In the market for a new laptop

[JasefWisener]

Anyone help me out.

I know pretty much what I want, but I'm unsure of brand.

I'm looking for at least 2GB of RAM, 250+GB hard drive, webcam built-in, good processor. Price range: no more than $800 (preferably under $700, but I'll take what I can get).

I'm looking at an HP right now.

The only brands that I wouldn't consider are Acer (too many bad things that I've heard) and Compaq (what I have now that I'm not happy with).

[DeadPoolX]

Anyone help me out.

I know pretty much what I want, but I'm unsure of brand.

I'm looking for at least 2GB of RAM, 250+GB hard drive, webcam built-in, good processor. Price range: no more than $800 (preferably under $700, but I'll take what I can get).

I'm looking at an HP right now.

The only brands that I wouldn't consider are Acer (too many bad things that I've heard) and Compaq (what I have now that I'm not happy with).

If you purchase an HP, you're technically buying a Compaq as well. Hewlett-Packard merged with Compaq in 2002. HP also bought Voodoo PC, as well. Whether or not that's affected the quality of the computers is unknown to me at this -- I've never bought from HP, Compaq or Voodoo PC.

Two other companies you may want to look at are Dell and Gateway. I know a lot of people say negative things about Dell, but from what I've seen, they make very stable well-built computers for lower prices than the "hardcore gaming machines." Dell does have offer some gaming lines and they acquired Alienware a little while back. I don't know a whole lot about Gateway -- at least anything recent as my last Gateway was a 486 DX2/66 -- but their machines are around the same price range as a Dell.

Most PCs don't come with a built-in webcam, except perhaps some laptops; it's more common to see a Mac with a built-in webcam than a PC. There are numerous vendors who build webcams (Logitech, HP, Phillips, Microsoft and I think Sony) at varying prices and capabilities. I'd recommend getting your webcam separately from your computer. If you have one that's built into the machine, you can never replace or upgrade it (unless you purchase a new one, which negates the entire point of having a webcam built-in).

As far as the processor is concerned, you'll probably have to get a low-end one. Since most companies only sell dual-core and quad-core nowadays, the prices are fairly high. The processor and a few other parts, like the power supply, are items you don't want to cheap out on, however. It's much easier to replace or upgrade a video card, RAM and a hard drive than it is with a processor and power supply.

The power supply is important since it provides power to the entire computer. Everything you do sucks power from it. If you plan on running a high-end video card -- especially two of them at once -- you'll need a high output power supply.

2GB of RAM is plenty to run Windows XP and nearly any program available today. If you're planning on using Vista, I'd recommend more (such as 3GB or 4GB). Vista is a memory hog, so it'll need it.

If you're planning on playing any recent games (or want to play something coming out in the near future), you'll need a decent video card. The absolute lowest you should aim for is a video card with 256MB and pixel shader 3.0, since the other versions are obsolete. A video card with more RAM is more expensive, but will have a longer gaming lifespan. You could also link two 256MB video cards in either SLI (Nvidia) or Crossfire (ATI), which would effectively give you 512MB. If you plan on doing this, make sure that the motherboard, power supply and video cards you get are capable of it.

The hard drive is somewhat less important, but if you're putting a lot of music and video on it, you'll want more space. It's rare to see a hard drive with less than 250GB (unless it's a 10,000 RPM model). 500GB probably wouldn't cost much more and many vendors offer deals on hard drives. For reference, you can actually install hard drives with 1TB or more now. Yes, that's right -- a terabyte. That's 1,000 gigabytes.

Overall, you may have to get an older model (if you can find it available) or downgrade your specifications. Purchasing an entire computer at a maximum price of $800 (some video cards alone are that much) will only get a computer capable of browsing the Internet and reading e-mail. If you want to play games beyond older Windows and DOS titles, you'll need to spend more.

[JasefWisener]

Actually the HP I'm looking at is $778.99 with some upgrades that I want.

I have a Dell desktop (about 5 years old), so I've bought from them before. Computers are good, yes, but I can't stand how much Dell price gouges.

[Collector]

DPX, I think that you missed the fact that Jasef is looking for a laptop. I have been very happy with my Toshiba with XP. I got it a little while back for a little over $700, but it has a Core2 Duo in it. The Core2s will cost a bit more, but will give you a lot longer battery life. They also run A LOT cooler. I have upgraded the RAM and replaced the HDD with a 7200 rpm.

It is getting harder to find a new laptop with XP. XP will be quite comfortable with just 2 GB of RAM, while it is the low end of what Vista needs. Battery life will drop fast with more RAM. A friend of mine has a laptop with Vista on it, half the RAM and a slower, smaller HDD and his battery will only last about half the time of mine.

[Jules]

Are they still selling new computers with XP?

I've been thinking about buying a new computer since this desktop is five years old and can barely run Photoshop CS3.

I'd rather stay with XP than switching to Vista because of the quirky things we've been hearing...

[Collector]

I'd rather stay with XP than switching to Vista because of the quirky things we've been hearing...

I think a lot of the issues that people have been having with Vista is that they are running it on hardware that is a little, well, inadequate. On my new machine Vista just flies, but that is with a 3GHz+ Core2 Duo Wolfdale core, slightly overclocked, and 4GB RAM. I am dual booting XP32 and Vista64. The odd thing is that the PC under Vista is more stable than it is with XP. It might have something to do with the drivers on new hardware. Manufacturers of the newer hardware might no longer spend much time developing stable drivers for XP and putting their effort into Vista.

[Jules]

So it is better to get a new machine with Vista rather than putting Vista on your old machine?

I'm concerned that if I get a new machine with XP, there will be problems with updates and drivers for new hardware when they are now going to be only compatable with Vista.

[Collector]

I would say a new machine with Vista. If you can, setup a dual boot on a new PC with Vista and XP. Keep in mind that if you get 64 bit Vista, you may need to replace any older hardware like scanners and printers, but 64 bit seems to be more stable.

[Jules]

My only concern is the speed and how much my desktop can handle. It has 512MB of RAM where Photoshop needs 2G and it's a miracle that it's actually running on my machine.

I would still want to use my old printer and scanner since they work great. I would just need to make sure there's drivers available for Vista for the hardware. I hope I'm making sense.. I don't know much about updating drivers or if they even need to be updated.

I will have to google the 'bit' versions of Vista. It does not sound simple.

[Collector]

For what you do, 64 bit might be what you want. It will allow for the use of more than 4 GB of RAM. 32 bit Windows can't use more than 4 GB of RAM (though in practice it is more like a little over 3 GB) without PAE addressing. It is a lot slower than the RAM access is over 4GB with a 64 bit OS.

My experience is that 64 bit XP and Vista are more stable than their 32 bit brethren. Perhaps because of the lack of legacy support for 16 programs. But the draw back is that most 16 bit programs will not run at all. No DOS games or applications without DOSBox, no old Windows 3x games or apps. Also no 32 bit drivers will install, so the main problem for you would be whether or not your other hardware is recent enough for the manufacturers to bother with developing 64 bit drivers.

It's not really that hard. You just need to do 2 things. You need to check that there are 64 bit drivers for any hardware that you want to keep and then get a copy of 32 bit XP for dual booting for backwards compatibility. Or you could just keep your old system for the latter and get a KVM switch.

[DeadPoolX]

Collector,

Yeah, I did somehow miss the "laptop" part of the question. Although many laptops are actually just as expensive -- sometimes more -- than desktops, it would be possible to find a decent laptop at the price quoted.

Jules,

Windows XP is still being sold through a few vendors. Last time I checked, Dell, Alienware and Voodoo PC all offer it. For how long is anyone's guess. Microsoft wants to push their new OS, so eventually the PC vendors will eliminate XP from their virtual store shelves.

As far as putting Vista on a new or old machine goes... I agree with Collector. Vista would probably be better on a new computer, if for no other reason than a new one would most likely have have the components capable of running Vista.

If you do attempt to install Vista on an older machine, I'd recommend getting the full copy -- not an upgrade. More often than not, upgrades over older operating systems turn out badly.

Vista comes in a variety of flavors, such as Starter, Home Basic, Home Premium, Business, Enterprise and Ultimate. If you've never heard of Windows Vista Starter, it's probably because that version is marketed towards so-called "emerging markets." In markets that include the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, Israel and Europe, the lowest edition is Home Basic. It should be noted that, if you decide to upgrade XP, the version of Vista you can use depends on the edition of XP you previously owned.

[Andy Roark]

Somewhat late to the party again but my wife just purchased a new laptop and I got to refresh my knowledge to help her. I ended up recommending an ASUS machine to her.

I work as an electrical engineer on integrated circuits so hardware is near and dear to my heart. Over the years my opinions on decent and non-decent companies have largely remained stable and I developed the "Andy List" for recommendations:

#1) IBM/Lenovo - First to the party, always does it right. Their machines cost a bit more for a really good reason. I've owned four IBM laptops in the last fifteen years and all four of them are still running like champs.

#2) ASUS - ASUS is historically a component manufacturer (motherboards, daughterboards, integrated circuits) and their laptops share the basic hardware first view. A cool addition to their laptop lines of late is the alternate boot into a stripped down Linuxish O.S. that allows you web access, email access, other goodies without fully booting the installed O.S.

#3 - #50) Out of Business

#51) HP - My wife's current laptop is an HP. The wireless network card and DVD drive are now both dead. I work for a former HP division (now an independent business) and much of the hardware background that HP had went with my division. At this point they are doing little more than paying someone overseas to assemble a machine built from parts overseas. The quality, quite frankly, sucks.

#52) Dell - I'd love to love Dell. I tried for years. Michael Dell's story of getting Dell up and running is one of my favorite business stories. All of that being said Dell has done some straight up crooked crap in the last few years (refurbished parts going out in new machines, bad lots of sub-components included in machines) and my current work machine is a Dell. This desktop machine barely works - I can only imagine what a laptop would do over time.

The real key to understanding laptops is understanding laptops. What kills a laptop is heat. All of the components of a computer are reduced in size and crammed into a much less spacious opening, requiring some real attention to detailed design and care to make sure that the heat usage and dissipation. In my opinion the only two companies still paying attention to that are Lenovo and ASUS. Anything else is a consumer electronics piece of equipment doomed to failure within a few years. The problem, of course, is that to get anything better than that you'll have to pay money for it and you said you were looking for a machine on the cheap.

In the range you are looking for I'd recommend HP over Dell but both would be neck in neck to the finish line. The better thing I would recommend is not breaking the bank buying anything flashy (upgraded CPU, for example) because the state of laptops and the quality being put out means that any extra money you spend to get an upgrade will likely be wasted when the rest of the machine falls apart before you get the benefit of your long planning.

Don't even get me started on the whole RoHS parts fiasco.....

[DeadPoolX]

Here's a somewhat non-related note about Dell:

Michael Dell lived in my area (before I was ever there, I might add) and went to the same high school as I did. He had an economics teacher (the same one my brother and I had) who told him he'd "never amount to anything."

While I was taking her class, she was using a Dell computer. How's that for revenge?

I know this sounds like an urban legend, but when I asked my teacher about Michael Dell, she made a face and said, "I don't want to talk about him. It's not relevant."

[Andy Roark]

Heh - that's a great story.

The consumer PC market got tough and I'm afraid Dell (without Michael at the helm) went the way of most companies in recent years - downsize cost at all expense. In their case the expense was the good name of the company when shoddy product started going out the door and the only support available was outsourced bad phone calls with people reading scripts.

I know at some point Michael Dell came back and I've always meant to check back in to see if he was able to right the ship again. There was a time in the mid 90s I would have quickly recommended Dell to anyone as a slightly lower cost alternative to IBM. Like I said - I really, really have always wanted to like Dell. They just don't let me.

[Tawmis]

I have a Dell XPS system right now (desktop) - and love it to pieces.

ACER is who I have ALWAYS had problems with liking.