What kind/brand of laptop do you have?

[newg]

and what do you mainly use it for?

My HP pavilion is a solid 5+ years old.....at the time it was considered a "workhorse" laptop. And it is now dying a slow death, with my speakers the latest thing to go.

so for an early anniversary/christmas present DH and I are getting a new laptop.

I really use it for the internet, and working with family pictures, and videos.

My dad is a huge Dell fan. So besides the HP I have and Dell (which seems kinda pricey), I'm not really sure what's out there and what's considered good.........oh, except for the e-machine my ILs have ;), which I would considered on the low end.


Thanks!!

[LMPC]

I have an ASUS very similar to this one...
http://www.amazon.com/UL30A-X5-Light-13-3-Inch-Laptop-Battery/dp/B002P3KMVC/ref=sr_1_3?s=gateway&ie=UTF8&qid=1284940114&sr=8-3
and I love it! Light and great battery life! Really fast!

[kijip]

Our personal laptop is a Mac Book Pro circa 2007.

My work laptop, owned by the organization I work for, and used extensively by me, is a Mac PowerBook G4, circa 2004 and it is works better than the Mac Book Pro IMO. :ROTFLMAO:

[Indianamom2]

I have a Gateway (says T-Series) on it. I am very technologically UN-advanced and I use it to browse the internet and organize my pictures and occasionally type up something. I've had it at least two years and I'm quite pleased with it. It was (then) around $500.

Dh has an Asus. He does some online gaming and internet searching and is happy with it. His only complaint is that the keyboard "drops" some keystrokes every once in a while, but it's not that big a deal and might only be his year or two old model.

[elliput]

I just got a new HP Pavilion to replace my 4 year old Dell Inspiron. We also have a Compaq (which is HP) and an HP Mini.

[JBaxter]

new ASUS and Im really liking it. Ive been Dell loyal for a long time ( had a super crappy HP) but Im very happy

[Dream]

I have a Sony vaio that DH gifted for my b'day and I love it.

[mommylamb]

Macbook here. I'll never buy a PC again.

[3blackcats]

MacBook Pro 2009. I love my Mac and will never use PC again!

[LD92599]

Although lately using the ipad alot more!

[bubbaray]

I have an Acer. We use it almost 100% for travel -- accessing email, internet and viewing DVDs while RVg and flying.

[alirebco]

Macbook here. I'll never buy a PC again.

Agreed 100%!

[DietCokeLover]

We have a Gateway that DH won in a golf tournament about 4 years ago. We use it for playing on internet/ email and if we are travelling. It's been fine for us, but we don't do anything of great significance with it.

[codex57]

My dad is a huge Dell fan. So besides the HP I have and Dell (which seems kinda pricey), I'm not really sure what's out there and what's considered good.........oh, except for the e-machine my ILs have ;), which I would considered on the low end.

Dell is pure crap now. They used to be the best. I used to be the biggest fan. The key phrase is "used to be." Just look up any recent article or news story on Dell. The tech people are starting to highlight just how bad Dell has gotten.

HP actually has a pretty horrid rep too, altho it tends to be more from certain model lines than overall as Dell is.

I have a Macbook Pro 13" for home use. My work laptop is an IBM/Lenovo Thinkpad.

Both are the "best" brands respectively, but they're also pricier. Asus and Acer are really coming on strong. Sony isn't too bad, but it tends to come with too much crap ware and there's a premium on Sony's so for Sony prices, you may as well buy an Apple or Lenovo.

[s7714]

I have a Dell Studio laptop, and I will NOT be buying another Dell when it's reached the end of it's life. I had several hardware issues with it when it was purchased, and getting through Dell's customer service chain to get them to fix the problems was time consuming. They did fix them free of charge, yes, but it took several months to get things taken care of. Also, I have had nothing but one software problem after another with it because they install a bunch of their own crap software with the system. My parents had a Dell desktop and it failed after only about two years of use.

DH's company used to buy Dells, but they had so many software issues with them it got to the point they were wiping the hard drives and reinstalling the system automatically upon delivery. (We ended up doing that to mine as well just a few weeks ago.) His company is now back to IBMs and another company, but I don't remember what it is. I'll try to remember to ask him when he gets home. They used to sing the praises of Dell left and right, but no longer.

