I did a search and found a few threads on your thoughts on the best laptop. But I'm specifically considering the Toshiba 2410-W9X http://www.toshiba.ca/web/product.grp?lg=en&section=1&group=1&product=531 . I was hoping to get your opinion on it. Good choice or not?

Keep in mind the price you see on that page is in Canadian dollars. Works out to about $1560 U.S.

Vito

My friend got a toshiba laptop few weeks ago, its a bit better than your Toshiba, he got it from retail store, it cost him $800, it was on sale :D

I suggest you check out http://alienware.com/
They got really really really really really really really good computers
If they too expensive then you should check out DELL, they got great computers for cheap price.

Dell... cheap price? lol

I'd go with Dell over Alienware any day. :)

Dell is really cheap compared to alienware, trust me

Do a google search in the laptop newsgroup (can't remember the exact name offhand) or read late postings. Lots of serious laptop users there.

i would always go for dell.

first cuz they are cheap as compared to others cuz they dont go through any dealers n stuff.

second because their customer service is very good

my laptop fell from the table into the ground, they took it back and replaced the screen for me. some other things happened, they fixed it quickly.. the airborne express guys take it one day and bring it back the third day.

now my ac adapter's wire got screwed up, they sent me a new adapter..

oh yeah one time my modem was acting weird, it turned out that the problem was with the cable company but dell sent me the modem too.. lol which is tight.

so i would always go for dell by default.

thats a lot of problems for one machine ...

There was a post about this, search for it. The general consensus is that dell laptops arent so great but that compaqs are quite good!

Fujitsu is also one of the best. Very low service ratings.

Absolutely no way I would go for a Toshiba again.

I don't know how Toshiba America is, but in late 2001 I purchased one over here for about US$2432.

Here's part of a post I made last year, edited to reflect up to today:

Early June 2001 - My Dell laptop broke down after several years of flawless service and I decided to buy a new laptop instead of getting it repaired. $4000 later I walk out of Harvey Norman (big computer retailer here in Australia) with a brand spanking new Toshiba Satellite 2833DVD (PIII 700mhz, 64mb ram, dvd, WindowsME, 10gb, etc)

Late June 2001 - 6 dead pixels develop on the LCD in an area right centre screen. Toshiba say they will only fix LCD displays with 10 or more (if my memory serves correctly)... so I live with the problem.

Early July 2001 - Horrible discoloration starts happening on the wristwrest - unsightly and is quite embarassing. Toshiba agree to fix it, admitting it is a known problem. Laptop was gone for a week.

Late July 2001 - Recovery/Application CD no longer works saying "WRONG MACHINE" when attempting to use it. Toshiba refuse to fix the problem. Discoloration happens again which is fixed. Mouse (accupoint) develops a mind of its own - moving all over the place - they fixed this by replacing the whole keyboard/mouse assembly.

Mid September 2001 - Discolouration happens again worse than ever. Toshiba keep machine for 2 weeks until we call asking where it is, our response was "Oh, sorry, we haven't ordered the part yet" so we get it back. Toshiba finally relent and fix the WRONG MACHINE problem.

Early October 2001 - The bios starts randomly resets itself. This clears passwords and owner information. We take the laptop back - they refuse to fix this but they fix the wristpad which was still discoloured from September.

Late October 2001 - Several keys on the keyboard just fall off. Mouse has also developed a mind of its own again so they whole keyboard assembly was replaced - this happened overnight.

November 2001 - Discolouration - fixed.

January 2002 - Same discoloration, mouse develops a mind of its own again. Fixed and fixed.

Late February - Discoloration. Toshiba fix after keeping it for almost two weeks.

Early March - Discoloration. Toshiba say they found a solution to stop it from happening and said (after we pressured them) that it will be replaced if it happens again (we got this in writing and on the phone). Toshiba also fix random bios resetting at last.

Mid April - Discolouration and random bios resetting starts again. We ask for a replacement. Toshiba basically tells us that they will not be fixing any problems anymore and we will have to live with it (despite the fact that we paid for a 3 year warranty). We threaten legal action.

Mid May - after much debate with Toshiba they finally agree to replace the laptop. It is replaced with a Satellite 1800 series (PIII 1.1ghz, DVD, 20gb, Windows XP, etc).

