What's a good laptop to buy for my kid going to college? I am

[theophilus]

thinking about Toshiba or HP. He likes games, but I don't know if he needs to be game capable in his first semester. I have never had a laptop so I don't know what to think. I am looking at between $500 and $900. Any advice will be much appreciated.

[Writer]

1. HP Pavilion all the way... n/t

[trof]

2. Check factory refurbished.

google it with the things you'd want on/in it.
Much cheaper and usually come with warranty.
My sweet wife and daughter are getting me one for my birthday.
Found one with all the speed, memory, bells and whistles I want for less than $600.

[theophilus]

12. Thanks! n/t

[Midlodemocrat]

3. Check ebay, too. I got my first laptop off ebay a few years back.

IBM thinkpad, totally refurbished. $250. Did what I needed it to until about 4 months ago.

[LeftyMom]

4. I'm pretty darn happy with my Sony

it set me back $850 on sale. I wouldn't go with something that cost much less, the bargain models tend to use cheaper components and will be outdated much faster, since a laptop isn't very upgradable it makes sense to pay for all the processor power and memory you'll need ahead of time. OTOH, if he's got a good desktop that he'll do the majority of his work on, a cheaper model might be okay.

[Midlodemocrat]

5. Sony? Don't you know they test them on baby seals and kittens?

I thought you were better than that.




:hide:

[GOPisEvil]

6. Stay away from Dell. Mine's a year old and I'm having trouble with it.

In fact, it won't even boot up. x(

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

7. I'd go with the MacBook.

Macs tend to keep their usefulness longer than PCs. Also, with the new macs, he can still put Windows on it for gaming.

[WindRavenX]

15. seconded

My SO has a really nice macbook-- very slim and lightweight.

[gratuitous]

8. I have a Toshiba Satellite

I'm mostly happy with it, but I wish I'd bought the smaller one. Lugging around the 17" job is just too much. Check the software it comes with and make sure it has the Microsoft Office suite of programs (yeah, I know, "Boo Microsoft!" but it's the standard in the word processing industry) for maximum adaptability. I just bought a laptop for our church pastor at Office Depot, and got a $200 rebate, making the final price something like $400.

Despite his protestations, he probably doesn't need the biggest, bestest thing out there, and if he really needs to game, he can use one of the school computers. Doesn't hurt to keep the kid hungry for something better, and let him use his ingenuity and creativity to get it.

[theophilus]

13. Thanks! n/t

[flvegan]

9. Loving my HP.

Both my desktop and my laptop are HP. Lovin' em.

[Guy Fawkes]

10. A few ideas...

First, read consumer reports. While they may go on and on about laptops you can't afford, they do sometimes offer a good (cheap) alternative. The eMachine, for example, was a "best bargain" laptop a few years ago. I think it was the m585 or something- you'd recognize it for the "<--Wide Screen-->" sticker at the bottom of the screen. You can pick one up at "Best" Buy for ~$700 after rebate.

Second, most hardcore gamers don't use laptops to play videogames. The screens reflect too much glare, the keyboards are too small, and a laptop with a decent mobile videocard/processor is expensive. The Macbook Pro is being hailed as a great videogame machine (once windows is added), but they run about $2,600.

Third, and most importantly, Intel is about to release the "Quad Core," a four processor system. This should drastically reduce the price of solo core and duo core systems- and bring down the value of all sorts of pre 'solo-core' systems. Also: the newer Intel "Core Solo" is just a "Core Duo" with one of the 'cores' turned off. While I haven't read about any hacks to turn one back on, I haven't been looking. I'm sure that someone with enough time and curiosity is already hard at work trying to figure it out- so don't feel bad if you wind up buying a Core Solo- it can most likely be modified after-the-fact.

Fourth, check out www.pricewatch.com you won't regret it.

[theophilus]

14. Thanks! and thanks to all who respond. It is all good info!!!! n/t

[SacredCow]

11. I recently got an Acer....

And have been quite happy with it. It's a 9500 Aspire witha 17" screen and it was less than 900 bucks. I've used it for work and play, though it's not really up to par for gaming. But few are until you get to the few thousand-dollar range.

I hear that Macs are great, but in my line of work they are totally useless so I've never dealt with them.

Best of luck!