recommendations for a new laptop?

[highjack]

yo,
at some point i want a new laptop and I'd like some suggestions.

I want something I can run 4 virtual machines on at once, not going to be gaming on it so it doesnt need a good graphics card. I'm thinking of something with an i5 processor and 6+ gig of ram and a decent sized hard drive.

I don't want anything with a 17 inch screen as portability is important and a decent battery life would be good too but at the same time, I need the vms running at a normal res (1024x768) but to still fit on my screen.

Budget is around £600 ($1000)

cheers

[Cool_Fire]

Asus.

[Da_Devil]

Asus.

Amen to that. You can now close this thread :)

[Cool_Fire]

Incidentally, I just bought a Samsung laptop.
It's been fine so far, but it's only been a week. They're cheap though, since Samsung makes a lot of their own parts.

[GhostHawk]

I've got a Samsung RV511 and love it. It's a great laptop.

[Cool_Fire]

For some reason I get a lot less battery life running linux, as well as the nvidia drivers being bitchy.

[psilocybin]

What about Acer? I'm sure someone here who has worked tech support could give me an idea how reliable their hardware is, like how often they break down (I'm looking at you, Tech_Junkie ). I'm currently shopping around and Acer seems to give much better hardware for the money, except maybe the hard drive, but I've heard stories and the performance isn't worth it if it craps out easily.

Barring that though, we have a resounding recommendation for Asus? Also, what about buying refurbished?

[Cool_Fire]

What about Acer?

For the love of God, don't. I've never seen one last more then 2-3 years. And I've seen the lid (screen) break away over time, on several occasions.

what about buying refurbished?

Depends on how well it's been refurbished. And unfortunately there's usually no way to tell.

[psilocybin]

Depends on how well it's been refurbished. And unfortunately there's usually no way to tell.

So, say hypothetically that I got one that wasn't so well refurbished. the replacement warranty is 30 days and the service warranty is 90. what are the chances that it will break within those periods? the computer I'm looking at now is a pretty good asus that normally runs ~$1400, for ~850. so the risk is still sounding fairly worth it. the model is about 8 months old, if that helps. this might be a dumb question, since you can't really know, like you said.

For the love of God, don't. I've never seen one last more then 2-3 years. And I've seen the lid (screen) break away over time, on several occasions.

great, thanks for the tip. frustrating that they would put such powerful components in such a flimsy box.

[Cool_Fire]

Chances are it won't break within the warranty, but just outside it :p

Seriously though, it really all depends on the rebuild quality, what was replaced, what quality parts they replaced things with.

And with relatively new refurbished laptops you should always be weary. There's a reason it was replaced by the first owner.

[psilocybin]

Chances are it won't break within the warranty, but just outside it :p

lol yeah that's exactly what I'm afraid of. Thanks for your help.

[acid_burn]

actually I've had my Acer for awhile now and it is still a very dependable machine especially for the money i paid for it(just over $400) so if you are really on a budget Acer might not be a bad option.

[foldingstock]

F*** Acer. Their products suck, their customer service is horrible, and their employees have body odor.

Highjack, if you want something that is going to last for many years, skip the home consumer market and buy a business class machine. By that of course I mean a Thinkpad T series, Dell Latitude/Vostro, HP Elitebook, etc. They lack the "pretiness" of most 'home quality' machines, but have infinitely better build quality. They are also designed to make replacing/upgrading parts much easier than most 'home quality' machines.

I have a Thinkpad T30 (circa 1999?) that I picked up used in 2001. Still runs perfectly aside from being slow (compared to modern kit). I also regularly use a Dell Latitude D530 that is also still running perfectly. Anyone have a 12 year old Acer laptop that still boots? Yeah. Go with business class.

[Da_Devil]

I'm w/ Cool_Fire on this one: Asus.

I was a reseller back 6 years ago and here's what i remember: Acer is cheapest and dealt A LOT w/ refurb products. Their support was as flaky as HP's, Dell's or any other big place's. Also, if the warranty of a refurbished product matches the warranty of a retail product then i'm fine w/ that.

AFAIK Samsung is new in the laptop field and i've heard a story of a DOA unit within a month or so but then again it's electronic: can last 10 mins or 10 years.

Something similar to Asus would be MSI. Lenovo is also somewhat mid range as Dell. However both do offer high end line-ups or products.

In the end the real matter is not the brand however, or shouldn't be, but what you plan to do w/ your laptop and the quality of it's components. But let's face it, mostly all components are made by kids in Asia...

I believe all Asus laptops do come w/ a kick-start warranty of 2 years if you do register the laptop within the first 30 days, they also have much slicker design than any HP, Lenovo or Samsung, they look solid and they generally offer very neat features and accessories.

In conclusion: anything but a mac really :D