My son needs a laptop for school. Please help!

[anner2050]

My son is going away to college in Sept, and is looking at different laptops. He is looking to spend between $700-$900. He doesn't need one to play games, it will only be used for email, word processing, etc. Does anyone have any ideas. He was considering a Dell Studio 15(1558) or a HP Pavilion G62-134. He was told to stay away from Dell for their bad service and parts. Does anyone have any suggestions as to a good brand name. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

He was thinking of these basic specs:
i3 350 intel processor
4gb ram
15.6" screen

[miztia]

I still stand behind my toshiba I got from future shop. Its got everything. $399 on sale, and never had a problem with it. I was leary about buying it because it was cheap but figured I new enough about puters if it was going to give me trouble atleast they werent going to soak me for more money.

[gourmetsue]

We have a Lenovo which are apparently part of IBM (per my geeky DH). My in laws have the same one and the thing is a work horse. I love it. I think we paid about $800 for it. It came with Windows 7 on it too.

Ours gets used probably 16 hours a day 7 days a week and I love it.

I'd stay far far away from anything Acer. I've had a Dell in the past and while it was ok, I much prefer the one we have now.

Here is a link

http://www.canadacomputers.com/produ...item_id=031745

btw Canada Computers is a great place to get stuff. We get everything from there.

[Sally888]

I have an Acer and absolutely love it, its the BEST computer I've ever owned. My husbands work is European and only uses acer. People think its a lesser brand since its from across the pond but they are great computers!

Lenovo (ibm) are a great brand too but stay away from dell, their customer service is really hard to understand and they are just not that great of computers, my laptop from dell lasted maybe a year.

Youd be best off to wait until August to buy one because their will be tons of back to school sales

[Sally888]

oh and this one I got last year has
2ddr 4gig ram
500gb memory
nvidia graphics
t8000
hdmi
18.6' screen
5.1 surround sound
intel
windows 7

and tons of other stuff and it cost me under 1000 with tax

[eriluo]

I agree wholeheartedly about staying away from Dell! That was my first ever laptop and that experience was full of nightmares. I am on my second one now and it's a Toshiba and I really like it! For work, I have an HP laptop and the problem with HP is they put all kinds of their add-ons and software which weighs down your memory space et al. So I agree with miztia, toshiba is a good choice!

[Eeyah]

toshiba all the way, DH and I each have one and they've held up well

[ninna]

toshiba all the way, DH and I each have one and they've held up well

I agree with Eeyah! Toshiba all the way.

DH is a total clutz and once bumped his Toshiba--sending it from the board table onto a concrete floor in a meeting. There was a frozen silence from the room as he picked it up...someone else spotted the label and said, "Oh. It'll be FINE. It's a Toshiba!"

and it WAS pefectly fine. Not a scratch on it. Nothing.

I have an Acer. Can't stand it. (Sorry Sally, I see that you like them). I think mine was a cheapo Acer (don't know for sure cuz I got it free) but the battery is fried and can no longer be even inside the computer because if the battery is in, it makes the computer go funky on me and freeze up. So I've got a laptop with no battery-- Kinda defeats the purpose imo. LOL. And the cord where it plugs in the back for electricity had to be stripped and re-soldered by DH on numerous occasions.

IBM is also good but I think they're a little more pricey in the store. I had an IBM Thinkpad (not sure they make them anymore) and that thing was a soldier! Most reliable laptop I ever, ever had. I finally had to let it go because it was 10 years old and too slow by today's standards to process the new software and stuff. I miss it though. Would buy another one of those in a heartbeat!

[Sally888]

Oh no trash Acer as you please lol! I just think their amazing and Its the best computer I've ever owned and thats about 5 or 6 different brands.

[Miss_April]

I have a sony laptop and it's fabulous!! I have bashed this baby around and it still works great and looks great.

[DH666]

I have only purchased Toshiba laptops. I have had a problem with the first one, but that was the hard drive only. Replaced it and it worked fine until the replacement hard drive konked out. (IBM hard drive). I still have it and it works fine and it's 7 or 8 years old. The other two I have had 0 problems and love them. I have had an IBM Thinkpad at work and now have a Lenovo Thinkpad. (IBM spin off BTW still controlled by them). They work OK, but they are ugly, At least the Toshibas I have look pretty.

[FallenPixels]

Another Toshiba fan, I got mine on sale for under $600 last year (I didn't need one so waited until I seen a great price) and I love it

I have a Dell at work and it sucks, like my first (and only) Dell for personal use did - it fried the first time I turned it on because they had set up the power on it wrong, the replacement's harddrive didn't work and the replacement they gave me, which was supposed to be an upgrade was slow and fried just after the warranty ran out

[ninna]

I have only purchased Toshiba laptops. I have had a problem with the first one, but that was the hard drive only. Replaced it and it worked fine until the replacement hard drive konked out. (IBM hard drive). I still have it and it works fine and it's 7 or 8 years old. The other two I have had 0 problems and love them. I have had an IBM Thinkpad at work and now have a Lenovo Thinkpad. (IBM spin off BTW still controlled by them). They work OK, but they are ugly, At least the Toshibas I have look pretty.

haha. Yeah, IBM never had the sexy look going on, this is true. DD has an IBM and it looks almost identical to my 10 year old beater Thinkpad. I don't think they ever changed the look of them in all the years they've produced them.

The benefit to the IBM's for us was the way the power cord connected to the back of them with those 4 pronged pluggie things (versus the one pin pluggie one most laptops have). It doesn't matter what brand of laptop we've had since, we're always running into issues with that 1-pin pluggie at the back and the power adapter wires snapping, melting etc. right at the place where it plugs in.

Aww, Sally, I wasn't bashing Acer! I just don't like mine because it's got issues...but that doesn't mean they're all bad. Mine's probably just a lemon. LOL. Maybe it got made on a Friday night shift at the factory when everyone just wanted to get home for the weekend. hahaha.

Intersting though--haven't heard from any mac users yet. That ought to heat the old debate up! LOL. CBC did an interesting funny-news bit on Mac versus PC and whether your computer preferences are important in selecting your future mate. It was kinda funny...

[lekate]

Oh no trash Acer as you please lol! I just think their amazing and Its the best computer I've ever owned and thats about 5 or 6 different brands.

When it comes to ACER you get what you pay for! Anything low end isn't worth it, anything high end is.

My pick is Samsung, they just started selling them in NA, but I bought mine over 4 years ago on a trip to S. Korea...I LOVED IT! My power adaptor kicked the bucket and I decided against ordering one from waaaay across the pond, although I could get expensive ones from Britain (they've sold Samsung brand laptops for years).

But make sure your son turns it off when not in use, keeping it on all the time to "play music" will ruin it (more or less what's happened to my friends, I think it helps in burning the battery...). Make sure he has a proper bag for a laptop, with the sleeve and everything, a knapsack is probably better since it keeps it in place better. And when he's at school studying with it, for the love of god, to bring it to the washroom when he pees. I had to hear enough whiners from when people got their laptops stolen from Carleton to figure that it may be awkward, but not 1000$ awkward....

[tmiller2]

He was told to stay away from Dell for their bad service and parts.

I've never had a problem with Dell, and in fact find their service to be great.

They have a great buy now pay months later service, and offer the option to have a dell technician come to you if anything is wrong with your computer, instead of taking to the shops.

They also have a live online service that will guide you if you fancy attempting to fix anything yourself.

I would suggest sticking to Dell. You can't go wrong with them from my experience.