Looking to buy a laptop ??

[Bill]

I owned an ASUS for 2 years before I got upset one evening and set it down on the table a bit harder than I should have  
Until then it had never missed a beat.
I have also owned a Compaq but it was crap from about 1 week after purchasing it until it finally died after a year.
We used a Toshiba laptop at the shop as the only computer for 5 years before the motherboard quit. It never missed a beat up until then.
Morag had an LG for about 4 years before the motherboard finally gave up the ghost.
She has now had her Toshiba for about 2 years and I have had my current Toshiba about 1 1/2 years and neither have missed a beat. I use it at the shop and as a personal computer.
So far I find the Toshibas to be my favourite laptops...
Bill and Morag

[bobnrob]

As far as Win v Mac & viruses go, there is a conception amongst many (including myself) that Win is more prone to virus target simply because of it's proportional usage. You also need to keep in mind the Holden v Ford mentality when it comes to Win v Mac/Win v Linux 
If you're interested, have a read here

So back to topic...

I never worked in the industry, only my *hands on* experience

I've worked on a few ACERs, both desktop & laptops, slow as a wet w/end & total PIS

Never had any experince with Toshiba except for having a play in places like hardly normal, dick smith etc. I don't like 'em, nothing solid, just gut feeling, so take with a grain of salt

Have worked on a few Dells & even purchased a couple for friends, both desktop & laptop. Only trouble I've ever had were PEBKaC (problem exits between k/board & chair).
Can't say anything about their service because I've never used them, though a mate did have his monitor die a couple of mths after his purchase, & a replacement arrived 3 days after he'd rang them - before they'd seen or recieved the dead one.
Currently looking at a DELL lappy for the minister, & had to speak to a saleman regarding a query I had. He told me he could do it cheaper than the price listed.
He went through exactly the same upgrades I'd chosen, & came up with $11 dearer    But he did inform me of something that I never seen on their site. Because the minister is with the NRMA, there would be a $200 discount on the lappy 

We'd bought a Lenevo for our son (made by IBM & once regarded as the bee's knee's for laptops).
It's been flawless for 2yrs, except for a busted hinge. Searching the Net showed this was a common fault with with his model (Y510) & is currently off being fixed under warrenty. Was sent off last Monday, will see how long it takes for it to get back.

GL with your decision, it's always a quagmire of info *LOL*

[Yoda42]

We recently got a MacBook Pro, and couldn't be happier. We haven't seen comparable screen quality in any other laptops, the speed of startup and shutdown is pure bliss, and it's all pretty intuitive to use. The PC sits in the corner now gathering cobwebs...

[spargo]

I've had Apple laptops for 7 years now, and will never have anything else. Trouble-free, included software can't be matched, and it just works.

The first one (Powerbook G4) went for 4 years, unstoppable. I paid $3600 for it (they were much pricier back then but still good value), and after 4 years sold it for $750. Show me a Windows-based machine that could have that much value retention, and still be running like it was new?

We now have a nearly 3yr old MacBook Pro, and it's the same. It works, no issues, and I don't need to worry about crap like virus protection, incompatible components, and having to use Windows.

These days, given their pricing, I think people are absolutely bonkers if they don't buy a Mac.

[kiva]

I've had Apple laptops for 7 years now, and will never have anything else. Trouble-free, included software can't be matched, and it just works.

I'm no Apple fan boy however I do enjoy using their desktops/laptops. Not so keen on their mobile devices however that may be more the programmer in me having to deal with the antics that involve publishing to their App Store.

The first one (Powerbook G4) went for 4 years, unstoppable. I paid $3600 for it (they were much pricier back then but still good value), and after 4 years sold it for $750.

I have a six year old 17" PowerBook G4. It is the hardware revision just prior to the Intel switch and has been perfect. I think I paid about $5000'ish at the time. It is still going strong and SWMBO uses it every day. I also have a couple of Mac Mini's. One of them is about five years old and is headless, has the old PPC processor, and runs Debian as my squid/adblocker proxy. My netbook is a two and a half year old ASUS eeepc 1000H that ran Windows for all of about 10 minutes before having Ubuntu installed. For a cheap machine, it runs very well considering all the abuse that it goes through.

I have a new 13" MacBook Air on the way (its in transit! ) as I wanted something light and portable with a good battery life. It also gave me an excuse to go and buy a new Projecta pure sine wave inverter so I can charge it up while camping . As for CD's/DVD's, I have to agree with Apple on this one regarding the MacBook Air - for me I don't use them that often. I'll rip my DVD's to divx/xvid/mp4 or whatever and watch them with VLC. So I would generally have no need to use an optical drive and having one built in is a waste of space and dead weight. I did however purchase the external MacBook Air "Superdrive" for the times I would need an optical drive.

[koshari]

realistically the differences between acer, leveno, HP, dell ect are nothing, they are all made by either, wistron, compal foxconn or quanta.

all they do is silkscreen the logo on it, and load em up with adware.

[D4D]

What! I don't believe it, where are the Apple fan boys now

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/world/iphones-and-ipads-hacked-in-six-minutes/story-e6frf7lf-1226004446097

[kiva]

What! I don't believe it, where are the Apple fan boys now

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/world/iphones-and-ipads-hacked-in-six-minutes/story-e6frf7lf-1226004446097

Meh, this is true of any "attack" where the attacker has gained physical access. After all, these devices are just (miniature) computers. Once you connect these devices to a debugger you can access any data you like. This is true of any of smartphone (android, symbian etc). I'm not sure why that article was news. Recovering personal data off these types of devices has been common practice for years as part of forensic investigation.

[D4D]

My point is, the majority of Windows vulns require phyiscal access or user interaction too. If this was a Windows Phone vuln it would be front page news. People love to bash Windows however all software suffers from vulns as proved here.

[Humbolt]

I thought we were talking about laptops here?? 

[wattzy]

Asus and Lenovo have always been good to me. Got my Lenovo from http://www.notebooksrus.com.au/
I also like MSY, had one of my first computers built there and it was great!
On a down side, I would never suggest a Hp laptop! I have one (I have a lot of laptops for my business) and its an expensive piece of crap. Hp customer service is terrible too

[TOPNDR]

Hi all - I am looking to buy a laptop shortly - I currently have (2) Imacs but I think I will go with windows based this time due to cost and and as I am not that computer savvy am finding it difficult to do some things on the Macs - so I am after some advice on any that I should look at but might be easier if someone is aware of any to definitely stay away from.
I want this to take away on trips plus will also eventually take over from the Macs. (I have 2 because I am currently running 2 houses - one at Coober and one at Nuri in the Barossa)
Main requirements are: blue ray/dvd - net (wifi-I guess) - ability to become TV receiver - bluetooth - all else is just normal usage - so screen/visual quality would be important - I don't want to go the big screen stuff just normal 15 - 16" is fine.

Oh and if anyone knows or has the ability to suggest a good/reliable retailer to consider I would appreciate that also?

thanks in advance.

You'll be sorry.

I have to run windoze for a few programs and do so by running parallels. Virtual Box is also an option.  Never in a pink fit can I see myself going back to windoze full time, so I'd recommend staying away from anything not Mac, 'cause they work.   

[oldblade]

I also work in IT

So does everyone looks like

I have multiple laptops around the house new and old from win2k to windows 7 and guess which one I pick up to use everyday





The 8 year old Mac cause it works

So I finally replaced it a couple of weeks back with a shiny new Mac book air and it rocks

Stay with Mac you will regretmoving away