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  • Posted by Flootus5 9 years, 9 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I just purchased a high end Lenovo. It is being returned as we speak. No hardware issue or really an issue with Win 8.1, the BIG issue was it came with so much pre-loaded malware, adware, bloatware, spyware and the superfish worm and who knows what else. From the time I fired it up, the pop-ups, the browser tabs to sites I had nothing to do with or any interest in. It was horrendous.

    Malwarebytes did a nice job cleaning it up, but apparently it gets worse:

    http://baltimorepostexaminer.com/leno...
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  • Posted by nicktheitguy 9 years, 9 months ago in reply to this comment.
    About 10 years or so ago, Dell laptops sucked bad...and I did not recommend them, but HP was solid. About 5-7 years ago, HP's started sucking bad...Google for DV Death. The DV series had a major problem with the boards going right after the warranty expired. At that time I recommended Dell laptops, but the Dell Desktops (GX270 series) had major board issues, so I recommended HP for Desktops. In the past few years, I have seen a few bad HP Desktop boards, so for the time being, I'm recommending Dell for both laptops and desktops...until the pendulum swings again. If you get their Complete Care coverage, it covers "accidents" such as an adult beverage spilled on it or it flying off the top of your car (while moving) and shattering (both of which I have had to call in under warranty at the office). Good luck with whatever you choose!
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  • Posted by nicktheitguy 9 years, 9 months ago
    As an I.T. Guy, I normally point folks to Dell Outlet. Say someone specs a machine out at Dell, and it is built and shipped to them. Then returned or the shipment refused for some reason, Dell refurbs it and puts it on Dell Outlet for cheap, with the SAME factory warranty. Laptops, Desktops, and even Servers can be purchased there. My previous manager went to a new place and was buying servers for his new place at almost half the price. http://www.dell.com/learn/us/en/22/ca...
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  • Posted by Ibecame 9 years, 9 months ago
    Apple.com - Apple won the technology game by improving both the hardware and operating system software and integrating them together. There are a vast number of hardware improvements in Apple computers that just are not available in PC's and Apple writes the code for their operating system to take full advantage of their hardware patents. I currently have a MacBook Pro that is 4 years old, and for the first time since I bought it I had to do a reset (for something stupid that I did). I only had one other problem in 4 years - a heat sink went bad and Apple had it back to me in two days. I have spent my life working with computers and this is what I have at home. CHEAPER, FASTER, BETTER, SMARTER, AND THE MOST IMPORTANT - LESS FRUSTRATING.
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  • Posted by gary29ct 9 years, 9 months ago
    I've always liked Best Buy / Geek Squad. Always best to have local support (assuming they are local to you).
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  • Posted by $ nickursis 9 years, 9 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Rocky, I have bought several laptops on TigerDirect (refurbs). I almost always get Gateways, because they have the most value in regards to what you get. The biggest problem I ever had was I bought 2 (with what are called "pentium" processors in them which is a dual core processor).It was painful to get Win7 to load, as the newer bios wants you to use what they want you to use, but it can be beaten by selecting "Legacy" bios. Computers tend to want to get you to get much more PC than you need, unless you are doing movies or photo editing a basic dual core (i3 chip) is fine for basic use, if you do movies and photo editing, and want speed, an i5 and an SSD make things faster.I got my wife a little Acer 11" PC at Costco for 250.00 and it works just fine for her. Mine is 6 years old, and has a dual core Pentium in it, but I put in a hybrid hard drive and more ram and it is as good as most you can get today.
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  • Posted by Danno 9 years, 9 months ago
    What are your requirements? If you mostly use web and web mail, check out a Chromebook.
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  • Posted by Kittyhawk 9 years, 9 months ago in reply to this comment.
    It's pretty easy to replace a built-in keyboard on a Dell laptop, too. Just did that on mine after maybe 7 years of use. A few of the keys had the letters worn away, and a few wouldn't register, so it was due. With a memory upgrade a few years back, I'm still very happy with it. You can Google your model and whatever repair or upgrade you want to do, and get full instructions and photos like this: http://www.insidemylaptop.com/replace...
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  • Posted by ewv 9 years, 9 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Windows requires more powerful hardware because it does more. It also becomes cluttered over time and needs to be reinstalled, which requires reconfiguring and reinstalling all the programs you use. XP typically requires reinstalling every couple of years and now greatly benefits from more than the 1 GB memory that was the maximum on earlier pcs it was sold with.

