What's the best PC laptop brand?

[bigdaddy]

I'm moving away for a bit and need a laptop for when I am gone. Right now I'm using a Dell desktop... from 8 years ago.

I move next Tuesday and need a laptop ASAP. I want something sub $500 in case one of my 9 housemates tries to steal it. I just have no clue what brand to buy, I have heard nothing but bad things about HP.

Any suggestions?

 

[sojourner]

Stick to a major brand and you'll be fine. Sony and Apple are over priced.

 

[ares93]

My Panasonic and Asus laptops have served me well. The consumer HP laptops are decent too, but avoid the business models (Probook / Elitebook).

Clevo makes good laptops as well. My gf has had one for the last five years. Still runs like clockwork. Then again, it set her back $4500USD

 

[Amaris]

I'm moving away for a bit and need a laptop for when I am gone. Right now I'm using a Dell desktop... from 8 years ago.

I move next Tuesday and need a laptop ASAP. I want something sub $500 in case one of my 9 housemates tries to steal it. I just have no clue what brand to buy, I have heard nothing but bad things about HP.

Any suggestions?

It's usually a mixed bag. All I (or anyone else) can recommend to you is what they've used that's been consistently good. Now, I do have a lot more experience with them than an average user because I used to repair them on a daily basis. For me, the top 3 sub-$500 laptops would be:

1] Acer
2] Asus
3] HP

There are likely others, but these have given me the least trouble, and you get a lot for your money.

 

[bigdaddy]

Interesting being I always thought Acer was a shit company, and Asus I have never heard of.

These are some of the ones I've been looking at...
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Toshiba...840458&id=1218541221100#&lid=customer reviews

That one has a battery life less than 4 hours, that's insane. I wouldn't even be able to watch LotR or anything.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/HP+-+15...wter/5015961.p?skuId=5015961&id=1218608973713

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Dell+-+...lack/4778049.p?id=1218527812608&skuId=4778049

 

[RoJoHen]

Apple are over priced.

Apples may be expensive, but they last a long ass time. I've had mine for 4 years, and it runs just as well as it did the day I opened it. On the flip side, my last two laptops were Windows-based, and after four years each, they were both struggling just to turn themselves on, let alone actually perform any kind of task.

I don't have much experience with Windows computers nowadays, but I can definitely speak to the quality of Apple products. I know people who have had their MacBooks for 10 years that still work perfectly fine.

 

[Amaris]

Interesting being I always thought Acer was a shit company, and Asus I have never heard of.

These are some of the ones I've been looking at...
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Toshiba...840458&id=1218541221100#&lid=customer reviews

That one has a battery life less than 4 hours, that's insane. I wouldn't even be able to watch LotR or anything.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/HP+-+15...wter/5015961.p?skuId=5015961&id=1218608973713

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Dell+-+...lack/4778049.p?id=1218527812608&skuId=4778049

Those are okay. Are you ordering online or picking up in store?

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Apple are over priced.

Apples may be expensive, but they last a long ass time. I've had mine for 4 years, and it runs just as well as it did the day I opened it.

Quite.

In a very real sense: Nothing is overpriced which is WORTH the money.

 

[Holdfast]

I'm on my third Sony Vaio, and owned Dell, Toshiba and Mitsubishi at various times too. I like Vaio best. I'm not a big techical person, so can't comment on that side of things at all, but Vaios have a cool aesthetic, the keyboards feel great to type on with a good sense of feedback, and the screens are nice. The first one I changed after a couple of years and but the second I kept until it died, which was about 6 or so years I think. Third one is only about 6 months old, but so far so good (fingers crossed!). Ideally I'd like to keep this one for 5+ years too.

 

[bigdaddy]

Interesting being I always thought Acer was a shit company, and Asus I have never heard of.

These are some of the ones I've been looking at...
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Toshiba...840458&id=1218541221100#&lid=customer reviews

That one has a battery life less than 4 hours, that's insane. I wouldn't even be able to watch LotR or anything.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/HP+-+15...wter/5015961.p?skuId=5015961&id=1218608973713

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Dell+-+...lack/4778049.p?id=1218527812608&skuId=4778049

Those are okay. Are you ordering online or picking up in store?

In store. I hope a friend will come with me so we can check them out.

I'd probably go with an Apple if I didn't have so many housemates.

 

[Amaris]

Interesting being I always thought Acer was a shit company, and Asus I have never heard of.

