Need laptop suggestions

[doublehooked]

Well I guess it is time to replace my 10 year old desk top computer with a laptop for home and motorhome. I'm looking for suggestions as to what brand and how reliable they are? Is customer service good etc.
What size memory and hard drive do you really need? No games, just email, web searching and photos and some music.

Any advice is appreciated.

Thanks
Gary

[John Hilley]

There are a lot of $300 to $400 laptops available at Walmart, Best Buy, Office Max etc. They have become commodity items and most are very reliable. Most have a 1yr warranty. You can get warranty extensions of about $60 for an additional 2yrs. Dell, Acer, HP, Compaq, Asus are all good brands.

[Batman_777]

Best Buy has the best Laptop deals around. With so many choices, a consumer needs to get educated on the basics in order to make a knowlegeable informed decision.

I would get an HP Laptop to start. Vista or Windows 7, 4GB memory, 250GB hard drive, 15" min screen, carry case, built-in networking hard-wire NIC and Wireless, for basics.

Then customize to your personal needs like:
- Extra CPU or more powerful for number-crunching apps (CAD)
- Extreme Video Card (Gamers)
- Extra Memory (Data-base and other memory hog applications) DDR3 is faster than DDR2
- Laptop Mouse
- Extra Disk / Storage Space (Photo and Video Libraries)
- Everyday computing, High Performance and the Ultimate Laptop
- DVD or Blue Ray
- Enhanced Sound
- Warranty
- Type of Video Screen (TFT, BrightView, etc)
- Office Suite for Word, Power Point, Outlook, Excel, etc
- Extra Battery


You'll easily run, $600-1,000 for a quality mid-range Laptop and up to $2,000 + for a high end Laptop. Of course you can find cheap stuff, but you get what you paid for.

[94-Newmar]

I prefer Toshiba's. Have several of them and have never had any issues with the hardware. They invented the laptop..,,

[ischua]

For basic usage you can't beet the price
http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/s...&zipcode=14737

[chiefdave]

Office Depot has a HP 15" display, 3G Ram, 320 HD for $320 dollars. Best price around. I have been checking prices for myself. HP's are very good units.

[1ciderdog]

How about thoughts & suggestions for software for personal things such as photos, addresses, word processing, email & small databases?

[ccook129]

Go to The Dell outlet store,new and refurbished with full warranty.

[Stevegd007]

I have had 2 HP laptop just die. Both within 1 year of each. They were both just like 1 month over the warranty. One the display just quit and would not work. The 2 second had the mother board/hard drive die at the same time. No abuse, just sitting on the table top and one day they died. So I have a thing about never buying or using an HP laptop again. Have also had Dell laptops (several) without every having had a problem.

[stearn]

We just replaced our desktop with a HP 17" screen,320GB, 4 GIG memory. When using at home we have a wireless keyboard, printer, and mouse. With the larger screen we did not find the need to buy a monitor. When traveling we just take the laptop and printer.
I still have an older hp laptop that's going on nine years, good service so far!

[1ciderdog]

Steve - It must be the "luck of the draw" thing. My two Dell laptops caused me problems but my HP laptop has stood up extremely well, no problems, and I have had it for about six years. With my Dell I had to talk to people in India or Pakistan or who knows where several times to resolve problems but with the HP laptop I never had a problem of any kind. I'm getting ready to get a new laptop and will look at everything I can but would take a HP over Dell. JUst a difference in our personal experiences.

[UFO Pilot]

We have a 17" Dell and a 15" Toshiba. Both have given good service. Look at Costco, they usually have good prices.

[AFChap]

I have used a wide variety of laptop brands in the past purchased by the government. Now that I am paying for them I will buy only Toshiba or Dell, in that order. From your desciription, and from what I have seen in stores recently, you should be able to get a mid-range machine of either brand for under $1k.

[Jol912]

Those Microsoft models are ok, but my personal opinion is you can't beat a Mac. Never have to worry about virus and the dreaded Norton software, easy to use, reliable, yes a little pricy, but worth every penny. I will never have anything but a Mac. For fun times the Ipad is great too. Very portable but not good for serious work. So before you buy, at least take a look at the Macs. I have never met a Mac user that was unhappy! Happy shopping.