Hi. I was at Costco with my mom today, and I carefully hinted at my desire for a Leader Ironhide for Christmas. Mother, disapproving of the hobby, said no. She did, however, say I could get something else. A laptop. Thing is, I have no idea what I want/need. All I know is I don't want one of those pissy netbooks that don't even have full Windows 7. I dunno if I need a mac or a PC, don't know what I need for, well, anything, really. All I know is robots, computers are beyond my level. I'm a girl, I'm in tenth grade, I require internet, I want as much as I can get for the price range. (500$ canadian.) I had a mac for almost four years, and I found it lacking. (It wasn't even mine, I got it from my old school and they blocked all the fun shit) it looked like this: (And yes, I'm aware macs don't run on Windows 7.) Any suggestions? Brands? Computer gut preferences? Mac, PC, Linux? I'm on Bestbuys site staring at pictures of laptops that all look the same to me... I apologize in advance for my failure at nerding.
Unless you intend on operating heavy, processor-straining programs, as well as hardcore movie-making and production, I suggest staying away from a Mac. The fact that they get little to no viruses is appealing to most, but a PC for half the price can get installed with a good antivirus. As a highschooler myself, I love my PCs. I bought an HP 15.6" with an AMD Phenom processor back in January. Though I can't see myself going to college with it, it is a great laptop. My suggestions would be to look at laptop reviews. Good sites for this would be bestbuy.com. They have laptops in a variety of different sizes and internals. My recommendations are a laptop with an Intel core i3, i5, and i7. Good luck!
I recommend Alienware if you can afford it. Macs are OK but you don't get as much for your money as with alienware Toshiba will cost you more in repairs then you paid for it Everything else make sure it has at least An Intell i3 or better. 3 or more gigs of RAM. A decent video card . No less then 100 gigabyte hard drive. DO NOT GET THE FLOOR MODEL Hope this helps
Get a Toshiba laptop with Windows 7, then get LDR Ironhide since your mom probably wouldn't think of it as expensive considering the Laptop's price over Ironhides.
You should also check the websites of like DELL or others that make the various laptops. Lots of times they have discounts for various business or schools.
Yeah, check on the DELL website. You can get all kinds of discounts usually along with a standard cheaper price since it's direct from the manufacturer. Whatever you get, do make sure it has at bare minimum an i3 Core Processor and enough memory to support basic programs like word and the internet, and maybe iTunes.
Forget you ever read that. Alienware is the most overpriced piece of overheating junk you'll ever own.
Whats the budget and what do you use the laptop for? LOL. If people would have got some sense and stop clicking every link the internet have asked, none of them would get any viruses. If her main purpose is for gaming, then go with that or Asus. If its for school work, web browsing, youtube, videos, then i would avoid Alienware and go with something else and save a lot of $$.
I don't know the difference in US and Canadian dollars, but for $500 US dollars, you won't get much. If you want a viable laptop that will last a few years, you're looking at around $1000. I wanted an Alienware, just because they are probably the best, yet expensive, laptops on the market. I couldn't afford it though, and went with a Dell Studio 16 XPS, which was around $1500, and it does everything I need. I'd say a higher end Dell computer will do you fine. Avoid Macs, as you already said you would. Toshiba and Asus are decent, but Dell is what I buy for people at work when they need a new laptop. The Latitude series is very good for the money.
Actually, at Costco, you can get some decent laptop deals, especially when they have a coupon in their coupon book for one. I believe their return policy is top notch as well, along with some decent extended warranties. I would check fatwallet.com consistently for laptop deals. I have found numerous electronics and other deals on there for far below retail. As Kramer would say, "Retail is for suckers." You could always hit up craiglist as well. Just don't get duped like the iPad girl. I would personally suggest getting a PC, not an Apple. I realize I am far biased and despise Apple, but you're gonna pay twice as much for similar specs.
Not true. Wal-Mart has an Acer with a Phenom quad, 4 gbs of ram, 250 gb hdd, and a DVD burner with 17.3 inch display for $498.00 That's rather impressive and will run Blu-Ray if the drive is upgraded. Not great for gaming, but rather great for everything else. I'm pretty sure Canadian Wal-Marts are carrying it as well.
Problem with buying a laptop from places like BestBuy (and I assume Walmart) is there is a TON of extra crap on the laptop that the company puts on there that you don't need. In fact the Geek Squad will charge you to take that crap off the laptop when you buy one from Best Buy (if you don't want it on there). They try to get you coming and going there.
My home computer (the one I'm using at the moment) is from Bestbuy, there's no sillyness on it. There was no such sillyness on it when it was purchased, and the same holds true for my mother's iPad. Besides, it's not like I can't take it off if I don't want it. I'm not that technologically impaired. EDIT: Exept for Bing being the default search engine, but I think that's Microsoft's doing.
I'm sorry, but I will never purchase a laptop from Walmart. They just don't have a good selection. Of course the iPad wouldn't have extra stuff on it. Since Best Buy sells Apple products directly, with someone from Apple there, Apple controls what is on their devices.
If someone offers you a Dell Inspiron or a Studio, don't even be tempted. They chronically overheat and my laptop which I bought brand new just under 2 years ago is now a hunk of junk that struggles to turn on and can manage maybe an hour of web browsing before dying. Do your research before buying anything!
