Help...

[chrisnrae]

I am buying a laptop next week and need some help (yes, believe it or not, I've never had the need for one before now LOL). What are the best brands, models? What are the "must have" features? I want to be able to connect via hotspots when traveling and also to network with my home computer and access my home computer's broadband access while at home without having to hook up to anything. In addition, I want to be able to have a webcam with me when I travel (kids at home). These may sound like basic questions, but I am a "net geek" and not a "computer geek" ;).

Any advice, tips, suggestions, etc appreciated.

[PatrickDeese]

here are two fairly recent threads on laptops:

[webmasterworld.com...]

[webmasterworld.com...]

[chrisnrae]

Thanks Patrick... after reading the threads and doing some research and going to the store to look some over, I am looking at Emachines M6410 - anyone have any experience with Emachines at all and/or this model?

[werty]

Hello Chrisnrae,

I actually just purchased an emachines 6805, and I love the thing. I was kinda of worried, because I heard that their desktops are(were?) garbage, but I had 2 extreme tech/nerd types recommend E-Machines laptops to me. One look at my friends in person convinced me. Here is a quick review of the features:

Value: a lot of machine for the price. Around 1250 after rebates
Size: large and bulky, good for the lap, but not so good for toting around town everyday. Weighs about 7-8 lbs.
Screen: huge bright wide screen
Speed: faster then my desktops
Ram: enough - 512

Other features:
WiFi: built in wifi, supports 802.11g, which is the 54mbs high speed wifi, which is a nice feature
"6 way multimedia card slots": I thought this feature was worthless, but it actually got me to use my digital camera more often, so it gets a + on that.
USB ports: I only use 2 at a time, but i think it has 4 or 5 so there is more than enough.
Firewire: nice to have, my ipod loves it.
Dual monitor support: I totally unplugged my desktop at home and hooked up that monitor.

Downside: Windows XP Home. I installed XP Professional and lost all the software that comes pre-installed, such as Works, Money the cd burning and DVD watching software, so that sucked, since I paid for it. E-machines basically said oh well, but I got good support from the third parties.

Anyhow, I love the thing and can do all of my desktop work on it, it does not slow down with Photoshop, Illustrator or 20 browser windows open (c:

[chrisnrae]

Thanks werty - I was reading over at Cnet about it and seems a ton of people were suprised. 76 reviews and only one thumbs down ;). So, that will be what I am going with. Seems to be the biggest bang for the buck. Thanks again for the extra input - it helps since Emachines name does indeed make most computer people go "ick".

[werty]

No problem, let me know how it works out for you.

[eWhisper]

I just recently purhased a laptop (dell inspirion 9100 - very customized), and my favorite feature is the 15.2 widescreen display (wuxga), along with a 128mb graphics card (hard to find good graphics cards in laptops.

With the widescreen, I can have two applications open next to each other for quick reference without having to alt-tab to another window.

It's not a laptop I'd want to haul around all the time (7.5 lbs), but with wheeled backpack, its not too bad.

[jcoronella]

I have a dell and would buy one again. (8200 predecessor to 8600?) I have ABUSED it and it is very tough. It's heavy, but it's fairly rugged. I've dropped it several times on cement while waiting for the train.

I DID have one problem - one day it stopped turning on (see "dropped on cement above" for why I accepted this failure and still recommend dell). I bought the '3 year mail-in insurance plan' which is a must have for any laptop. They had someone at my door within a few hours, replaced everything on the laptop (including my dirty/worn keyboard) and had it back in my hands in 3 working days.

That said, I would probably consider an IBM because others I know have had luck with them and I've never owned one.

My Laptop Ownership History: NEC, Sony, Dell

[ukgimp]

Dell X300

Top buy :)