Help! Trying to choose a new laptop and my head is spinning, lol :)

1. 79

   TamCorposted 13 years ago

   We're just looking for a basic laptop--no gaming, no movie-watching, or anything like that.  Just one for researching and writing hubs, that's all, with a bigger size screen. 
   
   Oh, and fairly reasonable in price because if we find a good one, we'd like to buy one for each of us!!!
   
   I've been looking at websites and hubs all morning, and my eyes are beginning to cross from information overload, lol, so I thought I'd come on here and see what all of you would recommend, from your own experience with them.
   
   We bought a Toshiba Satellite laptop about six years ago, for our son, and it's still going strong--are they still as good as that one is?
   
   Thanks for any help!

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      Richieb799posted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Toshiba Satellite is very good, Im using one now, only problem is there is no 'Stereo Mix' option for streaming music!

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      Sufidreamerposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      With you and Ryan on the Toshiba - my Satellite is six years old and has come in for some heavy punishment. I paid a little more for it than I would have for other brands, but in terms of cost over its lifetime, it has been awesome.
      
      It is due for replacement and I am going for a Toshiba again

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         Maembeposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         My Satellite is the same age, although I bought the cheapest one at the time.  It has even survived falling out of the back of a moving car on the highway.
         I intend to buy another one soon.

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   SomewayOuttaHereposted 13 years ago

   ...well...i bought a dell 1.5 years ago...i don't like it..i find it's slow and gives me grief sometimes...my other laptop was dying and so i quickly ordered one on line...that was a mistake.  I also bought a small printer to go with it...it stayed in it's giant box for months...they made a mistake and sent me a big printer, fax, scanner...something i didn't want and of course now I'm having a hard time buying ink for it....arggghhh!

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      Michael Willisposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Dell Nightmares!!!! I will never waste my money on a Dell computer again. Biggest mistake I ever made for a computer.

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         TamCorposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         Well, at least I'm learning what NOT to get, lol...
         
         
         Do you have any recommendations on other brands?  One company I was reading about was Acer--do you know anything about them?  They had good reviews, as well as Toshiba.

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   TamCorposted 13 years ago

   Thanks for the input, Someway! One good thing is that we're not in a hurry, so we can take our time to find the right one.  We've never used a Dell, so I'm not familiar with them at all, so I appreciate your warning.
   
   We have PC's that we each use, and mine is hooked up to the HP Officejet All-In-One, so I don't have to worry about getting another one of those, at least.
   
   We mainly want laptops so we can be more mobile as to where we're working--both of us get tired of sitting at computer desks, lol...

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   ryankettposted 13 years ago

   I always state in my Hubpages that Toshiba make the best laptops, unless you want a gaming laptop.
   
   They seem to exclusively use laptop components whilst other brands frequently try to pack desktop components into their systems, the result is overheating and subsequently a reduced life.
   
   More often than not a Toshiba will still function past its useful life.

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      Tina Kachanposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      I second that. I am writing on my Toshiba right now. I have it for 5 years now, the warranty expired 3 years ago but the laptop is working as if I bought it recently

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         Uzdawiposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         Once again I have to agree with Ryankett.
         And I am also writing this post on Toshiba right now:P.I bought mine 3 weeks ago:)

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            TamCorposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            Great--Good luck with it!!

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   TamCorposted 13 years ago

   Thanks everyone--looks like Toshiba is the way to go then! 
   
   
   Richie--Since we don't listen to music while we're working, the stereo mix won't be a problem, but thanks for letting us know about it!
   
   Ryan--I'm glad you explained about the parts they use, and why it is better--that makes sense.
   
   Sufi--When we bought the first one for our son, we paid over $900 for the thing--so I know what you mean about cost.  It's nice to see that they've come down in price quite a bit!
   
   Tina--It's great that yours is holding up so well, also--thanks for the thumbs up on Toshiba!
   
   My two sons both have had Satellites for years now, and believe me, they've put them through a LOT, lol...
   
   Sounds like we'll just stay a Toshiba family, after all!

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   Daniel Carterposted 13 years ago

   MAC!!!
   
   Once you've had Mac, you never turn back!
   
   

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      TamCorposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Oh thanks...another one to think about... 
      
      I don't know too many people who have Macs, so I didn't really even think about checking into them...aren't they more expensive? We just need a basic, no frills(and cheap, lol) laptop! 

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         ryankettposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         Macs were great until they stopped using lead in their systems, now they are prone to overheating too. They run really hot anyway, a Macbook Pro gives off enough heat to burn you without a chill mat underneath... that's why I don't own one...

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         Daniel Carterposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         Admittedly, if you're not used to Mac there is a bit of an initial learning curve, just because it's a slightly different way of doing some things. I can function pretty well on both, and the differences have minimized through the years. Macs are a bit more expensive, yes. But you don't have to worry about viruses and malware nearly as much on a Mac as you do with pc. I started on Mac in the late 80's when they were king of anything to do with art, music and the like. The playing field is different now.
         
         Macs do generate some heat. However, my work Mac is on 24/7 because it's on a network and updates at night. There have never been any problems with over heating, or heating too much, nor has their been with my workmates, which number about 120. My Mac at home hasn't had any problems, either.
         
         But still, it's an individual thing. To each his own.

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   Greek Oneposted 13 years ago

   best choice for the money...
   
   

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   nanya67posted 13 years ago

   I just purchased a Lenovo from best buy. I was looking for something mid range mostly as a backup for my PC and something to take on the road. I basically needed decent graphics and some multitasking.I decided to go with one that had an open slot for memory upgrade later on and a decent processor since it is almost impossible to upgrade the processor.
   So far I'm pretty happy with the performance and i only paid $378.

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   zackproserposted 13 years ago

   Do not buy anything from HP ever ever ever. Unless you want an extremely frustrating experience. Dropped 1K on my last multimedia laptop, which was in the series of laptops that they cut corners on by combining the processor and the Nvidia graphics card conjoined, so that the machine overheats. Best of all, they knew about it and still sold them!

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    dml42posted 13 years ago

    I don't disagree with the Toshiba as a brand choice.  As you can see it has one of the highest owner loyalty trends of any brand.  Not to look like an advertisement, but look at your local retail circulars (Staples in particular) there are some nice deals on Toshiba this week.  Good luck!

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