These are some of the ones I've been looking at...
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Toshiba...840458&id=1218541221100#&lid=customer reviews

That one has a battery life less than 4 hours, that's insane. I wouldn't even be able to watch LotR or anything.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/HP+-+15...wter/5015961.p?skuId=5015961&id=1218608973713

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Dell+-+...lack/4778049.p?id=1218527812608&skuId=4778049

Those are okay. Are you ordering online or picking up in store?

In store. I hope a friend will come with me so we can check them out.

I'd probably go with an Apple if I didn't have so many housemates.

Ah, okay. Newegg and Tigerdirect are having some really good laptop deals right now. Still, your best bet, in my opinion, is to go with either an Asus, Acer, or HP. Just don't go with Dell. Their customer service level has dropped off significantly in terms of repair and warranty. One of the reasons is because I no longer work there.

You may laugh, but I didn't just slap a new hard drive in 'em and shove off to the side, I fixed those damn things before they headed back out the door.

 

[Robert D. Robot]

Apple are over priced.

Apples may be expensive, but they last a long ass time. I've had mine for 4 years, and it runs just as well as it did the day I opened it.

Quite.

In a very real sense: Nothing is overpriced which is WORTH the money.

Add me to the list of Apple fans. I have never had any problems with viruses and the few times that my computer froze up over the last 10 years or so (on two different computers), I just rebooted and the problem was solved.

I encouraged two of my friends who were always griping about their laptops to buy Apples and I have not heard a complaint from them since. The Apples seem to be relatively trouble-free.

I agree with: "Nothing is overpriced which is WORTH the money." I want to be able to rely on my computer and not have to be always futzing with it.

If you can't purchase an Apple on your budget now, however, I sure would encourage you to do it when you can in the future!

 

[bigdaddy]

I have the money to buy a Mac, I'm moving 200 miles away into a house that 10 strangers from all over the world will be shoved in. I just don't trust people around a $1200 computer.

 

[Robert D. Robot]

^ Yikes! Good Luck with your move, your new digs, and with all your new housemates! It sounds like you have already gotten some very good advice on some very good laptops in your target range, though!

 

[Amaris]

Ooh, yeah. Agreed. Good luck on the move, bigdaddy! Also, if you can get a Mac and don't have a lot of legacy Windows software, I highly recommend the purchase of one, once you're settled in where you can have such a nice system. I use Windows PCs, Linux PCs, and Macs. I use the first two for grunt work and heavier gaming, and the latter for everything else (though I gave my Mac away to a family member who needed a computer for their family).

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

if you can get a Mac and don't have a lot of legacy Windows software

Macs can run Windows natively, you know.

 

[Amaris]

if you can get a Mac and don't have a lot of legacy Windows software

Macs can run Windows natively, you know.

I know. I ran Boot Camp on my Mac. I ran OSX Leopard on one, and Windows XP on the other (later Win 7).

 

[doubleohfive]

I was born into a Windows-using family and finally made the switch to Apple at Christmas with a new MacbookPro. In conjunction with my iPhone, I've been extremely happy with it. Everything I need/want/expect the computer to do, it does and without any trouble.

As opposed to my Windows Vista Compaq laptop, which had problems the minute I turned it on and had been, over the past four years, the bane of my existence. After two weeks of using the MacBookPro, I tried going back to the Vista machine to get some old files off that drive and marveled at how already I'd become so accustomed to the Mac's speed and efficiency.

-doubleoh, Apple convert. For life.

 

[Amaris]

I was born into a Windows-using family and finally made the switch to Apple at Christmas with a new MacbookPro. In conjunction with my iPhone, I've been extremely happy with it. Everything I need/want/expect the computer to do, it does and without any trouble.

As opposed to my Windows Vista Compaq laptop, which had problems the minute I turned it on and had been, over the past four years, the bane of my existence. After two weeks of using the MacBookPro, I tried going back to the Vista machine to get some old files off that drive and marveled at how already I'd become so accustomed to the Mac's speed and efficiency.

-doubleoh, Apple convert. For life.

I agree with Apple quality. Still, to be fair, you had the awful combination of a Compaq laptop & Windows Vista. A ship of fail for certain. There was no hope of survival.

 

[doubleohfive]

Perhaps, but given the insane amount of photoshopping and video editing I do/plan on continuing to do, the precision an speed of the Apple hardware is preferable to even the best Windows machine I've ever worked off of.