staff picks - Page 5

1 g0t 0wn3d · 06-25-2007, 12:32 PM

I have had a gateway and the battery has lasted for 8 yrs and still holds a 3 hr charge.

apluscnc · 10-08-2007, 09:32 PM

Ive had every kind of desktop made I think, but I 've only had Dell Laptops and I love them. Their Customer Support is awesome. I can put in a Service Tag for a five year old Laptop and have a Support Tech online helping me with an out of warranty machine in five minutes. I have 3 C800 series (C800, C810 or C840's) and 5 C C600's ( a mix of C600's and C610's). All are P3'S between 750 to 1500 MHZ with 256GB to 512GB of RAM. They all run XP because I have a factory recovery CD that will restore XP Pro on any Dell. I get them off ebay for less than 200 bucks all the time. The only problems I've ever had is with keyboards, but I can get replacements for 20 bucks each. I love them. They will run anything I through at them.

Ignorance is Bliss.

craigwatanabe · 02-05-2008, 02:59 PM

having worked on all of those laptop company's products mentioned, my pick for the best bang for the buck is a Toshiba.

The IBM Thinkpad being sold nowdays aren't IBM's anymore. Lenovo was licensed to take over IBM's laptop business that's why you saw both names on them.

Now however, Lenovo own's the Thinkpad name outright and has gone forward in creating their own line of desktop towers called ThinkCentre.

Like Sony Viao, Lenovo has gone into using very proprietary software especially when trying to wirelessly link to a network. You have to use Lenovo's connectivity suite. If you try to use Windows wireless utility, Lenovo shuts down it's wifi antenna during online sessions. Verrrrry frustrating.

My wife just acquired a Lenovo ThinkCentre desktop for work and was frustrated when the brand-spankin new DVD-RAM drive failed to recognize anything put in it. Drivers looked fine so it was determined the drive was bad and she should return it to CompUSA...Well guess what? CompUSA is going out of business! At least here in Hawaii.

I told her whenever she wants me to void that warranty to fix her computer to let me know.

So she's deciding what to do.

Now Panasonic is a great computer. I have an older Panasonic running a PII Intel Processor and it still runs circles around my Dell Inspiron 2650 piece of junk.

**Snoopdogie187** · 02-07-2008, 11:40 AM

For what i used:

Everyday common peron a dell is fine for if they are looking for nothing costing too much and want another in a few years.

I have a toshiba right now, people say all the software that came on it is bad, well most on mine was toshiba software to burn dvds or wireless, not as bad as the HP desktop i had and on top of that, i got a CD for system recovery unlike a lot of companies that put it on the hard drive and you have to make your own. only bad part is battery life is bad.

I also used an acer, which seemed fine too, battery life was bad though and it got hot just being on, so you have to be careful with that.

my friend has an old sony laptop (from china i think) and it seems good for its age with few problems.

HP, i heard a lot about their motherboards going and the desktop i had was no different then that.

I have used a IBM lenovo X60s, it is just what i need for class. Living on campus at a college (Rutgers, New brunswick to be exact) it takes a bating to get around campus, busses that are worse then NYC with all the people on them, all the traffic, just the distance. The X series is extremly lite and easy to carry around plus i was never afraid that it would break. it is a little pricy, not too bad though plus it doesnt use much cooling besides its size being so small that not enough heat can build up in it i think (somewhat). The battery lasts a really long time, 3+ hours min. playing a game that kills my toshiba in about an hour. then i think it was 5 hours just being on which is what i just need when i have two or three classes in a row. So yea i am trying to save up for a X61 of my own to use for class.

~is accepting donations towards new laptop~

Wisey! · 06-28-2008, 04:12 AM

In searching this thread I don't think anyone has mentioned MESH.

I had a 17" P4 MESH laptop, my first couple of years with it were very good although battery life was crap (I bought it second hand when it was about a year old) and it wouldn't last anymore than 10minutes and it ran really hot, however it did just keep running for ages and never seemed to go wrong.

Until in the third year, stuff started to fall apart, one of the two 512MB RAM chips broke so the computer wouldn't boot with it in and then once this happend:

No idea...

