Sub $700 Laptops - Page 2

jeffy777 · July 23rd, 2008, 03:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NooDle

what about that tiny little EEEpc? It's a lot less than 700$, and as far as I can tell, will do everything a budget laptop will do.

Yeah it's tiny, but so what?

For one thing, the hard drive is very small compared to the 320GB models you can get for $700. For some people, that's not an issue, but it would be for me.

airmenair · July 23rd, 2008, 03:27 PM

So i'm a little confused about these protection plans from Newegg.com. Does the computer come with a manufacturers warranty? Are the protection plans just considered an extended warranty from newegg?

Vette Boss · July 23rd, 2008, 03:55 PM

Those protection plans come in after the manuf. warranty.

teeb · July 23rd, 2008, 05:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by airmenair

So i'm a little confused about these protection plans from Newegg.com. Does the computer come with a manufacturers warranty? Are the protection plans just considered an extended warranty from newegg?

There will be a set manufacturer's warranty. However, once it's run out, then you're not covered - which is when the extended one comes in. In my opinion it's not worth the extended warranty, but many people will say otherwise.

I recommend the ACER 5920 that has been suggested. I have one, I've owned it for the past year, and it's not let me down. Not put a foot wrong. It's well-built, good-looking (designed by BMW design), fast, and has survived a few tumbles.

Two things I would say, though - one, as with most acers (and many other manufacturers), when you do buy your laptop, do a disc wipe. A lot of manufacturers put plenty bloatware on. Acer's particularly bad for this.

Two, the 5920 doesn't actually have built-in bluetooth, despite having a button to turn it on/off. Don't know if that's a deal-maker for you or not.

edit - if you have the opportunity, go to a big PC store, and try and find some of the laptops that have been suggested to you. Some might appeal to you in person, some you might not like. It's worth having a look at them.

Labcoatguy · July 23rd, 2008, 05:42 PM

For what it's worth, I've never spent more than $300 on a laptop; everything of mine has been from eBay with no warranty, so the risk is all mine. Thus far I've never had a ThinkPad that has gone wrong at all, despite the most horrendous abuse (mostly dropping onto hard surfaces, dislodging batteries in the process). I take the "banger" approach to laptop buying, except I don't have to wait as long for massive depreciation, and I can still do ~90% of what a brand-new laptop can do for way less.

LurkerPatrol · July 23rd, 2008, 05:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Labcoatguy

For what it's worth, I've never spent more than $300 on a laptop; everything of mine has been from eBay with no warranty, so the risk is all mine. Thus far I've never had a ThinkPad that has gone wrong at all, despite the most horrendous abuse (mostly dropping onto hard surfaces, dislodging batteries in the process). I take the "banger" approach to laptop buying, except I don't have to wait as long for massive depreciation, and I can still do ~90% of what a brand-new laptop can do for way less.

This is a very good idea, because the number of times we've run out to a place like CompUSA to get computing stuff we've been disappointed. We started going there only for supplies like electronic cleaning stuff. We found that Staples had better deals so that store was completely wiped. Don't ever go there. Go to Fry's or something if you really want electronics and want to check laptops right then and there.

I bought my comp off the internet (dell). It's brilliant and only $1600. My sony vaio that I bought in compUSA was $3200 images/smilies/mad.gif

Deviate · July 23rd, 2008, 05:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by airmenair

^^ I'd really like something with a 15" screen at least...that Acer looks really nice...I might go for that one...

Nooooooooo!

Avoid Acer like the plague! I've never met anyone with an Acer laptop who didn't have a significant list of stuff they had replaced/was currently broken.

Final Daihatsu · July 23rd, 2008, 06:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LurkerPatrol

Gateway is code word for "shit in a box".

Soooooo true. images/smilies/mad.gif

teeb · July 23rd, 2008, 07:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Deviate

Nooooooooo!

Avoid Acer like the plague! I've never met anyone with an Acer laptop who didn't have a significant list of stuff they had replaced/was currently broken.

You have now.

airmenair · July 23rd, 2008, 07:18 PM

I'm thinking of going with the Acer pretty strongly now. I think the reputation people are bringing up with Acer had to do with older products. From what I've read, the 5920 and newer Acers are good "bang-for-the-buck performance" that are of higher quality.

Deviate · July 23rd, 2008, 07:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by airmenair

I'm thinking of going with the Acer pretty strongly now. I think the reputation people are bringing up with Acer had to do with older products. From what I've read, the 5920 and newer Acers are good "bang-for-the-buck performance" that are of higher quality.

The person who damn-near kicked me in the balls when I mentioned the possibility of buying an Acer laptop for myself (one of my best friends) bought his brand-new this past Christmas. Since December he's gone through 3 batteries, 2 power plugs and a motherboard. He finally got sick of messing with it, so it hasn't been used in at least 2-3 months.

Deviate · July 23rd, 2008, 07:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by teeb

You have now.

Even TVR screws up and makes a reliable product every once in a while...

airmenair · July 23rd, 2008, 07:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Deviate

The person who damn-near kicked me in the balls when I mentioned the possibility of buying an Acer laptop for myself (one of my best friends) bought his brand-new this past Christmas. Since December he's gone through 3 batteries, 2 power plugs and a motherboard. He finally got sick of messing with it, so it hasn't been used in at least 2-3 months.

Do you know what model it was?

Deviate · July 23rd, 2008, 07:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by airmenair

Do you know what model it was?

Not off the top of my head, no, but I can find out for you.

Edit: Just left him a voice mail. I'll let you know when he calls me back.

teeb · July 23rd, 2008, 07:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Deviate

Even TVR screws up and makes a reliable product every once in a while...

And it appears the 5920 is a good one - it's been getting good reviews from publications, and I've not heard criticism of its durability, nor do I have any of my own.

