<p>Scrabble, I've been using Dell computers for years now (including a few laptops) and I've never ever had such problems.</p>
<p>as have I. I have one of their desktops from 10 years ago and it still runs fairly well considering its age. I think their laptops probably dont last as long but ive had one for a year and havent had any problems with it.</p>
<p>As I established in the other laptop thread, Scrabble doesn't know what he(/she?) is talking about. Dell's quality is fine, and on a very similar level to most other laptop companies.</p>
<p>When a customer asks a guy I work with what they should look for in a laptop (I'm a computer technician) he always responds, "A good warranty." I have a laptop and love it, but the portability of laptops will normally lead to their undoing. The risk factor is just increased 20x...doesn't matter what company you buy it from. </p>
<p>Just something to consider.</p>
<p>I'm with all the other pro-Dell people. I'm typing on mine right now, and I love it to death. It will be a year old in August, and I think I've had it freeze on me once in all this time, and it was my own fault. I walked away from it one night, it went into self-hibernation mode, then when I tried to pick up work on it again a few days later, I confused it and it froze. I have had no major problems with my Dell. If you do get a Dell, don't get a Dell printer!!!! The ONLY place you can get ink refills is dell.com, which sucks because you have to pay for the ink itself, shipping, and you have to wait a day or two for it. You can go and get an HP, Epson, or some other kind of printer from Walmart or Staples, or wherever, and it will be compatible, and then you can go wherever and get ink refills.</p>
<p>Any DELL fanboys should serious reconsider...check out the lawsuits for various models. Of course, not every, or not even a majority of their laptops are made crappy but it's a higher % than it shouold be.</p>
<p>Potential lawsuits, active lawsuits and settled lawsuits are all completely different things. The settled class action lawsuit was valid, and I'm not going to contest that there was a definite issue with those notebooks.</p>
<p>On the other hand, the "investigated" models don't necessarily have anything wrong with them, and the battery recall isn't Dell's responsibility - almost every laptop company that used that supplier had that issue.</p>
<p>Not ever gonna say that Dell has the most high quality laptops in the market, just that for the price they're not as bad as people say. Don't think that makes me a fanboy, but...</p>
<p>I know. Like I mentioned in some earlier post, most DELL's are very affordable. It's up to the consumer to pick the price/quality balance best suited for himself.</p>
<p>BTW, anyone know what happend to 'winbooks?' They came out a long long time ago and their claim to fame was having both a touchpad and eraser pointer. Random question.</p>
<p>I'm going to install Ubuntu Linux (<a href="http://www.ubuntu.com/%5B/url%5D">http://www.ubuntu.com/</a>) on my laptop, which comes with OpenOffice.org, is less prone to viruses/spyware/adware (in fact, I have never heard of a single Linux virus), and is 100% free!</p>
<p>Takes up less space than Windows, you can install programs through a user interface instead of scouring the Internet, and it's all OPEN SOURCE as well.</p>
<p>I'm going to get either a Lenovo/IBM Thinkpad or an Apple MacBook. I heard those two were the best for long-term use.</p>
<p>Ubuntu's a good Linux distro, but don't make stuff up - there are a fair few (~40) Linux viruses, many of which are very dangerous, but luckily mostly confined to laboratory research.</p>
<p>Thinkpads are probably your best bet for long-term use. Same with Toshibas. The new MacBooks aren't as well-made as the old Apple laptops, meaning the older PowerBook series and the original clamshell iBooks. The white iBooks are being examined for poor solder joints and other problems--I've seen a lot of them fail.</p>
<p>As far as stuff I'd look for on a laptop:</p>
<p>-Avoid Celeron processors (Windows laptops). They're like three-cylinder Geo Metros in terms of performance.
-Get a carrying case that suits you, meaning it's comfortable for you to hold and is something you'd want to be noticed with (i.e. if you're a guy and it looks like a Vera Bradley purse, forget that one).
-Buy a mouse, but not a travel-sized one. You want something comfortable to use and honestly, a full-size mouse isn't too big.
-If you don't like the keyboards on a laptop, get yourself one of those as well.
-Buy a USB memory key. Most any computer made in the past six years can use it, it's quick, and it's fast.
-Buy an external floppy drive. There are still people who use these and chances are you'll have to work on a group project with some guy who did his work in the computer lab and used a floppy to save his files.
-Get a personal laser printer. I have an HP LaserJet 1022, not sure if it's still being made but a printer along those lines would be your best bet. It's monochrome, but when do you really need color in college anyway? I've never found a reason to print colored documents and I'm an elementary ed major!
-Microsoft Office is a must. Almost every college uses it and the student version is dirt cheap. Find an older one if you're using Windows XP (which I recommend as I hate Vista--it's buggy and the user interface is about as bad as one of those little kid laptops you can buy for fifty bucks at Toys R Us).
-If you get a new Apple laptop, get an ice pack and stick it in your portable fridge's freezer compartment. They run so hot that you'll need to put your hands on this now and then.</p>
<p>I just bought my Thinkpad and made sure to pay the extra $30 for XP Professional instead of Vista Home Edition. With Vista, running apps like Photoshop and Sony Vegas are near impossible because of how slow it is. It should not take a computer 800 mb of ram to run. As the above poster notes it is very buggy and the user interface, while somewhat decent looking, is crappy and Im someone who believes in function over form.</p>
<p>I'm going to be getting a Lenovo X61 tablet PC to take to university, along with my desktop.</p>