Which brand is better?
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Thread: Which brand is better?

  1. #1
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    Post Which brand is better?

    IBM, MICRON, DELL? I need it for web use, word processing, that sort of thing. I want it new, not used or refurbed, and not outrageously expensive either. What brand is reliable w/ good support, etc?
    So, so busy lately. Oh, where do I start?

  2. #2
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    I've always preferred Toshiba.
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  3. #3
    Darren Wilson
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    I hate to admit it but HP laptops are very good, as are Toshiba and Asus (Asus being a little pricey though, but very good quality)

  4. #4
    Registered User Damned Angel's Avatar
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    I will always say toshiba, not just because I fix them...well ok...because I fix them. Parts are almost never on backorder and they have a noon next day parts delevery for on warranty rapairs. That and of the 125,000 we had to move to become a authorized service center, I see less than 1% returns for things other than customer damage or software terrorisim.

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    I like IBM, but will probably always buy Dell - the customer support is simple, never had a problem with parts, many, many configurations to choose from, and they are not too pricy.
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    If you are going to get a notebook, you might as well get a good one. I had good experiences with Toshiba, IBM, and Dell laptops(own a toshiba and worked on the others). I would go with Toshibas and Dells because they are less expensive and more rugged (at least the ones I've dealt with). If you either can't support yourself and/or don't have the time to do your own tech support on your notebook, IBM and Dell have better support than Toshiba(Though the toshiba I have has not given me any problems in the 3 years I have had and used it). A friend who was trying to get tech support for his toshiba was put on hold for a loong time. In short, Toshiba makes good notebooks, but if in the rare event you need support from them...be prepared to WAIT..


    Also, I would avoid Micron as I have heard horror stories about their poor and extremely rude tech support from friends who had their machines.

    Be SURE you have a 3 year warranty minimum if you buy any new notebook/laptop PC.

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    My Sony laptop went through hell and back, and is still working after 2 years of heavy (ab)use.

    Sony's tend to have a lot more stuff on them, like more RAM or bigger hard drives (mine had a 4G drive at a time when everyone else was shipping with 1 or 2G drives!). I rather like the privacy filter on some of the newer ones, and some of them seem to have a more intelligently designed cooling system (the bottom drops down to both form a cooling vent and prop up the keyboard.)

    But Sony's tend to be a bit more expensive than other brands. And they come in that hideous grey and purple (good or bad? You decide)

  8. #8
    Registered User TheLow1's Avatar
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    I workED for a company that had over 50,000 users. They had a mix of Dell Latitude, IBM StinkPads, and Gateway 9300's.

    I would say, hands down, the Dell's were alot less trouble. I liked them so much I bought one before I left.

  9. #9
    baconboy21
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    Dell is my vote... they are fast easy and great to use. not to mention that their tech support is the best around. (this is just from my 3 or 4 years of experience)

  10. #10
    Registered User Wayward Clam's Avatar
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    If you're looking for a brand name recommendation I will say Dell, partly from hearsay and partly because none of them ever come into MY store for repairs, meaning either that they don't break, or that Dell always fixes them if they do.

    Personally, I will NEVER buy anything other than a clone, unless I'm forced to fork over for a laptop. Then I'll buy a Dell.
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  11. #11
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    Dell in my opinion is the best, good quality and when there are problems and you need parts, they have them to you within 24 to 48 hours.
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  12. #12
    Adm¡nistrator JungleMan1's Avatar
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    ANYTHING, I repeat, ANYTHING but Compaq or Acer. I have never owned an Acer but my Compaq stinks and I got rid of it after less than 2 years (it is in the kitchen actually with a dead hard drive, going to replace it someday).

  13. #13
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    Had a friend whose acer notebook's hard drive and LCD are both starting to die after three years of intermittant usage. It had a lot of other problems beforehand. From seeing this and from my experience with other notebooks, I knew acer was not a good brand for notebooks. It was also quite fragile as the screen cracked when my friend merely opened the screen into position position(the way he showed how he opened it and the numerous times I saw him use it makes it unlikely that he applied excessive force as the construction of the PC did not feel solid to start with).


    Though three years is admittedly a long time for a notebook computer, I have used my toshiba notebook more often in worse conditioned areas than his(air conditioned apartment versus hot outdoors, hot 100 degree F dorm room, etc and subjected it to more abuse(dropped it from 4 feet a couple of times on wooden floors) and it is still working beautifully after three years with absolutely no problems. My friend's 486 thinkpad is still running great since 1993 with no problems save the Y2k bug which set his PC's clock back to 1980.
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    I work at a university that provides IBMs and we have had good luck with them. They are alot better than the Acers we have last year. The IBMs have a few cool features that are nice. They have a good service department. Beware of Sony. I have a freind that has had nothing but problems (hardware). Then they tried to tell him that his warranty was void because he had installed some of his own programs on it. He got it back and reimaged it so he could turn around and send it back to Sony for repair.

  15. #15
    Adm¡nistrator JungleMan1's Avatar
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    Originally posted by exholt:
    Had a friend whose acer notebook's hard drive and LCD are both starting to die after three years of intermittant usage. It had a lot of other problems beforehand. From seeing this and from my experience with other notebooks, I knew acer was not a good brand for notebooks. It was also quite fragile as the screen cracked when my friend merely opened the screen into position position(the way he showed how he opened it and the numerous times I saw him use it makes it unlikely that he applied excessive force as the construction of the PC did not feel solid to start with).


    Though three years is admittedly a long time for a notebook computer, I have used my toshiba notebook more often in worse conditioned areas than his(air conditioned apartment versus hot outdoors, hot 100 degree F dorm room, etc and subjected it to more abuse(dropped it from 4 feet a couple of times on wooden floors) and it is still working beautifully after three years with absolutely no problems. My friend's 486 thinkpad is still running great since 1993 with no problems save the Y2k bug which set his PC's clock back to 1980.
    That's pretty good (your IBM). Although my Compaq has the following problems after 1 year:
    - blown out hard drive
    - intermittent RGB lines on the bottom of the LCD
    - loose headphone jack
    - broken USB port
    - messed up power cable
    - broken hinge
    - CDROM drive that heats up a CD so much you can cook an egg on it
    - screwed up right arrow key

    I didn't even mistreat the damn thing. Oh well at least I am rid of it. I would go with Dell, IBM, Sony, Toshiba (now that you told me to)

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