Calling all computer-literates

[the_deep_magic]

Okay sports porn fine literature fans, I need your help.  I may be in the market for a shiny new laptop for grad school.  I feel kinda bad, since the one I'm using still mostly works fine, but it's from 2007 and it's starting to slooooow doooown.  And I'm one of those people who insists on driving things until the wheels fall off, then duct taping them back on over and over again until it's more duct tape than wheel.  (For reals, I wear shoes until the soles either peel off or get worn through.)  But this time I'm thinking I ought to NOT wait until I get the Blue Screen of Death before I start shopping for a new laptop.

Right now I'm using a Toshiba Satellite A135-S4499, and it does pretty much all the things I need it to do.  Specs are here.  (ewinfic is now pointing and laughing at me and my UNIVAC.  SHUT UP I LIKE MY VACUUM TUBES.)  I don't need anything fancy in the way of video editing suites or super-graphics for gaming or what have you, though I would like a built-in webcam, but I think those are pretty much standard these days.  I have a decent amount of music and videos, and one thing I like about this laptop is that it has two internal hard drives -- one with 231 GB of storage and one with 111 GB.  I have a netbook, so while I'm not looking for a desktop-replacement, ultra-portability is not a huge factor.  And I'm not switching to Apple; sorry.

I read an article a while back advising consumers to wait until the fall to buy a new computer because some fancy new processor or something was coming out, but of course I forgot to save the article, because I am an idiot.  Does anyone know what that's about?

Anyway, if you have any recommendations, or even just things I need to make sure I look for in a laptop nowadays, let me know.  I'm hoping to find something less than about $750.  I do want something that's going to last, so I don't mind paying a little bit more if it's not going to crap out on me after two years, but I think I have to put the cap at $1000.  I'm doing research on PC Mag and Consumer Reports, but I just thought I'd ask here, because asking at the Best Buy is like consulting a Magic 8 Ball, only more expensive.

The Toshiba Portege R835-P88 looks promising -- any thoughts?

Comments

[greenteaduck.livejournal.com]

I just know that HP computers always seem to fail on me. But it seems Toshiba has been good to you so I say stick with what you know! And if it's lasted since '07 the brand must be good~

The only con I'm worried about is 'noisy fan' which makes me wonder if it overheats easily? I just wonder how it'll react to a page full of gifs or something. But other than that I think it looks like a good choice! :P

[verizonhorizon.livejournal.com]

mac book pro




Also, check your school to see if it has any special deals. You can usually get a computer cheaper through a university pre-set package.

[daffodelias.livejournal.com]

This! Or if your school discount is crap, you could get a decent computer from a university surplus store for cheeeap and just add an extra internal/external hard drive or memory stick from Newegg.

Here's Rollins' surplus page and here's UCF's. I found a request form for val state, but I couldn't find other info on their surplus requests. I dunno if they have physical sites you can drop by (my school does) so you can browse, since the websites don't look all that helpful. But a lot of my friends have bought computers from uIowa's surplus store for like $80 and they haven't had any problems with them.

[zjofierose.livejournal.com]

my buddy the mac devotee says wait till fall, there's a new macbook coming out that's going to be the shit (super huge storage, lightweight, etc). this will, of course, be far too expensive, BUT it will knock all the other macs down to humanly affordable levels. cause the real thing about macs is, they endure. really well.

that said, i've never been able to bring myself to cough up for a mac. my past two lappies have been dells, and have trucked along pretty determinedly. the first one i got used in 2003, and used till 2008. this one is an Inspiron, and has doggedly persevered till now. it's getting a bit glacial, but i got an external hard drive and offloaded a bunch of stuff off kikai's brain, and that helped a lot.

so, yeah. i'm hoping to get a mac next time for graphics reasons, but if i didn't care about that, i'd get a dell again w/ no regrets.

[theofenraven.livejournal.com]

I got a new laptop last year right before Christmas. I bought it at Amazon. I had specific requirements in a list.

Long story short, I tagged those I was interested in, checked customer reviews (and not just at Amazon), and finally made a choice. I love that laptop. I got everything I wanted and it cost me $600.