Hi. I am researching for a new laptop and have a question to ask. When I started having problems with HP pavilion dv9410, I came across a post that said this model has a history of overheating. It was sent away twice for motherboard changes. So I ask if anybody would point me toward a brand and a model that has a good history. Would you also point me to a website that reviews computers with the past performances in mind? Thank you in advance.
I'd recommend either an Apple or Lenovo laptop. If you do go with a different brand like Dell or HP it is worth the money to purchase their business grade laptops rather then the crap they shovel to consumers. Just my 2 cents.
In my opinion they are, but I know everybody has their opinion ... I've found that Apple pays much more attention to little details that gets overlooked by other manufacturers. Things that are typically not included on a typical specification sheet like a really good trackpad, backlit keyboard, aluminum chassis etc.
It will come with Mac OS X, which I prefer, but I like Windows 7 too. So if you don't like OS X you can buy a copy of Windows 7 OEM for about $100 and install it pretty easily. Apple provides all the Windows drivers you will need under a package called BootCAMP.
Things like a backlit keyboards are mostly novelties in my opinion (plus they waste battery life--like the light up apple logo on the lid). I do like the screen shutting completely off when not in use after some minutes, but again, this feature would be useless to me as I like to have my screen on constantly. The trackpad and other good quality components on Mac laptops can be beat by similar windows based laptops, it just depends on which model you're looking at.
The dual boot system is just a facade; most of the time Windows runs slower than it should on Macs since the Macintosh hardware obviously wasn't built for windows OS.
The back-lit keyboard and Apple Logo uses very little power. They are small LEDs. I find the back-lit keyboard very nice, it only comes on when the room is dark and is much better then adding a USB light you see so many people using. While most PC have 5-6 status LEDs that surely take up just as much power.
The battery life idea really doesn't make any sense. The latest MacBook Pro has a 10 hour battery. Most other manufacturer don't even come close. My Dell at work you can either use a normal 3-4 hour battery that fits in the laptop or you can get a 9-cell battery that takes you up to a wopping 5-6 hours but protrudes out the back ruining the otherwise pretty decent form factor.
As far as the trackpad is concerned. I'd love to have a better trackpad pointed out to me. I've used laptops from Dell, Lenovo, HP, Toshiba in the last 5 years and every other laptop I've used I couldn't stand their trackpads and had to use an external mouse. The one exception being Lenovo which was useable but not as nice as Apple's. Maybe this is just personal preference, but it is interesting that HP now has added multi-touch trackpads to their laptops like Apple has had for years, though HP's version only has about half the features and has been met with a lot of criticism.
As far as the dual boot system, you obviously don't remember the MacBook Pro was the #1 rated high performance "Windows" laptop by PC World (not a Mac Publication) for multiple years. For a machine that was not obviously designed for a the Windows OS it is funny that it outperformed the ones that were.
I'm not saying that Apple is right for everyone, you may not like the styling. You may wan't a cheap budget laptop. You may need to run a few windows only applications and don't want to go through the hassle of installing windows. Do what works best for you. So like I said I recommend either Apple or Lenovo.
Learn to type without looking at the keys, and also the screens on most laptops give off enough light to see the keyboard in the dark without much effort. I hate apples >_< lol
That's a great point about the status LED indicators on windows based laptops. Never thought of that. Certainly the LEDs could be economized as you get one for bluetooth, wifi, battery, AC status etc. though I suppose they have their use.
I think the quality of the touch pad is very subjective, though I will confess I don't like any touch pads as I do a ton of work multimedia work (especially in photoshop) and always have an external mouse (currently using a Razer Diamondback 3G).
Heh, I didn't know about that with the MacBook Pro outdoing the windows-based laptops. But look at how much more expensive it is compared to its windows-based offerings. I have the opinion that Macs run windows worse based on Mac Desktops if that makes any difference. I used to work daily in a Mac lab where the computers with the dual boot interface would invariably boot Windows much more slowly despite being clean of spyware etc. (I brought my laptop a few times and it booted windows faster than they could boot their native Apple OS).
Heh, I don't think many people are against Apple's styling; it's some of the best out there. In fact, this is one area that I wish windows-based laptops would improve upon seeing as how many windows-based laptops look the same (though certainly Sony's lineup provides a few exceptions).
And indeed that's what it comes down to: different strokes for different folks. I'm still for windows-based laptops for the time being. It's kind of ironic you like Lenovo so much when their laptops don't look very nice aesthetically (I can say that since I own a Lenovo haha). Great laptop though...my favorite part of Lenovo is the high screen resolution (I'm running 1680x1050 and this laptop is already 2+ years old--which is still highly competitive with current laptop offerings). But without glossy screens, it's a bit of a trade-off. Also, without a decent video card (I have an Nvidia with digital color enhancing), the LCD colors appear a bit dull. Though I hear they've improved brightness on their screens by 30% using some environmentally-friendly LCD/backlight/inverter technology.
My other favorite windows-based laptop brand is Toshiba. Great price for a good quality laptop with great features and decent design. Though I must admit I've fallen in love with the discrete aesthetics of this Lenovo and even the uniqueness.
I always buy laptops online after reading the reviews about them.Once I am convinced about a product then I order that online. Online Shopping is really hassle free.
although doing online research is critical, shopping in-store and trying out the laptops to get a general feel for them is, i think, very important as well I fell in love with my current Macbook Pro as soon as I tried it out at an Apple store I totally recommend them!
There is some validity to that statement, there have been a number of laptops where either the keyboard or the trackpad or some other quirk drove me nuts. Most of the time you can't get that information without trying it for yourself.
HP is always reported to be overheating, but the outside of its laptop seems rather beautiful. In a word, if you don't mind of the overheating, HP is a good choice. otherwise, I think you can consider Mac book.