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Dako
Posted on Monday, August 18, 2008 - 10:13 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only)

I'm looking for a new laptop. Having never owned one, I'm here seeking advice on quality, customer service...Basicly over all opinions on the way to go.

I'm not a gamer. I just do a lot of... *eh*hem*"video editing"(no, not pron. Well not much.), so I need something along the lines of...2gh or higher core2duo. I know I can upgrade the ram and HD for cheap.

Thanks in advance for your 2 cents.
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Mikef5000
Posted on Monday, August 18, 2008 - 10:25 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only)

I love HP laptops. Very high quality, and good internals.

There's quite a few on sale right now for $699. Walmart has one among others.
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Henry_the_8th
Posted on Monday, August 18, 2008 - 10:37 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only)

I too will be in the market for a laptop soon. I am just about fed up with the inadequacies of a PC. It may be time to go Mac. I'm going to sit back and watch this unfold...
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Buellinachinashop
Posted on Monday, August 18, 2008 - 10:44 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only)



Panasonic Toughbook is what I'm getting for Christmas from the little lady. I'm tough on stuff.

Toughbook 30

Genuine Windows Vista® Business (with XP downgrade option)

* Full magnesium alloy case with handle
* Mobile broadband and GPS capable
* Intel® Centrino® processor technology with Intel® Core™ 2 Duo processor
* Sealed all-weather design
* Wireless Ready, Fully-rugged MIL-STD-810F Tested

* 80GB shock-mounted removable HDD in stainless steel case
* Up to 1,000 Nit screen brightness for unparalleled outdoor readability
* Mobile broadband ready for Alltel, AT&T, Sprint and Verizon Wireless networks
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Firebolt020283
Posted on Monday, August 18, 2008 - 10:54 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only)

macbook
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Barker
Posted on Monday, August 18, 2008 - 10:59 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only)

macbook +1

get a macbook w/ superdrive and a good amount of ram.

if you want to use the "Motion" you need a macbook pro.

I always get the deals in "special deals" refirb with full warranty mostly old stock.

http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/specialdeals
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Danger_dave
Posted on Monday, August 18, 2008 - 11:01 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only)

My laptop gets smaller if I exercise more.
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Bbbob
Posted on Monday, August 18, 2008 - 11:09 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only)

+1 macbook
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Dynasport
Posted on Monday, August 18, 2008 - 11:11 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only)

I am going Mac from now on, but my wife has to have a PC because of her job. We have always bought Toshiba laptops in the PC arena based on advice from computer professional friends. Until the last one anyway. My wife accidentally fried her laptop (milk into a keyboard on a laptop fries motherboards apparently). We went shopping and ended up with a really good deal on a Compaq, so we are giving that a shot. Too soon to tell so far.

The next computer I buy for myself will be some type of Macbook.
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Dako
Posted on Monday, August 18, 2008 - 11:14 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only)

Macbooks might be great for shopping on ebay, surfin the web, n checkin your email, But in my opinion Apple is waaayyyy to proprietary!(in regards to video and audio formats) and nobody makes the the kind of software I use for the "Mac". Believe me, I hate Microsoft as much as the next guy, but everything I use is based around their OS.

I should clarify "video editing". I re-encode movies and music. Make DVD formats from AVI, XVID, MPEG, and so on. Mac just won't work 4 me. I've heard that the people who have em love em though.
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Barker
Posted on Monday, August 18, 2008 - 11:14 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only)

"wife has to have a PC because of her job."

they do run winders.

At one point the macbook was the faster windows laptop you could buy.
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Firebolt020283
Posted on Monday, August 18, 2008 - 11:15 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only)

dyna you can always use parelles or bootcamp and have both osx and windows if need be.
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Barker
Posted on Monday, August 18, 2008 - 11:17 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only)

"apple is waaayyyy to proprietary!(in regards to video and audio formats)"





can I buy some weed from you?
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Dako
Posted on Monday, August 18, 2008 - 11:32 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only)

Uh. Barker, Are you trying to say that one could use a macbook to convert an xvid or mkv format video file to mpeg1 with a screen res of 704 x 480?

Or how bout just drag and drop some mp3s or wma files into an Ipod and they'll work?
Maybe I've been misinformed.


Oh! I get it now, You think I'm high because I spelled "too" to. My bad, that is funny.
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Teddagreek
Posted on Monday, August 18, 2008 - 11:44 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only)

Ditched the Desktop years ago.. Its so good to be free of the desk..


I have a Compaq basically a HP very good so far.. Better than the others I've had..



Research, Research!!!!! What do you want and what do you need...
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Bjbauer
Posted on Monday, August 18, 2008 - 11:44 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only)

MacBook Pro. We have three MacBooks and 3 Apple desktops in our family and will never go back to Windows. I still have to use some of them at my business and they are way more trouble than any Mac I have owned.
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Corporatemonkey
Posted on Tuesday, August 19, 2008 - 07:49 am:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only)

+64000 Macbook/Pro. Or in my case I got an 8 core Mac Pro for my developer last year (cost more than my Buell)

I re-encode movies and music.

