Laptop Advice
 

My current laptop, sony viao, is starting to have issues. The screen flickers on/off, the wireless cuts out/in. It's old and bulky and the battery is shot as well.

Sooooo.....time for a replacement. Any input on brands and places to purchase appreciated.

I'm looking lower end model. $600-800ish range. I use the laptop for pretty basic functions, internet, taxes, downloading photos, itunes, and basic word/excel/powerpoint functions for maddy's school and my work. Not a gamer.

I'm not in much of a rush. I've been watching sales/pricing for a few weeks now.

Both Dell and HP make perfectly serviceable laptops (I'm partial to Dell). If you don't use the CD drive often, you can look for a model that allows you to remove the CD drive and put a second battery in its place, extending your off-charger use time. The one my company has given me has that and it's wonderful to have nearly 8 hours of use without having to plug it in.

I don't have much input on a new laptop. However, I can offer some tips on lap dances.

Which was of course going to be my next question.

I currently have about 8 minutes of battery time unplugged so anythings an improvement.

I'd also like to have a dvd-rw drive. I can store more photo files in less space that way.

There are models with multiple bays where you can have a dvd and battery installed at the same time, but probably not in your price range. But if you only plan to be doing burning on an occasional basis, it's very simple to just keep the removable dvd player around until you need it and swap the battery out.

Excellent - let me go look at their site. I'm sure I don't need multiple bays.

Hmm, it looks like, at least for Dell, their low end laptops don't offer the swapable expansion bay. That's too bad. In that case, I'd at least upgrade to the largest primary battery they offer.

I have a Dell laptop (700m) that I love. It's name is Shiny (is anyone really surprised?)

I have a cd/dvdrw drive and an extended battery.

It's 3 years old and I have about an hours worth of battery life when it is unplugged. The battery was a 5 hour battery when I got it.

Check out NotebookForums for coupons and codes.

I recommend that you buy the extended warranty + accidental coverage. The accidental coverage covers you if you drop it or spill stuff on it and the warranty is for the monitor.

I've played around on the Dell websites recently and their stock computers are nice machines. I would say buy only the memory that comes standard with it and then go to newegg and buy some to upgrade. All it involves is unscrewing the memory bay on the back (2 small Phillips head) and popping the memory in.

I have a Dell laptop. I'm very happy with it.