rob86 2 Report post Posted July 5, 2011 I haven't done any computer shopping for a long time, so I don't know what's all on the market these days or how one thing compares to another. I've never owned a laptop either so I don't know which brand has a reputation for good, affordable laptops or pieces of junk. Does anyone have any suggestions? I want at least a 15.6", so no tiny net books. HDD size is not a priority , because I have more external HDD than you can shake a stick at. If anyone wants to help me shop, I've been browsing this website: https://www.canadapost.ca/shop/gifts.jsf;CPO_JSESSIONID=j_Kmu6Tgm2ONPDypeBLCrSeK4w63fCsSDu6i55X6cSiXsFSk7ESW!2124845929?execution=e1s1 Prices on that site are in Canadian dollars, but it's close enough to USD. Any recommendations will be welcome! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
anwiii 17 Report post Posted July 5, 2011 i recently had a discussion about this with someone and we disagree. thing is, i researched laptops for a while before i bought my first one and i can tell you that toshiba is the brand to go with. their repair history is excellent which means they hardly ever break down for no good reason.check out the specials going on at this website here. you just missed the fourth of july specials but they usually always have something going onthe thing about toshiba is that they hold their value pretty well too. i bought my laptop a little over a year ago and i can sell it used for the same price i bought it for so it makes upgrading pretty easy. i wish i woulda known about this website before i bought my first laptop. coulda saved me a little money. they beat walmarts prices which is pretty good i would have to say.the other place to go searching for laptops once you know what you are looking for is fry's electronics.anyway, i HIGHLY recomend the toshiba. god forbid you buy one and it breaks down on you. i will feel guilty as heck...but i doubt i will be switching brand names anytime soon myself. they are not only good computers, they price their laptops VERY competitively! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rob86 2 Report post Posted July 5, 2011 I don't think those sites ship to Canada so I didn't miss much. I was thinking about a Toshiba Satellite, they seem popular at least. I'll look into them, but I'm really just looking for the best sale! Does anyone else have experience with Acers, Dells, Lenovas, ASUS in this price range? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rvalkass 5 Report post Posted July 6, 2011 Does anyone else have experience with Acers, Dells, Lenovas, ASUS in this price range? Acers are a mixed bag, but are at the cheaper end of the market and really not worth the cash. Dells are best avoided in my experience; they're not worth the money you pay for them and have terrible build quality. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
anwiii 17 Report post Posted July 6, 2011 well if you want the cheapest price like you said, then get an acer. you might be able to pick one up $100 cheaper than the other brands, but like rvalkass said, it's a crap shoot. personally, i wouldn't trust 'm but you get what you pay for and you wanted cheap i guess.so best price- acer/gatewaybest laptop with the price to go with it- sonybest all around- toshiba with hp/compaq coming in a close secondeverything also depends on the features you want. i mean, you said hard drive doesn't matter, but does the processor matter or the cpu speed? how about a webcam? how much ram?i think sony is out of your price range so it would pretty much be between an acer/gateway or a toshiba(satellite series) or an hp/compaq. i don't know too much about the lenovas or asus to even comment on them, but they are both sorta in the medium price range and if i am gonna pick a cheap computer, i would stick with the acer.another thing you will have to consider is if your computer breaks down. is there a certified repair place near you(depending on the laptop you choose)? can you easily drive their or mail it in for cheap?also, once you have narrowed down the brand, you will have to narrow down the series or model because all laptops made by the same manufacturer are not the samenow i had an acer before, but it was given to me used and it held up pretty damn good. with my research when buying my first laptop though, i could tell that i was one of the lucky ones. i forget what model it was but it's like a 5 year old model now.now when you have figured out what you want, i would go to new egg, fry's electronics, and amazon to search for the best deals and even check out the user ratings. if you go with a toshiba though, toshiba direct will have the best prices within the link i posted but no reveiws go go by.also, hp seems to get pretty good reviews on the sites customers buy their laptops from, but i think they are bumped up more than what they really are because hp is an american company(and some people are biased) and you have a lot of newbies buying hp's or a good name brand that don't know how to review a computer.for me, when i was extensively researching laptops, i researched for a month or so before i even bought one. laptops are more expensive than desktops and what i was personally looking for was the best price with the best repair records. after that, it's a crap shoot just like with any electronic component you buy. there will always be some risk, but i was pretty confident that i did pretty good research and if anything DID go wrong, it wouldn't be from my research.that's pretty much the extent of my knowledge without going in to all the specifics with my research. there are so many manufacturers out there and models of laptops that it can get very confusing. so my advice would be to pick a manufacturer FIRST(based on good repair records there are only 3-4 to choose from really if you did good research), then decide what features you want, then decide on a series(based on price and features), then a model. if you do that in order and without getting ahead of yourself, it will be a lot easier to choose. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rob86 2 Report post Posted July 9, 2011 Thanks for the replies they have been helpful. Does anyone know the difference between a Toshiba Satellite and a Satellite Pro? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rvalkass 5 Report post Posted July 9, 2011 Does anyone know the difference between a Toshiba Satellite and a Satellite Pro? Satellite is their home brand, Satellite Pro is the business brand. The only difference you'll notice between two equal-spec laptops is that the Satellite one will have Windows 7 Home, while the Satellite Pro has Windows 7 Professional. Other than that, no difference really.Toshiba have a pretty good model selector: http://www.toshiba.co.uk/laptops/product-filter/Use that to find the models that fit what you want, then look around for the best prices. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
k_nitin_r 8 Report post Posted July 24, 2011 The Lenovo IdeaPad B570 retails for around US dollars 540. The price in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, is Dirhams 2,000 so I worked out the US dollar equivalent using the fixed currency conversion rate of 1 US dollar = 3.67 Dirhams. You may be able to get it for cheaper or slightly more expensive, depending on which part of the world you are in.The Lenovo IdeaPad B570 comes with a second generation Intel Core i3 processor clocked at 2.1 GHz with 2 gigabytes of memory, 500 gigabyte hard disk drive, and a 15.6-inch display screen. If you are looking for a cheap notebook computer that you can do some software development or web designing with, then the Intel Core i3 second generation is pretty much the minimum that you should settle for. Sure, there is the Intel Atom processor that is a power sipper and can give you about twelve hours of battery life on some models, with the average being about ten hours of battery life promised by most vendors. However, the Intel Atom processor is for netbooks and nettops. You will not find the Intel Atom processor in laptops with a 14-inch, 15-inch, 17-inch or larger screen size primarily because of the terms of Intel Corporations's sale of the Intel Atom processor to the original equipment manufacturers who agree to not use the processor in laptops and mobile computing devices with a screen size over 11 inches. It is Intel's strategy to prevent the Intel Atom netbook sales from cannibalizing the sales of the Intel Core powered laptops, considering how little the Intel Atom powered netbooks cost when compared to their Intel Core powered laptop counter parts.Lenovo's offerings in the laptop lineup also contains laptop models that are powered by the first generation of Intel Core i3 processors, so do make sure that you look out for the second generation processor as it gets you more bang for the buck that its predecessor, a similar model from the Intel Core i3 first generation line-up of microprocessors.The Lenovo IdeaPad B570 contains only 2 gigabytes of memory, so you might want to get an extra stick of 2 gigabytes of memory, or better yet, you can get a Lenovo IdeaPad G570 that matches the Lenovo IdeaPad B570 in every aspect, except that it comes with 4 gigabytes of memory instead of only 2 gigabytes of memory, and the only difference that you pay over the price of the Lenovo IdeaPad B570 to get the Lenovo IdeaPaf G570 is US dollars 30 (converted from 100 UAE dirhams).Both the Lenovo IdeaPad B570 and the Lenovo Ideapad G570 should fit into your budget of US dollars 650.Although the Lenovo IdeaPad B570 or the Lenovo Ideapad G570 would be my preferred new laptop for under US dollars 650, I would pick a Lenovo Thinkpad over a Lenovo IdeaPad if you also had the option of buying from the Lenovo Factory Outlet store in the United States. You can get a refurbished Lenovo Thinkpad for a good deal off the retail price of the unit, if you do not mind a couple of cosmetic blemishes on the body of the laptop. The refurbished Lenovo Thinkpads come with a guarantee, so Lenovo will replace anything that you find faulty on the laptop that they send you. You do, however, have to come up with a convincing case that points at a manufacturing defect as the cause of failure rather than mishandling during shipping or damaged or wear-and-tear caused because of the use of the product. In either case, the Lenovo Thinkpads purchased from the Lenovo Factory Outlet website are a great bargain and if you do live in the United States and have a shipping address that Lenovo can ship to, the Lenovo Factory Outlet website is better of the two - a brand new Lenovo IdeaPad B570/G570 and a slightly blemished Lenovo ThinkPad with a more solid build and better technical specifications. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
demonboy1990 0 Report post Posted September 16, 2012 i had a Toshiba Satellite before i got this computer i paid about £299 it was on sale this computer i am using is Samsung RV510 It cost abit more than the last one but has a web cam built inand is windows 7 premium and i got a years worth of warranty encase things go wrong i was supposed to have a years worth ofinternet security also but i never seem to get the internet security as they said in the receipt. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rpgsearcherz 5 Report post Posted September 17, 2012 Budget-wise, HP and Acer have been the best laptops I've seen in terms of price vs. performance. I'm really not sure what stores you have in Canada that are comparable to the US though. Here, Wal-Mart and Best Buy are where the cheaper systems are found. The last couple laptops I've gotten had 500GB HDD, 4GB DDR3 RAM, a dual core CPU and were less than $300. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites