# Looking for Opinions on Laptops

Category: Geeks r Us

## Post 1 by Musical Ambition (I've got the gold prolific poster award, now is there a gold cup for me?) on Saturday, 08-Dec-2007 11:00:35

Hi all,
I am thinking of buying a laptop, but have never bought one before, so I was wondering if anyone can give me some feedback and opinions. I've been searching, and I've come across an HP that sounds interesting. Does anyone here have experience with HP? This particular computer has an Intel Core 2 Duo processor, so I would also like to hear your thoughts on that particular processor. If you want to know more information about the computer, just le me know. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

## Post 2 by fuzzy101 (The master of fuzz!!) on Saturday, 08-Dec-2007 11:26:24

HP's are pretty good.
The only major problem I've sen with my fiance's is the adapter is vary sensative and if you move it in the wrong direction you could get disconnected.
This laptop was purchase last year.

## Post 3 by Blue Velvet (I've got the platinum golden silver bronze poster award.) on Saturday, 08-Dec-2007 12:37:30

I've had an Acer laptop since August 2005, so over two years now. It's been great. I use a standard keyboard connected to it though because I don't like it's keyboard. It doesn't have a numb pad for JAWS commands, and I'm too lazy to learn how to work around that. LOL But the computer itself is great.

## Post 4 by CallMeAl (Veteran Zoner) on Saturday, 08-Dec-2007 15:09:55

Hi,
A couple things you might want to think about:
1. What size laptop do you want? Do you have any usable vision or will you be strictly using a screen reader? If you'll be relying on a screen reader, then I would advise going with a 14.1 inch or smaller screen. Having a 15.4 or larger display unnecessarily adds to the weight of the laptop and results in less battery life.
2. What will you use the machine for, and roughly what kind of budget are you looking at?
Your answers to these questions will help us give you more meaningful responses.
--Al

## Post 5 by Musical Ambition (I've got the gold prolific poster award, now is there a gold cup for me?) on Saturday, 08-Dec-2007 15:46:55

I will be using a screen reader. I've already decided that I don't need the bigger seventeen inch, just so that I have the num pad. I don't mind using the keystrokes for laptops. I've been doing some more searching, and the two that I'm looking at are both HP's. One is a fifteen inch, and the other is fourteen. I'm basically going to be using the computer for basic use. Nothing too fancy. I do have specifications that I'd like to have, so I've been including these choices when searching through the computers. The two HP's that I'm looking at are getting good reviews. It seems that the only problem is, apparently, the battery sticks out more than some would like, and a lot of people have problems with Vista. If I do get one, I'm going to see if I can possibly get XP put onto it, rather than Vista. From what I've heard, Vista is trouble, and a huge space hog.

## Post 6 by Jesse (Hmm!) on Saturday, 08-Dec-2007 16:07:05

Ok. Let me give you just a bit of light on the subject of laptops. I have owned just about every make of laptop. I loved my HP's, hated my Toshiba, and my Compaq was ok, too. However, I am absolutely in love with my Apple Macbook. it has a Core2 Duo processor, a very fast bus, and it's form factor is out of this world! In the OS-10 world, the thing's a dream. Just turn it on, and it actually talks you through setup and installation.
I also have Windows XP running on it, and let me tell you, XP is super fast. The Macbook's keyboard is great, and it's only got a 13.3 inch screen. It's almost like you're getting two computers for the price of one, because you can run both operating systems on it natively, without having to do a any tweaking. It's really one of the best laptops out there, the best being the Macbook Pro, but that's another $700. Check them out, because I think you will like them.

## Post 7 by Toonhead71 (move over school!) on Saturday, 08-Dec-2007 16:37:58

One other thing that should be considered is the operating system you use. Microsoft is really pushing Vista these days, and I'm sorry but for me, XP is just fine. It sounds like you'd be using it for general stuff like web surfing, e-mail maybe and instant messaging and all the other usual stuff, not really specialized use. So if you can, stick with XP home for now.

## Post 8 by wildebrew (We promised the world we'd tame it, what were we hoping for?) on Saturday, 08-Dec-2007 17:10:19

I've had a good experience with Acer and Compaq and Dell, not so great with Toshiba. The MacBook is, of course, a whole new dimension I haven't explored, might do so some time soon although we are talking basically the price of two ordinary laptops, at least if they are still in the 1000 plus range, you can get a perfectly good laptop for around 600, but MacBook also has a good performance factor. I'd say 14.1 inch or smaller, 14.1 works well for me, avoid Vista at all costs, it eats up unnecessary amount of memory and gives you precious little extra performance or comfort, quite the opposite in fact. Dell still sells XP laptops and I think basically HP and Acer do as well. I am curious about the Asus EEE laptop myself, 8gb flash based hard drive, a gig of ram and only 7 inches, you can have a 120gb external drive for music and such and you basically got yourself a 3 pound laptop, itis in the high 500s though so a bit pricy and it is outof stock everywhere at the moment. I used HP desktops for years, good experience, and heard nothing but good about their laptops too, so I think you can't go wrong with them, just make sure you get XP and avoid all the extra junk they try to ssell ya, virus protection etc (AVG free edition has worked wonders for me and I'm really happy with it, and it is free).
cheers
-B

## Post 9 by jbannick (Generic Zoner) on Sunday, 09-Dec-2007 12:58:30

At our accessible computer game company, we use Acers.
Have never had any trouble at all with them.
Work fine with JAWS and our own self-voicing.
Also, with Dragon Naturally Speaking.
Our latest one has Vista installed.
Aside from the known problems with Vista itself, that laptop works fine, too.
We used to use Dells until their support became poor.
I understand that Michael Dell fired the Dell President responsible for that and is working to repair their support.
John Bannick
Chief Technology Officer
7-128 Software

## Post 10 by Polka dots and Moonbeams (I've now got the bronze prolific poster award! now going for the silver award!) on Sunday, 09-Dec-2007 20:56:19

I have a hp laptop, it is nearly 2 years old. So far so good! I really enjoy it. It's a 14.1, about a perfect size. I believe on their website they have a 12 size screen. Now, that could be cool, if the keyboard isn't too crammed!
Oh, one thing I've noticed on the latest models of hp laptops is the media keys at the top. They are like a flat touch pad along the top row, and activate if you run your finger across them. Hopefully, there is someway to modify this.

## Post 11 by Gilman Gal (A billy Gilman fan forever and always!!) on Monday, 10-Dec-2007 5:44:26

I have a dell laptop and love it. well, I don't like the keyboard and the mouse pad, the mouse pad is to sinsitive and if I bump it just a little it messes up what I have been working on. my dell is an inspirion with windos XP pro. I can't remember the proseser speed at the moment. but anyways, I haven't had much problem with dell or there tec support. like others have said, stay away from vista. I also have had friends who have had there vista masheen crash after a month or so of use/

## Post 12 by soaring eagle (flying high again!) on Monday, 10-Dec-2007 8:04:45

You should to be able to turn the mouse pad off. I had soneone to that with my toshiba. I have had mine for about 14 months and its okay. I went for the larger size cause to lazy to learn 2 screen readers commands.

## Post 13 by Polka dots and Moonbeams (I've now got the bronze prolific poster award! now going for the silver award!) on Monday, 10-Dec-2007 8:26:07

Just a little side note here... Has anyone bought a external keypad? I've had one for years and it is great for the mouse controls or calculator.
Also, on the mousepad, you should be able to disable it within your system, and/or there is usually a little button just above or near the pad to disable it.

## Post 14 by skpoet711 (Zone BBS is my Life) on Monday, 10-Dec-2007 16:05:19

WAIT FOR SILVERTHORN
smaller
lighter
more energy efficient then the 65nms
However, if you're in the "i have to have it now" stage,
get the m1330: vista only
inspiron 15.1 windows xp pro until 2005
lenovo t61 or x61 available with windows xp pro
x61 does not have built in dvd burners, external only.
I own the dell d630, love it, don't really like the pointing stick between the g and the h keys.
t61 and x61 has that stick as well.
home office options does not.

## Post 15 by Gilman Gal (A billy Gilman fan forever and always!!) on Monday, 10-Dec-2007 23:07:15

my laptop is on there. and I don't wanna screw up my computer. that would suck.

## Post 16 by Polka dots and Moonbeams (I've now got the bronze prolific poster award! now going for the silver award!) on Tuesday, 11-Dec-2007 7:51:36

Ok, a side question here... What is silverthorn?

## Post 17 by soaring eagle (flying high again!) on Tuesday, 11-Dec-2007 8:33:23

You won't mess up the laptop by turning off the mouse. You will find it so much faster when its off to get around instead of worrying about hitting the buttons or the pad.

## Post 18 by skpoet711 (Zone BBS is my Life) on Tuesday, 11-Dec-2007 11:47:00

Silverthorn is the code name for Intel's up and coming latest new 45nm processor (quad core) or (duo core)
It is boasted to out perform, be more energy efficient, and faster than its current 65nm duo 2 core predecessors of today.
The q9650 has 12mb cache and is the quad core, and has proven in bench-marks to make today's d2c to look like a turtle.
Of course, if you are just a typical user, not a tech freak like me, you will not need such processor. In fact, if you are just a internet browser, word processor user, and movie/music listener, you don't need but a solo core 2.0 of 1999 running windows 98/2k.

## Post 19 by Gilman Gal (A billy Gilman fan forever and always!!) on Thursday, 20-Dec-2007 3:55:41

well just an update. if anyone gets a laptop, turn the mouse pad off. the only thing is if mom needs to barrow it for some reason, she forgets to tell me that to turn on the mousepad, and has to run it by the keyboard. but I can run this more ofishintly this way.