Um... you do know that some of the best re-encoding software was developed first on the mac? Handbrake, mac first. H.264 encoding, yep mac again, Divx encoding, fast as hell on OSX.

I know what you are going to ask next, and yes there are several nice bittorrent clients for OSX.






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Mnbueller
Posted on Tuesday, August 19, 2008 - 07:59 am:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only)

MAC - Great computer. You can now run windows on a mac. but they are expensive.

HP - probably your best option. Great computers at a resonable price.

Steer away from Dell, Acer, all the "cheap" brands. Where I work we use Dell's, and they are lets say unstable. Some days its slow, some its fast, some days it crashes for no reason.
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Jimduncan69
Posted on Tuesday, August 19, 2008 - 08:14 am:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only)

Corperatemonkey nailed it right on the head!!!!

i ran pc's for years in my recording studio, i switched to a macbook pro about 8 month's ago. it was the best thing i have ever done. it has not crashed on me once. the speed is unbelievable. plus macs are the best computer you can get for audio and video editing and recording.

i will never by another pc again. if i need windows i will just run it in parallels!
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Reepicheep
Posted on Tuesday, August 19, 2008 - 09:32 am:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only)

I've noticed that over the last few years the Thinkpads (Levono) seem to be getting worse, and the Dells seem to be getting better, FWIW.

For either, I would stay away from the "consumer" line and go for the "economy business" line.

Also, I would consider splitting roles... get a big honking desktop for your video conversions. Something with a mediocre graphics card, big fast disks, lots of ram, and a couple of dual core high end AMD chips (for a quad processor box). All in a booring grey box that takes up a lot space and puts out a boatload of heat.

And think of the laptop as more of a thin client machine.
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Froggy
Posted on Tuesday, August 19, 2008 - 10:03 am:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only)

+1 Dell or HP.



quote:

Um... you do know that some of the best re-encoding software was developed first on the mac?




Yes, same with early gaming, I remember playing Oregon Trail with stick figures and a black and green screen on a Mac. Look at the Apple gaming selection today.....
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Josh_
Posted on Tuesday, August 19, 2008 - 10:15 am:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only)

Dell Inspirons and Vostros are very poor quality, Latitudes are decent.

I like IBM/Lenovo, Toshiba and Sony, but HP tends to have better prices.

While Buy.com and others have great deals on refubs, HP does a 30% off online every 3 or 4 months.
Slickdeals.net and techbargains.com are the places I watch for deals.
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Gtmg
Posted on Tuesday, August 19, 2008 - 10:39 am:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only)

Buy a Mac. One of the unspoken advantages is that they last a lot longer than your typical computer. With the issue of every new version of Windows there is more processing power and ram needed and therefore new hardware.

We have Macs at home and my kids have laptops at college. Indestructible and no virus issues. All of their friends are on their second version.
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Court
Posted on Tuesday, August 19, 2008 - 11:34 am:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only)

I just had two Lenovo T-61's (yeah, two in the same briefcase) stolen.

I'm going Mac Powerbook. I hate to confess it but when I look around the room here at Butler Library and see 85-90% Macs . . . well, that's my research.

One of the benefits of being an old man in a crowd of young Ph.D students.
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Trackdad
Posted on Tuesday, August 19, 2008 - 11:59 am:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only)

Court.......now you're a Librarian?!!
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Bcordb3
Posted on Tuesday, August 19, 2008 - 12:07 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only)

macbook +
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Lost_in_ohio
Posted on Tuesday, August 19, 2008 - 12:14 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only)

I refuse to pay big bucks for a laptop. The last couple I have purchased have been in the $350 range. THat way when they get obsoleted in a year I don't feel so bad and can get a new one. Plus getting $350 stolen is a lot better than $1000.
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Bill0351
Posted on Tuesday, August 19, 2008 - 12:45 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only)

I was in Best Buy when they clearanced their Toshiba Satalite line. It's a 1.6 ghz Pentium Dual CPU (whatever that means)with 2 gig of RAM. Oh, it has 110 gig of storage. The clearance price of the computer was $280.00 and the memory upgrade was $60.00. I bought two of them and I wish I had bought every one they had. We have had them for 3 months or so and it has been perfect for my daughters gaming, and my basic needs.

I just can't see spending $1,000.00 more than that for an Apple if you don't need one.

It's like the kid who buys a GSXR1000 when he can't even use the performance of a Blast.

Bill

(Message edited by bill0351 on August 19, 2008)
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Gentleman_jon
Posted on Tuesday, August 19, 2008 - 12:49 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only)

Two words:

Mac

Intosh


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Greenlantern
Posted on Tuesday, August 19, 2008 - 01:27 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Custodian/Admin Only)

Mac. It's only more expensive up front. Microsoft/ 3rd party vendors will get that price difference back from you within 18 months for os upgrades, additional software, virus protection / spamware/ spyware and whatever other nonsense you PC people put up with in the course of a day. Oh did I mention your box will be obsolete by the time you get all the kinks out. I only wish my Ipods lasted as long as my Macs.
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