Notebook advise wanted.

[Steve Reece]

I am thinking of purchasing a new notebook computer. I am pretty much a ThinkPad junky. Never-the-less, IBM no longer owns ThinkPad (but I understand it is the same developers and manufacturing facilites for the product). So I have a question. If you own/use a notebook, what brand/model do you use? Would you buy another of the same brand/model? Why or why not?

[Jen Blackburn]

you could get what we just purchased and what came in the mail today

:bannana

we got a Dell Inspiron 2200 from Sams Club -- it was around $650. the exact same setup on Dell.com was around $950... i figure we got a pretty good deal. :D

we're having fun with it! ;)

I just asked this same question a couple of weeks ago -- most people were split down the center with Dell vs. Toshiba. we found Dells were more reasonably priced, and that was a BIG thing for us.

:)

good luck & enjoy!

[Mark Bolerjack]

HP notebooks. ZD8000 series Media Center edition with dvd burner, hard drive digital recorder, tv tuner, wireless, etc. We have our satellite hooked up to the media center. We ordered direct from www.hpshopping.com (http://www.hpshopping.com)

Mark B.

[Dave McClung]

I bought a Dell. My last several have been Sony, but my recent experience with Sony has been very negative. At first it was just the customer service -- the products were good, but the customer service declined. It wasn't long until the products started to decline too. My most recent Sony computer and my most recent Sony Camera have both been disappointments. In fact, the computer died just after the warranty ran out.

When I replaced the Sony that died, I bought a Dell because ENC has an agreement with Dell. I have been very pleased. I had one problem (I doubt that it was Dell's fault), but they sent out a tech person who fixed it on site. I was without the computer for only a couple of hours.

[Hans Deventer]

Steve,

Why or why not? Experience! That would be the main issue for me. So far, I have been using a Toshiba for almost two years now. They are mainly building laptops. They are not the cheapest, but I am, very pleased with the machine so far. I'd go for another Toshiba if it keeps running until I figure I need something stronger.

[Keith Isley]

If it were me, I'd hold off on a ThinkPad for a bit until Lenovo (the company that owns it now) shakes out some things. Their new tablet/convertable (the X41) has a weird mix of cool stuff and weird design decisions... and it's overpriced. See http://arstechnica.com/reviews/hardware/thinkpad-x41.ars for details.

The review is a bit tongue in cheek, but Ars Technica folks are knowledgeable and there are some good things here. It just doesn't seem like Lenovo has a good grasp of the market they're building for yet.

With that said, I'm assuming you want to stay Windows...if not, I'd recommend a peek at the Apple iBook or Powerbook lines. Good solid machines, without all the spyware and virus worries. (I haven't run virus software on any of my Macs, well, ever -and I will only do online banking on a Mac Macs because I worry about password stealers, keyloggers, etc on Windows machines.)

The 15" iBook is a particularly good value, I think, and the Mac version of Microsoft Office is excellent...but that's a pretty big leap, I know.

On the Windows side, I've heard pretty good things about Dell, by and large..and you can't beat the price/performance ratio.

[David Bickom]

Steve -

I use an HP Pavilion ZV5330US... love it! Portable but a little heavy...Hard Drive is sufficient for my needs. It is really a portable workstation. I bought the HP based on price. Owned an IBM before this one and would have bought another but they are really geared to business. Also, I want to see how Lenovo is going to do! I considered Toshiba...my customers like them but I couldn't beat the price of the HP. Apple is far and away the best in my opinion but that would mean having to change everything over. That's not going to happen any time soon.

Then you come to the Gorilla....Dell. I know too much about their practices to ever give them a dime! Dishonest! Enough said!

David