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My teenage daughter thinks Santa should bring her a laptop. All she needs is something that will support a decent word processing program to do some homework on. State-of-the-art is NOT needed here...I am interested in functional for the intended use but absolute least cost. Any ideas??
Randy
First....does it HAVE to be a notebook and why? If she does her homework at home, does she need to tote her notebook around?
For the younger generation, I think having a notebook/laptop is asking for trouble. A regular desktop PC is easier to have repaired.
That said, sites like dealcatcher.com and techbargains.com will point you to some great deals on the net....I particularly like the Dell deals.
I'm with you Curtis, the desktop is the way to go...that is why I am looking as low cost as possible. Unfortunately I am being out-voted here. My wife is on my daughters side. On the other hand I can see her/their point a little. I tend to hog the family PC alot and she spends alot of time doing homework in her room. She also claims that she would take it to school and use it during study-hall. The school does have a PC-lab but their access time is limited.
Randy
OK.....I see their point too, but......
Tell her to put an extra 7-8 lbs. in her backpack/school bag and lug it to and from school for a week to see if she will tolerate that. The lighter the laptop, generally more expensive.
Other than that.....plenty of low cost laptops out there.
The majority of students at the university here (and I think most universities) have switched to using laptops. Most do not lug them around all day, but want something that can be used away from their dorm/apartment when they need a quiet place (I think laptops have reduced the number of arguments between roommates :) ). Laptops are great for students, but I also think that the accidental damage warranties are probably a good idea, especially for a teenager (not all companies offer these, but we have used the ones on our Dells to deal with things like dropped laptops and even drinks spilled on laptops). You may wish to consider some strict rules about where/when a laptop can leave the house though. We see more problems with laptop theft than we do with students breaking them.
I know some people aren't happy with Dell, but I have had decent luck with them (keeping in mind that we buy hundreds of them a year at the university) and they have great online deals if you watch techbargains.com and gotapex.com. We got 30% off the laptop I'm typing on now. These deals are often better than the volume educational discounts we get at the university (which can be frustrating at times).
Can't emphasize this enough. Theft is a chronic problem at most academic institutions in the U.S. Students are such easy targets some times. They haven't sufficiently developed a "what if" mentality. The theft of their most prized possesions often hastens that learning curve.Quote:
Originally Posted by BradJudy
David
I just wanted to chime in here and sing the praises of my Mac iBook.
This thing is one of the most resilient pieces of consumer electronics
I've ever seen. I bought it in summer of 2003, and it's been on almost
constantly since, no exaggeration. I took it with me to SF when I worked
on "Day After Tomorrow", hauled it back and forth from L.A. to Phoenix,
did visual effects work with it for "Peter Pan" and "The Fog" (kicked back
on my couch no less!) I wrote a horror script on it. Not to mention hours
and hours of forum browsing and "blah blah blah....":D I'm typing on the
damn thing right now.
I've spilt diet Pepsi on the keyboard more than once, I've even dropped
it on my ceramic tile floor (once). The thing is just built like a tank. And
in 2 1/2 years, I've never had a virus infect it.
The Powerbook's are expensive, but you can always find good deals on
the iBooks at places like Maczone, MacMall, MacConnection etc.
Rick
EDIT: Here's a site that has older model iBooks (back from a year or two ago)
for really good prices- most under $500.
http://www.dvwarehouse.com/iBook-G3-c-53_128_501.html
i have a newer macbook......and again........mac won't let you down.
I switched when...like the famous quote says....''i spent more time trying to get my computer to work right...than i actually spent working on it.''
virus and spyware free......in depth updates for software.....etc, etc, etc.
if nothing else....give the apple site a once over...you wont' be disappointed.
my two cents.
matt
My wife and I both work from home. We buy dell laptops with the 4 or 5 year extended in home repair warranties. When theres a problem, the hardware is shipped next day, a man comes to the house and repairs it.
Only hard part sometimes is convincing a guy in Bombay named "bob" that you need a repair if the problem is intermittent like a screen that flickers sometimes only. Or sometimes they want you to ship the laptop in for repair, and I have to remind them that I have "in home" repair on my warranty.
But overall, we are happy using dell lappys and they are guarenteed to be running over the warranty period. I'm typing this on a 4 year old dell that's been used virtually every day of those four years, and has had at least 4 repairs. Very heavily used.
Guys.........this was for Christmas of 2005! I think it might be a bit late to make suggestions.
doh. i haven't had my coffee yet. I'll get right on that.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mag_Neato
For now i will suggest hp Compaq presario great product. Intel processor, 4 gag ram, Intel motherboard, windows 7 ready. A real great product. And A+ is price 399 only. I have purchased one 3 months back from best buy.