My sister is buying a laptop and wants my advice on what kind to buy. I don't really have any idea so I'm passing the buck to you.

She'll be buying a brand new one [probably tomorrow] and I don't want her to be ripped off by Mr. Slick Salesman down at CompUSA or wherever. What are some things to look for? What specs are decent these days? Is one brand blatantly inferior to others and should be avoided at all costs?

Also, I hear that maintenance on a laptop is painful, so any suggestions for one that would hopefully survive being used by someone even less computer literate than myself would be appreciated.

Any tips are welcome.

Maintenence? Or not..No more then a regular PC.

(I thought this thread said "Profanity and Vulgarity")

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Gondor has no pants.
Gondor needs no pants.

Not so much more maintenance as more expensive maintenance, cracking open the tiny thing and sorting things out. Just what I've heard, never had a laptop myself.

Don't get Winbook. My dad bought one due to its high ratings and recommendations, and it was one of the largest pieces of crap he ever wasted 2 or 3 grand on. He hates it.

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"LC Tusken: the idiot is the person who follows the idiot and your not following me your insulting me your following the path of a idiot so that makes you the idiot"
NMGOH || Jack Chick preaches it || The Link of the Dead

I've had a Dell laptop for the past couple of months and I can't say that I've had any complaints about it. *shrugs*

[This message has been edited by Wuss (edited January 19, 2004).]

If I were to get a laptop just to have a laptop (IE for things like chatting/browsing the web via wireless, taking notes in class, etc) I'd probably get a powerbook.

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Snail racing: (500 posts per line)
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DSettahr's Homepage

My company uses a lot of laptops. We have tried many brands. Over the years we seem to have had fewer problems with Toshiba laptops than with the others.

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Have Lightsaber Will Travel JK Editing tips, troubleshooting information, resources and more.
www.swgalaxies.net For all your Star Wars Galaxies needs
The Massassi A SW Galaxies Player Association

if she's a university student she can get uber discounts from Apple's website
iBooks as cheap as $950

EDIT: yeah, if you can't leave Wintel stuff then get a Toshiba.
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i thought about this being the anti-sig... or the sig virus... or the sig of your nightmares... but i decided that some painful rhetoric might work instead...
just kidding.

[This message has been edited by Is_907 (edited January 19, 2004).]

Thanks for the tips, guys. I'll reply again later with what she got.

DO NOT, I REPEAT DO NOT GET AN IBM. They are cr@p, and some still have the
little-red-stick-of-death as the mouse. As far as specs. try at least 2 Ghz, 40 gigs, and at least 512 mg of RAM. If your getting a windows one, get one with centrino mobile tech., if your getting an apple, buy an Airport card (make sure its the right kind) ASAP [the Airport cards are very good, but the extreme cards cost 100$) And if your getting an apple, get Office X, it comes with Word, powerpoint, excel, etc. (note, i hate windows, but like Office X, its really good). You can get a student discount of office X so it is only 150$. Good luck, and DONT SETTLE FOR WHATS ON THE SHELF, if you have to, customize it online before you buy it.

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Sometimes you drink the milk, sometimes the milk drinks you

no matter what you get do not waste your money on Office
http://www.OpenOffice.org/
OS X, Linux, Windows ;D
and it supports all the MS file formats!
if you get a free/cheap bundle of Office then great... but don't spend extra $100's if you don't have to.

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i thought about this being the anti-sig... or the sig virus... or the sig of your nightmares... but i decided that some painful rhetoric might work instead...
just kidding.

www.apple.com/ibook

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"For the scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream. He has scaled the mountains of ignorance; he is about to conquer the highest peak; as he pulls himself over the final rock, he is greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries."
-Robert Jastrow

^- Ibooks rock. Although not compatable with JK editing tools

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Sometimes you drink the milk, sometimes the milk drinks you

I bought a laptop preloaded with Debian Linux @ http://www.laclinux.com. Has worked perfectly for months now with no crashes, no problems whatsover. And their tech support is top notch. They reply to emails in one day, they know -exactly- what they're talking about, and they are very friendly, even when I had stupid questions.

DO NOT GET AN IBM!


iBook's are pretty neat, while expensive, aside from poor compatability(games and stuff) I'd say they are excellent. For Windows laptops... I don't know if there's such a thing as a good one.

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Eat the pudding.

/me bookmarks site....

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The future is here, and all bets are off.

Connection: EXPENSIVE? $1,099 is dirt cheap for a laptop! well, for a good one anyway.

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i thought about this being the anti-sig... or the sig virus... or the sig of your nightmares... but i decided that some painful rhetoric might work instead...
just kidding.