Re: Wanted - laptop brand opinions and experiences

Another vote for the D830. It's too bad they don't make them anymore.
They've been replaced by the E series, of which I'm not too familiar.

Anyway, if your laptop is 4+ years old, I'd guess the system specs are a
fair bit behind what's available today. If you want to try and get a couple
more years life out of it, go ahead & get it fixed. Then max out the RAM,
and consider replacing the HD with a 7200 RPM unit or an SSD. Some laptops
do have user-upgradeable CPUs if you want to go that route. You can't
upgrade the graphics, though.

But, for a similar investment, you can probably get a newer, overall better
machine. Dell Latitude and Precision laptops are the only ones from Dell
I'd recommend. I can't really speak to other brands, although Lenovo seems
to have maintained IBM's quality. As far as Toshiba and HP, you'll hear as
many people swearing by them as you will at them. I know people with
consumer-grade laptops from both and neither have had problems, but then
none are power users.

Now, as an alternative, have you considered getting 2 PCs? Get a powerful
desktop for home and a netbook for travel. In today's Fry's ad, for
instance, there's an HP desktop with a quad core CPU, 8GB RAM, 1TB hard
drive, and a 21.5" LCD for $800. That includes a free upgrade to Windows 7
when it's released later this year. Then, for travel purposes, get an MSI
Wind, the Lenovo netbook, or one of the others (I'm partial to the Wind
myself). Sure, the netbook isn't all that powerful, but if your mobile
computing needs aren't that robust, it sure would be nice to not haul as
much weight around. And you can remote-desktop to a more powerful host
(including that quad core home PC) if you have intense work to do.

My IBM ThinkPad is dying. The backlight or display is going out on me,
and
I am trying to decide if it would be best to replace or repair. I know
that
the cost of repair - if I do it myself - will be around $250. The
ThinkPad
is about 4 to 5 years old, and I think it is slow when running most of

the

software. It is used to run Adobe Pro, do email via browser (gmail)
maintain a few web sites for non profit groups, and other miscellaneous
things. This is my main home PC, but I travel enough, and need to have
access to a computer and the web when I do, that a laptop makes sense.

What brands of laptops would you recommend? I have only really
experienced
the IBM (now Lenovo) ThinkPad for the last 8 to 10 years, as my job has
supplied me with one. What kind of features should I look for? I know
that
Lenovo can be expensive, but is the extra cost worth the value of the
Lenovo
ThinkPad now? Any other thoughts or suggestions that I have not asked?

Your insight is valuable

Thanks!

Jim