Laptop

[averyrm]

I'm looking at getting a laptop soon and was thinking about the Compaq Presario x1000.

I'm looking for something with great battery life, the centrino chipset (helps with the first one), sturdy for traveling, and the ability to play video games.

Does anyone own a compaq or have any ideas of other laptops that would perform well?

Thanks,
Ryan

 

[avbug]

I have no idea what all that stuff is you just said. I have a compaq presario 2100, and it does okay. Except for the little M key, that keeps sticking.

 

[LearLove]

I just picked up a new laptop at best buy last week. I had a Compaq Presario 2100 for the last 3 years but it finally broke where the power chord plugs into the laptop "in the rear". They (3 places) wanted over 500 to fix it so I went and got a Toshiba Satellite Pentium 4. Paid 1400 plus NY sales tax at best buy. Its got the bells and other stuff, now I can watch DVD's in the crewroom/airplane/terminal instead watching Dash's disapear and contractor jets multiply. Its got good sounding speakers so I won't have to hear about how everyone else is hirring while we've got guys on furlough.

And why I was shopping I got a Cannon Elph digital camera (what does a 29 year old Dash FO need with a savings account anyway) so I can take pics on the road and put them on Airliners.net. I had it in ROC last week, got a good pic of 2 chicks hooking up in the hotel bar. I'll try and get that on Airliners.net, it will be under "layover"

 

[WrightAvia]

I heard these were pretty reasonable...a little small...but relatively cheap.

http://kids.kfc.com/default.htm

500 bucks to repair a power cord mount in the back of the laptop? Yesh!

I have used an ACER brand laptop for years, so does my friend. Maybe you might want to find a computer forum and propose the question there, or do a search on the web for some type of consumer reports article.

 

[Huck]

I had a Compaq Presario, but then it broke, while still under warranty - and I descended into the worst customer service hell I have ever seen. I would run, quickly, from any Compaq product. Their customer service/tech support people are positively hateful.

I replaced it with a Sony Vaio. About 2 years old, it got hit by lightning about 6 months ago. Shipped it off to Sony support in San Diego and it was back in two weeks. Price was reasonable too.

I wouldn't give a Compaq to an enemy.

 

[Airpiraterob]

you want to play video games too? on your notebook? then get ready to pony up alot o fcash.

umm....you need power for that depending on the video game. games do that. not to mention that they need all kinds of super high end equipment for the good games. ive been hammering with battlefield 1942 for a while now and its so damm graphics intensive and memory intensive that itll run my battery down in nothing flat. plus its best run on a desktop really.....however its absolutely incredible running at full graphics detail. albeit slows down i your computers limited.

i went to the alienware computers website (the desktop ones) and they had a compare computers icon to click. i did. it asked my computer what it had and then posted results on what they had...theyre computer was 8800% faster....yeah...over 8 thousand percent faster than my fast notebook. (Dell 8000) holy crap. but thats what a game system needs....honestly tho on the road im just using it for internet and such. on a multiple day layover it would be fun to hook up on the net and go kill nazi's and japs. but its not fun when your comp is limited. but at home i almost need a desktop for the games to get the best performance.

 

[Dash8]

in our line of work with the kind of abuse it may have to endure, i'd highly recommend shelling out a tiny bit extra to get an ibm thinkpad, they are by far the most durable laptops out there, they've been corporate travel workhorses for years, i've got an old one (5years old) thats going strong. might cost you a little extra than an equivalent toshiba (prolly the next best name brand) but you pretty much can't go wrong

 

[sstearns2]

You'll want to check out dell to. www.dell.com

Check around and see if anyone you know gets a corporate discount. At skywest the employees get 5% off dell stuff.

I've had my dell laptop for almost a year now. No problems, except they loaded an old video driver, so I had to download the current one. Their customer service website is amazing, just about any question you can have is already answered there.

Scott

 

[MarineGrunt]

you want to play video games too? on your notebook? then get ready to pony up alot o fcash.

My $800 Toshiba Satellite does pretty well with computer games. I run Elite Flight Sim off of it for training and it keeps up great. My only complaint is that the screen sucks. I do use an external monitor for the students screen though, so it gets the job done.

