Need Advice

[denslexusgx470]

Ok. So I'm procrastinating to buy a laptop soon, but I'm stuck choosing between two or three brands. My first choice is SONY. I've loved the setup of the Sony VAIOs so that's my number 1 choice. Second is HP. So far I've heard good feedback with HP, but personally I had a horrible experience with a Media Center I bought 4 years ago..

But today I dropped by Circuit City, and I'm not too impressed by the brand, but they had an Acer laptop on sale, complete with the works! It has a webcam and finger print reader, while the comparable Sony and HP laptops don't have those, plus lesser memory.

My question is, what is your guy's feedback between Sony, HP, and Acer? Any experiences or knowledge is greatly appreciated. ;)

This is something I got from a Circuit City guy. He explained how Acer is going up the ladder, which we can explain in car terms, like Hyundai who's gone a long way in quality and designing.

[lenore]

Kind of hard to give you info without you telling us what your shopping for in minimum configuration. I have bought 2 Dell laptops and been very happy. By the way their customer support lines beat HP... I buy all my computer equipment through GOTAPEX.com You still deal with the original vender, but are getting the very best price. I have never beaten the price on the four Dell computers that I have bought through that site. They also advertize HP, and others. There site info changes daily. I just know that my friend bought the exact same laptop for $400 more than I did and had the exact same specs.

Here is the site:

http://www.gotapex.com/

[smooth1]

I would go with the Sony. I just have had alot of good experience with them. And a proven track record is always something to count. The Acer sounds nice, but I don't know alot about that company. And if I remember right, Circuit City said the same thing about Gold Star televisions and Onkio stereo equipment. A freind of mine just got the HP from Best Buy. I played with it for a little bit. Looks great, I like the design he picked. everything seemed great, and he said it had the new Ram that will easily support Vista. But I think he had XP on it. I don't think you would not be happy with either of those.

[flop170]

go with dell.... hp is ok.... acer is crap... sony is going downhill.... if possible also stay away from windows vista... or if you can't find one with xp... make sure that the device drivers on the laptop you get are not just vista compatible... cuz the first thing you need to do is wipe it clean and install xp.... i cannot express how much faster it will run after you ditch vista.... but if you absolutely must pick a laptop out of those 3 get hp... but dell is better... my dell laptop is going on 8 years now.... i use it every day and it still screams... all i've had to do to it was replace the harddrive... and 8 years on a hard drive is pretty good.... so anyways that's my opinion... :P

[GDixon]

Consumer Reports has a big review of laptops in this month's issue. It will allow you to compare the components, hard drive, memory, processor, video card, etc. from model to model. You just can't say Sony or HP. Different models are far different.

I, too, am in the market for a laptop but absolutely won't get anything with Vista on it. If the hard drive has to be formatted and XP put on then so be it. Make sure the computer comes with disks to install the touch pad and other peripherals.

[blake918]

My question is, what is your guy's feedback between Sony, HP, and Acer? Any experiences or knowledge is greatly appreciated. ;)

I wouldn't get any of the above. Go with a Mac! B) I just bought a new Macbook after 3.5 years of terrible service from my Dell Inspiron 8600, and wow, it's nice to have a computer that actually works and has excellent fit/finish/material quality.

[eatingupblacktop]

I've got Sony everything and I think they have they lead in most products,

but after spending several months researching, speaking with the techs,

testing, and doing side by side comparisons (with the help of a tech friend

of mine) for a laptop, I went with Toshiba. The model I got was a Toshiba Satellite.

Perfect for my needs. I looked at the Vaio .. very nice. But again, when I compared

it with the Toshiba Qosmio, the Qosmio would have been my choice, especially

if I wanted full multimedia capabilities. Check it out for yourself:

http://explore.toshiba.com/laptops. When considering all aspects of performance,

I would rate these two at the top.

[denslexusgx470]

Oh my! :o :o A variety of opinions! lol. :P

Ok if specs matter, I prefer Intel Core 2 Duo, with 2 GB and at least 250 GB hard drive.... So far I'm comparing a Sony and HP right now, same price, but the Sony only has 2GB and 200GB Hard Drive, while the HP has a 3 GB and 250GB Hard Drive (does my specs make any sense? sorry if it doesn't, I never really understood all the "engine parts" of a computer lol).