After having the new laptop after about a day it starts randomly turning itself off. A quick check of Toshiba USA's website revealed it is a known problem with the model and we download a fix.

Once the fix was applied, no further problems were experienced. I am using this laptop now and it runs fine.

At the end of all this, we found out from Harvey Norman the extra money paid also covered courier pickup and delivery when it was supposed to get fixed - all this time we had been driving the laptop into Silverwater or Parramatta to get fixed (about 40 minutes each way) - nice of them to tell us before all the drama happened.

My best friend also has the Satellite 2833 purchased around the same time. We had most of the same problems (chuck in a failed HDD and a stuffed DVD drive in there and you'll have his scenario - most of the time we would take the laptops in together to save petrol because they would both develop problems around the same time). So far Toshiba are refusing to do anything else with his laptop so it looks like he is stuck with the problems.

All along my Grandmother had been helping me with Toshiba (most of the time dealing with them was too stressful I felt like crying afterwards). The funny thing was that the last time my friend took his laptop in to get fixed the following happened:
- They denied any knowledge saying his laptop had never been repaired before
- They said the problem was not known
- They said to my best friend's mum "You're the Grandmother aren't you?" - she replied "No, that's my son's best friend".
- They mysteriously knew about the problems again and admitted it was a known problem despite a few minutes before saying they knew nothing about it.

Anyway - I'm happy with my current Toshiba laptop but I should not have had to go through the stress I did - I'm never buying Toshiba again and when it comes time to buy my next laptop I'll be going back to Dell.


May 2003: The replacement laptop has developed discolouration and reboots randomly. The random reboots are extremely annoying, but so far I haven't found anything to fix it.

As for the discolouration, I'm sure you'll all agree that http://www.shaunewing.org/tmp/marking.jpg is nothing minor.

Anyway, the point of these posts is: Toshiba are great until something goes wrong; when something goes wrong - lookout!

--Shaun

Sir, exposing your laptop to a bright light might cause decoloration, and is not the fault of Toshiba.

:rollseyes:

heres my experience with DELL

My computer, previously, a dell dimension 8200, it was virus infected after few months, i called them, they sent 2 technicians, still cant fix it, i was told to send them back the computer which they came and picked it up, did it very professionally, and then they sent me a new computer, which was 0.3ghz faster than old 1, also a pentium 4, i was very impressed, and has been using the DELL ever since!

I got an IBM Laptop, i hate it, dont ask me why :D

IBM makes the best laptops. You can't argue that.

Originally posted by fshost
Sir, exposing your laptop to a bright light might cause decoloration, and is not the fault of Toshiba.

:rollseyes:

Oh, please.

You call fluorescent lights in the office bright light?

If their laptops can't handle that, they shouldn't make them.

--Shaun

Originally posted by Shyne
IBM makes the best laptops. You can't argue that.

I agree there, although you pay a premium.

I had a 600X, excellent machine until an unfortunate lightning strike when it was at the family property took it out (along with fax machine, phones, a lot of things).

--Shaun

Thanks for all your posts.

Geeeeeeez. I knew this would happen. Now I don't know what to get.

In spite of shaunewing's experiences with Toshiba, it's probably down to a Toshiba or a Dell. But with a Toshiba, I can buy it from my neighborhood computer guy (he's a pal of mine) and I know I'll always get good service when I need it. If I buy Dell, I hear quite often that they have good service, so I suppose that's OK too.

Anyone got a coin I can flip?? :confused:

Vito

Vito,

I'll give you a coin :)

Seriously though, go with what you think is best. Many, many people have great experiences with Toshiba (otherwise I guess they wouldn't have the market share they have) - I just think it is important for people to know the bad experiences :)

As for the Dell I had, it never had to go in for service so I couldn't comment on the service part :D

--Shaun

http://shazam.econ.ubc.ca/flip/

:D

I love my Compaq laptop...don't know what I would do without it. Fast, reliable, functional. I hardly ever use my Dell, which is a shame as it is loaded to the gills, but just sits and collects dust.

Only down side is the weight, but I don't travel too often anyway. Normal battery time is 3 hours depending on usage.

Originally posted by siusai
http://shazam.econ.ubc.ca/flip/

:D
I got 2 heads and 3 tails. Toshiba it is then... (very logical way of deciding) :D

Vito

lol, i would go with toshiba too in your case since you have a friend who would give you a better deal and all, but i would prefer a customized DELL Laptop more, Toshibas arent that bad as i said

An Alienware is just a Sager that is colored with an extra 50% on the price.

