<p>Whenever I'm ready to buy a notebook I always see this review which absolutely slams the machine and makes me think twice of buying it.</p>
<p>I think I'll be bringing my desktop along, but either way I'm looking for a portable laptop that's under $1,000. I don't want to go back to Dells and I'm focused on battery life (anything above 2-3 hrs would be great). I'm just going to be using it get on the internet and write up projects and stuff. I've already checked into netbooks and my hands are too big for them.</p>
<p>HPs and Toshiba seem to be getting a bad rep with quality (I have a Toshiba satellite, it's gotten repaired twice but its a desktop replacement and it's not too bad), Sony and Apple are too expensive, Dell...erghhh don't go there, Lenovo, Acer and Asus are brands I've never touched but keep hearing good things about them.</p>
<p>Is there anything out there that will satisfy my needs?</p>
<p>How did you like the Toshiba? I’m torn between buying a Toshiba or an HP as a replacement laptop for S.</p>
<p>It has Vista, and contrary to what people say, it actually works pretty decent (the times it had to be repaired was because I’d always drop something on the part right over the hard drive) only only 1 gig of ram. If you get 2 gigs you’ll be good with it whether you get a Toshiba or an HP.</p>
<p>Toshiba (I think HP does the same), has this weird way of making the bootup cds a part of the hard drive. In other words, you have to make your own backups discs when you first get your laptop and I recommend you do so. </p>
<p>I’m into film and video and I’ve placed some pretty intensive projects on here by way of Adobe Premiere Pro CS3 and After Effects. There was a bit of lag, but again I blame that on the 1 gig of ram, but it worked decently smooth and the rendering is normal and on par with other systems. Basically, it means that Toshiba Satellites can handle some pretty demanding tasks. </p>
<p>The only thing I don’t like is the battery life (I normally only get 1 1/2 hours on balanced) but if it’s a replacement it’ll usually be plugged in.</p>
<p>On the flipside, my actual desktop is an HP and it’s absolutely amazing. Laptop wise my dad uses one from work and it’s not quite a desktop replacement but it seems to do the job. Overall, since you’re looking for a desktop replacement you have a lot less to worry about and you’ll be more pushed for the price than anything else. From my experience HP and Toshiba are evenly matched although I could see where HP has an edge over the other by ways of help and communication.</p>
<p>BTW: I’m choosing a Lenovo for my laptop</p>
<p>Thanks for the post. I have a macbook. Younger son has a macbook. Older son needs to replace his 3 1/2 yr. old Dell laptop. He wants to stick with a windows laptop. We have a bunch of best buy gift cards so we’re limited to what Best Buy sells. We’ve narrowed it down to HP or Toshiba–leaning towards HP because the college will fix HP’s and Dell’s if they break. I have another month or so before we make the purchase so I keep checking their website to see what’s new.</p>
<p>Get an HP. They’re cheap and have poor build quality (can’t comment on Toshiba), but if the college repairs them, he’s good to go.</p>
<p>That’s what I was thinking. Thanks.</p>
<p>Under $1,000 laptop just to word process in the classroom/library, and the occasional presentation, is easy to find. My first recommendation is always to check out the student special your school offers. The school’s IT people can help you if you have a problem.</p>
<p>I’ve owned Dell and Toshiba laptops. Most recently I have bought Dell because they were cheaper. After using it for a while, for techie reasons (dell uses a few non-standard parts, and the OS is quirky), I prefer the Toshiba. I have recently used the business line Dells, and the BIOS and OS seem to work much more cleanly.</p>
<p>I’ve heard good things about the other brands you mentioned.</p>
<p>I have a toshiba and i love it. I’ve had no problems with it so far.</p>
<p>I’ve had an accer before and they are okay.</p>
<p>I’ve used toshiba laptops for the last 5 years and am looking forward to moving on. Their computers work fine, but the build quality and battery life (though that depends on the model, of course) are just awful. The truth really is that you get what you pay for…</p>