Computer advice please

[Squirly]

I need to buy a new computer and I have no idea what to buy.

I currently use a laptop and that is my only computer. I have wireless internet in my home and I rarely take my computer out of my home.

The computer I have now is only 2 years old and works ok except for one problem. the place where you plug the electricity into the laptop is all messed up, the thing intermittently does not receive electricity and does not charge the battery so the damn thing is always shutting off on me. I talked to someone who told me it is an internal thing and would be probably not cost effective to have fixed and I should shop for a new computer.

the laptop I use now is an hp pavillion zv5000. Nothing special, I think it cost about a 1000. It was given to me as part of my old job, the company went out of business and I was able to keep it. I would spend more than a 1000 if I had to, to avoid getting a piece of junk. I heard HP is not a good one to buy anyway but I have no idea.

if anyone has some good advice I would appreciate it.

thanks

[DiM]

go to this site: http://www.notebookreview.com/

on the left you have a top 15 for popular laptops but it is best to use the searching filters on the right and find some nice laptops. then read their reviews and see what prices they have.

[Larry Mal]

Let me ask you- what do you do with your computer exactly? Video? Music? Business?

Conquer Club 24/7?

It all makes a difference you know.

[patrick1744]

mac air

[owenshooter]

mac air

i am a mac head, and the air sucks... you get that, and you are going to end up with 30lbs of extra crap in a bag if you plan on making it your primary work computer or laptop for the go... just a joke of a machine. like most first generation mac products, it is a concpet that will be expanded upon and made into something amaznig... remember "the cube"? horrible machine that later became the mac mini... however, i do think you should roll with a black macbook... but, that all depends on what the primary use is going to be.-0

[AndyDufresne]

Moved it here as this is better placement.


--Andy

[dsmsc1991]

mac air

DON'T MAKE ME FUCKING LAUGH!

Mac airs are shit, dead, should all be put in a fire and the creator of it (The actual person or team) should be in that fire too.... No CD ROM, what the f*ck were they thinking...

The white or black MacBooks are the go, or if you actually want a iMac, and not a laptop, go the white 17-19" their good too, all you need to burn DVD's, Dual core blah blah

[Squirly]

thanks for all the input so far.

So I did forget to inform you all what I do. I am a project manager for a decent size commercial construction company. I also run a smaller general contracting company too. So I guess I do a lot of basic office/business type stuff. I do watch some video but not a ton (boxing and mma). Wireless is important to me, I don't know if some pick up wireless signals better than others?

I review pictures of job sites on the computer alot. I take pics with a digital camera (which I need a better one of those too) and look at them on the computer when I get back to my desk. This helps me price jobs and stuff.

Music and stuff is not important or playing dvd movies either. I do not play x-box type games either. I play a whole bunch of conquer club though!

I obviously am not doing any computer programming either.

I rarely if ever, leave the house w/my computer but I do move from room to room w/it. However, I am almost positive that I am going to have to start bringing it to work with me quite often in the near future.

I have never owned an apple but I heard they are much better and much more reliable, but they cost a lot more. Also, wouldn't I find that most people in my field use windows type computers (non-apple) and therefore I would encounter a lot of non-compatibility issues?

thanks to everyone who has or does contribute to this thread.

[btownmeggy]

Dell Latitude D-series. Very inexpensive. Very portable. Totally acceptable for your usage.

[hecter]

Don't get a mac. I imagine you'd run into a big issue with your software compatibility. I imagine you just want something that will do what you want after you pop it out of the box and with a mac you'd have to do a bunch of stuff to get your fancy software working or even buy new software. So stick with something cheap and traditional would be my recommendation to you...

[Daring Overlord5]

what ever you do

DONT BUY A MAC
THEY ARE HORRIBLE

buy dell or alien

[Squirly]

I don't think I have fancy software?

But if a document was done in microsoft word or microsoft Excel and I put it on one of those flashdrive things, would I not be able to view the document if I stuck it into a Mac?

[BENJIKAT IS DEAD]

I don't think I have fancy software?