And then later it started to randomly not boot, this become more and more a common occorance until had to try to boot it 3-4 times every time I wanted it on. Until eventual it wouldn't boot at all (managed to boot with a Norton file saving disc thing) so I took to a techy friend and he told me that either the motherboard or processor had gone.

======================

Now I have a pretty damn good Dell XPS M1530 (IMO) see spec at the side. And have had it about a month and have no problems with it at all (supriseingly, since it had Vista..). Boots real quick, finger print scanner is pretty cool too (and it works well). Runs Crysis on medium well (seems to be a bench mark atm). All that for £700, it's lifespan remains to be seen, but I'm very pleased with it atm.

fmjaguar7 · 07-05-2008, 10:54 PM

well i might jump in here, agree alot with original post, except Compaq, sure they arnt the best but i have had a compaq desktop that my parents bought me for 10 years now lol, its finally hit its end but ever since i got it it has been easily upgraded to run for 10 years w/o a single hickup, i think i wiped HDD and started fresh windows once in all that time. upgraded about everything on it by now and still runs well, just cant handle any new apps such as COD4 but eh its old!

buy now i got a PC (laptop) i got to pick myself and i went with Sager, GREAT deals on their products and very reliable systems, its a 2092 with top line everything 200gb at 7200rpm an 8600GT 512mb and intel core2 Duo (2.5 Ghz) and WSXGA+ screen. very nice laptop and i love it dearly... runs COD4 on extra settings w/o a hickup, also runs Crysis on Extra but at about 20 fps, 35+ if i run it on High settings. so im gonna go with Sager as my pick for now, but really it would be a Compal (not Compaq) case assembled by Sager
www.sagernotebooks.com
anyways yea thats my product of choice, kinda of an underground Power notebook brand
when running off of battery i get 3-5 hours as well! (3 while playing COD4 and other games, and around 5 if its music)

**Fox** · 07-06-2008, 06:01 PM

Having been around the block with this, I'm going to take back any recommendations for a 'gaming' or 'high powered' notebook.

Buying a high powered notebook is silly for a couple of reasons. The first and most significant of which is the fact that a high powered notebook will be the fastest to depreciate, and will depreciate the most out of any new notebook. Second, high powered notebooks, from my experience, are much more prone to hardware failures due to the high amount of heat that they have to deal with, often with less-than-adequate ventilation. Heat killed the crappy sunon fan on my Acer, and I had to get the entire cooling unit which cost 70+ dollars because nobody sells the fan alone. That's pretty poor.

I found a Dell C600 on Craigslist at my university for 20 dollars, and after replacing the hard drive and cutting the accupoint ribbon (which was faulty and caused the cursor to go everywhere) it is now a near perfect laptop. The battery takes a charge just long enough to change outlets, but for a semi-portable computer, it does almost anything I want it to, which is usually torrenting out my window at school to places where my desktop won't reach :D

Not only that, I don't have to worry that much about it breaking since it cost me so little, and I can travel confidently with it. It's small, boots up fast, is light... it's everything that my Acer isn't and wasn't made to be.

So, in summary, my 'pick' will now be anything you can get used for super-cheap. That's a sure-fire way to get the best value.

06-25-2007, 12:32 PM	#81 (permalink)
1 g0t 0wn3d Hardware Team Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Sedona, az Posts: 6,141 OS: Vista basic 32bit My System	Re: staff picks I have had a gateway and the battery has lasted for 8 yrs and still holds a 3 hr charge. __________________ Bench Test \| PC Wizard \| System specs \| PSU info \| PSU calculator \| Memtest86+ \| Speedfan

10-08-2007, 09:32 PM	#82 (permalink)
apluscnc Registered User Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Southern California Posts: 5 OS: XP	Re: staff picks Ive had every kind of desktop made I think, but I 've only had Dell Laptops and I love them. Their Customer Support is awesome. I can put in a Service Tag for a five year old Laptop and have a Support Tech online helping me with an out of warranty machine in five minutes. I have 3 C800 series (C800, C810 or C840's) and 5 C C600's ( a mix of C600's and C610's). All are P3'S between 750 to 1500 MHZ with 256GB to 512GB of RAM. They all run XP because I have a factory recovery CD that will restore XP Pro on any Dell. I get them off ebay for less than 200 bucks all the time. The only problems I've ever had is with keyboards, but I can get replacements for 20 bucks each. I love them. They will run anything I through at them. Ignorance is Bliss. Last edited by apluscnc : 10-08-2007 at 09:33 PM.

