new computer

[Ankf00]

so my HD crapped out on my dell laptop, and the battery's been fried for a while, so I figure it's time to get a new one. I'm leaning towards a laptop, that 17" widescreen HP would be nice :D , b/c of discounts, it's basically between dell, ibm, and hp for me, but I can't really decide, and should I wait a month or few for new stuff coming out? I'm pretty clueless :gomer:

[devilmaster]

A new engineer? A racing fan? And you have money to burn?

Do you want to be the coolest engineering kid on your block?





Then you need the official Acer Scuderia Ferrari 3200 Notebook! Be like those real engineers who work on the cars. Get yours today!

http://www.acer.com/app/akc/internet/rwpgslib.nsf/graphic+files/FR3200-11L/$FILE/Ferrari3200-11.jpg

http://global.acer.com/products/notebook/fr3200.htm#

Steve

[XFT]

Acer's "market" in the US has diminished a lot of the past few years, have to wonder what their customer service is like :eek: Plus, Italian electronics? i wouldn't chance it, it will work for 6 months and then start catching on fire randomly, like my car.

[cart7]

My preferance from your list in order: IBM, Dell and lastly HP, though I really wouldn't ever consider the HP they're a POS.

[Cam]

No Dell.... They suck! :rolleyes:

[B3RACER1a]

I bought a 300mhz IBM thinkpad for 100 bucks. Quality is 2nd to none. If the new ones are built as good as my old one, I would go with IBM.

[indyfan31]

No Dell.... They suck! :rolleyes:

While I wouldn't go as far as to say THAT, I sure hope you're not in a hurry to get it. A Dell could take a while to come in ... assuming they haven't lost your order, or run out of power supplies, or forgotten who they shipped it with, or lost your order ... you get the point.

[oddlycalm]

Acer's "market" in the US has diminished a lot of the past few years, have to wonder what their customer service is like :eek:

It may seem that way, but I'd be surprised if that were true. Very little of the product is still sold under the Acer brand, which could make it seem to have declined. My impression is that Acer's component products are now branded as AOpen and the finished goods as BenQ, which seems to be everywhere these days. They also continue to be one of the biggest OEM suppliers, and any number of "name" computers may very well be made by Acer, while others will have AOpen system boards and components inside.

oc

[Jag_Warrior]

IBM laptops are so wonderful... I've had four of them in the past 12 months at work. :saywhat: Several models apparently had hard drive problems.

But of the three you mentioned I guess I'd go with an IBM. Even though I've seen quite a few IBM laptop lemons at work (all with hard drive or power supply problems), I bought a ThinkPad anyway. The customer service seems decent enough - though they'll install 3 grand in parts and make 5 trips before they'll replace a $2000 computer.

[Robstar]

Dell :thumbup:

Just make sure it's Turbo'd...

[longbeach32]

IBM all the way. Don't settle for anything but IBM. I've bought two of them over the past 6 years. The first old which i bought almost 6 years ago, and it still works perfectly.

the one i bought last year, i've been beating it up like crazy; always transporting it from home to school and it getting beat up in my bookbag like crazy, and it still works perfect

Cliffnotes: Get an IBM...you won't regret it.

[oddlycalm]

IBM laptops are so wonderful... I've had four of them in the past 12 months at work. :saywhat: Several models apparently had hard drive problems.

Everyone (me included) was hopeful that IBM's sale of the majority stake in it's hard drive storage business to Hitachi would result in more reliable drives, however this has not materialized so far. My wife's laptop has not had a drive failure (knock on wood), and I have a GXP60 series drive that is still alive, but getting balky. The broad track record of the drives has resulted in a successful class action suit and a modification of the Deskstar product line name to the more appropriate name of Deathstar.

The chances that I would be any product with a Hitachi/IBM drive in it are right up there with me winning the Lotto and retiring to small island with several young ladies with a taste for the bizarre.

oc

[4wheeldrifter]

Can't complain (yet) about the IBM ThinkPad I have at work. My boss has had some difficulties with his, mostly related to the video. Had a bad card right off the bat (happens), but even now it still gives fits every now and again. That said, I like mine.

Never had a Dell laptop but love my new Dell 8300 at home. They seemed good enough to work with.

<edit>

I have an ancient HP laptop (P2-350) that work hasn't taken away from me yet. Never had hardware problems with it that I can recall. Still runs like a champ, even though saddled with Win NT.

[Ankf00]

thanks everyone.

anyone know of any new technology that's supposed to be coming out soon? CPU's? ram?

[Cam]

thanks everyone.

anyone know of any new technology that's supposed to be coming out soon? CPU's? ram?

HP is shipping 64 bit Athlon.... That's gonna be my next laptop... :D

[oddlycalm]

anyone know of any new technology that's supposed to be coming out soon? CPU's? ram?If you're talking laptop, outside of the relentless march to ever faster processors, not much. If you are talking desktop there is much change afoot, though details would require way more space than a racing forum affords. While I'm not much of a gamer, I have the folks at GamePC build all the workstations and laptops I'm too lazy (or busy) to build myself. Highly recommended for both systems and great equipment reviews. For the price of a Dell you can have a great custom system from these guys.
GamePC website (http://www.gamepc.com/index.asp)

The big news for those currently looking for a new system, or just a video card, is that the Id software people are about to release Doom 3, and testing has indicated the nVidia 6800 series has a slight edge over the ATI x800 series. This has caused a stampede as millions of sunlight-deprived-male-virgins make a headlong lunge for the 6800 and effectively kill sales of the other cards on the market, thus allowing the rest of us to quietly get what we need without long waits and price premiums. ;)

BTW, the newest high end vid cards have one, or two in the case of the 6800 Ultra, of their own 12v power connectors just for the vid card. :eek: Basically, if you don't have a 400w power supply, don't bother.

oc

[Skater_36]

I'll jump on the Thinkpad bandwagon too. After seeing many Thinkpads survive field sales teams I bought one for my own use 1 1/2 years ago and I've been very happy. Solid construction, 15" screen and it does everything I need it to do reliably.

Good luck!

[Ankf00]

HP is shipping 64 bit Athlon.... That's gonna be my next laptop... :D

it's now my next laptop :D thinkpads cost, bleh

[DjDrOmusic]

I just got the HP xv5220us notebook. It has Mobile AMD Athlon XP-M 3000+, 15.4 widescreen hi-def, 512 mb ddr sdram and 60GB hard drive. It has built in wireless, cd-dvd rw and Harmon-Kardon speakers. I'm happy.....finally! ;) :thumbup:

[Dr. Corkski]

IBM laptops are probably the way to go. I prefer Dells myself since I hate supporting Bay Area tech companies (sorry Rich), and their laptops aren't bad either. Just don't be cheap like me and get anything from HP.

[Amanda B.'s Mom]

I have had a Toshiba Satellite notebook for the past three years. Got it after working with ALMS staff member who had one. It has never failed me, and I run Photoshop on it. Thier customer support was always great, but I only used it twice.

[Hard Driver]

I am an IT director and switched my company over from HP to IBM for desktops and notebooks. Been very happy about it. I would say get an IBM, they may cost a tad more than others, but you are getting quality for that money. Better magnesium cases, better feeling keyboards, better protection with their self parking hard drives if it is dropped. I've bought a dozen IBM notebooks in the last year and have yet to have a problem.