## Post 20 by Blondie McConfusion (Blah Blah Blah) on Friday, 21-Dec-2007 1:18:56

everyone should own a pretty yellow laptop. that's my suggestion. hehehehe

## Post 21 by Shadow_Cat (I've now got the silver prolific poster award! wahoo!) on Saturday, 22-Dec-2007 22:26:26

Geminai, did you ever get your laptop, or are you still looking? If I were you, I'd stay away from Dell. Generally, they are good laptops. But the second you have any trouble, Dell's tech support is horrendous, and that's an understatement. So, consider what kind of customer service and tech support reviews the company you're buying from gets, not just their products.

## Post 22 by Musical Ambition (I've got the gold prolific poster award, now is there a gold cup for me?) on Saturday, 22-Dec-2007 22:35:15

Thanks to everyone who has posted here. I have not yet bought the laptop, but I think I am going to go with the HP that I'm interested in.

## Post 23 by WillieTheWoof (I'll have the last word, thank you!) on Monday, 24-Dec-2007 20:39:08

Hmmm, if I said a nice shiny macbook would I get shot?

## Post 24 by Harmony (I've now got the silver prolific poster award! wahoo!) on Friday, 28-Dec-2007 7:27:42

I have had the touchpad or mouse thing disabled on my laptop because I found it so annoying when I was trying to write something and kept leaning on it, which made the cursor shoot up to somewhere in the middle of what I was doing and made me type in the wrong place. I think you can do this by going to the mouse pointers in the control pannewl, or it might be just called mouse.

## Post 25 by crazy mike (gold master) on Saturday, 12-Jan-2008 21:30:36

I hate the mac computers love HP they work great never had a problem with one but dells tec suport is offle

## Post 26 by singingsensation (I just keep on posting!) on Thursday, 07-Feb-2008 11:38:26

Hello.
I have a laptop now but I don't really like it that much. I have a Sony Vaio notebook computer, which I got from Sightless Children's Club for about $3,000, I think. Mine is sort of falling apart, and I'm not doing anything to mess it up. My ex-boyfriend told me that some computers are built wrong so that is probably why mine is falling apart. Or maybe Sony computers are a piece of junk? Or maybe Sony sucks altogether? Hmm, not sure. If I'm going to be getting a new laptop, I either want the Dell Latitudes, the new Dell Xps laptops, Compaq, or a MacBook. I saw a MacBook at a store and it looks really cool! Any good suggestions? I really don't want Vista just yet, though, because first of all, not very many programs work with it, and it's going to have a lot of bugs and stuff in it. So I'll probably get XP Pro on it if I ever get a new one.
Thanks.
Macy

## Post 27 by singingsensation (I just keep on posting!) on Friday, 28-Mar-2008 17:29:13

LOL. Is anyone going to reply to this topic?

## Post 28 by rat (star trek rules!) on Friday, 28-Mar-2008 19:16:43

let me correct some stuff dealing with vista here.
first, vista is really nice, and i wouldn't go back to XP for a million dollars.
Second, most XP programs run with no problem on vista, just ask me or the user cool brandon about that.
third, there may be some bugs yes, but they aren't so bad that your computer will die in a month. i've had this machine for about 3 months with no problems at all.

## Post 29 by singingsensation (I just keep on posting!) on Sunday, 30-Mar-2008 21:15:38

Ah - thanks for the info.

## Post 30 by singingsensation (I just keep on posting!) on Wednesday, 16-Apr-2008 10:52:47

I might get it, but not sure yet. Some of the programs that I use don't support Vista just yet. I'll probably wait, I'm not sure though.

## Post 31 by rat (star trek rules!) on Wednesday, 16-Apr-2008 21:20:29

they say the programs won't support vista, but they do. i have a few games that said they would only support XP, and they run very nicely

## Post 32 by Squiggles (Account disabled) on Thursday, 17-Apr-2008 15:50:36

I recommend hp or compaq only because they are very good quality wise. the ones I would stay away from woul dbe acer, because the parts are crap. Also I would stay away from Averatech, even though you probably haven't heard of them before. They are good, but the one i have had burned up, almost quite literally. If it needs to be repaired, it is not fun to take apart. I know this because the one I had I really did like, but my friend took it apart and he had to take out the entire motherboard just to get to the hard drive. The placement of the cpu and hard drive is not very good, because if the heat sync on the cpu could get clogged.

## Post 33 by b3n (I'm going for the prolific poster awards!) on Saturday, 19-Apr-2008 20:41:26

I'm a fan of toshiba myself.
We get laptops given to us at school which have sometimes been used before us. Mine had been used for about 1.5 years before I got it in mid 2005. It was still as good as new in may 2007 when I was given something else.
One of the best if not the best laptop i've ever hhad.
Battery still had about 2 hours on it, and you wouldn't ever have thought it was a celeronn, just had to keep it clean. It was also very tuff against spills - the amount of times it had alcohol spilt on it was unbelevable and the most I ever had to do was take the keyboard off and give it a clean.
Good days.
If anyone wants a bit more personal help about choosing a laptop for them, then gimme a pm.
BEN.

## Post 34 by Nick6489 (11 years a Zoner) on Monday, 28-Apr-2008 18:21:59

Dell and Apple. These days, those are the only sure things you have. All of hte other reviews for other laptops seem a bit iffy, to me anyway.