Is it possible your friend just got a dud? Every company makes duds now and then...

edit - you do know Acer batteries are provided by Sony? Meaning if the problem was the battery, that's not Acer's fault...

Deviate · July 23rd, 2008, 07:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by teeb

And it appears the 5920 is a good one - it's been getting good reviews from publications, and I've not heard criticism of its durability, nor do I have any of my own.

Is it possible your friend just got a dud? Every company makes duds now and then...

edit - you do know Acer batteries are provided by Sony? Meaning if the problem was the battery, that's not Acer's fault...

I know every company makes a turd every once in a while. The Acer thing, though, isn't just what I've heard from that one person. I had a post a lot like this one in a different forum and got nothing but horror stories when I mentioned that I was considering purchasing this: http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product...S&Sp=C&topnav=

Even if Acer doesn't make their own batteries, they still seem to use a crappy product. Regardless of who manufactures the battery, crap is crap. It doesn't matter if someone else made it if it's still in the package when you buy the computer.

teeb · July 23rd, 2008, 07:50 PM

Quote:

Even if Acer doesn't make their own batteries, they still seem to use a crappy product. Regardless of who manufactures the battery, crap is crap. It doesn't matter if someone else made it if it's still in the package when you buy the computer.

Sure, crap is crap. That explains why Dell, Sony, Apple, Lenovo/IBM, Panasonic, Toshiba, Hitachi, Fujitsu, Acer and Sharp all use those batteries, then.

It may well be that Acer has crap durability (out of sheer curiosity, I had a look to see if they had separate building plants for the US and Europe; I couldn't find out a thing). From my opinion though it's a lot like Asian Rim cars - they've got a bad reputation for being poorly built and dull but slowly they're making a couple good ones.

Alternatively; you are right and I've just gotten very lucky.

BigDaveDogg · July 23rd, 2008, 08:56 PM

I was in Office Max yesterday buying an external hard drive (cheapest I could find it on short notice, ended up being a good deal), and I noticed they were having a little Back to School sale. Looked like they had some decent prices on laptops for a store. After reading some of this thread I hopped on their website to see if any of the computers were relevant, looks like the Acer you mentioned is on sale. I haven't looked anywhere else to compare the price, but thought I'd link it just in case. Here is what they have on sale...

http://www.officemax.com/omax/catalo...?id=cat1060082

airmenair · July 23rd, 2008, 09:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BigDaveDogg

I was in Office Max yesterday buying an external hard drive (cheapest I could find it on short notice, ended up being a good deal), and I noticed they were having a little Back to School sale. Looked like they had some decent prices on laptops for a store. After reading some of this thread I hopped on their website to see if any of the computers were relevant, looks like the Acer you mentioned is on sale. I haven't looked anywhere else to compare the price, but thought I'd link it just in case. Here is what they have on sale...

http://www.officemax.com/omax/catalo...?id=cat1060082

Hmm looks interesting, not exactly the same but close. Only difference I can see is the hard drive space, but this one is alot cheaper. the 5920-6959 has a HD DVD drive, does the 5920-6444 have the same? I can't tell from the specs.

http://www.officemax.com/omax/catalo..._Id=cat1060082

July 23rd, 2008, 03:55 PM	#23
Vette Boss Joined: Nov 14th, 2004 Last Online: 12:32 AM Location: United States, Britain, in time Age: 22 Posts: 2,861 Car: Nissan Altima 3.5-litre SE Rep Power: 30	Those protection plans come in after the manuf. warranty. __________________ 2003 Nissan Altima 3.5SE SHIFT_the future

July 23rd, 2008, 08:56 PM	#38
BigDaveDogg Joined: Aug 30th, 2007 Last Online: 12:43 AM Location: Illinois Posts: 926 Car: GSX-R600K7 Rep Power: 32	I was in Office Max yesterday buying an external hard drive (cheapest I could find it on short notice, ended up being a good deal), and I noticed they were having a little Back to School sale. Looked like they had some decent prices on laptops for a store. After reading some of this thread I hopped on their website to see if any of the computers were relevant, looks like the Acer you mentioned is on sale. I haven't looked anywhere else to compare the price, but thought I'd link it just in case. Here is what they have on sale... http://www.officemax.com/omax/catalo...?id=cat1060082 __________________

July 23rd, 2008, 03:27 PM	#22
airmenair Joined: Aug 18th, 2005 Last Online: Yesterday Location: Arlington, Texas, USA Posts: 1,052 Rep Power: 24	So i'm a little confused about these protection plans from Newegg.com. Does the computer come with a manufacturers warranty? Are the protection plans just considered an extended warranty from newegg?

July 23rd, 2008, 05:42 PM	#25
Labcoatguy Joined: Mar 27th, 2005 Last Online: Yesterday Location: Boston, MA Posts: 2,187 Car: None, but soon enough Rep Power: 61	For what it's worth, I've never spent more than $300 on a laptop; everything of mine has been from eBay with no warranty, so the risk is all mine. Thus far I've never had a ThinkPad that has gone wrong at all, despite the most horrendous abuse (mostly dropping onto hard surfaces, dislodging batteries in the process). I take the "banger" approach to laptop buying, except I don't have to wait as long for massive depreciation, and I can still do ~90% of what a brand-new laptop can do for way less.

July 23rd, 2008, 07:18 PM	#30
airmenair Joined: Aug 18th, 2005 Last Online: Yesterday Location: Arlington, Texas, USA Posts: 1,052 Rep Power: 24	I'm thinking of going with the Acer pretty strongly now. I think the reputation people are bringing up with Acer had to do with older products. From what I've read, the 5920 and newer Acers are good "bang-for-the-buck performance" that are of higher quality.