    Running linux requires that you know more about how it works and where things are in the file system than windows. The commands and scripting depend on which shell you use, and the commands you need to use for system maintenance like updating programs depends on the version of linux. For the commonly used bash shell look at Learning the bash Shell by Newham & Rosenblatt. In general look at the O'Reilly publisher for that and other linux books. You can also run bash on windows along with many other linux programs compiled for windows in the Cygwin system https://cygwin.com/.
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  • Posted by superfluities 9 years, 9 months ago in reply to this comment.
    be wary of these two places their BEST deals are usually almost out if date tech. I do buy from both of these places, just be wary of the deals if your trying to get really cheap. Know what your buying.
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  • Posted by $ sjatkins 9 years, 9 months ago
    It really depends what you are looking for and what you want to do with it. There is no reason you can't get a good enough price on a good for most things most people are likely to do laptop at Amazon, Best Buy, etc. Even 2-4 year old technology is plenty up to date for most needs.

    If you are more of a geek and are after a gaming machine or something that can do extreme graphics then perhaps I could see being more picky.

    If you are after a really good linux machine then checkout out the system76 web site. Linux pre-installed laptops, desktops and servers. They are good folks.
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  • Posted by yadaoser 9 years, 9 months ago
    Be careful with Apple. They were the ultimate government setup. The California congresscritters arranged for Apple to sell machines at wholesale to schools and deduct them at retail. Without that the S100 computers would have wiped them out.
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  • Posted by $ TomB666 9 years, 9 months ago
    I think a lot of performance problems are Windows related. Ubuntu is a Linux operating system that has a pretty good GUI (Graphical User Interface). It loads much faster and shuts down much faster and generally performs better then the same computer with Windows.

    Trouble is there are things I can't do because I do not know the commands to use when the GUI won't do it. In these cases I reboot into Windows, do whatever it is, and then come back into Ubuntu.

    By the way, can any body recommend a site to learn Linux commands?
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  • Posted by freedomforall 9 years, 9 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Have no idea. I haven't looked at it in ages. Its a museum item ;^) As I said there is no comparison even to your 15 yr old laptop.
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  • Posted by $ MichaelAarethun 9 years, 9 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Price wise they are a tad higher than Amazon Theh are the old Comp USA. Amazon is less expensive and the least expensive is Computer Depot I mentioned earlier. the one I have now came from an Amazon dealer but not Amazon. Bought three that time - one for every student in the family. One is going back on the one year guarantee. All ae refurbished coming off lease. My three came from the Smithsonian Institute.All five are Dell 6400 series W7 with 4 GByte Ram and four with 160 Gbyte HD one with 500 gbyte HD all with new windows software but I use open office instead. Average cost $160 per computer.The exception machine has a software problem with the view screen. The sixth was a Gateway desk top with the laptop size computer hanging on back of a rather large screen. We got that in time for World Cup playoffs. 8gbyte RAM 500 gbyte HD. Of the two new to me ones I get one again and the other goes to another university level student. the family saved for a year so Id got the best deal I could. That's five not four Dell 6400s and the gateway for $950.00 three Amazon, two computer depot and one Tigerdirect. One needed a new battery within four months which thorugh Amazon was $20.00.. Worked OK but not unplugged. All I did was give up 50% of my restaurant meals for several months. Anyways ....thats how I do it. And I still have a Panasonic toughbook on the boat for navigation using XP. I use it as a backup.
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  • Posted by rbunce 9 years, 9 months ago in reply to this comment.
    That's good... recent stuff can be had at a very good price... may not run latest game but can certainly play HD video IF your internet access supports it.
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