ETA: If price were no object, I'd buy a Mac without hesitation. I used mostly Macs while working in the printing industry, and they were problem free 99.9% of the time in both the hardware and software aspects.

[lovebebes]

Macbook here. I'll never buy a PC again.

:yeahthat:

[fumofu]

DH is a software engineer. Between the two of us we've owned mostly PC laptops and desktops of different brands - Acer, Dell, Fujitsu, IBM. We also have a Mac Mini, which we've encountered problems with just as frequently as a typical PC, if not maybe more often (but may be due to DH's fancy specs). We like them all! So I say get the computer with the specs that you want for the cheapest price, or go with aesthetics. ;-)

[jgenie]

Another Mac convert here - Mac Book Pro - love it!!!

[MommyAllison]

I have an older Mac iBook G4, and I love it.

DH has a newer, nicer Mac that he uses for graphic design and recording music (which is why we became an Apple family in the first place - they are the industry standard for both).

[kozachka]

I've been using ThinkPad laptops for over 3 years at work, and got the same one for home. I got a great deal with employee discount code (picked it up on FatWallet) and have zero complains - it has *the best* keyboard of any laptop I've ever tried, and I type a lot. It's also easy to carry around, but it still has a good size screen. I have T400 and the current equivalent would be T410.

[marymoo86]

Thinkpad for work - so, so performance but I tax it a lot with what I do and a Toshiba for home. Best lappy I have had in a while.

[AnnieW625]

DH has a Lenovo lap top from work. It's mainly used by him for work when he is out in the field, but we have also taken it with us on road trips. It's a good system, but it's heavy.

My brother has an Asus netbook and is very happy with it.

[edurnemk]

MacBook Pro 2009. I love my Mac and will never use PC again!

:yeahthat: Mine's 2010

[codex57]

I've been using ThinkPad laptops for over 3 years at work, and got the same one for home. - it has *the best* keyboard of any laptop I've ever tried, and I type a lot.

:yeahthat: I've seen a couple lists that say MacBooks have some of the better keyboards too. Can't agree with that. I love our MacBook, but Apple makes some of the crappiest keyboards around IMO. Don't like the desktop ones either (especially now that they're so similar to the laptop keyboards).

ThinkPad keyboards are perfection tho.

[newg]

Thanks folks!

I guess it shows how long its been since I've researched computers............
So it looks like I stay away from Dell and HP and look at some other ones instead. Do you think if I head over to Best Buy I'll get some good advice on what to look at?

For those that switched to a Mac.......what made you decide to switch, were you able to transfer files/pictures from your PC to the Mac? Are things more "Mac friendly" in a PC world now??

Thanks for all your help!!

[codex57]

Thanks folks!

I guess it shows how long its been since I've researched computers............
So it looks like I stay away from Dell and HP and look at some other ones instead. Do you think if I head over to Best Buy I'll get some good advice on what to look at?

For those that switched to a Mac.......what made you decide to switch, were you able to transfer files/pictures from your PC to the Mac? Are things more "Mac friendly" in a PC world now??

Thanks for all your help!!

Best Buy is pretty hit or miss. I wouldn't count on any good advice, even tho they aren't working on commission. Corporate policy tends to make the associates too predatory and prone to lies, even if they're lying unwillingly.

We switched cuz we were sick of all the Windows hassles. Having to do a complete format every few years, programs that take forever to load, computers that take forever to start up/shut down, etc.

Things are definitely much more Mac friendly now b/c so many people are switching now. Plus, much of the world is doing cloud computing. So, you're using programs based on your computer less and less.

For basic home use, the Apple software is quite awesome actually. I still bought Office for Mac, but photo and video software is done using the Apple programs like iPhoto. I don't bother with Photoshop. Too complicated for home photos. Instead of mucking around with Photoshop, I just make an effort to take better photos. It's basically a point that Ken Rockwell made (along the lines of his "megapixels mean nothing" and "forget a big zoom lens, just get closer").