Technology A bit off topic, but WhatToshiba or HP laptop?

[monkeyMD]

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What would you guys get, or have? Any advice about this?

Oh, sorry for the typo in the title. Don't know how that happened.

 

[Davydude7]

Apple

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

Mac or Sony Viao

Best stuff for your money.

 

[Geekchick921]

I had a really bad experience with a Toshiba laptop about 5 years ago. Spent a lot of money on it, motherboard died in 7 months. It took them 5 months to replace it with the same faulty part, so it broke again 7 months later after the warranty was void. I bitched them out for giving me another faulty MB and they fixed it again. Then the screen went black a few months after that. Less than two years and it was completely useless. I'm still pissed and will never buy another Toshiba product again if I can help it.

On the other hand, I love the HP laptop we got last summer. Still works great.

 

[OhioDoc]

What would you guys get, or have? Any advice about this?

Oh, sorry for the typo in the title. Don't know how that happened.

Take a good look @ consumer reports, see what they recommend and check out the reliability history for the different brands. if you don't have a subscription, most public libraries do. Once you've honed in on a specific brand/model, match the specifications of the potential machine with your needs - i.e. if you're going to be using it mainly for school, you probably don't need 8GB of DDR3 Ram + the greater processor known to man.

 

[circulus vitios]

HP is crap from the stories I've heard.

Get a Dell or a Macbook.

 

[iniquus]

Lenovo, or get a custom-built one (no point in paying for a brand name).

 

[BeastfromthEast]

depends on what you want to do with it. if you want to game, get an asus or a sager. i have an hp laptop and i havent had any bad experiences with it. ive heard that toshiba's laptops are the most reliable in some sort of survey though.

 

[apumic]

Macbook Pro 13" all the way. They start ~$1050 for students. If you don't need the newest model, get an used one. Either way purchase Apple Care (it's worth it, but you can save a good $50-100 on it by buying it from a non-Apple vendor). This will protect you from all kinds of crap that can happen to a laptop for 3 yrs.

OTOH, if you don't see yourself actually needing the power of a machine like that, go for a cheap netbook ($200-400) for your on-the-go system and buy an iMac or similar for home. Desktops tend to last FAR longer than laptops as they don't have to suffer being moved, bumped, jostled, dropped, etc.

 

[jm192]

What would you guys get, or have? Any advice about this?

Oh, sorry for the typo in the title. Don't know how that happened.

I'm rocking a cheap hp, and amazingly enough it does all you need for school. Get a good antivirus, I've been using Kaspersky for the past 2 years and haven't had any issues.

 

[curlytop]

Lenovo, or get a custom-built one (no point in paying for a brand name).

Lenovo all the way. I love my ThinkPad, it's seriously the best computer I've ever had and I've had 2 desktop HPs, 2 desktop Dells, and a HP laptop.

My HP laptop was the worst experience ever. Bought it brand new

3 months old - battery died and wouldn't recharge
About a year old - lights indicating capslock, etc. all broke, AC adapter broke, CD drive/reader broke

Plus it's really slow.

THINKPAD!

 

[Myuu]

Moving to the tech forums.

 

[TTigers70]

HPs are over-priced big time IMO. Comparable computers go for much less. Sony is king of the "pay for my brand" title. I have a Toshiba I got just about 3 years ago and its numbers are still solid for today's machines (4GB RAM, 320GB HD, 2.0GHz processor, etc). I got it in a bundle with a printer, MS Office, a carry case blah blah for $700 before tax. From the value side the computer alone was $550 so went for the goods. Really shop around and think what exactly you need it for. I don't really game (thats what the PS3 and HDTV are for) so its excellent for my purposes. If you find yourself in the same boat, paying for a fancy graphics card is probably a waste. Stock card hands photoshop cs5 just fine. Also, have a tera gig of memory sounds nice but unless you are editing HD movies its going to be almost impossible to maximize your return on the investment. Better off just stacking some externals.

A Mac is a Mac... if you like them I guess they are worth it, I don't like the idea of paying over a G for the baseline model

 

[Jolie South]

I love my 13" MacBook pro. No need to mess with antivirus, I love the OS, and no random crashes/errors/messages about missing drivers that I got on my POS Dell. I just want a computer that works without tinkering, optimizing, and lots of extraneous maintenance programs. That's what I've got.

I did replace my fan for $20, but that's the only problem I've encountered since buying it 1.5 years ago.

I would suggest AppleCare. It's only $100 at time of purchase and insures you for 3 years.

 

[xanthomondo]

I love how the original question was Toshiba vs HP and every Mac fangirl runs in and yells MAC!!!

What a deal! $1200 for a system that is obsolete compared to a tablet computer I bought (that was cheaper) three years ago.​

...that is still running strong with 0 crashes/viruses/replacements/need for repair.​

To the OP, I say HP.​

 

[TMP-SMX]

Baseline MB is $950 not "over a G" through Amazon without any tax it is $950. All of the MB/MBP line will soon be updated. You get a $100 printer for free with a Mac. You get a free iPod Touch during the late spring until late summer.

Choose whatever you prefer and can get a good deal on. This means waiting and buying when the time is right. You want something that is going to last a long time. HP is fine as that is what my wife uses but we are currently dealing with multiple trojans redirecting her google links which cannot be fixed with symantec, adaware, and malwarebytes. Problem it suffers from is the use of Windows. In the right careful hands it is fine but if someone makes a mistake by clicking something they shouldn't or downloading a song that is infected by a trojan very few options remain including wiping the harddrive or using specialized programs that can cause the computer to not start up correctly. Windows 7 has improved vs. previous versions in terms of usability but the malware is still a problem.

 

[redT]

I love my 13" MacBook pro. No need to mess with antivirus, I love the OS, and no random crashes/errors/messages about missing drivers that I got on my POS Dell. I just want a computer that works without tinkering, optimizing, and lots of extraneous maintenance programs. That's what I've got.

I did replace my fan for $20, but that's the only problem I've encountered since buying it 1.5 years ago.

I would suggest AppleCare. It's only $100 at time of purchase and insures you for 3 years.

Agreed!! I know a lot of people that think Mac's are overpriced but mine is 6 years old and has been dropped, dented, and taken an entire glass of juice into the keyboard (none of which I did) and it just keeps on running (energizer bunny style). I should add that I did spend $100 on upgrading the OS last year AND that it is faster and more reliable than my lab partners' laptops. One gal has an HP that she's had to send back 3x for hardware issues. Best money I ever spent. I didn't get AppleCare and didn't need it but would recommend it; it's better to be safe than sorry!

 

[movax]

Baseline MB is $950 not "over a G" through Amazon without any tax it is $950. All of the MB/MBP line will soon be updated. You get a $100 printer for free with a Mac. You get a free iPod Touch during the late spring until late summer.

Agreed; unless you need a laptop right now I would recommend against buying a MacBook or MacBook Pro (at least the 13", which is really old now). They are likely to finally get a refresh this year CPU-wise, gaining the new 32nm Intel procs at the very least, plus some other goodies perhaps.

The 13" MBP and Macbooks still feature the Core 2 Duo, which while an excellent processor, is several uArchs old at this point in time. The CPU in Apple portables is not user-upgradeable, so don't lock yourself in.