But if a document was done in microsoft word or microsoft Excel and I put it on one of those flashdrive things, would I not be able to view the document if I stuck it into a Mac?

There are a few options:

Microsoft Office for Mac - horrid choice

iWork 08 - very good and imports all standard files like that

Neo Office / Open Office - open source (i.e free) software that does the same

[bedub1]

I think you should buy a Dell 14.1" latitude system. A 15.4" is too big to haul around alot if you want it with you when you dump your digital photos on it. Depending upon the networks you connect it to wirelessly, you either want to stick with XP that everybody has, or switch over to Vista. A vista machine will be more expensive, but will probably last longer due to higher performing parts to make it ready for vista.

You can get it from me, as I'm a dell reseller, and can probably get it cheaper for ya. Look in the small & medium business section of their website. How much money you got to spend? Same as last time like a grand, or a nicer machine for like $1500?

[snowmonster]

ok dude im looking for a laptop too. Im surprised ur hp did that cuz hp's pretty reliable. But now either get one of the new dells with a dual core proccesor. Make sure the ghz is atleast 2.0 for it run really well because the new vista takes up 1 ghz already. The memory should atleast be 100 gb. These are just facts that i look for.

[bedub1]

ok dude im looking for a laptop too. Im surprised ur hp did that cuz hp's pretty reliable. But now either get one of the new dells with a dual core proccesor. Make sure the ghz is atleast 2.0 for it run really well because the new vista takes up 1 ghz already. The memory should atleast be 100 gb. These are just facts that i look for.

Um...that would be 2.0ghz dual core processor
4 gigs of ram (Memory)
and like 120gigs of hard drive space. (Storage)

[Squirly]

I thought people did not like vista and the consensus was that it was problematic.

I need more help than I thought.

[InkL0sed]

I thought people did not like vista and the consensus was that it was problematic.

I need more help than I thought.

Don't get Vista. Microsoft is the Anti-Christ.

[hecter]

what ever you do

DONT BUY A MAC
THEY ARE HORRIBLE

buy dell or alien

Dell sucks balls and aliens are horribly overpriced yet still awesome. Also, you're a fool. If you skimmed the thread you'd see that he doesn't need a gaming PC. He doesn't even need a video card, integrated will do him just fine.

[hecter]

I thought people did not like vista and the consensus was that it was problematic.

I need more help than I thought.

Don't get Vista. Microsoft is the Anti-Christ.

Ya, I'm running Vista and it's not very good. Pretty, but not good.

[dsmsc1991]

Don't get a mac. I imagine you'd run into a big issue with your software compatibility. I imagine you just want something that will do what you want after you pop it out of the box and with a mac you'd have to do a bunch of stuff to get your fancy software working or even buy new software. So stick with something cheap and traditional would be my recommendation to you...

The new MAC OS can run windows programs... I put a windows photoshop o it, only made for windows and it worked... Its the old OS(Operating systems) that wont run windows...

[dsmsc1991]

what ever you do

DONT BUY A MAC
THEY ARE HORRIBLE

buy dell or alien

Dell PC=SHIT... Dell laptops, OK

Go alienware, can be more expensive, but really good =]

[dsmsc1991]

I thought people did not like vista and the consensus was that it was problematic.

I need more help than I thought.

Don't get Vista. Microsoft is the Anti-Christ.

Ya, I'm running Vista and it's not very good. Pretty, but not good.

I updated all top range comp's my nan and pop had, (about 25) through out all their houses.. And within a month, Vista had failed on them all, atleast twice.. Stay away from the next year or two, or untill they get the bugs out... Trust me, my aunty upgraded to it, and vista wiped her Hard drive whilst she was away... Its got problems... (My experience)

[Squirly]

well then won't all computers, no matter what brand it is come with Vista?

unless it is a mac?

[MeDeFe]

well then won't all computers, no matter what brand it is come with Vista?

unless it is a mac?

They don't have to, you could also *gasp* go to a shop that sells computers and in person ask them what they would recommend for your purposes. *whew, that was hard*

*confessional voice*I did that when I bought a new pc and that one did not come with an OS*end confessional voice*