(no subject)

[demonbrat_98]

My laptop is dying - the jack where the power cord plugs in is loose, so the power will randomly disconnect. And since my battery is old, it's really not strong enough to make the screen readable. This is the 2nd HP laptop in a row to pull this with me. So, I'm staying away from HP this time. I'm looking at a Toshiba, Acer or Sony. All are under $500 - necessary when you don't have a job, but I NEED a computer. Anyone have any experience with any of those brands?

Comments

[unbridled-b.livejournal.com]

I have a Toshiba Satellite. I bought it on sale at Best Buy for around $300. Although it's obviously not the fanciest machine in the world, it gets the job done just fine. I watch movies, surf the web, download music, and edit pictures...all the usual stuff. I've had it several months and it's never given me a problem. It has a decent screen and a long battery life, which I like. The speakers aren't great, but since I usually wear headphones that doesn't bother me.

Before this, I owned an Acer Aspire, but I didn't like it as well. The casing felt flimsy and cheap, and the battery didn't have a long life. The speakers were awful--you could hardly hear them even with the volume cranked all the way up. After two years, the motherboard started going bad, which was why I replaced it. But it only cost $200 new (I got it at Microcenter), so I don't feel I was in any way cheated.

[froxyn.livejournal.com]

I've never had any trouble with Toshiba...and I know a lot of people who have Sony that love them. I haven't heard that much about Acer, except for at work. Our reps used Acers...and hated them. They spent more time in the shop than anywhere else.

But, those were older models...they've probably gotten better since those came out. :)

[ladypeyton.livejournal.com]

I had the same problem with my 2 Toshiba laptops. I have an old clunky Acer that never exhibited it and is still running perfectly and am currently using an Asus gaming laptop that I periodically have to buy a new power cord for or it also won't connect.

I recommend Acer albeit the speakers are crap.

[froxyn.livejournal.com]

I have a feeling that our reps may have slightly abused their Acers after reading your comment. *LOL*

[jenrose]

Honestly? The computer I'm drooling over isn't a laptop at all. It's the Acer Aspire One netbook, but not the base model. They have ONE model with 4 gigs of RAM, Windows 7 home premium, and a 500 gig hard drive, with a full sized keyboard, for less than $400.

My parents have the basic model, 1 gig of RAM, 250 gig hard drive, and I love it, but would like the slightly larger keyboard and MUCH faster RAM better.

http://www.amazon.com/Acer-AO722-BZ848-11-6-Inch-Netbook-Espresso/dp/B0050I83RO

Anyway. The slower, smaller version is brilliant with Netflix and does all online functions just fine, plus word processing, etc. With the power of the model I'm looking at, it should just about be able to run most games that are more than a year or two old.

I was shocked at how much I liked it. I even like the touch pad, which is much more intuitive and less stupid than my old laptops' touch pads.