A friend of mine had alot of trouble with a Toshiba laptop, I think he went through something like 10 power cords in the time he had it from the shorting out. Best Buy finally replaced it after something like 8 or 9 servicings. He has a Compaq now and hasn't had many problems besides a finicky DVD drive.

Originally posted by Fiber
An Alienware is just a Sager that is colored with an extra 50% on the price.


You get what you pay for, Alienware computers are mostly designed for gaming, their speed and graphics is really incredible if you have ever tried one of their desktops or laptops, my friend has a Alienware Laptop and its been doing great!

I wouldnt say Alienware is the best, but they are decent, though i doubt VITO will need such a powerful computer, i guess a DELL or TOSHIBA be enough for him.

Most of the time I am at my desktop. I just want something I can take out to the backyard patio to take a break for an hour or two during the day. Last summer we had amazingly glorious sunny days, and I never saw them. I was buried in work inside. So basically for email, and some production work in programs like Dreamweaver/Fireworks...

Vito

Originally posted by Hoobastank68
You get what you pay for, Alienware computers are mostly designed for gaming, their speed and graphics is really incredible if you have ever tried one of their desktops or laptops, my friend has a Alienware Laptop and its been doing great!

I wouldnt say Alienware is the best, but they are decent, though i doubt VITO will need such a powerful computer, i guess a DELL or TOSHIBA be enough for him.

OK, you really need to get a clue. Alienware doesn't make their laptops. Sager does. So anyone who buys a Sager laptop is getting the same exact thing they would get from Alienware, just without the pricetag. It's the same exact product. Just like LiteOn OEM's CDR drives (Cendyne, Pacific Digital, TDK, etc, etc, are all LiteOn products, just rebadged). If you want to pay more for the case sticker, go ahead, but the Alianware isn't any faster than any other outfit that uses Sager products.

EDIT:

Originally posted by vito
Most of the time I am at my desktop. I just want something I can take out to the backyard patio to take a break for an hour or two during the day. Last summer we had amazingly glorious sunny days, and I never saw them. I was buried in work inside. So basically for email, and some production work in programs like Dreamweaver/Fireworks...

Vito

If you want my opinion, getting an Alienware or even a Dell would be overkill for you. You don't need a multiple GHz CPU and you don't need 1GB of RAM, save that for your desktop.

If you have the money, try something small and sweet like this:

http://webshop.fujitsupc.com/fpc/Ecommerce/buildseriesbean.do?series=P2

or:

http://webshop.fujitsupc.com/fpc/Ecommerce/buildseriesbean.do?series=P1

Watch a movie, burn a CD, get your work done, send off a few emails over the wireless network, etc.

It's small and you can take it anywhere. Sure you don't have a huge screen (and this is coming from someone who likes his desktops with dual 19in screens) but for taking a break and the ability to work on the go with something very very small and light, its a really neat thing.

EDIT 2:

Or maybe something like this:

http://arstechnica.infopop.net/OpenTopic/page?a=tpc&s=50009562&f=57909216&m=9420981465

lol, thanks for letting me know, didnt have a clue before ;)

:D

DELL!!! Really, go for a Dell.

Originally posted by Manga
thats a lot of problems for one machine ...

well yeah but its not cuz of the dell laptop.

the screen had a bit of a alignment problem cuz my laptop fell down from a high table, while it was open. so obviously you expect a bit of alignment issues

the modem problem was with my cable company as i mentioned but dell did send me a different modem in order to help

and the power adapter (ac) was due to the way i pack it in my back.. i tie the wire around so hard that after a year it started coming off.. but they did send me a new adapter.

all the reasons were me but dell lived up to their word and more !

so i'll always go for dell.


I agree to the above stated. IBM makes best laptops cuz dell laptops has several parts made by IBM including hard disks :)

i would love to try ibm laptops but they are expensive :(

My vote: IBM My T20 is rock solid

my ibm a21m is rock solid also. surived afall out a first story window and down the stairs and has been in the shower (seriously dont ask), it finally broke a little bit when someone decided to climb over it.
if for one will be buying ibm next, false economy not to for some people. if you can afford it take tosh over dell but only the decent tosh's as the cheap tosh stuff is just clones from the same factories as every other flippin ying tong yiddle i po effort.