02-05-2008, 02:59 PM	#83 (permalink)
craigwatanabe Registered User Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 246 OS: xp	Re: staff picks having worked on all of those laptop company's products mentioned, my pick for the best bang for the buck is a Toshiba. The IBM Thinkpad being sold nowdays aren't IBM's anymore. Lenovo was licensed to take over IBM's laptop business that's why you saw both names on them. Now however, Lenovo own's the Thinkpad name outright and has gone forward in creating their own line of desktop towers called ThinkCentre. Like Sony Viao, Lenovo has gone into using very proprietary software especially when trying to wirelessly link to a network. You have to use Lenovo's connectivity suite. If you try to use Windows wireless utility, Lenovo shuts down it's wifi antenna during online sessions. Verrrrry frustrating. My wife just acquired a Lenovo ThinkCentre desktop for work and was frustrated when the brand-spankin new DVD-RAM drive failed to recognize anything put in it. Drivers looked fine so it was determined the drive was bad and she should return it to CompUSA...Well guess what? CompUSA is going out of business! At least here in Hawaii. I told her whenever she wants me to void that warranty to fix her computer to let me know. So she's deciding what to do. Now Panasonic is a great computer. I have an older Panasonic running a PII Intel Processor and it still runs circles around my Dell Inspiron 2650 piece of junk. __________________ A computer is only as powerful as it's user so build wisely. Last edited by craigwatanabe : 02-05-2008 at 03:01 PM.

02-07-2008, 11:40 AM	#84 (permalink)
Snoopdogie187 Oh! What shall I be? Join Date: Jun 2002 Posts: 1,545 OS: Vista Home Premium SP1, mom: XP Pro SP2 My System	Re: staff picks For what i used: Everyday common peron a dell is fine for if they are looking for nothing costing too much and want another in a few years. I have a toshiba right now, people say all the software that came on it is bad, well most on mine was toshiba software to burn dvds or wireless, not as bad as the HP desktop i had and on top of that, i got a CD for system recovery unlike a lot of companies that put it on the hard drive and you have to make your own. only bad part is battery life is bad. I also used an acer, which seemed fine too, battery life was bad though and it got hot just being on, so you have to be careful with that. my friend has an old sony laptop (from china i think) and it seems good for its age with few problems. HP, i heard a lot about their motherboards going and the desktop i had was no different then that. I have used a IBM lenovo X60s, it is just what i need for class. Living on campus at a college (Rutgers, New brunswick to be exact) it takes a bating to get around campus, busses that are worse then NYC with all the people on them, all the traffic, just the distance. The X series is extremly lite and easy to carry around plus i was never afraid that it would break. it is a little pricy, not too bad though plus it doesnt use much cooling besides its size being so small that not enough heat can build up in it i think (somewhat). The battery lasts a really long time, 3+ hours min. playing a game that kills my toshiba in about an hour. then i think it was 5 hours just being on which is what i just need when i have two or three classes in a row. So yea i am trying to save up for a X61 of my own to use for class. ~is accepting donations towards new laptop~ __________________ studing = day + night + any free time - times I have exams Infected computer? click here Has TSF Helped You? Posting System Specifications Please Donate to TSF

