type of lap top PC

[VanTramp]

Heidi and I each have a Samsung N110 netbook. They are fairly small but easy to type on and have great screens as well as significant storage. (160GB) Heidi has XP on hers and I run Linux on mine, also have 2 GB RAM on mine. They both work very well! Had them for over a year now and no issues with either. Our extremely destructive (to computers) daughter, Jay, also has the same one and actually it is working well for her a year later now too! Believe me that is a good testimony to their ruggedness <img src="/images/boards/smilies/smile.gif" border="0" align="absmiddle">

Cost when we bought them was $340 each and were ordered from Amazon.

 

[Guest]

<font face="Arial">What you need for a laptop depends on what you need to do with it (just email &amp; word docs or playing movies, music &amp; gaming?), how much you use it (how many applications you run at once), how much you need to store on it and how fast you need it to think (how much patience you have vs. how much $$ you want to spend on drive, processor and memory size)<br><br></font><font face="Arial">Laptop batteries can be bought as cheaply as $25, and the extended life, 12 cells as cheaply as $35 (depending on which laptop you have). <br>Look on eBay and Amazon.com.</font><br><font face="Arial">Recommend a 12v charger, too.</font> <span style="font-family: Arial;">Charge battery, unplug and run off battery for several hours to preserve your deep cell batts (unless you're plugged into shore power)</span>.<br><span style="font-family: Arial;">When you're not using it - turn it off.</span><br style="font-family: Arial;"><font style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);" face="Arial"><br>Keep your power settings low to preserve battery life. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">The two biggest power suckers are having the screen too bright and playing DVD's.</span></font><br style="text-decoration: underline;"><br>

 

[Seraphim]

An iPad - the original model if you can find one.

I'm a computer nerd - I admit it. I don't use any of my laptops or desktop since I got the iPad. I have no programs that require windows and I'm not a heavy gamer. An iPad can be purchased wireless only or with no contract 3G - which means you can start and stop service as you will.

The things a PC can do that my iPad can't are things I don't do anyway - and I do a lot. The iPad is much more more convenient to use, carry and conceal and starts up MUCH quicker.

Battery lasts me 6 hours of constant use. 8 if not constantly hitting the internet

Apps are a lot cheaper than software, and many are free. No OS to purchase or upgrade (upgrades are free).

 

[JohnDoeIII]

In this day and age my preferred brand of laptops is Asus.&nbsp; I prefer them over Dell, HP, Acer etc.&nbsp; The only one in my opinion that comes close as far as mainstream laptops go is Sony and Toshiba's.&nbsp; Now when you start getting into your high end gaming rigs, I like Asus, IbuypowerPC, Alienware and some MSI machines.<br /><br /><br />I've had an Asus K61-IC for going on 4 years now and I haven't always treated it like it should be treated and it's still kicking minus a few hiccups over the years (DVD drive and Hard Drive had to be replaced and the battery needs to be replaced) its still kicking like a beast.&nbsp; I'm planning on getting another one in a few months and turning this one into a dedicated Media Center/ Server as soon as I get a new one, but I can honestly say that I will be an Asus Customer for life.&nbsp; Love their Machines.&nbsp; The only thing I don't care for about them is that you can't custom configure them on Asus's website, but if you order through www.pro-star.com then you can custom configure it any way you like.<br /><br /><br />Also In my opinion, I find the Apple Products to be entirely overpriced for what you actually get.&nbsp; Give me a PC any day with dual boot of Win 7 &amp; a Linux Distro and I'm one happy camper <img src="/images/boards/smilies/smile.gif" border="0" align="absmiddle">

 

[Willy]

I'd say that, unless you go for a cheap netbook, a business class notebook is the way to go. They're built a lot tougher than your consumer grade laptop and often have 3 yr warranties. In the USA you've got&nbsp; http://www.dell.com/us/dfb/p/latitude-laptops?~ck=anav and these come with a 3 yr warranty. I generally buy off Craigslist (Canada sux) And, for example, I picked up a Lenovo X220t convertible tablet pc (3yr warranty) for $700.&nbsp; The business class lappy's also generally have better screens &amp; security measures.&nbsp;<br />&nbsp;<br />&nbsp;All you've got to do is put them side to side (business vs consumer) and look for quality of construction.. it will very quickly become evident as to which is better. seeing as I live in a mobile environment, I can expect more in the way of 'accidents' and, while I might pay more for the same specs, I'm not paying twice because the laptop fell &amp; broke. ..Willy.

 

[Guest]

I bought an ASUS Zenbook UX-31A for it's low power consumption at only 45W. &nbsp;The full 1080p display is brilliant.

 

[VanLifeCrisis]

I have a pretty beastly hp laptop, because i wanted to be able to game with it decently.&nbsp; My last laptop was a workhorse but had a horribly dark display, terrible sound, and really chugged along in even low end games like WoW (i got 8 fps or worse on low setting, this one gets 60 on highest).&nbsp; This one has decent sound and a dedicated graphics card (the kind with a low speed gpu and a high speed one, and switches), blue ray, and a very bright screen.&nbsp; <br /><br />But I dont think it is good for vandwelling, as it is a power eater (120W i think), especially when it uses the faster graphics chip.&nbsp; But i am not in a position to buy another one.<br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;">Necro thread ftw</span>

 

[ontheroadagain]

I assume from your reference to cheap place to buy you are on a limited budget?<br /><br />Most people do not realize that the hard drive only has a warranty of 1-5 yrs. 2 yrs is the norm. 5yrs is rare. Most drives do last many years but they do die unexpectedly. If your pc is 5-6 yrs old it is time for a new one (or have a tech swap out your drive).<br /><br />If you are going on the road I would not go with a desktop. In my opinion they are not designed for mobile hazards of travel. <br />An iPad is a good choice if the 10" screen is big enough for you but from what I read you are concerned about a netbook because of the size so an ipad may be a bit small.<br />If you are not going to be carrying it around on hikes or to libraries, I would go with as big a laptop as you can afford to buy and operate. keep in mind that if you plan to not be plugged into AC most of the time: bigger means more battery consumption and less run time.<br /><br />The 13" and 14" laptops can be very pricey. (personally I would never buy an acer - never a good thing heard about them)<br /><br />If you are looking for cost savings and middle of the road, I would go with an asus, toshiba, or HP 15" laptop from Walmart. Their prices on low end laptops are hard to beat.<br /><br />Stay clear of refurbished! These are often off-lease units that are being dumped onto the market. Refurbished on these units generally means a guy or company wipes the hard drive and resets the main os. You will still be buying a used battery and used hard drive that is probably out of warranty. Repairs on laptops are expensive.<br /><br />Speaking of the repair costs: at $300-350 for a laptop it is cheaper to replace it than repair it out of warranty. Unless you know someone in the business. In my experience Square Trade offers the best warranty for the money. you can find them online. you can purchase the warranty after you buy it on their site and send in a copy of your receipt.<br /><br />If you have not used windows 8 yet, go somewhere to a store and check it out on a laptop. In my opinion it is awful for mouse driven laptops. It is similar to a tablet OS like that for androids. It is more for a touch screen than a mouse. It does not look feel or behave like any Windows we have seen before.<br /><br />Hope this helps<br />Rick<br /><br />