Another laptop question - not married to pc or mac

[Rimwalker]

Hello everyone,

First, let me preface this by saying I don't know computers that well. I have a Dell e1505 laptop from 2006 that has died on me, and has generally been unreliable and frustrating. According to the guy who worked on it, Dell never screwed the hard drive in, so it would periodically disconnect, which introduced errors into memory.

So now I'm in the market for a new laptop, totally open to suggestions. My work computer is a Mac, so I'm open to possibly jumping ship - with one caveat; I have a windows copy of Photoshop CS3. So if I went Mac, I'd have to run windows on it too.

After my experience with this particular Dell, I'm leery of Dell, but like I said, I'd like any and all advice you can offer.

Photoshop is generally the heaviest lifting I ask my computer to do, otherwise it's just word processing, web browsing, and occasionally watching a movie on the road either with DVD or Itunes.

EDIT: I forgot to say I do have a budget and would like to keep it under $1,000, but could fudge it a little if it gains would be substantial in quality or reliability.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

[In2Photos]

Does it have to be a laptop? Generally you get more for your money and a better screen if you go with a desktop?

If you decide to go MAC you should be able to call Adobe and get them to swap your CS3 PC version to a MAC version.

If you stick with a PC check out Toshiba.

[Rimwalker]

Thanks Mike,

A laptop is pretty critical for me, but I understand your point. Thanks for the tip on calling Adobe, I assumed they would make me buy a new copy if I want to switch, but its worth a try.

[kauffman v36]

for under $1000 i would recommend an HP laptop. mine has served me well. i cant say much about macs though

[Gnhntn]

Also take a look at ACER Laptops. Most of the time you can get a little more with them for your money then you can from Dell, HP or the other major brands. Just about everyone in my office is travels quite a bit, and the vast majority use Acers, because of price and dependability (have not heard any of them complain about them). Newegg has them right now ranging in price frrom $450 to $1,100, and looking at the specs on them some sound like really nice laptops. Going with MAC will run you more then a windows based PC, amd HP and/or Dell you have to do the add ons to match some of the specs on the Acers I just looked at, and will put you over your budget.

Whichever way you go goodluck, and enjoy your new laptop.

[EiTheL]

From experience, Acer laptops tend to brake more often and Toshiba are decent laptops.
If your budget is 1k, I wouldn't recommend getting a macbook, as it (well.. I think they changed this and put nVidia instead) has GMA as it's processor (Intel integrated) so graphics will suck there.

Also after running around with several computer brands, including the ones mentioned above, I settled on dell because of their customer support and reliability. I have 2 dell laptops, one broke after 2 years of use, due to a faulty nVidia card which plagued thousands of macbook pros, sonys and dells. I contacted dell, and they literally sent a technician to replace my motherboard (and my monitor) the next day. Besides that incident, I work for the tech dept at my school, and with all the student laptops that come in (and usually need to be reformatted), dell is, by far, the easiest to install, because after entering a service tag, it will give you all the drivers that your laptop needs.

I would figure that the different lines of dell laptops would be different, from experience, Inspiron laptops tend to be more flimsy while the Latitudes (which is what both of my laptops are) are business class laptops that work wonderfully.

For travel I would recommend a Latitude D620 or, a newer model the Latitude E6400 both are 14.1 inches.

I went to the dell site and configured a E6400 with a 2.5 GHz processor, 3 GB of RAM, a 1440x900 moniter (TN film, you won't get any better unless u pay much more for a high end Levino), Bluetooth, Wireless B/G/N, a nVidia card for Photoshop and a 250 GB HD for 1.1k
You can take out the Bluetooth, downgrade the Wireless chip (I would recommend Intel over Dell wireless chips) and that'll save you a good $80
You can wait till june 28th to get the laptop so u can get a Windows 7 upgrade for free (Unconfirmed, but a rumor)

http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?oc=blcwefp&c=us&l=en&s=bsd&cs=04&kc=laptop_latitude_e6400

If you could save up some money however, I'd push for a macbook pro (15 or 13 inch) as those work wonderfully also.

[Rimwalker]

Wow, thanks so much Gabe for your guidance. A few days ago, when the diagnosis came down on my Dell, I would have said there is no way in hell I'm buying another one from them. But reading consumer reports, other reviews online, and your advice, I may go back to the company that apparently never screwed my hard drive to my computer.

It sounds like you've had great customer support from them too, any advice on how to get that? An extended warranty may be in my future as well.

I was looking at Studio 15 inch potentially and didn't see Latitude, is that in the business section rather than the personal computer section?
The only things I was thinking different than your specs were 4 gigs ram, 320gb hard drive, and no photoshop (already own CS3).

Thanks again, I really REALLY appreciate the help.

[EiTheL]

I had the NBD support (Next Business Day) AKA if anything breaks, they send someone the next day for 3 years.

Also if anyone tampers with the screw, it comes loose by itself and falls out, I learned that the hard way when I was replacing my HD and didn't screw it in tightly, otherwise, when you get the laptop, all screws should be on TIGHT.

one of my teachers had a Studio 15, it looks more attractive then a Latitude, and it is a new series so I don't have any reliable opinion on it yet, besides the fact that it looks good (aesthetically)

And yea, the Latitudes can be found in the business section, just make up a company name if they require you do (Although I doubt it), and here a link to the laptop:
http://www.dell.com/us/en/business/notebooks/laptop_latitude_e6400/pd.aspx?refid=laptop_latitude_e6400&s=bsd&cs=04&ref=lthp

For extended warranty, go for a 4 year. If anything breaks, NEVER EVER admit it was your fault (if it is). If you drop your laptop, say that it just broke. Water damage is hard to get by though (Damn coffee!!)... Blame it on faulty circuitry ^^ But then again the Latitude computers have a water resistant (Key is resistant, not proof...) keyboard so unless you dip your laptop into something >_>

For my config, I went off of the basic package then I built up.

EDIT: it seems as if the Studio 15 has "TrueLife" Technology in their monitors, which makes it a better candidate for a photog http://www.screentekinc.com/dell-truelife-lcd-screens.shtml

[Rimwalker]

Thanks again, I've changed directions a little in favor of a slightly smaller 13 laptop from Dell's refurb center.

It's a XPS M1330 with specs like (subject to change slightly as stock changes before I order)

Windows Vista Home Premium
4 GB DDR2 SDRAM 667MHz (2 DIMMs)
Hard Disk Drive
320 GB SATA Hard Drive (5400 RPM)Video
128MB NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS
Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T7250 (2.0GHz/800Mhz FSB, 2MB Cache)Media Bay
8X DVD +/- RW w/dbl layer write capabilitySoftware Upgrade
32BIT Operating System CD
Microsoft Works 9.0
Sound Blaster Audigy ADVANCED HD Audio Software EditionNetwork Interface Card
1490 Wireless CardHardware Upgrade
6 Cell Primary BatterySystem Color
13.3 inch WXGA Slim and Light LED Display (true life)

[YP5 Toronto]

In Canada...the lowest default rate in the laptop business is Toshiba. I say Canada, as those are the only real numbers I have access to. That being said you could extrapolate that worldwide...