06-28-2008, 04:12 AM	#85 (permalink)
Wisey! Registered User Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: England Posts: 55 OS: Windows Vista Home Edition My System	Re: staff picks In searching this thread I don't think anyone has mentioned MESH. I had a 17" P4 MESH laptop, my first couple of years with it were very good although battery life was crap (I bought it second hand when it was about a year old) and it wouldn't last anymore than 10minutes and it ran really hot, however it did just keep running for ages and never seemed to go wrong. Until in the third year, stuff started to fall apart, one of the two 512MB RAM chips broke so the computer wouldn't boot with it in and then once this happend: No idea... And then later it started to randomly not boot, this become more and more a common occorance until had to try to boot it 3-4 times every time I wanted it on. Until eventual it wouldn't boot at all (managed to boot with a Norton file saving disc thing) so I took to a techy friend and he told me that either the motherboard or processor had gone. ====================== Now I have a pretty damn good Dell XPS M1530 (IMO) see spec at the side. And have had it about a month and have no problems with it at all (supriseingly, since it had Vista..). Boots real quick, finger print scanner is pretty cool too (and it works well). Runs Crysis on medium well (seems to be a bench mark atm). All that for £700, it's lifespan remains to be seen, but I'm very pleased with it atm.

07-05-2008, 10:54 PM	#86 (permalink)
fmjaguar7 Registered User Join Date: Jul 2008 Posts: 3 OS: Windows XP	Re: staff picks well i might jump in here, agree alot with original post, except Compaq, sure they arnt the best but i have had a compaq desktop that my parents bought me for 10 years now lol, its finally hit its end but ever since i got it it has been easily upgraded to run for 10 years w/o a single hickup, i think i wiped HDD and started fresh windows once in all that time. upgraded about everything on it by now and still runs well, just cant handle any new apps such as COD4 but eh its old! buy now i got a PC (laptop) i got to pick myself and i went with Sager, GREAT deals on their products and very reliable systems, its a 2092 with top line everything 200gb at 7200rpm an 8600GT 512mb and intel core2 Duo (2.5 Ghz) and WSXGA+ screen. very nice laptop and i love it dearly... runs COD4 on extra settings w/o a hickup, also runs Crysis on Extra but at about 20 fps, 35+ if i run it on High settings. so im gonna go with Sager as my pick for now, but really it would be a Compal (not Compaq) case assembled by Sager www.sagernotebooks.com anyways yea thats my product of choice, kinda of an underground Power notebook brand when running off of battery i get 3-5 hours as well! (3 while playing COD4 and other games, and around 5 if its music) Last edited by fmjaguar7 : 07-05-2008 at 10:57 PM.

07-06-2008, 06:01 PM	#87 (permalink)
Fox Moderator, Microsoft Support Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: NJ Posts: 7,648 OS: XP Pro, CentOS My System	Re: staff picks Having been around the block with this, I'm going to take back any recommendations for a 'gaming' or 'high powered' notebook. Buying a high powered notebook is silly for a couple of reasons. The first and most significant of which is the fact that a high powered notebook will be the fastest to depreciate, and will depreciate the most out of any new notebook. Second, high powered notebooks, from my experience, are much more prone to hardware failures due to the high amount of heat that they have to deal with, often with less-than-adequate ventilation. Heat killed the crappy sunon fan on my Acer, and I had to get the entire cooling unit which cost 70+ dollars because nobody sells the fan alone. That's pretty poor. I found a Dell C600 on Craigslist at my university for 20 dollars, and after replacing the hard drive and cutting the accupoint ribbon (which was faulty and caused the cursor to go everywhere) it is now a near perfect laptop. The battery takes a charge just long enough to change outlets, but for a semi-portable computer, it does almost anything I want it to, which is usually torrenting out my window at school to places where my desktop won't reach :D Not only that, I don't have to worry that much about it breaking since it cost me so little, and I can travel confidently with it. It's small, boots up fast, is light... it's everything that my Acer isn't and wasn't made to be. So, in summary, my 'pick' will now be anything you can get used for super-cheap. That's a sure-fire way to get the best value. __________________ Antec Neo Power 500W- $35, ABIT IP35-E- $65, Intel E2180@2.66Ghz- $83, Corsair XMS2 2x1GB DDR2-800- $25, PNY 8800GT $160-25, 320GB Seagate- $65, Total: $419 * lazy college student alert *- If I've inadvertently ignored a thread, please Let me know about it Have I helped you solve your problem? Donate to Techsupportforums Klart Skepp!