I'm gonna look into Dell also because I have a friend that works at a hospital and he says they get some pretty decent discounts if I buy thru him, so I'm going to check that out. Mac is nice, but a little too much for my budget. :P I'll just get an iTouch, because I don't want the "strings attached" with AT&T when getting an iPhone from them.

The Acer really looked nice, nice features, I think it had the best specs so far between the Sony and HP i've been comparing... But the quality is what concerns me. It's like buying a top of the line Azera, or a Camry with medium load in it.... :huh:

[raymsixsix]

I have a Sony VAIO VGN-FS940 and although it is older than what you're probably looking at, I'm really not in love with this laptop. I replaced an IBM Thinkpad with this laptop. My main complaint with the Sony is durability of the plastics and keys etc. After having this laptop for about seven months wear spots started showing up on the plastic where I rest my wrists when typing. Also, some of the letters on the keys are rubbing off, and the battery life really sucks. I can't even watch an entire dvd on a fully charged battery. My Thinkpad that I used 6 hard years, showed no signs of use. They keys felt like they were made of more substance and would be there forevery, not plasticky and flimsy like the Vaio. I do like the Sony, I'm just a bit dissappointed with how the machine is wearing. Some pluses is the nice wide screen, the memory stick pro slot, and it's kinda slim, but honestly if I had to get another computer today, I'd make sure and check out other brands, including IBM.

[denslexusgx470]

Hmm! Thanks for that info... So does anyone else have wear and tear issues on other brands? I didn't even consider that, the durability of the keys, etc..

[eatingupblacktop]

I didn't know about Vaio's keys wearing out. I have heard about losing key functions for some of the lesser brands. Other issues are dead pixels. That would be a nogo for sure. No such issues with my Toshiba. Acer would not be in the running for me. I would stay with Top tier manufacturers like HP, SONY, TOSHIBA, DELL, APPLE. Here's a link that might help you decide:

http://reviews.cnet.com/laptop-buying-guide/?tag=pm

Two gigs of memory is better than one. Hard drive size is not as important as access speed. A 200 gig is plenty and you can always hook up a 500 - 700 external usb for storage.

[nc211]

My question is, what is your guy's feedback between Sony, HP, and Acer? Any experiences or knowledge is greatly appreciated. ;)

I wouldn't get any of the above. Go with a Mac! B) I just bought a new Macbook after 3.5 years of terrible service from my Dell Inspiron 8600, and wow, it's nice to have a computer that actually works and has excellent fit/finish/material quality.

I agree with Blake, and will be doing the same for our home computer, when the time comes. Since Mac can run a virtual microsoft operating system, it's really two birds with one stone. Plus, the unbeatable stability and the fact that nearly 99.9% of the virus running around out there are for the PC based systems, and not Mac, is a done-deal for me. I have some experience with computers, although a bit outdated, but nonetheless, have some. I used to be 1 of 3 computer geeks for my business school in college, right when XP came out. And have fixed several friends computers over the years with reformatting and rebuilding.

In my opinion, the number 1 thing to look for in a computer is resistance to proprietory equipment. What I mean is, if you want to upgrade your video card, or memory, or whatever, will the computer's DNA operate correctly, or toss a bunch of error codes and such. Compaq "crap-paq" was the WORST for this. HP was slightly better, Sony was very tempermental, and I don't know about Dell, although heard they were pretty good. I decided back in 2002 that I was going to build my own computer with off-the-shelf parts, from all different makers. To this day, I still have the same computer and it works fantastic. Other than a virus that wiped me out about a year or so ago "Thanks DCFish for the fix!", I've had no problems. I can swap out parts with whatever I want, hook up anything I want, it all works, no problems.

But, that's desktops..... Toshiba has been my favorite for laptops. Oddly enough, if you open up a laptop of any brand, you'll most likely find Toshiba built parts inside. I still have a Toshiba Protege' from the late 90's, that's the size of a magazine, and it works fine. I've also got a very tiny Sony Vista laptop, that is only good for internet these days. We took it on our honeymoon to keep in touch. But everything else on it doesn't work, even after a rebuild.

Apple will be my next though, as I won't take on Vista, period. We've been trying to convert the company's platform for months from XP to Vista, and they're still MONTHS away from acceptable levels to roll out the new machines. Bugs, Bugs, Bugs, Bugs...