As for laptops, IBM hands down. Own one. Used several.

It just so happens that I am also looking for a laptop as well. Not exactly sure what kind I want to get, it just seems like I have two choices: 1) Invest some money into it and get a nice one that performs well and also easy to handle/carry. 2) Get one of those cheap dells you can get for $700-800 that look rather bulky in design compared to the more expensive ones. Not exactly sure how these laptops perform.

I never even considered anything other then a Dell until now - now I am looking at sager, toshiba, sony, and compaqs. First of all, I would never consider IBM laptops- dealt with them before and didn't like them at all.

I don't know about Compaq making laptops, I had one of their desktops from the past... and those were ... hrmm, interesting to deal with whenever problems arose.

I can say that almost 95% of desktop computers problems I can diagnose and fix myself- definitely gotten used to building my own computers instead of going into a computer store and buying a name-brand computer (their design limits my creativity so much! :)) So I am a bit afraid of laptops... especially since I have not a single clue how laptops are built and how easy their hardware is to handle (if even they can be handled). Any thoughts on this? I'd like to have that feeling like I can crack open my personal computer (whether or not they are laptops or desktops etc) and fix problems when they pop up.

And also, avid laptop users- keep on with the suggestions, I'm keeping track of all of them so I can invest my money on some good and well-performing hardware. ;)

Thanks

Someone has to say it: Apple (http://www.apple.com) . There, I said it.

Seriously, you can run OSX, which is just awesome for web development. You can run MS Office if you need it. And if you don't like OSX you can run several Linux distros (Debian, Yellowdog, Mandrake, Gentoo and Suse).

Fujitsus are very nice laptops at good prices. I've been hauling one around for three years and never a problem.
They put lots of useful stuff in them like 4 USB ports and built in network connections and infrared and wireless.
I've been eyeing their little P series but can't come up with a good reason for buying one. Really neat little computers though.
They sell refurbs and discontinued models on their website at good discounts.

I suggest Compaq, as I stated earlier. It has fallen on the floor once, no issue. The only complaint I have is the heat. If you sit it on your lap, it can get quite warm..uncomfortably warm. I thought I heard they have made adjustments to that though.

It can handle anything I throw at it. I have done some video editing, worked fine. I have had it about a year and a half. Has a dvd/cdrw combo drive, swapable of course. I cannot remember the last time it locked (knock on wood). I have noticed a little slow performance lately but i think that is due to having too much crap sitting on it that doesn't need to be.

I also had a compaq desktop prior, but was not impressed with it. It locked all the time.

Originally posted by Hoobastank68
You get what you pay for, Alienware computers are mostly designed for gaming, their speed and graphics is really incredible if you have ever tried one of their desktops or laptops, my friend has a Alienware Laptop and its been doing great!

I wouldnt say Alienware is the best, but they are decent, though i doubt VITO will need such a powerful computer, i guess a DELL or TOSHIBA be enough for him. He just bought a Sager with it colored and the Alienware logo.

Literally.

What info do you require about laptop hardware? I used to repair them now and again as part of an old job.

A brief run down. The screens are basically what you can see from the outside with a metal frame around them and a couple of ribbon cables. The hard drives are smaller slower and more resiliant to shocks and use a different connector which supplies both power and data transit. Motherboards are highly specialised apart from in clones which do tend to share a reasonable amount of ground, they have last time i checked no seperate north and southbridge.
Memory chips are about 1/3rd the length of normal chips in their latest format. Some better laptops support expansion cards of a special laptop format for adding networking modems etc. Cpu's are generally mounted with a heat spreader and blower fans or small normal fans instead of the conventional heatsink.

Tosh and ibm laptops are a joy to work on. Some clones like say dell or whoever can end up being like taking inspector gadget apart. Tosh are so anal they even list the length of screws next to the right whole so you can put em back easily. Better thought out and easier to work on. You have to be careful and get used to using liquid metal safely if your running repairs on one but taking laptops apart is not something you should really do yourself, its better leaving it to a qualified nutter to do. A magnifying glass good desk lighting, jewellers screwdrivers, coffee , small tweezers and a lot of patience are absolute musts for working on laptops.
Ifyou have any specifics just ask.