Looking for a good lap top and need sugestions

[thecavemankevin]

Hey guys, i thought i would ask you guys for recommendations on a good lap top. But before you go nuts saying all these top end systems like alienware computers i have a few criteria:
PC/windows based (no imacs)
Intel 3 750mhz or better
Possibly AMD processors
DVD player (can also have burner)
3.5 floppy drive
and the rest of the basics.

I would like to stay around the area of >$1000. It can be new or used.

Any recommendations?

[Restola]

my brother has a sony vaio. GREAT screen very bright. only problem he had was when he spilt tea on it and he had to send it in to be fixed. he bought the compusa warrenty so it was free to fix, but sony kept one of his batteries...

anyways i dont use laptops much, in fact that was the only laptop i had used in probably 15 years (dad in computer buisness was cool), but it was cool.

[Quiet]

My dell is big and ugly, but I can't complain about how it works.

P.S. A word of wisdom, don't try playing web based games through your cell phone with it. The lag is terrible.

[dave_p]

the boys at toms hardware will cringe

but i gotta say it, look at a gateway. i own 2 gateway desktops, one dell and a mac. i am far from gateways biggest fan but i gotta say that their hardware is generally good, its their people that really suck. not one problem i ever had in 5 years was really hardware related. it was the ineptitude of the support staff. they will be perfectly happy to send you free parts though until a problem goes away.
but, for the price gateways usually smoke similar systems in performance, they configure them pretty good and they come packed to the gunnels with software.
truth be told, a lot of laptops from different vendors are actually the same computer made at the same factory, so look closely, sometimes you can get the exact same thing cheaper just because of the name, where you get it is in the warranty though, and bundled software.
or, go to www.tomshardware.com and poke around the forums and see what the real hardware geeks have to say.

[gimp]

Well, I've got an IBM thankpad T22. It's a P3, 900 mhz, 256 megs of ram, swappable dvd and floppy drive, and all the other basics. It runs pretty good, not sure how much it goes for now but it's a good machine. It's light too, a lot lighter than my friends dells.

[Restola]

the best desktop i ever owned is the one im typing on now. atlas is the greatest. www.buy-atlas.com.

[cphilip]

I just picked up a Toshiba 1500 something series for $1499 and there was $150 rebates I am expecting any time. So basically $1250 plus tax because I bought it local.

Specs are: 1.1 Ghz Pentium III, 15" TFT Display, 20 Gig HD, DVD/CDR-RW combo super drive, T-100/10/56K Modem, 256 MB RAM, of course the OS and such stuff as the floppy drive all built in.

I added 256K more Ram to it as it has another slot for $150 right after I bought it but it seemed fine without it. Toshiba makes a pretty nice one for the price. Sony thnks a bit much of theirs although they are nice and Gateway and Dell could not come close to the same Specs for the price even with our Institutional Discount. I do not trust what is going on with Compac and HP....so I am so far happy with the Toshiba. Nice Screen and fast unit.

[mykroft]

I Highly recommend Toshiba and IBM if you aren't willing to consider a iBook or Powerbook. They're very reliable and tough, but like all PC Laptops, the battery life sucks.

[Exodus]

SONY... plain and simple. we baught one 3-4 years ago and it still runs as a great UT server.

[Snooky]

I will warn you of Toshiba laptops and beg of u not to purchase one.

I have had my toshiba for a year and a half. Toshiba out of that year and a half has had it for around 3 months and 6 of the other months out of that it wasnt working. I have had to get the laptop repaired 5 different times. Things that have been replaced: Hard drive(x2), Cd-rom drive(x2), power adapter, system board, fan, screen, and mouse ball thingy. Basically all that hasn't gone wrong on it is the cheap plastic. All this from a new computer. Not to mention the battery doesnt like to hold charge even though they say it holds full charge.