 

[averyrm]

Video Games

As far as video games, I'm not looking to run anything that is very graphics oriented. Just something to play to pass time (like warcraft III).

 

[Flyingtoohigh]

Originally posted by LearLove I had a Compaq Presario 2100 for the last 3 years but it finally broke where the power chord plugs into the laptop "in the rear". They (3 places) wanted over 500 to fix it so I went and got a Toshiba Satellite Pentium 4.

My day job is fixing computers, both laptop and desktop, and I can speak to the price tag.

When the adaptor connection breaks in the back, one cannot solder the connection to the mainboard. The mainboard in most laptops is actually six layers thick. The traces you see on the top and bottom of the board are only on the top and bottom layer. There are four more layers of traces and other fun stuff between the top and bottom. If the board was a single layer built using through-solder techniques, it would be cake to fix it.

Instead, the boards are built using surface-mount solder. The solder must attach the component to the top of the board and cannot go through any layers below. Finding a soldering iron small enough is tough enough. The precision and skill that is required to fix this is expensive. The vast majority of places, including all the big OEMs (Toshiba, Sony, etc) replace components when fixing your laptops, just like CompUSA or another retail store does when working on your equipment.

Most vendors and manufacturers sell extended warranties of some sort. If you get one for three years or more and your laptop cord breaks, you're without it for a week, but it's fixed. I'm the guy who routinely tells people the cost to fix their computer will be nearly $1200 or more and the job has it's low points at times. I do suggest warranties, though I'll leave the brand and vendor decision up to you.

 

[Gulfstream 200]

I had a couple of Compaqs - had GREAT customer service. Even after my dog knocked it off the table and chewed the cord - they fixed it all no questions. I bought another because of that.

Also own a Dell. never had a prob with it. It was cheap too, like $1100.

I think these days Dell and Compaq are about the same. they have to be to compete.


Avoid Toshiba like the plaque. pure junk. I like Sony's, but heard bad things also (from a sony employee!)

Now, if you have the $$$, go with IBM. longest lasting laptop I had was an IBM. They are tanks, the Benz S600 of laptops. But they are pricy.

My advice is to not spend too much if you just do the basics. Laptops eventually get beat up on the road.

 

[huncowboy]

I got a Dell Inpiron 8500 just three months ago. The price of mine went through the roof because I ended up putting in everything (I was also looking for a gaming machine) and I paid 2600 plus shipping but if you are not nuts like myself than you will be fine with the basic inspiron 8500 which goes right now for $1250 with 250 instant off.

http://www1.us.dell.com/content/products/category.aspx/notebooks?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs

I hope the link works.

 

[huncowboy]

sorry double post...

 

[Airpiraterob]

yeah the dells are good. ive had no problems at all with mine (except when i spilled a double mocha espresso on the right side....it seeped down and zapped the hard drive. but it dried out....reformatted and reloaded the programs....still works just fine never had to send it in or replace everything. lost all my porn tho. )

anyway...got off the track. go grab a regular offered dell. if you go to build your own, youll pay an extra $200 minimum on top of the total price. happened to me and my inspiron 8000. its fine but getting behind the power curve every month.

(cant wait to get that 64-bit chip and watercool it and overclock it to 4.0 and watercool and overclock the video card and then watercool and overclock everything i can possibly find that might be possible to overclock and watercool.)

 

[Salty Dog]

Next time forward all your porn to your friends at flightinfo.com, and we'll be happy to send it back in the event of an untimely computer crash!

Just another fine example of your fellow aviation buffs looking out for you!

 

[Wang Chung]

My Compaq Presario 1200 has been my only computer for the past 4 years and I love it. It travels well; I've beat the crap out of this thing but it continues to perform. Been dragging it back and forth across the country with me while flying freight and aerial phtography, and I would haul it across campus all the time during my college days.

My only hardware issue: the battery started to fail last year, but that was easily replaced.

I keep expecting it to blow up any day now, but it just keeps on ticking.

Wang

 

[bart]

Try WWW.delloutlet.com have bought 4 from them (cheap)
and all are great.