Good Quality Laptop?

[chixchix]

Hii all , I need to buy a latop to do my business work ..but I dont need anything Hi-Fi...just a simple one.. anyone can comment on Dell,HP,,Vaio, and Acer.

Also, is it worth it to buy a Mini notebook ..

[Plavt]

The only one amongst those you have listed worth thinking about is Dell, forget about HP (I won't bother to tell you my experiences but I had no end of 'screaming matches'), Sony are good but their customer service is poor for some reason, Acer not so hot (in the UK at least).

As I have said before it does seem to matter where in the world you live; I have both a Toshiba and a Fujitsu-Siemens Laptop which so far have given me no trouble at all. However, they are assembled in Germany where quality control is good.

For some reason Fujitsu are not very it at all active in Singapore and are expensive. I don't know why but I have heard a few complaints about Toshiba there (qaulity control maybe? I believe they are assembled in Malaysia?).

Dell's tech support to me was not all together impressive but as I believe you are Indian the language shouldn't be a problem.

[durain]

all major brand of laptop these days are pretty much neck and neck but plavt statement about different laptop model from different countries of manufacturing has different standard. on a corp level, i find lenovo to be rock solid.

on your question on mini laptop / UMPC, they are getting popular but it all depends what you need your laptop for. if you are doing lehman brother spreadsheet, i think you will defo need a bigger screen. and the battery life is pretty much useless. but if it is just surfing the net and you know point to point you will get main power, and you dont want the weight, then they are great.

me been using a lenovo X61s with a 8-cell battery and it can last probably about 6-7 hours (real life test). most of time time i dont carry the PSU with me as it will last one full day of use.

[Blue Sapphire]

Hii all , I need to buy a latop to do my business work ..but I dont need anything Hi-Fi...just a simple one.. anyone can comment on Dell,HP,,Vaio, and Acer.

Also, is it worth it to buy a Mini notebook ..

From the list you've given either a Dell or Sony Vaio. Asus and Toshiba isnt so bad too. An Acer is affordable but it gets so heated up that it crashes and its too hot to even put on your lap. I have one and I feel like throwing it out of the window. I'm going to replace it soon.

It all depends on your budget and what you need it for.

A mini notebook is good if you want to carry it around but they tend to have less configurations and no dvd drive etc built into it. But you can ofcourse buy an external one to connect with when you ever need it. If thats your choice check out the Asus, its so cute.

[chixchix]

Hey thanks ! i will go for Dell then.. anyways ,, at the moment my desktop i am using Broadband by starhub... i thought of getting the Huawei USB stick... is it good ?

Can i still use the net with it while overseas ? i willbe travelling soon so i need the net connection.

CHeers

[tinpot_dummy]

All thing equal, I would prefer at mini-notebook but not the micro types which need a magnifying glass.

I have been using an IBM X40 for last 4 years and yet to think of changing. Works beautifully. Handles robust stuff like AutoCAD and simulation packages reasonable well. Packs well and light enough to carry in a folder.

Get the lightest and smallest you can get.

[lesukendar]

The only one amongst those you have listed worth thinking about is Dell, forget about HP (I won't bother to tell you my experiences but I had no end of 'screaming matches'), Sony are good but their customer service is poor for some reason, Acer not so hot (in the UK at least).

Had problems with HP laptop as well, more towards the hardware side. Bought mine in HK, encountered first problem when I was in Indonesia, my mainboard needed to be replaced 13 months after purchase (warranty was over so need to pay full amount). After they replaced my mainboard, my OS wasn't working, so they wanted to reformat my OS. Told me to backup my files (which took about 3-4 hours and I told them that I dont think I need to back up my files, since they're on different drives from the OS, they insisted so I wasted 4 hours). After they format and reinstall my OS, majority of my drivers got effected in the worst possible way. They told me they couldnt fix it, the manager told me he will contact his colleague in Singapore to solve, and he gave me a fake number and a fake email address (seriously, how unprofessional was this??)

so now in Singapore, encountered another problem. I have a 17inch monitor laptop, and it seems like the LCD monitor is too heavy for HP design, the joints were shifted, I literally can not close my laptop. Went to hp singapore, they said they can't fix it, if I want to fix it, they want me to get the entire LCD part, which cost about S$1000 (hell might as well get a new laptop and it was so unfair considering that the actualy LCD is not broken at all, what was broken was the casing of the LCD) Got someone else to talk to the manager, and miraculously... at the end, the manager offered to fix my lap top for less than $150.. not only they fix my LCD they fixed my dillema with all the drivers that was literally f*ed up by the Indonesian HP

So after spending about S$300 for my 18 months laptop in a service center, wow I thought my laptop was a brand new again. Unfortunately, 2 months later, the volume/mute button on my keyboard is now unusable.

aside from that everything is ok..... really... its okay..... how sad...

anyway, a lot of my friends have problem with sony Vaio.. if you can spend the amount of money on Vaio, might as well spend a little more and get Fujitsu.

[sundaymorningstaple]

Which is why I use Dell. I also have a 17 Inspiron 9300 (pre-dual core 2ghz). The on/off switch went up on mine about 12 months ago. when is was around 2.5 years old. Fortunately I purchased the full 3 yr Int'l warranty. They did a cursory talk-through on the phone and when that didn't do anything, they had an engineer call me back and we did another walk through. After determining that I needed a new motherboard, they called me back the next morning and made an appointment at 8pm in the evening at my home. The guy arrived on time, took him 30 minutes to strip the notebook down, remove, replace and crank it up. Another 10 min for testing and bob's yer uncle! I've never had much problem with Dells and when I have to use tech support I've always had a good run there as well. I've bought probably 30+ Dells over the past 6 years or so. Current have 2 Dell notebooks (the other is an ancient Inspiron 4000 that is still working like a champ! (bit slow though) All I've had to do to that one is replace the fan. Course I've subsequently upgraded the HDD to 4x it original size and installed XP and removed the Millinium. At one time I had Server 2000 installed as well on it in a dual boot configuration while I was doing my MCSA about 5 years ago.

Dells are pretty good value for money. And if you want a high end notebook that good enough for gaming, Dell's got one of them as well! With a price tag to match!

[jpatokal]

One more vote over rock-solid Dell over constantly-breaking HP. My Panasonic CF-R6 Toughbook is better than either though

[joop]

I would highly recommend DELL for its excellent customer service support, especially so important when your laptop breaks down on you. Opt for the extended warranty, you won't regret it.

[Plavt]

I would highly recommend DELL for its excellent customer service support,

........you don't get that in the UK

[jfd]

Hmmm, I will be in the market for a laptop when I get to Singapore myself. I had not considered Dell, but will have a look.

I want to get one with a 17" screen, so any tips appreciated.

Also, I was really thinking to look at any new Toshiba's. My old Toshiba laptop is finally protesting under the strain, but I have had it for about 8 years, and never a problem, so have been very happy with it, but it is time to put it out to pasture!