Shopping for a laptop

[id10t]

Where would a good place be to order a customizable laptop computer???
I'd like somewhere with good prices and decent customer service, preferrably something other than Dell...
I went to ibuypower briefly, but I can't seem to find links to really customize your notebook, just make minor adjustments to their setups...

[poppa-smurf]

You can never go wrong with the alien...

http://www.alienware.com/

Personally, I have a Sony and have been very very happy with it, check here

http://www.sonystyle.com

Laptops though are a bit of a pain cause you can't really build your own, as you can with a desktop. Really, your best bet is to go with a larger name (but NEVER HP/Compaq, they suck nuts)

[id10t]

Excuse my glaring ignorance when it comes to notebooks...but why is it that it does not seem to be an option to order a notebook that does not come with an operating system installed??? I have my Windows XP Pro CD, I'd like to save money wherever I can...heh

[Toma]

If you want to get one without an OS, you'll probably have to buy a whitebox (no-name) computer. Asus makes some decent ones, but be sure to check out Hypersonic and Sager as well.

[HypERSoniC]

someone call? haha

i take it hypersonic is some kind of computer retailer in the USA?

poppa-smurf could you elaborate on why compaq/hp is a bad choice? i ask because i am buying my girlfriend a laptop, and am seriously considering a HP. http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI....220183587&rd=1

[Toma]

Yea, it's a custom computer company; only been around for a few years, not like Alienware or Falcon. They have some pretty cool machines though.

[poppa-smurf]

someone call? haha

i take it hypersonic is some kind of computer retailer in the USA?

poppa-smurf could you elaborate on why compaq/hp is a bad choice? i ask because i am buying my girlfriend a laptop, and am seriously considering a HP. http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI....220183587&rd=1

The reason is from personal experience. I may have gotten a lemon but I don't know, so it's based on my experiences. Here's the quick version. Bought laptop in August. Sometime in November, two keys on the keyboard died (the N and B). Sent in for repair. In December/January, the AC adaptor died, leaving me with no power. New AC adapter sent to me. May, two other keys die on the keyboard, as well as the LCD screen. Sent in, repaired again. September, the whole system falls apart - won't boot, if it boots, it would suddenly die. It looked like parts of the RAM were corrupted, and since it was no longer under warranty, couldn't send it in. I worked at the school's IT at the time, and they took it apart, couldn't fix it - hardware had borked. If I pressed hard on the back in the middle, it *might* boot, or it might look like those scenes in the Matrix where the code is not converted (you know, that weird scribbles). If it did boot, it might suddenly die - this could be either 3 hours from boot, or 3 seconds. Finally, just trashed the whole system, bought a Sony and haven't had any problems.

[thetieger]

see i've heard the opposite, where HP is the savior and Sony is the bad guy...

If I were to buy a lappy it would probably be a HP right off of their website, great prices.

-Thetieger

[Toma]

I've owned two Sony laptops and the biggest issue I have is their power supplies. Both have developed a condition where it turns off randomly and refuses to turn on unless the cord is wiggled and placed in a certain direction. I assume it has to do with some kind of damage inside of the plug on the laptop itself, but I've never been able to see any direct cause.

[yahooadam]

IMO id buy a Desktop wherever possible, but i accept that some people need lappies

Sony computers are expensive for what they are, but i dont have experience with their support

HP / IBM computers also seem expensive for what they are, but the thinkpads seem very robust (certianly the older ones, their still all around)

Dell, mmm dell, very expensive, but the support is very good, you can go back years later and get support + drivers, but they are still pretty expensive

Lol ive said their all expensive, but i dont know any that arent, the problem with lappies is they sacrifice speed for power

so ure 2ghz lappie uses a 3.2ghz P4 (for eg) but its underclocked, reducing heat and power consumption, which means u pay alot for less

The hard drives have to be smaller so u get less storage, the 2.5" drives are expensive aswell

and so on and so forth, u will pay alot for your lappie, and u cant modify them after purchase, and if somthing goes wrong, u have no chance of fixing it

Plus u cant go out and buy normal stuff, like a sound card, it has to be a special USB or PCMCIA card

Although usb has improved laptops and peripherals significantly beacause its all standard