Furthermore, check the "restore" software that comes with it. Dell was FANTASTIC in the past with this, as they gave you a CLEAN copy of XP, and not diluted down with a bunch of unecessary add-ons, like 5 different versions of AOL, Etherworld, WabbaWabba-Slow-You-Down, etc.... That you had to spend hours deleting. If you find a laptop maker that gives just a clean OS....that's the one you want. Sony, in my experience, was very heavy with additional junk loaded in. HP was ok, Crap-Paq was a nightmare. Although, in Crap-paq's defense...they could take some "beginner" mistakes pretty well, like yanking the damn power cord out of the wall, then imediately putting it back in and turning it on, without freaking out. Granted, that was the only way to get the damn thing to reboot sometimes.

[blake918]

I agree with Blake, and will be doing the same for our home computer, when the time comes. Since Mac can run a virtual microsoft operating system, it's really two birds with one stone. Plus, the unbeatable stability and the fact that nearly 99.9% of the virus running around out there are for the PC based systems, and not Mac, is a done-deal for me. I have some experience with computers, although a bit outdated, but nonetheless, have some. I used to be 1 of 3 computer geeks for my business school in college, right when XP came out. And have fixed several friends computers over the years with reformatting and rebuilding.

You are right Robert, between Parallels and MS Office for Mac, compatibility is no longer an issue. When you get an Apple, buy it from Macmall.com-->no sales tax! I have XP on my Macbook (which is the base model 13", but I upgraded the memory to 4bg myself for $100...this baby screams!) that I hardly use (Office is what really counts), but watch how fast it boots up... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekKwn_cPu9c

Denny, durability is my main complaint (other than an untimely hard disk failure) for my Dell....just very, very cheap construction (most annoying is the loose screen) which was totally unacceptable for the $3,000 I paid for it. It looks like the newer ones are a little better though. Not to mention, all of the PCs I've had just seem to become incapacitated after 2 years or so no matter how many times you reformat them. I also was a little put off by the higher price of the Macs (about $400 more for the Mac than a comparable HP), but I got over that after a playing with the HP I was considering--so slow and poorly built.

[SW03ES]

I've had Sony laptops and desktops before, unimpressed. I have a Dell laptop now which has held up very well over the past 3-4 years I've had it, even if it is a little clunky. The newer ones are better looking.

Carla has an HP laptop and its REALLY nice. Very well built, beautiful screen. No issues with it at all.

I'd buy an HP or a Dell personally over a Sony.

I've also flirted with the idea of a Mac. I had Macs years ago and switched over to PC in like 1998.

[denslexusgx470]

Well I took the plunge... I'm not going for a Mac right now. Personally I don't have the budget for a Mac right now. Remember, i'm the one buying this laptop i'm using right now, so if this thing lasts for a year or so, I'm good because by that time I would have earned enough money to buy a durable Mac. :) hehe

[lenore]

Oh my! :o :o A variety of opinions! lol. :P

Ok if specs matter, I prefer Intel Core 2 Duo, with 2 GB and at least 250 GB hard drive.... So far I'm comparing a Sony and HP right now, same price, but the Sony only has 2GB and 200GB Hard Drive, while the HP has a 3 GB and 250GB Hard Drive (does my specs make any sense? sorry if it doesn't, I never really understood all the "engine parts" of a computer lol).

I'm gonna look into Dell also because I have a friend that works at a hospital and he says they get some pretty decent discounts if I buy thru him, so I'm going to check that out. Mac is nice, but a little too much for my budget. :P I'll just get an iTouch, because I don't want the "strings attached" with AT&T when getting an iPhone from them.

The Acer really looked nice, nice features, I think it had the best specs so far between the Sony and HP i've been comparing... But the quality is what concerns me. It's like buying a top of the line Azera, or a Camry with medium load in it.... :huh:

Check your friends prices and then remember to go through GOTAPEX.com they have beat all prices that I have ever found....

[eatingupblacktop]

So what did you get?

[denslexusgx470]

The Acer Aspire 6920... The 3GB , and 320 Hard Drive, plus webcam and fingerprint reader, FOR A SMALL PRICE is what made the final push for me hehe. :P