Recommend your Notebook/Laptop?

[Anonymous]

Do you love your laptop computer?

I need to use MS Word, Excel, Outlook, also Adobe reader and writer (minor editing, filling out forms) and Quickbooks Pro. Download from the internet using a wireless connection. I'd like a computer that toggles between applications and tasks as quickly as I do.

Of course, I want all this as cheaply as possible

Thanks for any suggestions!

[Anonymous]

I have a Mac and use all the Microsoft products on it. Love it!

[Anonymous]

I have a Mac, too, after years of using a Dell. I recently tried a Dell again, and thought that it was so clunky aesthetically compared to my Mac. Performance wise, they are honestly about the same.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a Mac, too, after years of using a Dell. I recently tried a Dell again, and thought that it was so clunky aesthetically compared to my Mac. Performance wise, they are honestly about the same.

I find with the Mac you can click in and out of screens much faster and with more efficiency. You can also run multiple operating systems at the same time.

[Anonymous]

don't get an HP

[Anonymous]

I love my Mac for photos and creative things, but I am much more familiar with the folders sytems using a PC with Microsoft Office. I never got the swing of using Excel and Word on a mac like I do on a PC at the office.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I love my Mac for photos and creative things, but I am much more familiar with the folders sytems using a PC with Microsoft Office. I never got the swing of using Excel and Word on a mac like I do on a PC at the office.

Glad I'm not the only one out there. I bought an iBook and though Macs are supposed to be so user-friendly, it was never as intuitive for me as my PC (especially with the file system, as PP says) and after a few years I eventually went back with a Lenovo laptop. It was a big relief, though I did love the iBook for the creative aspects as well. I've been pretty happy with the Lenovo. I recently had a keyboard issue where it needed to be replaced and was pretty amazed at the customer service - within about three days of when I first called they had a box shipped to me to send in the computer and back at my doorstep with a new keyboard...all free of charge.

[Anonymous]

I have a Sony VAIO, and I really like it. I also had an IBM ThinkPad a number of years ago that was great. I believe the ThinkPads are now produced by Lenovo, and I've heard great things about them.

Whatever you do, don't get a Dell.

[Anonymous]

My HP just died after a year and I replaced it with a Dell Inspiron. It was cheap, but it really is enough for me (I work from home & use Word, Excel, Internet & some statistical packages a lot). I decided that since laptops are not lasting me long (e.g. if something goes wrong with the screen, you have to write it off) it wasn't worth paying the big bucks. But I wouldn't say that the experience of using my new cheap Dell Inspiron is aesthetically pleasing. It's just fine, that's all.

[Anonymous]

I have a netbook (Aspire One) with Windows XP and MS Office that I completely love - at home, I plug into a 22" monitor and wireless keyboard and mouse.

[Anonymous]

11:10 here. My problem with Dells has always been hardware failures. I had a desktop at work with a motherboard failure, and then both my husband and I had power source issues with our laptops (batteries would not recharge due to some internal hardware issue). Also, the keys kept falling off my husband's Inspiron keyboard, and my Inspiron's screen developed these vertical lines running through the display after about 18 months.

It just seems to me like they are not well-made.

[Anonymous]

Op, the things that you listed in your post are not really brand specific, but rather system specific. You need a wireless connection and you need high processor speed. You can get a Dell that will be great and you can get one that will suck you just have to focus on the specifics.

First start with a manufacturer that will allow you to customize the machine (Dell, HP and Lenovo does this).

Getting a machine with high processor speed should be fairly easy in tems of the wireless connection what you get will depend on where you plan to use the machine. If you will be using it at home and you have high speed cable or DSP then you need to get something with a wireless networking card, but you will also need to wireless router. If you plan to using it outside the home a lot them you need to get a broadband card and/or a WiFi card. The broadband card will also require a subscription to one of the mobile carriers.

The rest of the stuff - how light it is and how it looks - is all a matter of personal taste. In terms of specific recs, we currenly have a Dell (Inspiron) and an HP (HDX) and I used to have a Lenovo for work. They all worked fine, I like the HDX a little bit better becasue it was a lot of extras which I think are cool (log in with your finger print) but not essential.

I think you should shop around and get the cheapest system that has the things that you want.

Good Luck

[Anonymous]

Dell Inspiron 1720. I can do everything you want to (Word, Excel, etc) and much more I had mine customized so I can also play games (on line) on it.

[Anonymous]

I had a Dell Inspiron (can't remember the model #) and it's almost 10 years old and still working great. heavy as heck, but great. never once had to call tech support. I did have to replace the AC adaptor cord, but that was like $80. I replaced it with a Dell Studio and have NOT been happy with it. The hard drive has already crashed once, and it's just a pain compared to my inspiron. I wouldn't get another studio, though I would get another Inspiron. (I'll probably give the Studio to my daughter when she's school-age and get something else.)

[Anonymous]

Dell Studio 14z -- love it, love it, love it!